What is cycle counting? Cycle counting refers to physically counting a portion of the inventory items on many days throughout the year instead of counting all of the items on a single day near the end of the year. For...
What is cycle counting? Cycle counting refers to physically counting a portion of the inventory items on many days throughout the year instead of counting all of the items on a single day near the end of the year. For...
Is the cost of goods sold an expense? Why the Cost of Goods Sold is an Expense We often think of expenses as salaries, advertising, rent, commissions, interest, and so on. However, the cost of goods sold is also an...
What is a calendar year? Definition of Calendar Year A calendar year is the 12 consecutive months from January through December. In other words, it is the 365 days (366 days in a leap year) beginning on January 1 and...
What is the entry when a company lends money to an employee? Definition of Employee Loan When a company lends money to one of its employees, the company is reducing its Cash and increasing another asset such as Other...
Is advertising an asset or an expense? Definition of Advertising Expense Advertising is the amount a company incurs to promote its products, brands, and image via television, radio, magazines, Internet, etc. Since the...
Is contribution margin the same as operating income? Definition of Contribution Margin Contribution margin is defined as revenues minus the variable costs and variable expenses. Example of Contribution Margin Assume that...
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)...
What is a comparative income statement? A comparative income statement will consist of two or three columns of amounts appearing to the right of the account titles or descriptions. For example, the income statement for...
How do you divide the cost of real estate into land and building? Dividing the Cost of Real Estate into Land and Building In accounting, the cost of real estate must be divided into: The cost of land (because land is not...
Which date is used to record a credit card transaction? When a business uses its credit card, the transaction date is the date the credit card is used, not the date that the credit card statement is paid. For example, if...
What is a lease? Definition of a Lease Typically, a lease is a written agreement between an owner of property (land, building, equipment, vehicle, etc.) and a person or business that will use the property for a stated...
I don't understand the conservatism principle. Why do losses get recorded but not gains? Conservatism has to do with uncertainty. When uncertainty exists between two alternatives that appear to be reasonable, the...
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 cost of sales? Definition of Cost of Sales Cost of sales is often a line shown on a manufacturer’s or retailer’s income statement instead of cost of goods sold. The cost of sales for a manufacturer is the...
How do you calculate the cost of goods sold for a retailer? Formula for Calculating a Retailer’s Cost of Goods Sold A retailer’s cost of goods sold is: The cost of the retailer’s beginning inventory Plus the cost...
What is the difference between FIFO and LIFO? Difference Between FIFO and LIFO The difference between FIFO and LIFO will exist only if the unit costs of a company’s products are increasing or decreasing. U.S. companies...
What is the cash flow statement? Definition of Cash Flow Statement The cash flow statement (officially known as the statement of cash flows) is one of the required financial statements issued by U.S. businesses (and by...
What is the meaning of arrears? In accounting we use the word arrears in at least two ways. One use involves the omitted dividends on cumulative preferred stock. For example, if a corporation has cumulative preferred...
What does crossfoot mean? Definition of Crossfoot or Crossfooting Accountants and auditors use the word foot to mean adding one or more columns of numbers. When there are several columns of numbers along with a...
What is COS? Definition of COS In accounting, the acronym COS could indicate either cost of sales or cost of services. The income statement of a manufacturer or a retailer might use the term cost of sales or it might use...
What is annualizing? Definition of Annualizing Annualizing means taking a partial year amount and converting it to a full year amount. We will use several examples to illustrate how this works. Examples of Annualizing A...
What is an asset's useful life? Definition of Asset’s Useful Life An asset’s useful life is the estimated period of time (or total amount of activity) that a long-lived asset will be economically feasible for use in...
What are payroll withholding taxes? Definition of Payroll Withholding Taxes In the U.S. payroll withholding taxes are the taxes that an employer is required to deduct from its employees’ gross wages, salaries, bonuses,...
What is ERP? Definition of ERP In accounting, ERP is the acronym for enterprise resource planning. ERP could be described as a database software package that supports all of a business’s processes and operations...
What is a fringe benefit rate? Definition of Fringe Benefit Rate A fringe benefit rate is a percentage that results from dividing the cost of an employee’s fringe benefits by the wages paid to the employee for the...
How do you record a check that clears the bank months after it was voided? Since you had voided the check months earlier, your general ledger no longer reflects 1) the original credit to the cash account, and 2) the...
Does a company have to use the IRS years of useful life for depreciation? For the company’s financial statements, the economic life of the asset should be used—not the years of useful life required for income tax...
What is the annual wage limit? Definition of Annual Wage Limit Annual wage limit is a payroll accounting term that is associated with the Social Security payroll tax. (The annual wage limit is also known as the annual...
If I want a gross margin of 25%, what percent should I mark up my product? Definition of Gross Margin Gross margin as a percentage is the gross profit divided by the selling price. For example, if a product sells for...
What does it mean to amortize the premium, discount, and issue costs on bonds payable? Definition of Amortize Premium, Discount, and Issue Costs With regards to bonds payable, the term amortize means to systematically...
How can a business increase its cash flow from operations? A business can increase its cash flow from operations (or operating activities) by looking closely at each of its current assets and current liabilities. For...
Where is the discount on the purchase of office furniture recorded? Definition of Discount on Purchase of Office Furniture The discount on the purchase of office furniture that will be used by a company (as opposed to...
How do you record a deposit on utilities? Definition of Deposit on Utilities A new customer of a public utility (electricity, natural gas, telephone, etc.) may be required to pay a refundable amount known as a utility...
How do you account for the rebate on an automobile? The rebate on the purchase of an automobile should be recorded as a reduction of the automobile’s cost. The lower automobile cost will result in lower depreciation...
What is a limitation of the inventory turnover ratio? Definition of Inventory Turnover Ratio The inventory turnover ratio is often calculated by dividing a company’s cost of goods sold for a recent year by the average...
What is the free cash flow ratio? Definition of Free Cash Flow Free cash flow for a year is an amount (as opposed to a ratio or percentage) usually defined as: net cash provided by operating activities for the year minus...
What is cost incurred? Definition of Cost Incurred A cost incurred is a cost that a company (or other organization) becomes liable for. Example of Cost Incurred Assume that a retailer begins operations on December 1 and...
Why are the amounts on the financial statements rounded to thousands or millions? Definition of Rounding Amounts on Financial Statements Rounding the amounts on a company’s financial statements means dropping the less...
What are cost flow assumptions? Definition of Cost Flow Assumptions The term cost flow assumptions refers to the manner in which costs are removed from a company’s inventory and are reported as the cost of goods sold....
What is Additional Medicare Tax? Definition of Additional Medicare Tax The Additional Medicare Tax is one of the U.S. government’s payroll withholding taxes that is paid solely by employees and the self-employed. In...
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