Exam 1 Flashcards
GAAP
Generally accepted accounting principles; a set of rules and practices that have authoritative support; FASB (financial accounting standard board) determines GAAP; SEC (securities and exchanges commission) enforces it
Two primary qualities of useful accounting information
Relevance and faithful representation
Five enhancing qualities of useful accounting information
Comparability, consistency, verifiability, timeliness, and understandability
Two characteristics of relevance
Predictive value, confirmatory value
Three characteristics of faithful representation
complete, neutral, free from error
Materiality
relates to a financial statement item’s impact on a company’s overall financial condition and operations; material- its size makes it likely to influence the decision of an investor or creditor; immaterial- if it is too small to impact a decision maker; if it does not make a difference, the company does not need to follow GAAP in reporting it
Economic entity assumption
a business is a separate entity from its owner; financial transactions of a business are maintained separately from those of its owners personal transactions
Going concern assumption
assumes that a business will continue its operations for the foreseeable future when recording and reporting data (historical cost is related to this)
Monetary unit assumption
all transactions in the US are recorded in dollars and the financial statements only include those things that can be expressed in money (things such as customer satisfaction not included, and other important information)
Periodicity assumption
managers, owners, and others need periodic reports on the operations and financial conditions of a business in order to make informed decisions; the life of a business can be divided into artificial time periods for measurement and reporting purposes
Accrual basis assumption
transactions are recorded in the period in which the event occurs, not necessarily when the cash is received
Full disclosure principle
financial statements and notes should disclose all of the circumstances and events that would make a difference to financial statement users to aid them in fully understanding a company’s financial condition
Fair value principle
assets and liabilities should be reported in the statements at their fair value (what an item is worth and what would need to be paid to settle a liability)
Cost principle
assets are to be recorded and kept in the accounting records at their historical cost
Materiality constraint
accountants must follow GAAP for all material items reported in a company’s financial statements; immaterial items do not have to follow GAAP
Cost constraint
account standard-setters weigh the cost that companies will incur to provide the accounting information against the benefit that financial statement users will gain
Four things that affect stockholders’ equity
Revenues- increase, expenses- decrease, dividends- decrease, issuance of common stock, increase (REDI)
Accounting equation and how to find missing amounts
A = L + SE (CS + RE)
Debit
left side of an account (Dr.)
Credit
right side of an account (Cr.)
Double-entry accounting
the two-sided effect of each transaction is recorded in appropriate accounts; equality of debits and credits
Debits increase
expenses, assets, dividends (DEAD)
Credits increase
liabilities, revenues, stockholders’ equity (CLRS)
Transaction recording process steps
- analyze each transaction in terms of its effect on the accounts 2. enter the transaction information in a journal 3. transfer the journal information to the appropriate accounts in the ledger
Journal
for each transaction the journal shows the debit and credit effects on specific accounts; 1. discloses in one place the complete effect of a transaction 2. chronological record of transactions 3. helps to prevent or locate errors
Ledger
entire group of accounts maintained by a company; keeps in one place all the information about changes in specific account balances; general ledger contains all the assets, liabilities, stockholders’ equity, revenue, and expense accounts
Chart of accounts
Order: assets, liabilities, stockholders’ equity, revenues, and expenses; list of accounts
Journalizing
Entering transaction data in the journal; complete entry includes: 1. the date of the transaction 2. the accounts and amounts to be debited and credited 3. a brief explanation of the transaction; date is entered in date column, account debited is entered first at the left, account credited is indented on the next line under, debit column is left and credit column is right; important to use correct and specific account titles
Posting
process of transferring journal entry amounts to ledger accounts; accumulates the effects of journalized transactions in the individual accounts; steps: 1. date and debit amount shown in journal in appropriate columns of debit account 2. same for credit accounts
Trial balance
lists accounts and their balances at a given time; end of accounting period; in the order in which they appear in the ledger; debit amounts in left column and credit balances in the right column; debits and credits must be equal; may uncover errors in journalizing and posting; useful in preparation of financial statements; procedures: 1. list the account titles and their balances 2. total the debit column and credit column 3. verify the equality of the two columns
Errors in which the trial balance would still balance
- a transaction is not journalized 2. a correct journal entry is not posted 3. a journal entry is posted twice 4. incorrect accounts are used in journalizing or posting 5. offsetting errors are made in recording the amount of a transaction; as long as debits and credits are equal, even to the wrong account or in the wrong amount, the total debits will equal the total credits
Profitability ratios
Measure the operating success of a company for a given period of time; Earnings per share