Accounting Flashcards
What is accounting?
The process of measuring, interpreting, and communicating financial information to support internal and external business decision-making
Why is accounting important to owners, shareholders, potential investors, and creditors?
To evaluate operations of the firm to make investment decisions.
Why is accounting important to management?
To plan and control.
Why is accounting important to employees and union officials?
To use in contract negotiations.
Why is accounting important to lenders and suppliers?
To evaluate credit ratings.
Why is accounting important to government agencies, economic planners, and consumer groups? (2)
To evaluate tax liabilities.
To approve new issues of stocks and bonds.
Which business activities involve accounting? (3)
-Financing activities provide necessary funds to start a business and expand it after it begins operating.
• Investing activities provide valuable assets required to run a business.
• Operating activities focus on selling goods and services, but they also consider expenses as important elements of sound financial management.
What is Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)?
Principles that outline the conventions, rules, and procedures for deciding on the acceptable accounting practices at a particular time.
What is Accounting Standards Board (AcSB)?
The organization that interprets and modifies GAAP in Canada for private and not-for-profit businesses.
What are Canadian public companies are required to do?
To use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These standards allow for financial statements to be more easily compared from country to country.
What must Senior executives do?
Personally certify that the financial information reported by the company is correct.
What is Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act?
A federal law that prohibits Canadian citizens and companies from bribing foreign officials to win or continue business (in US Sarbanes-Oxley Act).
What is the Accounting cycle?
The set of activities involved in converting information and individual transactions into financial statements
What is the basic data of accounting?
Transactions
What are the three elements of accounting processing?
Record
Classify
Summarize
What are the four financial statements?
Balance sheet
Income statement
Statement of changes in equity
Statement of cashflows
What do financial statements provide?
They provide managers with the info they need to evaluate the firm’s profitability, its overall health, and its liquidity position - the ability to meet its current obligations and needs by converting assets into cash..
What is a balance sheet?
Statement of a firm’s financial position (What the firm owns versus what it owes) at a specific point in time.
What are the three aspects of a balance sheet?
Assets
Liabilities
Owner’s equity
What are the three types of assets?
Current assets
Fixed assets
Intangible assets
What are current assets?
Cash or tangible liquid assets that can be easily converted into cash and are expected to be used within the next year (cash, supplies, inventory, etc.)
What are Fixed assets?
Tangible assets that are expected to last one year or more (plant, equipment, land, etc.)
What are Intangible assets?
Intangible assets that are expected to last one year or more (e.g., patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc.)
What are the two types of liabilities?
Current liabilities
Long-term liabilities
What are Current liabilities?
Liabilities expected to be paid off within one year (e.g., wages, bank line of credit, bills that have money still owing, etc.)
What are Long-term liabilities?
Liabilities expected to not be paid off within the next year (e.g., bank loans, mortgages, etc.)
What is the Accounting equation?
Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s equity
What is Balanced Accounts & Double-entry bookkeeping?
The process used to record accounting transactions; each individual transaction is always balanced by another transaction
What is an Income statement?
A financial record of a company’s revenues, expenses, and profits over a specific period of time
What do income statements do? (2)
-Reports profit or loss
-Focus on revenues and costs associated with
revenues
What is a Statement of changes in equity?
A record of the change in equity from the end of one fiscal period to the end of the next fiscal period
How does the statement of changes in equity work? (2)
-Begins with the amount of equity shown on the
balance sheet
-Net income is added, and cash dividends paid
to owners are subtracted