What is a sale on credit? Definition of Sale on Credit A sale on credit is revenue earned by a company when it sells goods and allows the buyer to pay at a later date. This is also referred to as a sale on account....
What is a sale on credit? Definition of Sale on Credit A sale on credit is revenue earned by a company when it sells goods and allows the buyer to pay at a later date. This is also referred to as a sale on account....
What is EOQ? Definition of EOQ EOQ is the acronym for economic order quantity. The economic order quantity is the optimum quantity of an item to be purchased at one time in order to minimize the combined annual costs of...
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...
Why is a negative cash balance reported as a liability? The following will illustrate why a negative cash balance is reported as a liability instead of being reported as a negative asset amount. Company X writes checks...
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 the difference between gross profit and net profit? Definition of Gross Profit Gross profit is defined as net sales minus the cost of goods sold. Example of Gross Profit Assume that a retailer had gross sales of...
Why does a cost system developed for inventory valuation distort product cost information? The cost system for inventory valuation may have been developed to provide a reasonable total cost of inventory and a reasonable...
What is a current asset? Definition of Current Asset A current asset is a company’s cash and its other assets that are expected to be converted to cash within one year of the date appearing in the heading of the...
What is the purpose of depreciation? Purpose of Depreciation The purpose of depreciation is to achieve the matching principle of accounting. That is, a company is attempting to match the historical cost of a productive...
Is the reversal of a previous year's accrued expense permanent? Definition of Reversal of Accrued Expense An accrued expense typically requires an accrual adjusting entry recorded at the end of an accounting year (or any...
What is an annuity in present value calculations? In present value calculations, an annuity is a series of equal cash amounts occurring at equal time intervals. The identical cash amounts are sometimes referred to as...
What is the net method? Definition of Net Method In accounting, the net method likely refers to the way a company records each vendor’s invoice that offers an early payment discount. Example of Net Method Assume that a...
What is a contra asset account? Definition of Contra Asset Account A contra asset account is an asset account where the account balance is a credit balance. It is described as “contra” because having a credit balance...
What is a capital expenditure versus a revenue expenditure? Definition of Capital Expenditure A capital expenditure is an amount spent to acquire or significantly improve the capacity or capabilities of a long-term asset...
Why is inventory turnover important? Definition of Inventory Turnover A company’s inventory turnover is often expressed as the company’s cost of goods sold for a year divided by the average cost of inventory during...
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...
Where does the purchase of equipment show up on a profit and loss statement? Reporting the Purchase of Equipment Assuming that the purchase of equipment is a long-term or noncurrent asset that will be used in a business,...
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 does Accumulated Depreciation tell us? Definition of Accumulated Depreciation Accumulated depreciation reports the amount of depreciation that has been recorded from the time an asset was acquired until the date of...
How do you record the interest that is unpaid on a note payable? Definition of Interest Unpaid on Note Payable Interest that has occurred, but has not been paid as of a balance sheet date, is referred to as accrued...
What is the difference between an accrual and a deferral? Definition of an Accrual An accrual pertains to: expenses that should be reported now, but have not yet been recorded or paid, and revenues that should be...
In adjusting entries, how do I know which T-accounts to use? We illustrate the common adjusting entries with the use of T-accounts in the Explanation of the Topic Adjusting Entries available for your reading at no...
How do you account for payroll withholdings for health insurance? Definition of Payroll Withholdings for Health Insurance Payroll withholdings for health insurance are the amounts deducted from employees’ pay for their...
How do I calculate the cost of goods sold for a manufacturing company? Calculation of the Cost of Goods Sold for a Manufacturer The calculation of the cost of goods sold for a manufacturing company is: Beginning...
What is the net book value of a noncurrent asset? The net book value of a noncurrent asset is the net amount reported on the balance sheet for a long-term asset. To illustrate net book value, let’s assume that several...
What does it mean to recognize an expense? Definition of Recognize an Expense To recognize an expense means to report the proper amount of an expense on the income statement for the appropriate accounting period. When...
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...
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...
What is accumulated depreciation? Definition of Accumulated Depreciation Accumulated depreciation is the total amount of a plant asset’s cost that has been allocated to depreciation expense (or to manufacturing...
What is the transaction approach and balance sheet approach to measuring net income? The transaction approach to measuring net income is the traditional bookkeeping and accounting method. That is, individual transactions...
What is the profit and loss statement? Definition of Profit and Loss Statement The profit and loss statement, or P&L, is a name sometimes used to describe a company’s income statement, statement of income, statement of...
What are gains? Definition of Gains In financial accounting, gains often pertain to some of a company’s transactions which occur outside of the company’s main business activities. Transactions which are outside of a...
What is purchase discounts lost? Definition of Purchase Discounts Lost The account Purchase Discounts Lost is a general ledger account used by a company that records vendors’ invoices using the net method. A debit...
What is leverage? Definition of Leverage In accounting and finance, leverage is the use of a significant amount of debt to purchase an asset, operate a company, acquire another company, etc. Since the cost of debt is...
What is the difference between financial accounting and management accounting? Definition of Financial Accounting Financial accounting has its focus on the financial statements which are distributed to stockholders,...
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 the ways to value inventory? Definition of Valuing Inventory Generally, the financial statements of a U.S. company must report its inventory at its historical cost (not at its selling prices). Inventories are to...
What is the periodic inventory system? Definition of Periodic Inventory System The periodic inventory system does not update the general ledger account Inventory when a company purchases goods to be resold. Rather than...
What is a bank reconciliation? What is a Bank Reconciliation A bank reconciliation is a process performed by a company to ensure that its records (check register, general ledger account, balance sheet, etc.) are correct....
What is inventory change and how is it measured? Definition of Inventory Change Inventory change is the difference between the amount of last period’s ending inventory and the amount of the current period’s ending...
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