Chapter 3 ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS Q3­1 A primary objective of financial reporting is to provide information that is useful to present and potential investors and creditors and other users in making rational investment, credit, and similar decisions. An accounting system is the means by which a company records and stores the financial and managerial information from its transactions so that it can retrieve and report the information in an accounting statement. A double­entry system standardizes the method that a company uses to record changes in its accounts resulting from various transactions or events. For each transaction or event that a company records, the dollar amount of the debits entered in all the related accounts must be equal to the total dollar amount of the credits. These debit or credit entries affect two or more accounts in the assets, liabilities, and stockholders' equity (including the temporary accounts). All normal accounts on the left side of the accounting equation (assets) are increased by debits and decreased by credits whereas accounts on the right side of the equation (liabilities and stockholders' equity) are increased by credits and decreased by debits. A permanent account is an account whose balance at the end of the accounting period is carried forward into the next accounting period. Examples: Cash, Accounts Payable, Capital Stock. A temporary account is an account that is used temporarily to determine the change in retained earnings that occurred during the accounting period. The balance in a temporary account is closed out at the end of the period. Examples: Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, Salaries Expense. The major financial statements of a company include: a. The income statement, which summarizes the results of the company's income­ producing activities for the accounting period. b. The balance sheet, which summarizes the amounts of the