What is an outlier? In cost accounting, an outlier could be a cost or its related level of activity that is out of line with other observations. An outlier can be detected by plotting each observation’s cost and...
What is an outlier? In cost accounting, an outlier could be a cost or its related level of activity that is out of line with other observations. An outlier can be detected by plotting each observation’s cost and...
What is a dividend and why is it needed? A dividend paid by a corporation is a distribution of profits to the owners of the corporation. The owners of a corporation are known as stockholders or shareholders. (In a sole...
What is miscellaneous expense? Definition of Miscellaneous Expense In accounting, miscellaneous expense may refer to a general ledger account in which small, infrequent transaction amounts are recorded. The account...
What is a source document? Definition of Source Document A source document is an original record which contains the detail that supports or substantiates a transaction that will be (or has been) entered in an accounting...
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 an irrevocable letter of credit? Definition of Irrevocable Letter of Credit An irrevocable letter of credit is a financial instrument used by banks to guarantee a buyer’s obligations to a seller. It is...
What are sundry expenses? Definition of Sundry Expenses In accounting and bookkeeping, sundry expenses are expenses that are small in amount and rare in occurrence. For these rare and insignificant expenses, a company...
What is depletion? Definition of Depletion In accounting, depletion refers to the expensing of a company’s cost of a natural resource. Ultimately, it means moving a natural resource’s cost from the company’s...
What is boilerplate? In business, boilerplate is a term to describe the standard wording that is contained in warranties and other documents. Generally, the information that is boilerplate is not subject to change....
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 is the distinction between debtor and creditor? Definition of Debtor A debtor is a person or enterprise that owes money to another party. The party to whom the money is owed might be a supplier, bank, or other...
Where can I find free CPA exam questions? We recently learned of the following website that offers free CPA exam questions: www.cpareviewforfree.com. This free CPA review site contains an enormous amount of CPA exam...
What is the difference between stockholder and shareholder? Definition of Stockholder and Shareholder The term stockholder or shareholder typically describes an investor who own shares of a corporation’s common stock....
Is the direct method still used in the statement of cash flows? The direct method is one of two methods allowed for preparing the statement of cash flows (or cash flow statement). The direct method is recommended by the...
Are repairs to office equipment an expense? Repairing and maintaining office equipment is an immediate expense. This is true even if the repair cost is a very large amount. If a large expenditure is made to improve...
What is a voided check? A voided check is a check written or partially written but then canceled or deleted by the maker of the check. The notation of “void” is used because checks are prenumbered for control...
What are term bonds and serial bonds? Term bonds are bonds which mature or come due on a single date. Serial bonds are bonds which do not mature or come due on a single date. Instead, serial bonds have maturity dates...
What is NIFO? NIFO is the acronym for next-in, first-out. NIFO is a cost flow assumption, just as FIFO and LIFO are cost flow assumptions. However, NIFO is not acceptable for financial reporting since it calls for a...
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 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...
What is the proper use of the words lend and borrow? If a company is granted a loan from its bank, the company is borrowing money from its bank, and the bank is lending money to one of its customers. In other words, the...
What are the elements of financial statements? Definition of Elements of Financial Statements The elements of financial statements are the classes of items contained in the financial statements. Examples of Elements of...
Is an automobile loan payment an expense? Only the interest portion of an automobile loan payment is an expense. The principal portion of the loan payment is a reduction of the loan balance, which is reported as a Note...
Which date is used to record a credit card transaction? When a business uses its credit card, the transaction date is the date the credit card is used, not the date that the credit card statement is paid. For example, if...
What is equity? Definitions and Examples of Equity Equity has several definitions that pertain to accounting: Equity can indicate an ownership interest in a business, such as stockholders’ equity or owner’s equity....
Where can I find a sample of a cash flow statement? A cash flow statement or statement of cash flows should be presented with a U.S. corporation’s annual financial statements. If a corporation’s stock is publicly...
What is the difference between information and data? I was taught that information is useful data. The point is there are lots of data (plural of datum) everywhere, and most of the data will not be useful to a decision...
What are marketable securities? Marketable securities are unrestricted financial instruments which can be readily sold on a stock exchange or bond exchange. Marketable securities are often classified into two groups:...
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 a basis point? A basis point is a hundredth (1/100) of a percentage point. Expressed another way, one percentage point is equal to 100 basis points. This means that if an interest rate drops by 1/2 of a...
Why do people start their businesses as sole proprietorships? I believe that people start their businesses as a sole proprietorship because a sole proprietorship can be formed easily, quickly, and with little cost....
What is the difference between public sector and private sector? Definition of Public Sector Public sector refers to: government-owned organizations, and government-provided services (Note: public sector entity is...
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 margin of safety? Definition of Margin of Safety In break-even analysis, the term margin of safety indicates the amount of sales that are above the break-even point. In other words, the margin of safety...
What is the difference between assets and fixed assets? Assets are resources owned by a company as the result of transactions. Examples of assets are cash, accounts receivable, inventory, prepaid insurance, land,...
What is credit analysis and financial analysis? Credit analysis is associated with the decision to grant credit to a customer. It is also part of a bank’s lending procedures for making a loan and monitoring the...
Our Explanation of Manufacturing Overhead gives you examples of what is included in manufacturing overhead. You will learn that these are indirect product costs and therefore are allocated to the products in order to...
Our Explanation of Adjusting Entries gives you a process and an understanding of how to make the adjusting entries in order to have an accurate balance sheet and income statement. Eight examples including T-accounts for...
Our Explanation of Accounting Principles provides you with clear and concise descriptions of the basic underlying guidelines of accounting. You will see how the accounting principles affect the balance sheet and income...
Our Explanation of Standard Costing uses an easy-to-relate to example for illustrating a manufacturer's standard costs and variances. Also provided is a chart which indicates each variance, what it tells you, and where...
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