What are adjusting entries? Definition of Adjusting Entries Adjusting entries are usually made on the last day of an accounting period (year, quarter, month) so that a company’s financial statements comply with the...
What are adjusting entries? Definition of Adjusting Entries Adjusting entries are usually made on the last day of an accounting period (year, quarter, month) so that a company’s financial statements comply with the...
Where are accruals reflected on the balance sheet? Definition of Accruals The accrual of expenses and liabilities refers to expenses and/or liabilities that a company has incurred, but the company has not yet paid or...
What is meant by the term relevance in accounting? Definition of Relevance In accounting, the term relevance could mean one of the following: An amount, disclosure, etc. that will make a difference to the decision maker...
Which accounts get closed at the end of a fiscal year? The temporary accounts get closed at the end of an accounting year. Temporary accounts include all of the income statement accounts (revenues, expenses, gains,...
What is the three-way match? Definition of Three-Way Match In the accounting and bookkeeping area of accounts payable, the three-way match refers to a procedure used when processing an invoice received from a vendor or...
Why is the accuracy of inventory valuation so important? Definition of Inventory Accuracy Inventory accuracy means the following: Accurate counts of the items in inventory Proper cost of each item in inventory (based on...
What is gross profit? Definition of Gross Profit Gross profit is defined as net sales minus the cost of goods sold. Gross profit is sometimes referred to as gross margin. (However, gross margin can also mean the gross...
What is a customer deposit? Definition of Customer Deposit A customer deposit could be money that a company receives from a customer prior to the company earning it (by providing the customer with goods or services). In...
What are common-size financial statements? Common-size financial statements present the financial statement amounts as a percentage of a base number. For example, the common-size income statement will report the revenue...
What is a contingent asset? Definition of Contingent Asset A contingent asset is a potential asset that is associated with a potential gain. The asset and gain are contingent because they are dependent upon some future...
What is Notes Payable? Definition of Notes Payable In accounting, Notes Payable is a general ledger liability account in which a company records the face amounts of the promissory notes that it has issued. The balance in...
How do I record a loan payment which includes paying both interest and principal? Definition of a Loan Payment A loan payment is likely to consist of three amounts: Total payment amount Interest payment Principal payment...
What are nonmanufacturing overhead costs? Definition of Nonmanufacturing Overhead Costs Nonmanufacturing overhead costs are the business expenses that are outside of a company’s manufacturing operations. In other...
How do I determine my payroll tax liabilities? Your payroll tax liabilities will include the following: Federal, state, and local income taxes withheld from employees’ wages, salaries, bonuses, etc. but not yet...
What is a calendar year? Definition of Calendar Year A calendar year is the 12 consecutive months from January through December. In other words, it is the 365 days (366 days in a leap year) beginning on January 1 and...
How do you record a check that clears the bank months after it was voided? Since you had voided the check months earlier, your general ledger no longer reflects 1) the original credit to the cash account, and 2) the...
What are capital expenditures? Definition of Capital Expenditures Capital expenditures are the amounts spent for tangible assets that will be used for more than one year in the operations of a business. Capital...
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 it necessary to allocate a lump sum payment to individual items? It is necessary to allocate a lump sum payment to individual items in order to record a fair portion of the lump sum in each of the proper general...
What is the consistency principle? Definition of Consistency In accounting, consistency requires that a company’s financial statements follow the same accounting principles, methods, practices and procedures from one...
What is Subchapter S? Subchapter S refers to a section of Chapter 1 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. A subchapter S corporation, which is also referred to as an S corporation, is a corporation that does not pay the...
What is the difference between expense and loss? Definition of Expense An expense is a cost that a company incurs or uses up when it earns revenues. Examples of Expenses A few examples of the many expenses that a company...
What is Big 4 Accounting? In accounting, the Big 4 refers to the four largest public accounting and auditing firms: Deloitte PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Ernst & Young (EY) KPMG These certified public accounting (CPA)...
How do you estimate the amount of uncollectible accounts receivable? Definition of Estimating Uncollectible Accounts Receivable When a company sells goods and/or provides services on account (on credit) using the accrual...
Should a retailer's delivery surcharges be reported as revenues or as other income? I believe that a retailer’s delivery surcharges are a price adjustment and should be reported as operating revenues. The surcharges...
What is annualizing? Definition of Annualizing Annualizing means taking a partial year amount and converting it to a full year amount. We will use several examples to illustrate how this works. Examples of Annualizing A...
Why does commitment and contingencies appear on the balance sheet without an amount? Definition of Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and contingencies is a balance sheet line with no amount reported. The line...
Where do credit card payments get recorded? Definition of Credit Card Payments We define a credit card payment as the amount a company remits to the credit card company for the purchases that occurred by using the credit...
What is a bond? There are several business definitions for bond. A bond could be a formal debt instrument issued by a corporation or government and purchased by investors. This is the meaning when we say that a public...
What is lead time in purchasing? In purchasing, lead time is the estimated time between ordering goods and receiving the goods. For instance, if 100 units of Product X are ordered on April 11 and are expected to be...
Where can I get official information for federal payroll taxes? For official information on federal payroll taxes we recommend the Internal Revenue Service Publication 15 which is known by two names: Circular E and...
Is an entry made for outstanding checks when preparing a bank reconciliation? Definition of Outstanding Checks Outstanding checks are checks written by the company, recorded in the company accounts, but not yet appearing...
With regard to depreciation, what does the term mid-month convention mean? Definition of Mid-Month Convention In depreciation, the mid-month convention means that an asset placed into service anytime during a given...
What is premium on bonds payable? Definition of Premium on Bonds Payable Premium on bonds payable (or bond premium) occurs when bonds payable are issued for an amount greater than their face or maturity amount. This is...
What is a comparative income statement? A comparative income statement will consist of two or three columns of amounts appearing to the right of the account titles or descriptions. For example, the income statement for...
What is net? In accounting, net usually refers to the combination of positive and negative amounts. For example, the amount of net sales is the combination of the amount of gross sales (a positive amount) and some...
What is a deferred expense? Definition of Deferred Expense A deferred expense refers to a cost that has occurred but it will be reported as an expense in one or more future accounting periods. To accomplish this, the...
What is the difference between unearned revenue and unrecorded revenue? Definition of Unearned Revenue In financial accounting, unearned revenue refers to money received prior to being earned. It is also referred to as...
What is the purpose of control accounts? Definition of Control Account A control account is a general ledger account containing only summary amounts. The details for each control account will be found in a related (but...
How do you account for a project under construction? Accounting for a Project Under Construction If a company is constructing a major project such as a building, assembly line, etc., the amounts spent on the project will...
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