What is a deferred credit? A deferred credit could mean money received in advance of it being earned, such as deferred revenue, unearned revenue, or customer advances. A deferred credit could also result from complicated...
What is a deferred credit? A deferred credit could mean money received in advance of it being earned, such as deferred revenue, unearned revenue, or customer advances. A deferred credit could also result from complicated...
What is the difference between Present Value (PV) and Net Present Value (NPV)? Definition of Present Value (PV) Present value or PV is the result of discounting one or more future amounts to the present. The greater the...
, the inventory turnover ratio divides a company’s cost of goods sold for a recent year by the company’s average inventory during that year. Perhaps the most frequently used accounting ratio is the current ratio,...
What is the average collection period? Definition of Average Collection Period The average collection period is the average number of days between 1) the dates that credit sales were made, and 2) the dates that the money...
What is recorded in the Wages and Salaries Expense account? Definition of Wages and Salaries Expense The account Wages and Salaries Expense (or separate accounts such as Wages Expense or Salaries Expense) are used to...
What is the definition of net sales? Definition of Net Sales Net sales is a company’s gross sales of products minus any sales discounts and sales returns and allowances. When a company makes a sale, the general ledger...
What is a current liability? Definition of Current Liability A current liability is: An obligation that will be due within one year of the date of the company’s balance sheet, and Will require the use of a current...
What is prepaid insurance? Definition of Prepaid Insurance Prepaid insurance is the portion of an insurance premium that has been paid in advance and has not expired as of the date of a company’s balance sheet. This...
What is a journal entry? Definition of a Journal Entry In manual accounting or bookkeeping systems, business transactions are first recorded in a journal…hence the term journal entry. Journal entries that are recorded...
What is a rolling budget? Definition of Rolling Budget A rolling budget often refers to a company’s operating budget which presents the future monthly budgets for the next 12 months. A rolling budget is also known as a...
What is a mortgage loan? Definition of Mortgage Loan A mortgage loan is a loan associated with the purchase of real estate, such as a home or buildings used in a business. As part of the loan process, the lender files a...
How do I start a petty cash fund? Definition of Petty Cash Fund A petty cash fund is a small amount of money available to pay small amounts without requiring the processing of a business check. Example of Starting a...
What is the earnings per share (EPS) ratio? Definition of Earnings per Share The earnings per share ratio, or simply earnings per share, or EPS, is a corporation’s 1) net income (or earnings) after tax that is...
Are fixed assets the same as plant assets? Definition of Fixed Assets and Plant Assets My experience indicates that people use the term fixed assets to mean the same as plant assets. As a result, I define both fixed...
What is depletion? Definition of Depletion In accounting, depletion refers to the expensing of a company’s cost of a natural resource. Ultimately, it means moving a natural resource’s cost from the company’s...
What is a dependent variable? In accounting, a dependent variable is likely to be the total of a mixed cost that will change as the result of several factors. A factor that causes the change in the total cost is referred...
How does the aging of accounts receivable determine bad debts expense? Definition of Aging of Accounts Receivable The aging of accounts receivable sorts the amounts that a company is owed (from customers who had...
How do drawings affect the financial statements? Definition of Drawings Drawings are the withdrawals of a sole proprietorship’s business assets by the owner for the owner’s personal use. The drawings or draws by the...
What is responsibility accounting? Definition of Responsibility Accounting Responsibility accounting involves the internal accounting and budgeting for each responsibility center within a company. The objective of...
the paperwork for a company’s transactions and getting the information quickly and accurately recorded in the company’s general ledger accounts. Today, this is done best through the use of cost effective software...
What is the entry when a contract is signed? Accounting Entry When Signing a Contract Merely signing a contract does not by itself require a journal entry. In other words, signing a contract for a future transaction does...
What is the working capital turnover ratio? Definition of Working Capital Turnover Ratio The working capital turnover ratio is also referred to as net sales to working capital. It indicates a company’s effectiveness in...
What is the difference between a debit and a debit balance? Definition of Debit A debit is an entry on the left side of a T-account. A debit entry is used to record assets, expenses, losses, and owner’s draws in their...
Why is interest expense a nonoperating expense? Definition of Interest Expense as a Nonoperating Expense Interest expense is the cost of borrowing money. For most companies the borrowing of money is not part of their...
What is a defined benefit pension plan? A defined benefit pension plan is a retirement plan in which the employer commits to paying a specified monthly payment to each eligible employee when he or she retires at a stated...
What is the difference between Notes Payable and Accounts Payable? Definition of Notes Payable The account Notes Payable is a liability account in which a borrower’s written promise to pay a lender is recorded. (The...
Accumulated Depreciation (instead of crediting the asset account which has the asset’s original cost), it allows for the balance sheet to report or disclose the following: The original cost of the asset being...
What is the debt to equity ratio? Definition of Debt to Equity Ratio The debt to equity ratio or debt-equity ratio is the result of dividing a corporation’s total liabilities by the total amount of stockholders’...
Why does an increase in accounts payable appear as an addition on the statement of cash flows? Adjustments from Accrual to Cash on Statement of Cash Flows When the statement of cash flows (SCF, cash flow statement) is...
amount for warehouse rent (and every other expense) for the next budget is $0. Any budgeted expense greater than $0 must be justified. While zero-based budgeting will be more time consuming than focusing on incremental...
. For example, a small retailer can compare her cost of goods sold (perhaps 78%) to a much larger retailer’s cost of goods sold (perhaps 80%). Similarly, one company’s inventory might be 33% (of total assets) while a...
What is the definition of capital market? Often, capital market refers to the structured market for trading stocks and bonds. Examples are the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the New...
Why is Interest Expense Included in the Operating Activities Section of the Cash Flow Statement? Definition of Interest Expense Interest expense is the cost of borrowing money. Under the accrual method of accounting,...
What are net assets? Definition of Net Assets Net assets is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. Examples of Net Assets In a sole proprietorship the amount of net assets is reported as owner’s equity. In a...
What is the difference between the direct method and the indirect method for the statement of cash flows? Main Difference between Direct and Indirect Method of SCF The main difference between the direct method and the...
the standard quantity of materials. The materials usage variance is favorable when the actual quantity of materials used was less than the standard quantity. In the U.S. the materials usage cost variance is expressed in...
If a customer pays for the same invoice twice, should the customer be informed? I say yes. If you become aware of the double payment when posting the customer’s second remittance, I would double check your records...
What is the difference between Rent Receivable and Rent Payable? Definition of Rent Receivable Rent Receivable is an asset account in the general ledger of a landlord which reports the amount of rent that has been earned...
What is budgeting? Definition of Budgeting Budgeting is the process of preparing detailed projections of future amounts. Companies often engage in two types of budgeting: Operational budgeting, and Capital budgeting...
What is the dividend payout ratio? The dividend payout ratio, or simply the payout ratio, is the percentage of a corporation’s earnings that is paid out in the form of cash dividends. The calculation of the dividend...
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