...Questions: 2. State two generally accepted accounting principles that relate to adjusting the accounts. Matching Principle and Accrual basis Matching Principle - This accounting principle requires companies to use the accrual basis of accounting. The matching principle requires that expenses be matched with revenues. For example, sales commissions expense should be reported in the period when the sales were made (and not reported in the period when the commissions were paid). Wages to employees are reported as an expense in the week when the employees worked and not in the week when the employees are paid. If a company agrees to give its employees 1% of its 2008 revenues as a bonus on January 15, 2009, the company should report the bonus as an expense in 2008 and the amount unpaid at December 31, 2008 as a liability. (The expense is occurring as the sales are occurring.) Accrual basis - of accounting (as opposed to the cash basis of accounting), revenues are recognized as soon as a product has been sold or a service has been performed, regardless of when the money is actually received. Under this basic accounting principle, a company could earn and report $20,000 of revenue in its first month of operation but receive $0 in actual cash in that month. 3. Rick Marsh, a lawyer, accepts a legal engagement in March, performs the work in April, and is paid in May. If Marsh’s law firm prepares monthly financial statements, when should it recognize revenue from this engagement...
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...This week I have learned that accounting involves more than recording transactions and balancing accounts. Along with journalizing transactions and adjusting entries, the accounting cycle involves closing entries and preparing a post-closing trial balance. I believe that the most important skills learned in an accounting position is to understand the basic equation of accounting, assets + liabilities + stockholder’s equity. Most accounting goes back to this equation as the basis for balancing accounts when transactions are journalize. The two types of accounting methods used to maintain financial records and prepare reports are the accrual and cash basis accounting. Accrual basis accounting is accepted under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This principle states that the accounting transactions are recognized and recorded when the expense or revenue actually occurred, not when cash changes hands (James, 2012). The benefit of accrual basis accounting is expenses and revenues which can be matched as they happen, and much more effective for monitoring cash flow (Epstein, n.d.). Accrual accounting has a more complicated recording process than cash basis accounting which can be a disadvantage when it comes time to pay taxes. Since this accounting method requires that expenses and revenue are recorded right away, the taxes must be paid on the recorded revenue; even if it’s not been paid (Reference For Business, 2012). The adjusting entries are recorded at the...
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...Which Is Better, Equity Investment or Debt Investment? Take a few minutes to ponder the way the two investment alternatives answered the three questions. If you were advising Charlene, which investment would you suggest she make? If you were the one with the $500,000 to invest, which alternative would you choose? On the surface, it appears to be no contest. Although the answer to Question 1 was essentially the same for both alternatives, the debt investment alternative is much more certain in its answers to Questions 2 and 3 than is the equity investment alternative. So why would Charlene (or anyone, for that matter) even consider the equity investment as an alternative? The one-word answer to that question is POTENTIAL! Although risk is associated with any investment, equity investments are inherently riskier than debt investments. With the additional risk, however, comes the potential for greater reward. Assume that the following events happen during the five-year period of Charlene's two investment alternatives in Weatherman Corporation. The company earns net income each year of $10 million for the next five years. If Charlene chooses the bond alternative, she will receive $20,000 interest every six months for five years and then will receive her $500,000 back. But what if Weatherman’s net income turns out to be $100 million each year for the next five years, or even $1 billion each year? How will that affect Charlene’s return if she purchases the bonds? The answer is...
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...Accrual Accounting Concepts The Navigator • Scan Study Objectives • Read Feature Story • Read Preview • Read text and answer Before You Go On p. 169 p. 174 p. 183 • Work Using the Decision Toolkit • Review Summary of Study Objectives • Work Demonstration Problem • Answer Self-Study Questions • Complete Assignments Feature Story What Was Your Profit? The accuracy of the financial reporting system depends on answers to a few fundamental questions. At what point has revenue been earned? At what point is the earnings process complete? When have expenses really been incurred? During the 1990s' boom in the stock prices of dot-com companies, many dot-com companies earned most of their revenue from selling advertising space on their Web sites. To boost reported revenue, some dot-coms began swapping web-site ad space. Company A would put an ad for its website on company B's website, and company B would put an ad for its website on company A's website. No money ever changed hands, but each company recorded revenue (for the value of the space that it gave up on its site). This practice did little to boost net income and resulted in no additional cash flow—but it did boost reported revenue. Regulators eventually put an end to the practice. Another type of transgression results from companies recording revenue or expenses in the wrong year. In fact, shifting revenues and expenses is one of the most common abuses of financial accounting. Xerox recently...
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...periods. TRUE AACSB: Communications AICPA BB: Industry AICPA FN: Decision Making Difficulty: Easy Learning Objective: C1 3. Interim statements report a company's business activities for a 1-year period. FALSE AACSB: Communications AICPA BB: Industry AICPA FN: Decision Making Difficulty: Medium Learning Objective: C1 4. A fiscal year refers to an organization's accounting period that spans twelve consecutive months or 52 weeks. TRUE AACSB: Communications AICPA BB: Industry AICPA FN: Decision Making Difficulty: Medium Learning Objective: C1 5. Adjusting entries are made after the preparation of financial statements. FALSE AACSB: Communications AICPA BB: Industry AICPA FN: Decision Making Difficulty: Easy Learning Objective: C2 6. Adjusting entries result in a better matching of revenues and expenses for the period. TRUE AACSB: Communications AICPA BB: Industry AICPA FN: Decision Making Difficulty: Easy Learning Objective: C2 7. Two main accounting principles used in accrual accounting are matching and full closure. FALSE AACSB: Communications AICPA BB: Industry AICPA FN: Decision Making Difficulty: Easy Learning Objective: C2 8. Adjusting entries are used to bring asset or liability accounts to their proper amount and update the related expense or revenue account. TRUE AACSB: Communications AICPA BB: Industry AICPA FN: Decision Making Difficulty:...
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...Principles of Accounting I 04 November 2012 Learning Team Reflection – Week 3 This week, we have learned that accounting involves more than recording transactions and balancing accounts. Along with journalizing transactions and adjusting entries, the accounting cycle also involves closing entries and preparing a post-closing trial balance. We believe that the most important of the skills learned when we are in an accounting position is to understand the basic accounting equation, assets + liabilities + stockholder’s equity. Most accounting concepts all go back to this equation as the basis for balancing accounts when transactions are journalized in them. There are two types of accounting methods used to maintain financial records and prepare reports: accrual and cash basis accounting. Accrual basis accounting is the method that is accepted under the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). This principle holds that accounting transactions are recognized and recorded when the expense or revenue actually occurred, not when cash changes hands (James, 2012). The benefit of accrual basis accounting is that expenses and revenues can be matched as they happen, which is much more effective for monitoring cash flow (Epstein, n.d.). Accrual accounting has a more complex recording process than cash basis accounting and can be a disadvantage when it comes time to pay taxes. Because this accounting method requires...
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...Accrual Basis versus Cash Basis After external transactions and events are recorded for an accounting period, several ac- counts still need adjustments before their balances appear in financial statements. This need arises because internal transactions and events remain unrecorded. Accrual basis account- ing uses the adjusting process to recognize revenues when earned and to match expenses with revenues. Cash basis accounting recognizes revenues when cash is received and records expenses when cash is paid. This means that cash basis net income for a period is the difference between cash receipts and cash payments. Cash basis accounting is not consistent with generally accepted accounting principles. It is commonly held that accrual accounting better reflects business performance than in- formation about cash receipts and payments. Accrual accounting also increases the compar- ability of financial statements from one period to another. Yet cash basis accounting is use- ful for several business decisions—which is the reason companies must report a statement of cash flows. To see the difference between these two accounting systems, let’s consider FastForward’s Prepaid Insurance account. FastForward paid $2,400 for 24 months of insurance coverage beginning on December 1, 2004. Accrual accounting requires that $100 of insurance expense be reported on December’s income statement. Another $1,200 of expense is reported in year 2005, and the remaining $1,100 is reported as expense...
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...CHAPTER 3 THE ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEM IFRS questions are available at the end of this chapter. TRUE/FALSE AnswerNo.Description F1.Recording transactions. T2.Nominal accounts. F3.Real (permanent) accounts. F4.Internal event example. F5.Liability and stockholders’ equity accounts. F6.Debits and credits. F7.Steps in accounting cycle. T8.Purpose of trial balance. T9.General journal. F10.Posting and trial balance. T11.Adjusting entries for prepayments. T12.Example of accrued expense. F13.Book value of depreciable assets. T14.Reporting ending retained earnings. F15.Post-closing trial balance. F16.Closing entries and Income Summary. F17.Posting closing entries. F*18.Accrual basis accounting. F*19.Purpose of reversing entries. F*20.Adjusted trial balance. MULTIPLE CHOICE—Conceptual AnswerNo.Description d21.Purpose of an accounting system. d22.Necessity of accounting records. d23.Purpose of an accounting system. d24.Book of original entry. d25.Purpose of trial balance. d26.Identification of a real account. b27.Identification of a temporary account. a28.Temporary vs. permanent accounts. c29.Meaning of debit. c30.Double-entry system. a31.Effect on stockholders’ equity. a32.Transaction analysis. a33.Accounting equation. b34.Accounting process vs. accounting cycle. d35.Accounting cycle steps. d36.Criteria for recording...
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...CASH BASIS, MODIFIED CASH BASIS AND ACCRUAL BASIS OF ACCOUNTING Accrual Basis 1. The effects of transactions and other events on the accounts of a business are recognized and reported as they occur regardless of when cash is received or paid. 2. Revenues are recognized and reported when earned regardless of when cash is received. 3. Expenses are normally recognized in the period when it is incurred. 4. Requires recognition of accruals (accrued revenues and expenses) and deferrals (prepaid expenses and unearned income). 5. It attempts to better match revenues and expenses in determining the net income for an accounting period. 6. Adjustments are necessary at the end of the accounting period to update certain assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Pure Cash Basis 1. The effects of transactions and other events on the accounts of a business are recognized and reported only in the period when cash is actually received or paid. 2. Revenues are recognized in the period when cash is received irrespective of when earned. 3. Expenses are recognized in the period when cash is paid irrespective of when incurred. 4. There is no need to recognize accruals and deferrals since these items do no involve cash neither receipts nor payments. 5. Receivables are not taken up. 6. Values of inventories are ignored. 7. Property assets are treated as expenses 8. It does not give a good picture of profitability because net income is materially distorted. 9. It is straightforward...
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...“ACCRUAL VS CASH BASIS ACCOUNTING” Enrolled Name: Winda Wijaya Tutorial time: Thursday 11.00 AM Tutor: Ian Beck Accounting is the most crucial part in the business operation as it provides reports which show how well the business operates. In order to maintain a well-develop business, there are lots of things that should be taken into consideration by the business and one of them is choosing the right method to do the accounting. In this essay, two methods of doing accounting will be described specifically, such as: cash-basis accounting and accrual accounting along with advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. Also, this will explain how profit manipulation could occur in a business. The first method is cash-basis accounting which usually used by small businesses as it records only cash receipts and cash payments, ignoring all receivables, payables, etc (Horngren et al. 2007:12). It treated cash receipts like revenue and cash payments like expenses. It records cash receipts whenever there is cash inflows and records cash payments whenever there is a use of assets and expenses. The second method is accrual accounting which is used by most of the big businesses. According to Horngren et al. (2007:102), effect of each transactions made by business are recorded as it occurs in accrual accounting. Recognition of revenue and matching principle are applied. Revenue will be recorded right after it is earned, expenses will...
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...Team B Reflection Paper Accrual Basis versus Cash Basis A business can choose between two different accounting methods. Accrual basis and cash basis are two different methods that businesses can use to record the financial transactions. Under accrual basis, a business records revenue, whenever the money is earned instead of waiting to actually receive cash payments. The accrual basis accounting allows businesses to match revenues to the expenses incurred in earning them, providing the company with helpful information for financial reports. Under cash basis accounting, businesses wait to receive the money before recording it as revenue. The cash basis method is simple quick and easy, but if the business makes sales or purchases on credit, the cash basis method does not reflect the results of Operations. A trial balance is a list of all the balances of ledger accounts which is constructed after the preparation of adjusting entries in a business. An adjusted trial balance includes balances of revenues and expenses along with assets, liabilities, and equities. Adjusted balances can be used directly in the preparation of the statement changes in stockholder’s equity, income statement, and the balance sheet. However, the adjusted final balance sheet does not provide specific information regarding the preparation of the statement of cash flows. Here is an example of an adjusted trial balance for Company A on January 31, 2010("Accounting Explained", 2012). ...
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...of Cash Flows The statement of cash flows reports the cash receipts, cash payments, and the net change in cash resulting from the operating, investing, and financing activities of a company during the period. The information in a statement of cash flows should help investors, creditors, and others assess: ▪ The company’s ability to generate future cash flows. By examining relationships between items in the statement of cash flows, investors and others can better predict the amounts, timing, and uncertainty of future cash flows. ▪ The company’s ability to pay dividends and meet obligations. Employees, creditors, stockholders, and customers should be particularly interested in this statement because it alone shows the flows of cash in a business. ▪ The reasons for the difference between net income and net cash provided (used) by operating activities. Many financial statement users investigate the reasons for the difference between net income and cash provided by operating activities and then they can assess for themselves the reliability of the income numbers. ▪ The investing and financing transactions during the period. By examining a company’s investing activities and financing activities, a financial statement reader can better understand why assets and liabilities increased or decreased during the period. Study Objective 2 - Distinguish Among Operating, Investing, and Financing Activities The statement of cash flows classifies cash receipts...
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...13 chapter TAX ACCOUNTING OBJECTIVES After completing Chapter 13, you should be able to: 1. List what are permissible tax years. 2. Explain the requirements for changing a tax year. 3. Identify the available accounting methods. 4. Understand the rules for accounting method changes. 5. Account for the capitalization of inventory costs. 6. Describe long-term contract reporting. 7. Defi ne the installment method of accounting. 13–2 CCH FEDERAL TAXATION—COMPREHENSIVE TOPICS OVERVIEW The fi rst 12 chapters are presented primarily from the individual taxpayer’s point of view (including self-employed taxpayers). This chapter provides a general discussion of the previous material as it applies to other entities and provides a discussion of accounting periods and accounting methods as they apply to all entities. Discussions of specifi c provisions as they apply to other entities (e.g., corporations, partnerships, etc.) are contained in subsequent chapters. The term “fi nancial accounting” refers to the reporting of the fi nancial data of an enterprise through fi nancial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Income tax accounting, hereafter referred to as “tax accounting,” is concerned with the reporting of fi nancial data to satisfy the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, the Regulations which interpret the Code, rulings by the IRS which further interpret the Code and Regulations, and the decisions of the courts...
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...Accrual versus Cash Basis of Accounting Accrual-Basis Accounting * Transactions recorded in the periods in which the events occur. * Revenues are recognized when earned, even if cash was not received. * Expenses are recognized when incurred, even if cash was not paid. Cash-Basis Accounting * Revenues are recognized only when cash is received. * Expenses are recognized only when cash is paid. * Prohibited under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Which one of these statements about the accrual basis of accounting is false? a. Companies record events that change their financial statements in the period in which events occur, even if cash was not exchanged. b. Companies recognize revenue in the period in which it is earned. c. This basis is in accord with generally accepted accounting principles. d. Companies record revenue only when they receive cash, and record expense only when they pay out cash. What is the periodicity assumption? a. Companies should recognize revenue in the accounting period in which it is earned. b. Companies should match expenses with revenues. c. The economic life of a business can be divided into artificial time periods. d. The fiscal year should correspond with the calendar year. Which of the following statements is incorrect concerning the adjusted trial balance? a. An adjusted trial balance proves the equality of the total debit balances and...
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...the time period assumption. 2 Explain the accrual basis of accounting. 3 Explain the reasons for adjusting entries. 4 Identify the major types of adjusting entries. 5 Prepare adjusting entries for deferrals. 6 Prepare adjusting entries for accruals. 7 Describe the nature and purpose of an adjusted trial balance. The Navigator ✓ The Navigator Scan Study Objectives Read Feature Story Read Preview Work Demonstration Problem Review Summary of Study Objectives Answer Self-Study Questions Complete Assignments ■ ■ ■ Read text and answer Before You Go On p. 97 ■ p. 104 ■ p. 109 ■ p. 114 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ✓ Feature Story WHAT WAS YOUR PROFIT? The accuracy of the financial reporting system depends on answers to a few fundamental questions: At what point has revenue been earned? At what point is the earnings process complete? When have expenses really been incurred? During the 1990s’ boom in the stock prices of dot-com companies, many dot-coms earned most of their revenue from selling advertising space on their websites. To boost reported revenue, some dot-coms began swapping website ad space. Company A would put an ad for its website on company B’s website, and company B would put an ad for its website on company A’s website. No money changed hands, but each company recorded revenue (for the value of the space that it gave the other company on its site). This practice did little to boost net income, and it resulted in no additional cash flow—but it did boost reported revenue....
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