How many years is the appropriate time for depreciating leasehold improvements? Leasehold improvements should be depreciated or amortized according to the lessee’s normal depreciation policy except that the time period...
How many years is the appropriate time for depreciating leasehold improvements? Leasehold improvements should be depreciated or amortized according to the lessee’s normal depreciation policy except that the time period...
savings account or money market account. The length of a certificate of deposit will vary. It could be for one month, three months, six months, one year, 17 months, three years, etc. Generally the longer the time until...
coverage from December 1 through May 31. Examples of Two Methods for Recording Prepaid Expenses One method for recording a prepaid expense is to record the entire payment in an asset account. For example, assume that on...
Mortgage Loan Receivable account shows a balance of $147,000. This scenario is widespread in your community and houses are not selling. I would consider your Mortgage Loan Receivable to be a toxic asset. There are few...
A corporation has a large balance in retained earnings. Does that mean that its dividends to stockholders will be increasing? Definition of Retained Earnings Retained earnings is one part of a corporation’s...
which is lower than the market interest rate for similar bonds. The difference between the amount received and the face or maturity amount is recorded in the corporation’s general ledger contra liability account...
for the year of the income statement might be $300,000. The $300,000 accounting entry debited Depreciation Expense and credited Accumulated Depreciation. As you can see, not a penny left the checking account in the year...
What is the difference between cash flow and free cash flow? Definition of Cash Flow Cash flow refers to the amounts of cash that a company, investment or project generates. The cash that a company generates is different...
What is materiality? Definition of Materiality In accounting, materiality refers to the relative size of an amount. Relatively large amounts are material, while relatively small amounts are not material (or immaterial)....
What is the profit margin (after tax) ratio? Definition of Profit Margin Ratio The after tax profit margin ratio expresses the company’s net income or earnings as a percent of the company’s net sales. In other words,...
Is a loan payment an expense? Definition of Loan Payment Generally a loan payment consists of: An interest payment, which is an expense A principal payment, which reduces the loan’s principal balance If the interest...
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...
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 GAAP? Definition of GAAP GAAP is the acronym for generally accepted accounting principles. GAAP consists of the following: Basic underlying accounting principles, assumptions, and concepts such as the cost...
What are the notes to the financial statements? Definition of Notes to Financial Statements The notes to the financial statements are a required, integral part of a company’s external financial statements. They are...
What are some examples of financing activities? Definition of Financing Activities Financing activities often refers to the cash flows from financing activities, which is one of the three main sections of the statement...
When do you adjust the amount of prepaid expenses? Definition of Adjusting Prepaid Expenses The balance in the current asset account Prepaid Expenses should be adjusted prior to a company issuing its financial...
What are consolidated statements of operations? Consolidated statements of operations is the heading appearing on the financial statement also referred to as the income statement. In a small survey of 14 U.S....
What is inventory shrinkage? Definition of Inventory Shrinkage Inventory shrinkage is a term to describe the loss of inventory. The shrinkage could be the result of theft, breakage, poor recordkeeping, etc. The term...
Is the cost of land, buildings, and machinery a fixed cost? Land, Buildings and Machinery are Fixed Assets It is common for people to refer to land, buildings, and machinery as fixed assets. They are also referred to as...
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...
What is a fiscal year? Definition of Fiscal Year A fiscal year is an accounting year that does not end on December 31. (Accounting years of January 1 through December 31 are known as calendar years.) A fiscal year could...
Are payroll withholding taxes an expense or a liability? Definition of Payroll Withholding Taxes Payroll withholding taxes are amounts withheld from employees’ wages and salaries. The amounts withheld are actually the...
What is the difference between expenses and payments? Definition of Expenses and Payments Under the accrual method of accounting, expenses are costs that have been used up or have been incurred in the process of earning...
What is the journal entry to record a one-year subscription for a magazine? Ways to Record One-Year Subscriptions Let’s assume that the cost of the one-year subscription for a monthly trade publication is $120. Let’s...
What is accrued interest? Definition of Accrued Interest Accrued interest is the amount of loan interest that has already occurred, but has not yet been paid by the borrower and not yet received by the lender. Under the...
What is an equivalent unit of production? Definition of Equivalent Unit of Production An equivalent unit of production is an expression of the amount of work done by a manufacturer on units of output that are partially...
What is the difference between gross margin and markup? Definition of Gross Margin Gross margin or gross profit is defined as net sales minus the cost of goods sold. However, some people intend for the term gross margin...
What is a blank endorsement? In the case of a check payable to John Smith (the payee), a blank endorsement would be the signature of John Smith on the back side of the check without any other words above or below his...
Kindly illustrate various depreciation methods. Definition of Depreciation Depreciation is the systematic allocation of the cost of an asset to Depreciation Expenses over the asset’s useful life. If an asset will have...
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...
What is a defined contribution pension plan? A defined contribution pension plan is one in which the employer contributes an amount into each eligible employee’s account within an established plan. The employee decides...
What is a reclassification? Definition of Reclassification In accounting, the term reclassification is often used to describe moving an amount from one general ledger account to another. Examples of Reclassification...
How can I determine the inventory methods used by other companies in my industry? Definition of Inventory Methods Inventory methods refers to the order or manner in which a company moves its actual costs out of the...
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 depreciation? Definition of Depreciation In accounting, depreciation is the assigning or allocating of the cost of a plant asset (other than land) to expense in the accounting periods that are within the...
What does capitalize mean? Definition of Capitalize In accounting, the word capitalize means to record an expenditure as an asset. The cost of this asset is then allocated to expense over its useful life. (If the...
What is an ordinary annuity? Definition of Ordinary Annuity In accounting, an ordinary annuity refers to a series of identical cash amounts with each amount occurring at the end of equal time intervals. Another term for...
What is a memorandum entry? Definition of Memorandum Entry A memorandum entry is a short message entered into the general journal and also entered into a general ledger account. It is not a complete journal entry because...
What is obsolete inventory? Definition of Obsolete Inventory Obsolete inventory refers to products that a company had purchased or produced which cannot be sold. The obsolete items may be the result of one or more of the...
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