Is there a relationship between direct materials variances and direct labor variances? Definition of Direct Materials Variances Direct materials variances (pertaining to standard costing) commonly consist of two...
Is there a relationship between direct materials variances and direct labor variances? Definition of Direct Materials Variances Direct materials variances (pertaining to standard costing) commonly consist of two...
What is a stock split? Definition of Stock Split A stock split usually refers to a corporation dividing its existing number of shares of common stock into a greater number of shares. For instance, a corporation with...
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...
Where do dividends appear on the financial statements? Definition of Dividends Cash dividends are a distribution of a company’s profits. Financial Statements of a Corporation The main financial statements of a...
What is the difference between revenues and receipts? Definition of Revenues A company’s revenues are amounts it has earned as the result of business activities such as selling merchandise or performing services. Under...
What is the difference between the terms capitalize and depreciate? Definition of Capitalize In accounting, the term capitalize refers to adding an amount to the balance sheet as an asset (as opposed to immediately...
What is inventory valuation? Definition of Inventory Valuation In the U.S., inventory valuation is the dollar amount associated with the items remaining in a company’s inventory. Generally speaking, the amount is the...
What is a comparative balance sheet? Definition of Comparative Balance Sheet A comparative balance sheet typically has two columns of amounts that appear to the right of the account titles or other descriptions such as...
What are accrued expenses and when are they recorded? Accrued Expenses Accrued expenses are expenses that have occurred but are not yet recorded in the company’s general ledger. This means these expenses will not...
Why is Accumulated Depreciation an asset account? Definition of Accumulated Depreciation The account Accumulated Depreciation reports the total amount of depreciation expense that has been recorded from the time the...
What is the difference between periodic and perpetual inventory systems? Periodic Inventory System In a periodic system the account Inventory: Has only the ending balance from the previous accounting year Excludes the...
What are accounting ratios? Definition of Accounting Ratios Accounting ratios, which are also known as financial ratios, are one part of financial statement analysis. Accounting ratios will often relate one financial...
Why are sales a credit? Definition of Sales In accounting, sales are revenues earned when a company transfers ownership of its goods to its customers. Under the accrual basis or method of accounting, the sale occurs when...
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...
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 an asset account? Definition of an Asset Account An asset account is a general ledger account used to sort and store the debit and credit amounts from a company’s transactions involving the company’s...
What is a contingent liability? Definition of Contingent Liability A contingent liability is a potential liability that may or may not become an actual liability. Whether the contingent liability becomes an actual...
What is the difference between par and no par value stock? Definition of Par Value Stock Some states’ laws require or may have required common stock issued by corporations residing in their states to have a par value....
Which items on a bank reconciliation will require a journal entry? Journal Entries for Bank Reconciliation The items on the bank reconciliation that require a journal entry are the items noted as adjustments to books....
What is capex? Definition of Capex Capex is a shortened form of the term capital expenditure or capital expenditures. Capex is often used when referring one or both of the following: Actual amounts that were spent during...
Why are average balance sheet amounts used in calculating the turnover ratios? In the calculation of a turnover ratio, the numerator is an amount from an annual income statement, while the denominator is a balance sheet...
What is cost accounting? Definition of Cost Accounting Cost accounting is involved with the following: Determining the costs of products, processes, projects, etc. in order to report the correct amounts on a company’s...
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 disinvestment? In business, disinvestment means to sell off certain assets such as a manufacturing plant, a division or subsidiary, or product line. Disinvestment is sometimes described as the opposite of capital...
What is the provision for bad debts? Definition of Provision for Bad Debts The provision for bad debts could refer to the balance sheet account also known as the Allowance for Bad Debts, Allowance for Doubtful Accounts,...
What are dividends? In accounting, dividends often refers to the cash dividends that a corporation pays to its stockholders (or shareholders). Dividends are often paid quarterly, but could be paid at other times. For a...
What do negative variances indicate? Definition of Negative Variances on Accounting Reports Negative variances are the unfavorable differences between two amounts, such as: The amount by which actual revenues were less...
What are byproducts? Byproducts, or by-products, are products with relatively little value that emerge from a common process along with the main products. The main products have significant value and are referred to as...
What is stock? Definition of Stock In business there are at least common meanings for the term stock: Some people use the word stock to mean inventory. In other words, they mean the goods (products, component parts,...
What is workers' compensation insurance? Workers’ compensation insurance is likely to be an insurance policy obtained by a company to cover the medical costs and lost wages for its employees’ work-related injuries...
What is the difference between bad debt and doubtful debt? Definition of Bad Debt and Doubtful Debt In accounting, the terms bad debt and doubtful debt usually refer to the amounts owed by a company’s customers who...
Can I capitalize this year's R&D? Generally, R&D costs cannot be capitalized for U.S. financial statements according to the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 2, Accounting for Research and Development...
What is the difference between depreciation expense and accumulated depreciation? Definition of Depreciation Expense Depreciation expense is the amount of depreciation that is reported on the income statement. In other...
What is an early payment discount? Definition of Early Payment Discount An early payment discount is a reduction in the amount on a supplier’s invoice if the customer pays the supplier promptly. The early payment...
Where should a business report cash which is restricted to purchase a long-term asset? The cash which a business has restricted to purchase a long-term asset should be reported on the balance sheet under the asset...
Why are expenses debited? Why Expenses Are Debited Expenses cause owner’s equity to decrease. Since owner’s equity’s normal balance is a credit balance, an expense must be recorded as a debit. At the end of the...
What does a balance sheet tell us? Definition of Balance Sheet A balance sheet reports the dollar amounts of a company’s assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity (or stockholders’ equity) as of midnight of the...
What is the difference between cost and price? Definition of Cost and Price In accounting, the term cost can mean the cash or cash equivalent amount a company paid to acquire an asset or the amount of an expense it...
What is the FISH inventory method? FISH is the acronym for first-in, still-here. FISH is an attempt to bring humor to the fact that some items have been sitting in inventory for years. Unlike FIFO and LIFO, which are...
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...
Featured Review
"I needed a refresher course in Accounting as most of my professional work has been in Finance and other areas where I don't apply accounting skills regularly. I needed to go over accounting concepts as job interviews test you on general accounting skills and I was in the process of looking for new employment. As I started reading through the materials, I found them very easy to understand. The topics are great for anyone who is looking for a refresher or trying to get in the Accounting world. I upgraded to AccountingCoach PRO as I wanted to have more testing materials to make sure I understood the topics thoroughly. Overall, I think the investment is so much worth the price for the information provided. I recommend AccountingCoach to anyone trying to understand the basics of accounting and its applications in the real world. Thank you for such a great course." - Roger S.
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: