How should a mortgage loan payable be reported on a classified balance sheet? Definition of a Mortgage Loan Payable The account Mortgage Loan Payable contains the principal amount owed on a mortgage loan. (Any interest...
How should a mortgage loan payable be reported on a classified balance sheet? Definition of a Mortgage Loan Payable The account Mortgage Loan Payable contains the principal amount owed on a mortgage loan. (Any interest...
for income tax and before investment income, interest expense, or other non-operating income or expense items. Operating income is also reported as income from operations, operating earnings, or operating profit. Major...
expense over the life of the asset cannot exceed the asset’s cost regardless of the depreciation method. In other words, the difference between accelerated depreciation and straight-line depreciation is a “timing...
pay rate is $20.50 which means the employee’s gross vacation pay will be $2,460 (120 hours X $20.50). The June 1 journal entry to record the vacation payment is: Debit Vacation Payable $2,400 (to eliminate the...
How can a company have a profit but not have cash? Definition of Profit Under the accrual basis of accounting, profit is the amount of revenues earned minus the amount of expenses incurred. Note that revenues are not...
Is depreciation expense an administrative expense? Definition of Depreciation Expense Depreciation expense is the systematic allocation of a depreciable asset’s cost to the accounting periods in which the asset is...
What is a stockholder? Definition of Stockholder A stockholder (also known as a shareholder) is the owner of one or more shares of a corporation’s capital stock. A stockholder is considered to be separate from the...
What is the statement of cash flows? Definition of Statement of Cash Flows The statement of cash flows (SCF) is one of the required external financial statements. The SCF is commonly referred to as the cash flow...
to Cash and a $3,000 credit to the liability account Customer Deposits or Unearned Revenues. With no downpayment or advance payment in December, there is no entry recorded.) The $20,000 contract is not reported as an...
is the cost of goods on hand, it makes sense to relate it to the cost of goods sold. Assume that during the past year a company’s inventory had an average cost of $10,000. (This was the average of the amounts in the...
What is the return on assets ratio? Definition of Return on Assets Ratio The return on assets ratio, or return on total assets ratio, relates a company’s net income during a specific year, to the company’s average...
Where does a bond sinking fund appear on the balance sheet? Definition of Bond Sinking Fund A bond sinking fund is an investment made by a corporation that is restricted for the purpose of retiring its bonds payable,...
% ($120,000/$400,000). Definition of Operating Income A retailer’s operating income is its sales minus the cost of goods sold and all selling and administrative expenses (fixed and variable). Operating income is...
What is the difference between the accounts rent receivable and rent revenue? Definition of Rent Receivable Rent Receivable is the title of the balance sheet asset account which indicates the amount of rent that has been...
Do variance accounts have an impact on financial statements? Or are they for performance evaluation only? Since the financial statements must reflect the cost principle, both the standard costs and the variances must be...
What is the purpose of the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts? Definition of Allowance for Doubtful Accounts The Allowance for Doubtful Accounts or Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts is a general ledger contra account...
What is the cost of goods manufactured? Definition of Cost of Goods Manufactured The cost of goods manufactured is a calculation of the production costs of the goods that were completed during an accounting period. In...
What is EBIT? EBIT is the acronym for earnings before interest and taxes. In other words, EBIT is a corporation’s net income assuming it had no interest expense and no income tax expense. (Since the amount of earnings...
What is the days' sales in accounts receivable ratio? Definition of Days’ Sales in Accounts Receivable The days’ sales in accounts receivable ratio (also known as the average collection period) tells you the...
What is carriage outwards? Definition of Carriage Outwards Carriage outwards refers to the transportation costs that a seller must pay when it sells merchandise with the terms FOB Destination. Carriage outwards is also...
What is the quick ratio? Definition of Quick Ratio The quick ratio is a financial ratio used to gauge a company’s liquidity. The quick ratio is also known as the acid test ratio. The quick ratio compares the total...
Why isn't a corporation's dividend shown on its income statement? Definition of Dividend A dividend paid by a corporation on its common stock is a distribution of the corporation’s net income (earnings,...
What is going concern? Definition of Going Concern The going concern assumption is a basic underlying assumption of accounting. For a company to be a going concern, it must be able to continue operating long enough to...
, the credit balance for this one piece of equipment at the time of the sale is $40,500. If the company receives $5,000 when disposing of the equipment, the journal entry to record the sale is: A debit to Cash for $5,000...
the customer to pay in 30 days, the company will increase its asset account Accounts Receivable with a debit of $500. It must also record a credit of $500 in Service Revenues because the revenue was earned. The credit...
What is a controller's cushion? A controller’s cushion or controller’s reserve involves temporarily recording too much expense for an item that the controller calculates. For example, the controller might budget...
the appraisal amounts as a logical way to divide up the cost of $220,000 between land and building. Here is one approach: Assign or allocate $44,000 to the account Land. This is 20% of the $220,000 cost. Assign or...
What is the effect on financial ratios when using LIFO instead of FIFO? Definition of Effect of LIFO Instead of FIFO During periods of significantly increasing costs, the LIFO cost flow assumption instead of the FIFO...
What is an impairment? Definition of Impairment The term impairment is associated with an asset currently having a market value that is less than the asset’s book value . A test is done to determine whether the...
In accounting, are debit balances good? It is best if you accept the meaning that the word debit has had for 500 years: a debit is an amount entered on the left-side of an account. Don’t add “good” or “bad” or...
What is the meaning of systematic and rational allocation? Definition of Systematic and Rational Allocation Systematic and rational allocation is typically included in the definition of depreciation. In this context, it...
What is Big 4 Accounting? In accounting, the Big 4 refers to the four largest public accounting and auditing firms: Deloitte PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Ernst & Young (EY) KPMG These certified public accounting (CPA)...
How do you calculate ending inventory? Physically Counting the Items in Inventory One method for calculating the cost of a company’s ending inventory is to 1) physically count the quantity of each of the items in...
costs must be reported as Advertising Expense at the time the ads are run. A prepayment of the cost of ads that will air in the future should be recorded in a current asset account such as Prepaid Advertising. When the...
How can I learn bookkeeping at a low cost? You can use the Internet to learn bookkeeping at little or no cost. For example, at no cost you can read clear explanations of debits and credits, adjusting entries, financial...
What is petty cash? Definition of Petty Cash Petty cash or a petty cash fund is a small amount of money available for paying small expenses without writing a check. Petty Cash is also the title of the general ledger...
What is the difference between gross margin and contribution margin? Definition of Gross Margin Some use the term gross margin to mean the same as gross profit, which is: net sales minus the cost of goods sold. Others...
What is notes receivable? Definition of Notes Receivable Notes receivable is an asset of a company, bank or other organization that holds a written promissory note from another party. (The other party will have a note...
Is a postdated check considered to be currency? A postdated check—a check with a date that is later than the current date—is not considered to be currency. Further, the postdated check should not be reported as part...
, the Cash account (not the Petty Cash account) will be credited. The debits will go to the expense accounts indicated by the petty cash receipts, such as postage expense, supplies expense. In other words, the general...
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