AccountingQA Latest Questions

Ayushi
AyushiCurious
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  2. AbhishekBatabyal Helpful Pursuing CA, BCOM (HONS)
    This answer was edited.

    No, drawings are not shown in the statement of profit or loss. By drawings, we mean the withdrawal of cash or goods by the owner of the business for his personal use. Drawings are actually shown in the balance sheet as a deduction from the capital account. Let’s take an example, Mr X runs a tradingRead more

    No, drawings are not shown in the statement of profit or loss. By drawings, we mean the withdrawal of cash or goods by the owner of the business for his personal use.

    Drawings are actually shown in the balance sheet as a deduction from the capital account.

    Let’s take an example, Mr X runs a trading business. For meeting his personal expense we withdrew cash from his business cash of amount Rs. 15,000. It shall be reported like this:

    Journal Entries:

    Balance sheet:

    Profit and loss account reports only the nominal accounts i.e. incomes and expenses. That’s why drawings are not shown in the statement of profit or loss because it is neither an expense nor an income.

    It represents the owner’s withdrawal of capital from business for personal use. Hence, the drawings account is a personal account. Drawings lead to a simultaneous reduction in capital and cash or stock of a business which has nothing to do with Profit and loss A/c.

    Therefore it is reported in the balance sheet only.

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Jayesh Gupta
Jayesh GuptaCurious
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  2. Rahul_Jose Aspiring CA currently doing Bcom

    When a partnership firm decides to admit a new partner into their firm, the old partners have to forego a part of their share for the new partner. Therefore, sacrificing Ratio is the proportion in which the existing partners of a company give up a part of their share for the new partner. The partnerRead more

    When a partnership firm decides to admit a new partner into their firm, the old partners have to forego a part of their share for the new partner. Therefore, sacrificing Ratio is the proportion in which the existing partners of a company give up a part of their share for the new partner. The partners can choose to forego their shares equally or in an agreed proportion.

    Before admission of the new partner, the existing partners would be sharing their profits in the old ratio. Upon admission, the profit-sharing ratio would change to accommodate the new partner. This would give rise to the new ratio. Hence Sacrificing ratio formula can be calculated as:
    Sacrificing Ratio = Old Ratio – New Ratio

    To further understand the formula, let’s say Bruce and Barry are sharing a pizza of 6 slices equally (3 slices each). They decide to share their pizza with Arthur such that they all get equal slices (2 slices each). Hence, we can use the formula to calculate their sacrifice as follows:
    Bruce’s sacrifice = 3 – 2 = 1 slice
    Barry’s sacrifice = 3 – 2 = 1 slice

    Therefore, their sacrificing ratio = 1:1. In this same way, we can solve various problems to calculate the sacrifice of partners during a change in their profit sharing ratio.

    For example, Joshua and Edwin are partners, sharing profits in the ratio 7:3. They admit Adam into their partnership such that the new profit-sharing ratio is 5:2:3. Therefore, their sacrificing ratio can be calculated as:
    Joshua’s sacrifice = old share – new share = 7/10 – 5/10 = 2/10
    Edwin’s sacrifice = old share – new share = 3/10 – 2/10 = 1/10

    Hence, sacrificing ratio of Joshua and Edwin is 2:1. Once the denominators are equal, we ignore them and only consider numerators while showing sacrificing ratio.

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Radha
Radha
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  2. Rahul_Jose Aspiring CA currently doing Bcom
    This answer was edited.

    Capital Work in Progress refers to the total cost incurred on a fixed asset that is still undergoing construction as on the balance sheet date. These costs are not allowed to be used as an operating asset until the asset is ready to use. Until the construction of the asset is completed, the costs arRead more

    Capital Work in Progress refers to the total cost incurred on a fixed asset that is still undergoing construction as on the balance sheet date. These costs are not allowed to be used as an operating asset until the asset is ready to use. Until the construction of the asset is completed, the costs are recorded as capital work in progress.

    Depreciation is the systematic allocation of the cost of an asset over its useful life. Depreciation is charged on an asset from the date it is ready to use. Since Capital Work in Progress is not yet ready to use, depreciation cannot be charged on it.

    Example

    If a company owns a Machinery worth Rs. 45,000 out of which Rs. 15,000 is part of capital work in progress, then depreciation on such machinery would be calculated only on the part of machinery that is ready to use that is Rs. 30,000 (45,000-15,000).

    When an asset is undergoing construction, the journal entry for each expense would be recorded as

    Further, when all construction of the above asset is completed, it is transferred to fixed asset account. This would be recorded as

    After transfer to Fixed Asset account, depreciation can be calculated and shown as below

    If the construction of an asset is complete but has not been put to use till now, depreciation is still calculated as it is ready for use. It can be done through various methods like straight-line method, written down value method etc.

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Aadil
AadilCurious
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  2. Rahul_Jose Aspiring CA currently doing Bcom

    When a firm grants an extra amount of reward to its employees based on their performance, it is termed a bonus. An accrued bonus is contingent on performance. Bonus accruals are recorded in the books so that inaccuracies can be avoided in the financial statements. Such bonuses may be given as a singRead more

    When a firm grants an extra amount of reward to its employees based on their performance, it is termed a bonus. An accrued bonus is contingent on performance. Bonus accruals are recorded in the books so that inaccuracies can be avoided in the financial statements.

    Such bonuses may be given as a single flare amount or as a percentage of their salaries. These bonuses can be given quarterly or annually or in any manner in which the firm decides.

    If the bonus is accrued to its employees at 5% of their salary of Rs 30,000, then the accrual bonus can be shown in the journal as follows:

    The bonus expense account is debited because according to the modern rule of accounting “Increase in expense is debited”. Accrued bonus liability is credited because according to the rule of accounting, “Increase in liability is credited”.

    When it is time to pay such bonus amounts to its employees, then they can be journalised as:

    In this case, the accrued bonus liability is eliminated and hence debited because according to the rule of accounting, “ Decrease in liability is debited” whereas cash account is credited since “the decrease in the asset is credited.”:

    Failing to accrue these bonuses will lead to an overstatement of revenues in the financial statements and hence result in inaccurate data. If employees do not meet the required performance targets, then a bonus will not be given and hence the entries will be reversed.

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Bonnie
BonnieCurious
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  2. GautamSaxena Curious .

    Capitalize in Accounting The term 'capitalized' in accounting means to record an expenditure as an asset on the balance sheet. Capitalization takes place when a business buys an asset that has a useful life. The cost of the relevant asset is then allocated to expense over its useful life i.e charginRead more

    Capitalize in Accounting

    The term ‘capitalized’ in accounting means to record an expenditure as an asset on the balance sheet. Capitalization takes place when a business buys an asset that has a useful life. The cost of the relevant asset is then allocated to expense over its useful life i.e charging depreciation, etc. This means that the relevant expenditure will appear on the balance sheet instead of the income statement. The capitalizing of the expenses is a benefit for the company as the assets bought by them for the long-term are subjected to depreciation and capitalizing expenses can amortize or depreciate the costs. This process is called capitalization.

    In order to capitalize any expense, we’ll have to make sure it meets the criteria stated below.

    The assets exceeding the capitalization limit

    The companies set a capitalization limit, below which the expenses are considered too immaterial to be capitalized. Therefore, the limit is supposed to be followed and considered as it controls the capitalization of the expenses. Generally, the capitalization limit is $1,000.

    The assets have a useful life 

    The companies also seek to generate revenues for a long period of time. Thus, the asset should have a long and useful life at least a year or more. Thereby, the business can record it as an asset and depreciate it over its valuable life.

    Most of the important principles of capitalization in accounting are from the matching principle.

     

    Matching Principle

    The matching principle states that the expenses in the accounting should be recorded when they are incurred and not when the payment is made. This helps the business identify the amounts spent to generate revenue.

    For e.g, the company bought machinery for manufacturing goods with more efficiency. It is supposed to have a useful life for a period of over 10 years. Instead of expensing the entire cost of the machinery, the company will write off (depreciated) the cost of the asset over its useful life i.e 10 years. Therefore, the asset will be written off as it is used and these types of assets are automatically used as capitalized assets.

     

    Benefits of Capitalization

    Capitalization is of course recording expenses as an asset but this indeed has benefits.

    • This reduces the fluctuation of income over time as the fixed assets (long-term) are costly. For the small business owners or the small firms, it’s even greater.
    • The capitalization of expenditures increases the company’s asset balance, without changing the company’s liability balance. This improves the financial ratios like the current ratio.
    •  Small businesses have a provision for tax benefits related to the depreciation of capitalized assets. Section 179 of depreciation allows those business owners to depreciate certain assets quicker than others are allowed.

     

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A_Team
A_Team
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Wages Outstanding Wages and Salaries Director’s Remuneration Advance Payment of Wages All of the Above

  2. SidharthBadlani CA Inter Student
    This answer was edited.

    The correct answer is option B. Wages and salaries are debited to the trading account. The trading account helps us to determine the Gross Profit Or Loss that a company earns or incurs by carrying on its core manufacturing or trading activities. Let us discuss the above items and their treatments inRead more

    The correct answer is option B. Wages and salaries are debited to the trading account.

    The trading account helps us to determine the Gross Profit Or Loss that a company earns or incurs by carrying on its core manufacturing or trading activities.

    Let us discuss the above items and their treatments in the final accounts one at a time:

    Wages Outstanding

    Firstly, “wages outstanding” is not debited into the trading account. It is a liability that is shown in the balance sheet.

    Outstanding wages imply remuneration due to be paid to the workers for the services they have already rendered to the business.

    Since the company has already received the service, it becomes a legal obligation for it to pay the wages to the workers for those services. Hence, outstanding wages are a liability.

    Wages and Salaries

    Wages and Salaries are debited to the trading account.

    Wages Vs Salaries

    Let us understand the difference between wages and salaries. Wages are the regular payments that are made daily, weekly or fortnightly. Such payments are mostly made to factory workers.

    Salaries, on the other hand, are assumed to imply the remuneration paid to office workers and sales staff.

    Wages are debited to the trading account, while salaries are debited to the Profit and Loss account.

    Director’s Remuneration

    No, the director’s remuneration is not debited to the trading account. This is because director’s generation is a business expense. It is a kind of salary provided to the director for the services rendered by him to the company.

    Directors’ remuneration refers to compensation the company gives to its directors for the services rendered. It is debited to the Profit and Loss Account.

    Advance Payment of Wages

    No, advance payment of wages is not debited to a trading account. It is shown by reducing it to wages. Advance payment of wages implying paying remuneration to the workers before the commencement of the period for which the wages relate to.

    However, one must note that if both wages and prepaid wages appear within the trial balance, then only the figure written against wages would appear in the trading account. There would be no treatment for prepaid wages.

    Let us consider a scenario where wages of amount 5,000 is appearing inside trial balance. Outside the trial balance, the following information is provided

    • Wages prepaid for the current financial year = 1,000
    • Wages prepaid for the next financial year = 2,000

    In the above case, the total wages to be debited to the trading account would be 5,000 + 1,000 – 2,000 = 4,000

    Significance of the Final Accounts

    • It helps in determining the net profit or loss of the entity for the current financial year.
    • It is a major source of guidance for investors. Shareholders decide whether or not to invest in a company on the basis of final accounts.
    • It allows banks and investors to see your business’s total income, debt load a,nd financial stability.

     

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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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A_Team
A_Team
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  2. Vijay Curious M.Com
    This answer was edited.

    Fictitious assets are not actually assets. They are expenses/losses not written off in the year in which they are incurred. They do not have any physical presence. Their expense is spread over more than one accounting period. A part of the expense is amortized/written off every year against the compRead more

    Fictitious assets are not actually assets. They are expenses/losses not written off in the year in which they are incurred. They do not have any physical presence. Their expense is spread over more than one accounting period.

    A part of the expense is amortized/written off every year against the company’s earnings. The remaining part (which is yet to be written off) is shown as an asset in the balance sheet. They are shown as assets because these expenses are expected to give returns to the company over a period of time.

    Here are some examples of fictitious assets:

    • Preliminary expenses.
    • Promotional expenses.
    • Loss incurred on the issue of debentures.
    • Underwriting commission.
    • Discount on issue of shares.

     

    To make it simple I’ll explain the accounting treatment of preliminary expenses with an example.

    The promoters of KL Ltd. paid 50,000 as consultation fees for incorporating the company. The consultation fee is a preliminary expense as they are incurred for the formation of the company. The company agreed to write off this expense over a period of 5 years.

    At the end of every year, the company will write off 10,000 (50,000/5) as an expense in the Profit & Loss A/c.

    The remaining portion i.e. 40,000 (50,000 – 10,000) will be shown on the Assets side of the Balance Sheet under the head Non – Current Assets and sub-head Other Non – Current Assets. 

    Here are the financial statements of KL Ltd.,

    Note: As per AS 26 preliminary expenses are fully written off in the year they are incurred. This is because such expenses do not meet the definition of assets and must be written off in the year of incurring.

    Source: Some fictitious assets examples are from Accountingcapital.com & others from Wikipedia.

     

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Naina@123
Naina@123
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  2. prashant06 B.com, CMA pursuing

    A cash discount is a discount allowed to customers when they make payments for the items they purchased. This type of discount is generally based on time. The early the payment is made by the debtors, the more discount they earn. To be more precise cash discount is given to simulate or encourage earRead more

    A cash discount is a discount allowed to customers when they make payments for the items they purchased. This type of discount is generally based on time. The early the payment is made by the debtors, the more discount they earn. To be more precise cash discount is given to simulate or encourage early payment by the debtors.

    Trade discount is a discount allowed by traders on the list price of the goods to the customer at specified rate. Unlike cash discount, trade discount is based on number of sale i.e, more the sale more the discount earned. This is mainly given on bulk orders by the customers.

    To understand trade discount and cash discount let me give you simple example

    Mr. X purchased goods from Mr. Y of list price Rs 10,000. Mr. Y allowed a 10% discount to Mr.X on the list price for purchasing goods in bulk quantity. Further, he was provided with cash discount of Rs 500 for making an immediate payment. Therefore the entry for the above transaction in the books of Mr. X would be

    Purchase A/c                                                        ……Dr 9,000
               To Cash A/c 8,500
               To Discount received 500
    (Being goods purchased from Mr. Y worth Rs. 10,000@ 10% trade discount and cash discount of Rs. 500)
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