Chapter 2 Flashcards
2 Primary Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting
- Relevance: Timely, Predictive, and has Feedback Value
- Faithful Representation: Accurate/Complete, Unbiased/Neutral, and Verifiable/Free from Material Error
Primary objective of External Financial Reporting
Provide economic information to external users for decision-making -> Communication vehicle
1. Useful in investment and credit decisions
2. Useful in making resource allocation decisions including assessing management stewardship
Secondary qualitative characteristics
- Comparability: Across businesses
- Consistency: Over time
- Understandability
- Verifiability
- Timeliness
3 Pre-requisites of an asset
- Past transaction
- Control
- Economic benefits
Principles of GAAP
- Separate entity: Transactions of business entity are separate from transactions of owners
- Going concern/continuity: The entity is expected to continue its operations in the foreseeable future. Justifies the use of cost principles
- Stable dollar/unit-of-measure: Only include items that can be measured in the national monetary unit/ Purchasing power of the unit does not change over time
- Time Period: The long life of a company can be reported over a series of short time periods-necessary to prepare annual f/s
- Historical cost: The cash equivalent cost given up is the basis for the initial recording of financial statement elements. Assets and liabilities are recorded at cost- how much you paid.
- Objectivity: the amount used in recording transactions is to be based on objective evidence rather than subjective judgments
- Matching: Requires that revenue and expenses are matched
- Full disclosure: Events that make a difference to users should be disclosed
- Revenue recognition: Revenue be assigned to the accounting period in which it is earned
Application of the same accounting methods over time
Consistency
The information is available prior to the decision
Timeliness
The information helps reduce uncertainty in the future
Predictive Value
The information provides input to evaluate previous expectations
Confirmatory Value
The information allows the evaluation of one alternative against one another & Implies that qualified persons working independently arrive at similar conclusions
Verifiability
Agreement between what really happened and the disclosed information
Faithful representation
The accounting information does not favor a particular group
Neutrality
The information allows the evaluation of one alternative against another
Comparability
Application of the same accounting methods overtime
Consistency
Elements (2nd level of accounting conceptual framework)
- Assets
- Liabilities
- Equity
- Revenus
- Expenses
- Gains
- Losses