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Simerpreet
SimerpreetHelpful
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Explain Business entity, money measurement concept, Going concern concept etc.

Accounting ConceptsGAAP
  2. AbhishekBatabyal Helpful Pursuing CA, BCOM (HONS)
    This answer was edited.

    Accounting Concepts Accounting concepts are the rules, assumptions and methods generally accepted by accountants in the preparation and presentation of financial statements of an entity. These concepts have been developed by the accounting profession for a long period. These concepts constitute theRead more

    Accounting Concepts

    Accounting concepts are the rules, assumptions and methods generally accepted by accountants in the preparation and presentation of financial statements of an entity. These concepts have been developed by the accounting profession for a long period.

    These concepts constitute the foundation of accounting and one has to be aware of them to maintain correct and uniform financial statements.

    I have listed and briefly explained the following accounting concepts.

    1. Entity Concept 
    2. Money Measurement concept 
    3. Going on concern 
    4. Periodicity concept 
    5. Accrual concept 
    6. Cost concept 
    7. Realisation concept 
    8. Matching concept 
    9. Dual aspect concept 
    10. Conservatism concept 
    11. Materiality concept 
    12. Consistency concept

     

    #1 Entity Concept 

    As per this concept, the business and its owner are separate entities from the point of view of accounting. It means the assets and liabilities of the business and owner are not the same. 

    However, in the eyes of law, the business and its owner may be a single entity.

     

    #2 Money measurement concept

    This concept states that the transaction which can be measured in terms of money shall only be recorded in the books of accounts.

    Any transaction which cannot be measured in terms of money shall not be recorded.

    #3 Going concern concept 

    Going concern concept is also a fundamental accounting assumption. It assumes that an enterprise will continue to be in business for the foreseeable future.

    It means its accounts will also be prepared to take such assumptions that the business will continue in future.

     

    #4 Periodicity concept 

    The periodicity concept states an entity needs to carry out accounting for a definite period, generally for a year known as the accounting period. The period can also be half-year or a quarter.

    The cycle of accounting restarts at the start of every accounting period.

     

    #5 Accrual concept 

    The word accrual comes from the word

    As per the accrual concept, the expense and incomes are recorded in the books of accounts in the period in which they are expected to incur whether payment in cash is made or cash is received or not.

    For example, the salary to be paid by a business is to be recorded as an expense in the year in which it is expected or liable to be paid.

     

    #6 Cost concept 

    It is concerned with the purchase of the assets of a business. As per the cost concept, a business shall record any asset in its books at the acquisition cost or purchase cost.

     

    #7 Realisation concept 

    This concept is concerned with the sale of assets. A business shall record the sale of the assets in its books only at the realised cost.

     

    #8 Matching concept 

    As per this concept, revenue earned during a period should be matched with the expenses incurred in that period. In short, an entity needs to record the income and the expenses of the same period.

     

    #9  Dual concept 

    This concept is the foundation of double-entry accounting. Dual concepts state that every transaction has two effects, debit and credit. 

    One or more accounts may be debited and other one or more accounts are credited so that the total amount of debit and credit equals.

     

    #10 Conservatism concept 

    The conservatism concept states that an entity has to account for expected losses and expenses but not for future expected profits and gains.

     

    #11 Materiality concept 

    As per this concept, only those items which are material should be shown in the financial statements of an entity. It says that items which are immaterial or insignificant in terms of value or importance to stakeholders can be ignored.

     

    #12 Consistency concept 

    It says that an entity should follow consistent accounting policies every accounting period so that a comparison can be made among the financial statements of different accounting periods.

     

    GAAP 

    Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP is a combination of authoritative standards which are set by policy boards and commonly accepted methods of recording and presenting accounting information. 

    GAAP or US GAAP is formulated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or FASB  and almost state in the USA is compliant with GAAP. 

    The main goal of the GAAP is to ensure that the financial statements of an entity are complete, consistent and comparable.

    It can be said accounting concepts are part of GAAP.

     

    Ten key principles of GAAP

    #1 Principle of regularity

    It states that an accountant has to comply with GAAP regulations as a standard.

     

    #2 Principle of Consistency

    Accountants should be committed to applying the same set of standards throughout the accounting and reporting process, from one period to another. This is to be done to ensure comparability of financial statements between periods.  

    Also, the accountants have to fully disclose and explain the reason behind any changed or updated standards in the note of accounts of financial statements.

     

    #3 Principle of sincerity

    It states that the accountant should strive to provide an accurate and unbiased view of the financial situation of a company.

     

    #4 Principle of Permanence of Methods

    As per this principle, a company should be consistent in procedures used in financial statements so that it allows the comparison of the company’s financial information.

     

    #5 Principle of Non-Compensation

    Both negative and positive should be reported with full transparency. There should be no debt compensation i.e. debt should not be set off against any asset or expenses against revenue.

    #6 Principle of Prudence

    It states that financial data presentation should be fact-based. This principle is similar to the conservatism concept.

     

    #7 Principle of Continuity

    This is as same the going concern concept. It states that while valuing assets, it should assume that the business will continue for the foreseeable future.

     

    #8 Principle of Periodicity

    It is the same as the matching concept. It states that the revenue and expenses should be recorded in the period in which they occur.

     

    #9 Principle of Materiality

    Accountants should disclose all the financial information that is significant in the decision-making of the users of financial statements.

     

    #10 Principle of Utmost Good Faith

    It states that all parties to a transaction should act honestly and not mislead or hide crucial information from one another.

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Radha
Radha
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Internal Users
  2. Vijay Curious M.Com
    This answer was edited.

    One of the main purposes of accounting is to provide financial data to its users so that decisions are taken at an appropriate time. These users of accounting information are broadly classified into (a) internal users and (b) external users. Since the question concentrates on internal users I’ll beRead more

    One of the main purposes of accounting is to provide financial data to its users so that decisions are taken at an appropriate time. These users of accounting information are broadly classified into (a) internal users and (b) external users. Since the question concentrates on internal users I’ll be explaining internal users of accounting information in detail.

    Internal users are people within an organization/business who need accounting information to make day-to-day decisions.

    The various internal users of accounting information include:

    • Owners/Promoters/Directors:

    Owners are the people who contribute capital to the business and therefore they are interested to know the profit earned or loss incurred by the business as well as the safety of their capital. In the case of a Sole Proprietorship, the proprietor is the owner of the business. In the case of a Partnership, the partners are considered as the owners of the firm.

    The use for them: To know how the business is doing financially, owners need to know the profit and loss reflected in the financial statements.

    • Management:

    Management is responsible for setting objectives, formulating plans, taking informed decisions, and ensuring that pre-planned objectives are met within the stipulated time period.

    The use for them: To achieve objectives, management needs accounting information to make decisions related to determining the selling price, budgeting, cost control and reduction, investing in new projects, trend analysis, forecasting, etc.

    • Employees/Workers:

    Employees and workers are the ones who implement the plans set by the management. Their well-being is dependent on the profitability of the business.

    The use for them: They are interested to check the financial statements so that they can get a better knowledge of the business. Some organizations also give their employees a share in their profits in the form of a bonus at the year-end. This also creates an interest in the employees to check the financial statements.

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Aadil
AadilCurious
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  2. Simerpreet Helpful CMA Inter qualified
    This answer was edited.

    Receipts and payment account is a summary of cash transactions prepared at the end of the accounting period from the cash book where the transactions are recorded in chronological order. It is an Asset/ Real Account that records both revenue and capital receipts and payments. It is mainly prepared fRead more

    Receipts and payment account is a summary of cash transactions prepared at the end of the accounting period from the cash book where the transactions are recorded in chronological order. It is an Asset/ Real Account that records both revenue and capital receipts and payments. It is mainly prepared for non-profit organizations and helps in the preparation of final accounts.

    Proforma

    Income and Expenditure Account is an account prepared by not-for-profit organizations to see whether the income of a particular period is sufficient to cover the expenses of that period. If the revenue is more than the expenses, it is known as “Surplus” or “Excess of Income over Expenditure” and if the expenses are more than Income, it is known as “Deficit” or “Excess of Expenditure over Income”. The account is prepared on the accrual basis of accounting i.e. all revenue incomes whether received or not and all revenue expenditures of the period whether paid or not are taken into account. However, in case of surplus, the money is not distributed among the members. Similarly, if there is a deficit it is not borne by the members.

    Proforma

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Bonnie
BonnieCurious
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  2. AbhishekBatabyal Helpful Pursuing CA, BCOM (HONS)
    This answer was edited.

    Fictitious assets On seeing or hearing ‘fictitious’, the words which come to our mind are ‘not true, ‘fake’ or ‘fantasy’. So, fictitious assets are those items that appear on the assets side of the balance sheet but are actually not assets. In substance, fictitious assets are the expenses and lossesRead more

    Fictitious assets

    On seeing or hearing ‘fictitious’, the words which come to our mind are ‘not true, ‘fake’ or ‘fantasy’. So, fictitious assets are those items that appear on the assets side of the balance sheet but are actually not assets.

    In substance, fictitious assets are the expenses and losses that are not completely written off in a financial year and are required to be carried forward to the next financial year.

    The examples of fictitious assets are as follows:

    1. Deferred Advertisement expense
    2. Loss on the issue of debentures.
    3. Debit balance of Profit and Loss account ( Net loss )*
    4. Preliminary expenses.

    Fictitious assets appear on the asset side of the balance sheet as expenses and losses have a debit balance.

    *when the balance sheet is prepared as per Schedule III of Companies Act, the Net loss is shown as a negative figure under the head Reserve and Surplus.

    Intangible Assets

    Intangible assets mean the assets which don’t have any physical existence. They cannot be seen or touched but are assets because they do provide future economic benefits to the business. Like tangible assets (like machinery and building), they can be also created, purchased or sold.

    Like tangible assets are depreciated, intangible assets are gradually written over by amortization over their useful lifespan to account for the economic benefits provided by them.

    Following are the examples of intangible assets:

    1. Goodwill
    2. Brand name
    3. Trademark
    4. Patents
    5. Copyrights

    Intangible assets which are created by the business-like goodwill or brand recognition do not appear in the balance sheet.

    Only acquired intangible assets can be shown in the balance sheet. Like purchased goodwill, patents, trademarks etc.

    Intangible assets also face impairment if their fair value is less than their carrying value after deducting amortization expense. The difference between carrying value and fair value is shown in the Profit and loss A/c as impairment charge and the asset is valued at fair value in the balance sheet.

     

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Manvi
Manvi
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  2. Ayushi Curious Pursuing CA

    Let the business in our example be X Trading. The 15 transactions are as follows: 1st April - X Trading started its business with Rs. 10,000 cash and furniture of Rs. 5,000. 5th April - Purchased 1,000 units of goods for Rs. 1,000 in cash from Ram. 10th April – Bought stationery for Rs. 100 in cash.Read more

    Let the business in our example be X Trading. The 15 transactions are as follows:

    1. 1st April – X Trading started its business with Rs. 10,000 cash and furniture of Rs. 5,000.
    2. 5th April – Purchased 1,000 units of goods for Rs. 1,000 in cash from Ram.
    3. 10th April – Bought stationery for Rs. 100 in cash.
    4. 25Th April – Sold 500 goods for Rs. 750 in cash.
    5. 1st May – Paid a rent of Rs. 1200 ( 1st April to 31st March)
    6. 1st June – Took a loan of Rs. 15,000 from the bank at interest@10%.
    7. 15Th June – Sold 400 goods for Rs. 600 to Shyam in credit.
    8. 1st August – Bought a computer for Rs. 10,000 in from ABC Computers in credit.
    9. 15th October – Received Rs. 300 from Shyam in cash.
    10. 1st November – Purchased 2,000 units of goods for 2,000 from Ram in credit.
    11. 15th November – Paid Rs. 5,000 to ABC Computers through cheque.
    12. 1st December – Sold 1,000 units of goods for Rs. 1,500. Received cheque as payment.
    13. 1st January – Obtained Trade license (valid for 5 years) by paying fees of Rs. 1000 through online bank transfer.
    14. 15Th February – Paid Rs. 1,500 to Ram. Through cheque.
    15. 15Th March – Drawings made of Rs. 2000 in cash.

    We will prepare the journal, ledgers and the trial balance from the above transactions.

    Journal

    Journal is known as the book of primary entry or book of original entry. It is because every transaction is recorded in form of journal entries in the journal. Every journal entry affects at least two accounts (dual effect). A transaction has to be a monetary transaction otherwise it cannot be recorded as a journal entry.

    The procedure of recording transactions as journal entries is simple if we follow the modern rules of accounting.

    So first we have to identify which and what type of account does a transaction affect. The types of accounts are:

    1. Asset – Debit in case of increase Credit in case of decrease.
    2. Liabilities – Debit in case of decrease Credit in case of increase.
    3. Capital – Debit in case of decrease Credit in case of increase.
    4. Expense – Debit in case of increase Credit in case of decrease.
    5. Income – Debit in case of decrease Credit in case of increase.

    Ledger

    Ledgers are known as the books of principal entry or book of final entry. All the journal entries recorded in the journal are posted to the ledgers. A Ledger is where the entries related to a particular account are recorded. For example, all the transactions related to salary will be recorded in the salary account ledger.

    It is very important to prepare the ledger to arrive at the balance of each account in the books of concern so that it can prepare its trial balance.

    The procedure of posting journal entries in the ledger account is done is as follows:

    The ledgers are as follows:

     

     

    Trial Balance

    The trial balance is not a part of the books of accounts. It is just a statement prepared to check the arithmetical accuracy of the books of the accounts. It also helps to know about the omission and posting mistakes. It is prepared after the ledger accounts have been drawn and their balances have been ascertained.

    The balance of all the ledger accounts is posted on either side of the trial balance. Debit balance of the account on the debit side and credit balance of the account on the credit side.

    Also, the closing stock from the financial statements of the previous year is posted on the debit side of the trial balance as opening stock to account for the stock with the business at the beginning of the financial year.

    Following is the trial balance of X trading:

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AbhishekBatabyal
AbhishekBatabyalHelpful
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  2. PriyanshiGupta Graduated, B.Com
    This answer was edited.

    Activity-based costing (ABC) is a system used to find production costs. It breaks down overhead costs between production-related activities and other activities. The ABC system assigns costs to each activity that goes into production, such as workers testing a product. ABC is based on the principleRead more

    Activity-based costing (ABC) is a system used to find production costs.
    It breaks down overhead costs between production-related activities and other activities.

    The ABC system assigns costs to each activity that goes into production, such as workers testing a product. ABC is based on the principle that ‘prod­ucts consume activities.’

    Traditional cost systems allocate costs based on direct labor, material costs, revenue, or other simplistic methods. As a result, traditional systems tend to over-cost high volume products, services, and customers; and under-cost low volume.

    Hence, Activity Based Costing was developed for determining the cost. The basic feature of ABC is its focus on activities. It uses activities as the basis for determining the costs of products or services.

    Activity-Based Costing is mostly used in manufacturing industries, however, its application is not only limited to that. Various industries like, construction, health care, medical organizations also use this method of assigning costs. Industries where customized products are made also tend to use such methods as it is easier to charge appropriate overhead costs from the customer.

    Objectives of Activity-Based Costing:

    Companies adopt ABC to assign cost elements to the products, activities, or services so that it helps the management to decide:

    • which cost can be eliminated or cut back
    • which products are unprofitable
    • if a product is over-priced or under-priced
    • if any activity is ineffective
    • various processing of the same product to yield better results

    Advantages of Activity Based Costing are:

    • it takes into consideration both direct and overhead costs of creating a product.
    • it recognizes the fact that different products require different indirect expenses.
    • it sets prices more accurately.
    • it helps to see what overhead cost the company might be able to cut back on.
    • it helps to segregate fixed costs, variable cost, and overhead cost which helps to identify “cost drivers”.
    • it focuses on cost allocation in operational management.

    Before implementing ABC, a company should consider the following:

    • manually driven Activity Based Accounting cost derivers is an inefficient use of resources.
    • it is an expensive method and it is difficult to implement
    • for small gains, there are alternative costing methods available for a company to use.

    Formula=  Total Cost Pool / Cost Driver

    For example:

    For a company, the salary for workers is Rs 1,00,000 for a financial year, the number of labor hours worked is 50,00 hrs. The cost driver rate is calculated by dividing the workers’ salary by the labor hours worked, that is,

    Salary of the workers / Number of labor hours

    Rs 1,00,000 / 50,000 hrs = Rs 2 per labor hour.

    In the above example, the salary of the workers is the total cost pool or the overhead cost for which we want to find the cost driver rate and labor hours is the cost driver, that is, on the basis of what we want to find the rate.

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Astha
AsthaLeader
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  2. PriyanshiGupta Graduated, B.Com
    This answer was edited.

    The value of inventory at the end of the financial year or balance sheet date is called closing stock. Closing stock includes: Raw Material Work-in-Progress Finished Goods Example: If the value of raw material is Rs 10,000, value of WIP is Rs 5,000 and value of Finished Goods is Rs 15,000 then valueRead more

    The value of inventory at the end of the financial year or balance sheet date is called closing stock. Closing stock includes:

    • Raw Material
    • Work-in-Progress
    • Finished Goods

    Example:

    If the value of raw material is Rs 10,000, value of WIP is Rs 5,000 and value of Finished Goods is Rs 15,000 then value of Closing Stock will be Rs (10,000 + 5,000 + 15,000) = Rs 30,000

    Adjustment entries are done on the accrual basis of accounting, that is, income is recorded when earned and not received and expenses are recorded when incurred and not paid. Adjustment entries are usually made before or after the preparation of the trial balance at the end of the accounting period.

    If the entries are made after the preparation of the trial balance, then two adjustment entries are recorded while preparing Trading and Profit & Loss A/c.

    Since closing stock is an item outside the trial balance, the double-entry would be:

    The journal entry

    Closing Stock A/c  (Dr.) Amt
    To Trading and Profit & Loss A/c Amt
    • Trading and Profit & Loss A/c is credited because it is of profit to the company and hence will be shown on the credit side.
    • Closing Stock is debited as an asset for the company and it will be recorded for the first time in accounting books, hence, will be debited.

    The second adjustment would be to show closing stock on the balance sheet and since the closing stock is an asset it is shown under the head Current Assets.  

    In case where adjustment for Closing Stock is to be done before preparation of Trial Balance, then it will be shown on the credit side of the Trial Balance, since it is an asset for the company and will have a credit brought down balance as shown in the image.

    Later, while preparing Balance Sheet, Closing Stock will be shown on the Asset side of the Balance Sheet.

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