What are some of the accounting courses in a college accounting degree? The accounting courses often included in a 120- or 150-credit college accounting degree are: fundamentals of financial accounting fundamentals of...
What are some of the accounting courses in a college accounting degree? The accounting courses often included in a 120- or 150-credit college accounting degree are: fundamentals of financial accounting fundamentals of...
Is the depreciation of delivery trucks a period cost or is it manufacturing overhead? The depreciation on the trucks used to deliver products to customers is a period cost. The depreciation on delivery trucks will be...
Where do I record the refund of a registration fee? If the registration fee refers to a fee expense that you had originally paid but the amount is now being refunded to you, I would credit the same expense account that...
Why is a product that sells for $50 reported in inventory at its cost of $40? Generally, items in inventory are valued at their cost—not their selling prices—because of the cost principle. Another reason for not...
Why is an increase in inventory shown as a negative amount in the statement of cash flows? Meaning of a Negative Amount on Statement of Cash Flows A negative amount on the statement of cash flows (SCF) indicates that the...
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...
Bookkeeping Video Training Part 2 Accounting equation, why revenue accounts have credit balances, accrual method of accounting Must-Watch Video Learn How to Advance Your Accounting and Bookkeeping Career Perform better...
What is the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax in 2022 and 2023? 2022 Annual Earnings Limit for Social Security Payroll Tax The maximum amount of an employee’s 2022 earnings (and a...
Financial Statements Video Training Part 10 Income statement: formats (multiple-step, single-step, comparative, amounts as % of net sales) Must-Watch Video Learn How to Advance Your Accounting and Bookkeeping Career...
How do I calculate the amount of sales tax that is included in total receipts? Sales Tax Calculation To calculate the sales tax that is included in a company’s receipts, divide the total amount received (for the items...
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...
Bookkeeping Video Training Part 8 Adjusting entries: accrued expenses, reversing the accrual of expenses after the accounting period is over Must-Watch Video Learn How to Advance Your Accounting and Bookkeeping Career...
Where does the interest paid on bank loans get reported on the statement of cash flows. Definition of Interest on Bank Loans The interest on bank loans is usually an expense of the accounting period in which the interest...
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...
Is it okay to have negative amounts in the equity section of the balance sheet? Definition of Equity Section of the Balance Sheet The equity section of the balance sheet is known as: Owner’s equity if it is a sole...
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,...
Our Explanation of Payroll Accounting discusses the taxes and benefits which are withheld from employees' pay as well as the taxes and benefits that are expenses for the employers. Also provided are examples of the...
Bookkeeping Video Training Part 3 Accounts for expenses are debited, the income statement and balance sheet are connected, accrual method of accounting Must-Watch Video Learn How to Advance Your Accounting and...
Bookkeeping Video Training Part 12 Bank reconciliation: process to determine the true or adjusted amount of cash, journal entries needed for adjustments to book balance Must-Watch Video Learn How to Advance Your...
Financial Statements Video Training Part 1 Introduction to the main financial statements and accounting rules, balance sheet heading and sections, reporting of cash Must-Watch Video Learn How to Advance Your Accounting...
Bookkeeping Video Training Part 10 Adjusting entries: recap of accruals, deferrals, one balance sheet account and one income statement account will be affected Must-Watch Video Learn How to Advance Your Accounting and...
What causes an unfavorable fixed overhead budget variance? An unfavorable fixed overhead budget variance results when the actual amount spent on fixed manufacturing overhead costs exceeds the budgeted amount. The fixed...
What is the break-even formula? Break-even Point in Units of Product The formula for determining the break-even point in units of product sold is: total fixed expenses divided by the contribution margin per unit. For...
What are direct costs? Definition of Direct Costs Direct costs are directly traceable to a cost object such as a product or a department. In other words, direct costs do not have to be allocated to a product, department,...
What is net present value? Definition of Net Present Value Net present value is the combination of 1) the present value of cash inflows, and 2) the present value of the cash outflows. To arrive at these present value...
What is the difference between correlation and cause and effect? Definition of Correlation Correlation refers to the association between two or more variables. The association is measured by a statistic known as the...
What is the difference between prime costs and conversion costs? Cost Categories of a Manufactured Product Prime costs and conversion costs pertain to the three cost categories of a manufactured product: Direct materials...
What happens when the high-low method ends up with a negative amount? The high-low method of determining the fixed and variable portions of a mixed cost relies on only two sets of data: 1) the costs at the highest level...
How do you reduce a company's break-even point? Definition of Break-even Point The break-even point is the level of sales where a company’s income statement will report exactly zero net income. The level of sales can...
as a current asset. Example of Insurance Expense Let’s assume that a retailer has insurance policies for its property, general liability, vehicles, and employees’ worker compensation, medical, dental, life, and...
Can a cost be both a direct cost and an indirect cost? A cost can be both a direct cost and an indirect cost. One of many examples is the cost of a supervisor in a department within a factory. Let’s assume that Sam...
Are there two ABC methods in accounting? Some accountants use ABC to mean Activity Based Costing. Under this ABC a manufacturer will use many cost drivers to assign overhead costs to products. The objective of Activity...
What is the break-even point? Definition of Break-even Point In accounting, the break-even point refers to the revenues necessary to cover a company’s total amount of fixed and variable expenses during a specified...
What is a cost driver? Ideally, a cost driver is an activity that is the root cause of why a cost occurs. In the past century, the root cause of indirect manufacturing costs has changed from a single cost driver (such as...
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...
What is capital budgeting? Definition of Capital Budgeting Capital budgeting is a process used by companies for evaluating and ranking potential capital expenditures or investments that are significant in amount. A few...
What is the payback reciprocal? The payback reciprocal is a crude estimate of the rate of return for a project or investment. The payback reciprocal is computed by dividing the digit “1” by a project’s payback...
What is a plant-wide overhead rate? Definition of Plant-wide Overhead Rate A plant-wide overhead rate is often a single rate per hour or a percentage of some cost that is used to allocate or assign a company’s...
What is a cost variance? Definition of Cost Variance Generally a cost variance is the difference between the actual amount of a cost and its budgeted or planned amount. For example, if a company had actual repairs...
What is a sunk cost? Definition of Sunk Cost A sunk cost is a cost that was incurred in the past and cannot be undone. Since most transactions cannot be undone, most amounts spent in the past are sunk. A past or sunk...
Featured Review
"My current position is as a business broker. I became a PRO user of AccountingCoach because I wanted to learn bookkeeping as a side job during the pandemic. The site is laid out in a very logical way, and it's very easy to follow. I love that there are tests along the way to check your knowledge. I first enrolled in AccountingCoach during the depths of the pandemic. I was stuck in a foreign country and couldn't return to the US, so I started to look for skills I could use to build an income. I chose bookkeeping and stumbled upon AccountingCoach. In a matter of weeks, I went from knowing nothing, to freelancing for clients. Later, I started a business and was able to handle all of my own books thanks to what I learned from AccountingCoach. After selling that business, I started helping others buy and sell their businesses as a business broker. Reading and understanding financial statements is an essential skill in this line of work. It is not a stretch to say that AccountingCoach is the highest ROI investment into my education that I have ever made!" - Ross Z.
Join PRO or PRO Plus and Get Lifetime Access to Our Premium Materials
Read all 2,645 reviews
For the past 52 years, Harold Averkamp (CPA, MBA) has
worked as an accounting supervisor, manager, consultant, university instructor, and innovator in teaching accounting online. He is the sole author of all the materials on AccountingCoach.com.
We now offer 10 Certificates of Achievement for Introductory Accounting and Bookkeeping: