حسابداری میانه بطور مختصر و انگلیسی و سوالات مربوطه در هر سرفصل

Accounting Basics

In commercial enterprises accounting is involved in recording business transactions and then reporting the results in the form of financial statements.
To make the financial statements more understandable, there are some common rules known as generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). In the USA the lead organization for researching and issuing the accounting rules is the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
All of the accounting rules are based on some underlying or basic accounting principles such as cost, matching, economic entity, going concern, revenue recognition, full disclosure, materiality, conservatism, and others. Accountants also strive for the financial reporting to be relevant and reliable.
The accounting system is known as double-entry, because every transaction will involve at least two accounts in a company's general ledger. The accounting system requires that at least one account be debited (amount entered on the left side) and one account be credited (amount entered on the right side).
The accrual basis of accounting provides a better picture of a company's financial results than the cash basis of accounting. Under the accrual basis of accounting, revenues and assets are reported when they are earned; expenses and liabilities are reported when they are incurred.
The output of the accounting system includes three main financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The balance sheet reports the financial position of a company at a moment in time, such as April 30, 2007. The balance sheet reports a company's assets, liabilities, and stockholders' equity. The income statement reports the company's profitability during a period of time. The statement of cash flows reports the changes in cash during the same period of time. The notes to the financial statements are an integral part of the financial statements.

Sample Accounting Basics Questions

1)  The title of the asset account that reports the unexpired cost of insurance premiums that have already been paid is _____________ Insurance.

2)  The owner's equity section of a corporation's balance sheet is known as shareholders equity or _______________________ equity.

3)  The title of the liability account that reports amounts that were received by the company before they were earned is ________________ Revenues.

4)  The financial statement that reports the financial position of a company as of an instant or point in time is the ________________ sheet.

5)  The balance sheet reports amounts that apply at a particular ____________ in time.

6)  An entry to the left-side of an account.

7)  This component of Property, Plant & Equipment is not depreciated.

8)  The accounting guideline that prevents assets from being reported at amounts greater than their cost is the __________ principle.

9)  Sometimes inventory is reported at an amount that is __________ than cost.

10)  The basis or method of accounting that is less effective than the accrual basis in measuring profitability

Accounting Equation

The accounting equation is Assets = Liabilities + Owner's (Stockholders') Equity. The accounting equation should remain in balance at all times because of double-entry accounting or bookkeeping. (Double-entry means that every transaction will affect at least two accounts in the general ledger.)
Here are some examples of how the accounting equation remains in balance. An owner's investment into the company will increase the company's assets and will also increase owner's equity. When the company borrows money from its bank, the company's assets increase and the company's liabilities increase. When the company repays the loan, the company's assets decrease and the company's liabilities decrease. If the company pays cash for a new delivery van, one asset (cash) will decrease and another asset (vehicles) will increase. If a company provides a service to a client and immediately receives cash, the company's assets increase and the company's owner's equity will increase because it has earned revenue. If the company provides a service and allows the client to pay in 30 days, the company has increased its assets (Accounts Receivable) and has also increased its owner's equity because it has earned service revenue. If the company runs a radio advertisement and agrees to pay later, the company will incur an expense that will reduce owner's equity and has increased its liabilities.
From our examples, you can see that owner's equity increased when the owner made an investment in the business and also when revenues were earned. Owner's equity decreased when the owner withdrew assets from the business and when expenses were incurred. This leads us to the expanded accounting equation:
Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity + Revenues – Expenses – Draws

Sample Accounting Equation Questions

1)  Liabilities are amounts _______ by a company.

2)  The collection of an account receivable will affect two _________ accounts.

3)  Double-entry accounting is a key reason why the accounting ______________ remains in balance.

4)  Along with owner's equity these are claims against a company's assets.

5)  This word is often part of the account title of liabilities.

6)  The accounting equation remains in balance because of the accounting system known as __________-entry.

7)  The financial statement with a structure similar to the accounting equation is the __________ sheet.

8)  Revenues + gains – expenses – losses = _____ income.

9)  The balance sheet reports the financial position of a company at a moment or ________ in time.

10)  A listing of all the accounts to which amounts can be posted is the ___________ of accounts

Accounting Principles

Accounting principles are also referred to as generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP. Accounting principles range from general guidelines to very detailed rules established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
The general guidelines, or basic accounting principles, include the cost principle, matching principle, full disclosure principle, going concern assumption, economic entity assumption, monetary unit assumption, materiality, and industry peculiarities or practices. The specific rules issued by the FASB include more than 150 statements of financial accounting standards and interpretations. (These are available at www.fasb.org.) Often, industries that are regulated by government agencies will have unique reporting standards or requirements. Many of the rules established by the FASB's predecessors continue to be part of GAAP.
Financial statements that are distributed outside of a company are to be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Corporations whose stock is publicly traded must have their financial statements audited by independent certified public accountants. These CPAs give assurance that the financial statements were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a U.S. government agency, has the ultimate authority over the reporting requirements of publicly traded corporations. However, the SEC allows the FASB to develop accounting rules or standards

Sample Basic Accounting Principles Questions

1)  The Conceptual _________________ was a discussion memorandum issued by the FASB in the 1970s. Out of this came the FASB Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts.

2) Accounting Research ________________ were issued between 1939 and 1959. The ARBs remain a source of accounting principles unless superseded by the APB or FASB.

3) _______________ practices or peculiarities allow for modifications of accounting principles. Often this involves companies that are regulated by the federal government, such as banks, utilities, investment firms, and insurance companies.

4) The matching principle requires that expenses be matched with the related __________________ reported on the income statement.

5) Conservatism is often associated with this rule for inventory valuation. (acronym)

6) The assumption that the purchasing power of the dollar is constant is the __________________ unit assumption.

7) A qualitative characteristic associated with verifiability and "you can depend on it".

8) The cost principle is often referred to as the ______________ cost principle.

9) As a result of this principle, assets are recorded at the amount spent to acquire them rather than the amount that will be received when they are sold.

10) Accrual accounting is associated with this principle.

Accounts Receivable and Bad Debts Expense

Accounts receivable is a current asset that reports the amount a company's customers owe the company for goods or services provided on credit. Under accrual accounting, a company credits a revenue account and debits Accounts Receivable when billing customers. When an account receivable is collected, the accountant debits Cash and credits Accounts Receivable.
A company that extends credit to a customer faces the risk of not collecting the account receivable. If a loss does occur from extending credit, it is reported as an operating expense, such as bad debts expense.
There are two ways of reporting losses from credit sales. One is the direct write-off method. Under this approach, the company does not anticipate any loss. The asset Accounts Receivable is reported at its full amount and no expense is reported until it is known with certainty that a customer will not pay the amount owed. This method is not encouraged by accountants, because it may be overstating assets and net income.
The preferred way to report losses from credit sales is to anticipate that some receivables will not be collected. This approach is the allowance method. It gets it name because of the contra account to Accounts Receivable entitled Allowance for Doubtful Accounts. The credit balance in the allowance account works to value the accounts receivable at their approximate net realizable amount. Under the allowance method, the bad debts expense and the credit to the allowance account is reported closer to the time of the sale—thus providing a better matching with revenues. Under the allowance method the accounts receivable are reported at a more realistic and conservative amount.
To assist in the managing of accounts receivables, an aging of the accounts receivable is prepared. An aging sorts the customers' balances by how long the customers have owed the open invoice amounts.
Sales on credit involve credit terms such as "net 10 days" or "net 30 days" or "2/10, net 30" and others. Net 30 days means there is no discount allowed from the amount on the sales invoice. If the credit term is "2/10, net 30" the customer can remit 2% less than the invoice amount if the customer pays within 10 days. Otherwise the full amount is due in 30 days.

Sample Accounts Receivable and Bad Debts Expense Questions

1)  A company might borrow money by using its accounts receivable as ______________ for the loan.

2)  To remind customers of the amount it owes, a company will mail ______________ to these customers. This document will show the open or unpaid invoices.

3)  When goods are shipped FOB _____________ point, the sale and accounts receivable will occur at the seller's dock.

4)  "2/10, net 30" is an example of credit __________.

5)  Under the allowance method, the write-off of a bad account will involve two current ________ accounts.

6)  Usually the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts will have a __________ balance.

7)  The aging of accounts receivable is associated with the percentage of _____________ method for determining the amount of Bad Debts Expense.

8)  The calculation of the accounts receivable turnover ratio is net credit sales divided by the ___________ balances of accounts receivable.

9)  A company that is in the business of purchasing accounts receivable.

10)  The allowance account to accounts receivable is a ________-asset account.

Activity Based Costing and Overhead

Activity based costing or ABC arose from the shortcomings of assigning an ever increasing amount of manufacturing overhead to products on the basis of one variable, such as direct labor hours or machine hours.
When manufacturing overhead costs are allocated, spread, or assigned to products on the basis of the production equipment's machine hours, a product run in small batches will be assigned few overhead dollars. However, this small batch might actually use a significant amount of setup time, movement of materials, and require other attention. Using only the machine hours as the means of allocation will mean this product will be assigned too little cost for all of the work it is causing.
Another product might run day and night with few setups and not much special handling. This product will be assigned an enormous amount of overhead based on the number of machine hours. This product will be assigned far more overhead costs than it is causing.
When companies manufacture diverse products and have diverse demands from its customers, the allocation of manufacturing overhead on one base, such as machine hours, will lead to cost distortions.
Activity based costing seeks to find the real cause of the overhead and to assign the overhead to the products and customers that are causing or driving the overhead costs. Rather than using the traditional allocation based on machine hours, managers are first determining the true cost of the activities being demanded for each product. With global competition, a company might lose a customer if it raises its price based on faulty cost allocations.
A common activity is setting up a machine for a production run. The setup activity is likely to be the same whether the production run will be 100 units or 10,000 units. If the setup activity costs $200, then $200 should be assigned to each batch or production run. If you don't recognize the setup activity and simply allocate the cost on the basis of machine hours, you might attract lots of small production runs and lose a lot of long production runs. That could lead to financial disaster.
Striving to learn about activities and their costs has led to what is referred to as activity based management

Sample Activity Based Costing and Overhead Questions

1)  Another name for "factory" overhead is ___________________ overhead.

2)  This overhead rate is computed prior to the start of the accounting year and is based on budgeted overhead costs divided by budgeted units of activity.

3)  To assign costs to products or departments.

4)  In an ABC system the cost of the material added to each item manufactured is a ___________-level cost.

5)  A system where a manufacturer maintains very little inventory of components and relies on its suppliers to deliver the components only when needed. (acronym)

6)  The series of activities that add value when a manufacturer converts raw materials into products is referred to as the supply ______________.

7)  Manufacturing overhead is a cost of the ________________ manufactured.

8)  The ___________ method of allocating service department costs will not allocate a service department's costs to another service department.

9)  These units are used in process costing when the products in a department are not yet finished at the end of an accounting period.

10)  Items that have been manufactured but have not yet been sold are counted as finished goods _____

Adjusting Entries

Adjusting entries are made so that the financial statements reflect the accrual basis of accounting. (The accrual basis of accounting requires that revenues be reported on the income statement when they are earned, and expenses are reported on the income statement when they best match the revenues or expire. When the cash is received or paid is not relevant for reporting revenues and expenses.) Adjusting entries are often classified as accruals, deferrals, and other.
An accrual adjusting entry can involve revenues or expenses. A service company that has earned fees, but has not yet recorded the transaction, will accrue revenue. This is done by entering an accrual adjusting entry such as a debit to the asset Accounts Receivable and a credit to Service Revenues. An adjusting entry to accrue expense is needed when a company has received a service or goods from a vendor, but the expense and the liability are not yet recorded. Gas, electricity, water, telephone, wages, interest, and repairs are examples of expenses that will likely need an accrual adjusting entry. The accrual adjusting entry for these items will include a debit to an expense and a credit to a liability account.
A deferral type adjusting entry for revenues is necessary when a company has received money from a customer before it has been earned. The money received will be recorded in the Cash account at the time it is received, but the amount that has not yet been earned must be reported as a liability such as Unearned Fees, Unearned Revenues, or Customer Deposits. As the unearned amount is earned, an adjusting entry will debit the liability account and will credit a revenue account such as Service Revenues.
A deferral type adjusting entry for expenses is necessary if a payment overlaps accounting periods. For example, if a company prepays a six-month insurance premium and the company issues monthly financial statements, then a deferral adjusting entry will be necessary. The purpose of a deferral type adjusting entry for this situation is (1) to report Insurance Expense for the insurance cost that has expired during the accounting period, and (2) to report the amount of insurance cost that has not yet expired and will be reported on the balance sheet as the asset Prepaid Insurance.
Examples of other adjusting entries include depreciation and the allowance for doubtful accounts. The adjusting entry for depreciation is a debit to Depreciation Expense and a credit to Accumulated Depreciation. The adjusting entry for doubtful accounts will usually be a debit to Bad Debts Expense and a credit to Allowance for Doubtful Accounts.
You might have noticed that each of the adjusting entries involved one balance sheet account and one income statement account.

Sample Adjusting Entries Questions

1)  Customer deposits for future services will be listed under which financial statement category? (assets, liabilities, expenses, etc.)

2)  The accounting principle that requires expenses to be reported on the income statement when they occur rather than when they are paid.

3)  A prepaid expense is reported as which type of account? (asset, liability, expense, etc.)

4)  Depreciation is the systematic ________________ of the cost of an asset (used in a business) to expense over the useful life of the asset. (It is not a valuation technique.)

5)  The time _________ assumption is also known as the periodicity assumption. It means that an ongoing business can be divided into years, quarters, months, etc.

6)  On December 1 a company purchased $700 of supplies—approximately a three-month supply. On December 1 the asset Supplies was debited for $700. On December 31 the company needs to prepare a prepayment-type ___________ entry.

7)  Adjusting entries are used to convert accounting information from the cash basis of accounting to the ______________ basis of accounting.

8)  The typical number of accounts involved in an adjusting entry.

9)  An adjusting entry to recognize that part of a customer's prepayment has been earned will include a __________ to a liability account.

10)  The accrued interest that the bank has earned but has not yet ______________ is reported as a debit balance in the account Interest Receivable.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is one of the main financial statements. It is also known as the statement of financial position. The balance sheet reports the amount of assets, liabilities, and stockholders' (or owner's) equity at a specific moment (or point in time).
The balance sheet usually reports assets by classifications such as current assets, investments, property, plant and equipment, and other assets. Liabilities are classified as current liabilities and long-term liabilities.
The items and amounts reported on the balance sheet reflect the cost principle, matching principle, conservatism, going concern, and other basic principles as well as the more detailed rules included in the pronouncements issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
Typical assets listed on the balance sheet include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, supplies, prepaid insurance, land, buildings, equipment, and intangible assets such as goodwill.
Typical liabilities include notes payable, accounts payable, wages payable, interest payable, income taxes payable, and bonds payable.
Stockholders' equity is the difference between the amounts reported for assets and liabilities.

Sample Balance Sheet Questions

1) A company's own stock that has been repurchased but has not been retired is __________________ stock.

2) The basic _________________ equation is A = L + OE.

3) The accounting principle that prevents assets from being reported at their current value.

4) The balance sheet classification under which a company reports customer deposits and receipts for services that have not yet been performed.

5) Banks and others who have lent money or supplied goods and services on credit.

6) A detailed listing of a company's accounts receivable sorted by the date of sale or the due date of the receivable is known as an ___________ of accounts receivable.

7) Money market accounts and a U.S. Treasury bill that matures in 45 days are examples of cash _______________________.

8) A balance sheet issued between the end-of-year balance sheets is referred to as an __________________ financial statement.

9) Balance sheet accounts are often referred to as real or ____________________ accounts.

10) The cost flow assumption that will result in older costs remaining on the balance sheet. (acronym)

Bank Reconciliation

The bank reconciliation compares the amounts that are on the bank statement with the amounts in the company's general ledger Cash account. The goal is to be certain that the correct amount is reported as the balance of the Cash account. (If the Cash account is incorrect then the amount of another account is also incorrect due to double-entry accounting.)
Often the company's cash account is not correct because there are some transactions appearing on the bank statement that have not yet been recorded. For example, the bank service charge, check printing fee, returned checks, returned check fees, loan payments, and interest earned, are on the bank statement but have not yet been recorded in the company's Cash account. These items must be entered into the company's Cash account and into another account because of double entry accounting. For example, a bank service charge will need to be entered on the company's books by crediting the Cash account and debiting Bank Service Charge Expense or Miscellaneous Expense. A customer's check that has been returned NSF (not sufficient funds) would be entered in the company's accounts with a credit to Cash and a debit to Accounts Receivable.
The ending balance shown on the bank statement is probably not the correct amount of cash either. The reason is that some of the amounts in the company's general ledger will not yet appear on the bank statement. For example, as soon as a company writes a check, it will appear as a credit in the company's Cash account. However, the check might take a week before it reaches the bank for payment. These "outstanding" checks need to be deducted from the balance on the bank statement in order to get to the correct amount of cash. Occasionally, there will be a day or two lag between the date the company records a receipt in its Cash account and the time it gets posted to the bank's checking account records. These "deposits in transit" will need to be added to the bank statement balance in order to find the correct balance of cash.
After the adjustments (and perhaps corrections of errors as well) are made to the balance of the company's Cash account and to the balance per the bank statement, the two adjusted balances should agree. If they are the same, you have reconciled the bank statement.
Petty cash is a small amount of cash that is available for paying small amounts without writing a check. If the petty cash fund is "imprest" at $100, the company's general ledger account Petty Cash should have a constant balance of $100. At the end of each accounting period and whenever the currency in the petty cash fund is low, the petty cash fund is replenished. To replenish the fund, a check is drawn on the company's Cash account and is cashed at the bank. The amount of the check is the amount needed to get the currency and coins on hand to be equal to the imprest amount. The Cash (not Petty Cash) account is credited for the amount of the check. The amounts on the petty cash receipts or vouchers will be debited to the appropriate accounts such as postage expense, travel expense, etc. Any difference between the amount of the check and the amount of petty cash receipts is recorded in the Cash Short and Over account (a miscellaneous expense).

Sample Bank Reconciliation Questions

1)  Cash that has been received by a company but is not yet deposited in the bank account is said to be a deposit in ______________.

2)  The balance per books before adjustment will come from the general _____________.

3)  Checks that have been written but have not cleared the bank account on which they are written are known as _______________________ checks.

4)  Outstanding checks are adjustments to the balance per ___________.

5)  If a check is written for $89 and clears the bank for $89, but it is recorded in the company's records as $98, the $9 difference is ________ to the balance per books when reconciling the bank statement.

6)  Adjusting the balance per the bank and adjusting the balance per the books so that the adjusted balance of each is the same amount is known as a bank _______________________.

7)  Journal ____________ need to be written in order to record the items shown as adjustments per the books on the bank reconciliation.

8)  A check drawn on a bank account where the balance was insufficient to cover the amount of the check. (acronym)

9)  If a company receives a postdated check from one of its customers as payment on an accounts receivable, the check cannot be considered as the asset ___________ until the date of the check.

10)  The name appearing on a check after the words "Pay to the order of" is known as the __________.

Bonds Payable

Bonds are often issued by a corporation to help finance an expensive asset. Bonds are part of the corporation's debt and will usually be reported as a long-term liability.
Most bonds require the issuing corporation to pay interest semiannually and to pay the face or principal amount on the date that the bonds mature. Under the accrual method of accounting, the corporation must report a bond's accrued interest expense and liability as of the date of its financial statements.
Issuing bonds instead of common stock provides a corporation with two benefits. First, the ownership interest of its common stockholders is not diluted. Second, the bond interest expense is deductible on the corporation's income tax return. The tax deduction of bond interest expense will result in a tax savings for a profitable corporation—effectively reducing the corporation's cost of the interest payments to bondholders.
If a corporation issues a bond and receives more than the bond's face amount (excluding any accrued interest), the bond is said to have sold at a premium. This additional amount is recorded in a liability account entitled Premium on Bonds Payable or Bond Premium. If the amount received is less than the bond's face amount, the bond is said to have been sold or issued at a discount. The shortfall between the amount received (excluding accrued interest) and the bond's face amount is recorded in a contra liability account entitled Discount on Bonds Payable or Bond Discount.
The balances in the accounts Premium on Bonds Payable and Discount on Bonds Payable must be reduced to zero over the life of the bonds. The systematic reduction is known as amortization. The amortization of the bond premium will cause Interest Expense to be less than the amount of the interest payments. The amortization of bond discount will cause Interest Expense to be more than the interest payments.
The market value of an existing bond will change in the opposite direction of the change in market interest rates. In other words, if the market interest rates increase, the market value of an existing bond will decrease. A decrease in market interest rates will cause the market value of an existing bond to increase.

Sample Bonds Payable Questions

1) An increase in the market interest rates for bonds will cause the selling price of an existing bond to __________ (decrease, increase).

2) A long-term asset that is restricted for retiring bonds payable when they mature is a bond __________ fund.

3) Bonds without specific _________________ are unsecured bonds known as debentures.

4) When the premium on bonds payable is _______________ by the issuer, the carrying value of the bonds will decrease.

5) Bonds that mature on a single date are referred to as _______ bonds.

6) If an 8% bond is offered in a market that demands 7.9% interest, the amount received by the issuer will be ________ (less, more) than its face amount.

7) If the issue price of a new bond (excluding any accrued interest) is less than the bond's face amount, the difference is recorded as ______________ on Bonds Payable.

8) The effective interest rate method results in a correlation between a bond's interest expense and its carrying or __________ value.

9) The proceeds of a 9% $400,000 bond issued at 101 will be four hundred _______ thousand dollars plus accrued interest.

10) A bond maturing in three years will be reported on the issuer's balance sheet as a long-term

Bookkeeping

In years past, bookkeeping entailed writing/recording debit and credit entries into a journal. Debits were entered on the left and credits on the right. After journalizing the transactions, the amounts were posted to the proper accounts in the general ledger. Because this tedious and time consuming process usually resulted in errors, the bookkeeper prepared a trial balance. A trial balance showed that the debit balances in the accounts added to the same total as the credit balances. After the bookkeeping errors were corrected, the accountant prepared adjusting entries followed by the financial statements.
Today, computer software has eliminated much of the manual journalizing and posting. The bookkeeping is still taking place, but it is being done within the accounting software. For example, each time a check is prepared the Cash account is credited and the software prompts the person at the computer to enter the account to be debited. When a sales invoice is prepared using the accounting software, Accounts Receivable is automatically debited and the Sales account is credited. In addition, the individual customer's record is updated as well as inventory and the cost of the goods sold.
Since the software demands that the debits and credits are equal in amount, and since the computer doesn't miscalculate balances, most of the clerical errors are eliminated.
At larger companies, there are now accounts receivable clerks, accounts payable clerks, payroll clerks, cost accounting clerks, and others to assist with the bookkeeping.
You can learn more about bookkeepers and accounting clerks by visiting the Accounting Careers section of AccountingCoach.com.

Sample Bookkeeping Questions

1)  A loan payment will usually consist of two components: ______________ and interest.

2)  If employees are paid biweekly, they will receive twenty-______ paychecks per year.

3)  A listing of the accounts receivable according to the dates of the open invoices is an _________ of receivables.

4)  The matching principle requires that the ___________ incurred to earn revenues be reported in the same period as the revenues.

5)  The allocation of a plant asset's cost to expense over its useful life.

6)  A journal is the book of original _________.

7)  Asset and revenue accounts are contained in the general __________.

8)  Debit is associated with this side of an account.

9)  Revenue accounts will normally have this type of balance.

10)  Gross profit is sales minus the cost of goods ______.

Break-even Point and Cost Estimation

Knowing how costs change as volume or activities change is helpful when making some business decisions. For example, if most of a product's costs are fixed, then a company's total costs will increase only slightly when more units are produced and sold. Understanding this cost behavior might lead to special promotions that will increase profits and sales.
Costs and expenses that do not increase with reasonable increases in volume are known as fixed costs. Examples of fixed costs are the salaries of managers, property tax and depreciation.
Costs and expenses that increase in total as volume increases are variable costs and expenses. A product's direct material, direct labor, and some overhead costs are variable costs. Two examples of variable overhead costs might be the electricity to power the equipment in the manufacturing process and factory supplies.
Some costs are mixed costs-partly fixed and partly variable. An example might be the maintenance costs. You can determine how much of a mixed cost is fixed and how much is variable by using several techniques. One technique is to plot the costs on a graph where the y-axis is the total cost and the x-axis is the amount of volume or activity. If the plotted points form a straight line, you can extend the line through the y-axis. The point where the line intersects the y-axis is the fixed cost. Another technique is the high-low method. With this method, you compare the total cost at the highest level of activity to the total cost at the lowest level of activity. The variable cost rate is the difference in total cost divided by the difference in the volume of activity. A more sophisticated technique for separating the fixed and variable costs in a mixed cost is regression analysis. This technique computes the best fitting line through the plotted points by utilizing the least-squares method.
Break-even analysis utilizes the concept known as contribution margin. Contribution margin is sales dollars minus variable costs and variable expenses. If a product sells for $10 and its variable costs and variable expenses are $6, the contribution margin is $4 per unit. The formula for the break-even point in units of product is the total fixed costs divided by the contribution margin per unit. For example, if the total fixed costs are $40,000 and the contribution margin per unit is $4, the break-even point is 10,000 units ($40,000 divided by $4).

Sample Break-even Point and Cost Estimation Questions

1)  When using one of the techniques for analyzing a mixed cost, it is important to prepare a scatter- ______ of all of the observations to be certain that the data does not contain an outlier.

2)  The coefficient of _______________, represented by r², indicates the percentage change in the dependent variable (e.g. total cost in the shipping department) that is explained by the change in the independent variable (e.g. the number of parcels shipped).

3)  The break-even point in sales dollars can be found by dividing the fixed costs and expenses by the contribution margin _______ or percentage.

4)  Make or buy decisions usually rely on cost behavior in the ________-run.

5)  A high degree of correlation does not guarantee that there is a _________-and-effect relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

6)  A company has one product with a selling price of $20 and variable costs and expenses of $8 per unit. The fixed costs and expenses are $32,000 and the company has a target profit of $28,000. To reach the target profit, the company must sell ________ thousand units of the product.

7)  A product sells for $20 and it has variable costs and expenses of $8 per unit. The contribution margin ratio for this product is ________ percent.

8)  A product sells for $30 and has variable costs and expenses of $18 per unit. The fixed costs and expenses are $20,000. The break-even point in sales dollars is _________ thousand dollars.

9)  Total fixed costs and expenses divided by the contribution margin per unit gives you the break-even point in ________.

10)  The number of independent variables in multiple regression is ______ or more.

Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement (or statement of cash flows) is one of the main financial statements. The cash flow statement explains how a company's cash and cash equivalents have changed during a specified period of time.
The cash flow statement is organized into three sections:
      1. Cash provided and used in operating activities,
      2. Cash provided and used in investing activities,
      3. Cash provided and used in financing activities.
Under the indirect method of preparing and presenting the cash flow statement, the operating activities section begins with the net income during the period of the statement. Since the company's net income was calculated and reported under the accrual basis of accounting, the amount of net income needs to be adjusted to a cash amount. The first adjustment is to add back the amount of depreciation, depletion, and amortization expenses, since these expenses had reduced net income but did not reduce the company's cash. Next, any gains or losses on the sale of long-term assets used in the business are listed, since the entire amount received from the sale is reported as investing activities. Lastly, the changes in the current assets (other than cash) and the changes in current liabilities are listed. For example, if inventory has increased, the amount of the increase in inventory is subtracted because additional cash would have been used to increase the amount of inventory. The amount by which a current liability decreased is also subtracted, since it is assumed that cash was used to decrease the current liability. All of the items reported in the operating activities section are combined into a final number: the net amount of cash provided by operating activities.
The second section of the cash flow statement reports the investing activities. The changes in the long-term asset account balances are reported in this section. For example, if a company's long-term investment in another company has increased during the period, the amount of the increase is reported as a negative amount in the investing activities section—an indication that cash was used. The same is true for the purchase of property, plant and equipment for use in the business—an increase in the equipment account indicates that cash was used to purchase equipment. If a long-term investment or plant asset is sold, the entire proceeds from the sale are reported as a positive amount in the investing activities section. This indicates that cash was provided or increased from the sale. (Any gain or loss on the sale is an adjustment to the net income reported in the operating activities section of the statement.)
The third section of the cash flow statement contains the company's financing activities. This section lists the changes in long-term liabilities and stockholders' equity. For example, if Bonds Payable has increased by $1,000,000, it is assumed that cash of $1,000,000 was provided. The $1,000,000 will appear as a positive amount in the financing activities section of the statement. If Bonds Payable decreased, then the amount of the decrease will be reported as a negative amount—indicating that cash was used to retire the bonds. The amount of dividends declared and paid will also appear as a negative amount, since cash was used. If the company sells some of its shares of stock, the amount received will be reported as a positive amount since it provided cash. If the company purchases some of its shares of stock, the amount will appear as a negative amount in the financing activities section because cash was used.
In addition to the three main sections of the cash flow statement, it is also necessary to disclose significant noncash transactions (e.g. exchanging stock for land) and other items required by generally accepted accounting principles.

Sample Cash Flow Statement Questions

1)  The conversion of bonds into common stock is an example of _____________________ information that is reported outside of the three major sections of the statement of cash flows.

2)  Companies using the indirect method must also disclose the amount paid for ___________ and income taxes.

3)  Cash __________ (plural) from financing activities occur when a corporation issues equity securities, bonds, and long-term notes.

4)  The purchase of _____________ stock will be reported as a decrease in the cash provided by financing activities.

5)  The ________ (gain, loss) on the sale of an asset used in a company's business will be a deduction to the cash provided by operating activities under the indirect method.

6)  The _________________ (similar to repurchase or retirement) of bonds payable will decrease the cash provided by financing activities.

7)  The 2009 statement of cash flows of ABC Corp. explains the change in the cash and ________ equivalents from December 31, 2008 through December 31, 2009.

8)  The entire____________ from the sale of an asset used in the business will be reported as an increase in the cash provided by investing activities.

9)  An increase in Accounts __________ would be an increase in the cash provided by operating activities under the indirect method.

10)  Cash _________ (opposite of inflows) from investing activities occur when a corporation purchases equipment to be used in the business and when it makes a long-term investment in another corporation.

Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts is a listing of all of the accounts contained in an organization's general ledger.
In most organizations the chart of accounts is arranged in the following order: current assets, long-term assets, current liabilities, long-term liabilities, owner's (or stockholders') equity, operating revenues, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, other revenues and gains, other expenses and losses.
Except for very small organizations, the accounts are numbered. Typically, the first digit of an asset's account number is the digit "1". The account numbers for liability accounts and owner's equity accounts often begin with the digit "2". The account numbers for operating revenue accounts might have a "3" as their first digit. Expenses could begin with the digits "4" or "5" or "6" depending on the type of expense. Gains, losses, non-operating revenues, and non-operating expenses might have "9" as their first digit.
Accounting software usually provides sample charts of accounts for various types of organizations. However, you will likely need to add more accounts or modify the account titles.
The chart of accounts section of accounting software often controls the way account balances are presented in the computer generated financial statements.

Sample Chart of Accounts Questions

1)  A __________ of accounts is a listing of the accounts to which transactions can be posted.

2)  The chart of accounts contains the account names and account numbers for the following types of accounts: ____________ sheet accounts and income statement accounts.

3)  The chart of accounts contains the accounts in the company's ___________ ledger.

4)  A contra-asset account will have a _____________ balance.

5)  Asset accounts will normally have ___________ balances.

6)  Inexpensive accounting ______________ comes with charts of accounts already setup for various types of companies.

7)  Interest Expense and Interest Revenue/Income accounts are classified as 'Other' or 'Non-_____________________.'

8)  Account ____________ are not part of a chart of accounts.

9)  Unearned Revenues and Customer Deposits are _______________ accounts.

10)  Interest owed on Notes Payable will be recorded as a credit in ______________ Payable.

Debits and Credits

Debits and credits are part of double-entry accounting and bookkeeping. Recording a transaction under double-entry requires that at least one account will have an amount entered as a debit—which means entered on the left side of an account. It also requires that at least one account will have an amount entered as a credit—which means entered on the right side of an account. Each transaction must have the total of the debits equal to the total of the credits.
To increase the balance in an asset or expense account, you enter an amount as a debit. To decrease the balance in an asset or expense account, you enter an amount as a credit.
Liabilities, revenues, and stockholders' (owner's) equity accounts are also increased with a credit. They are decreased with a debit.
Here are five examples to illustrate debits and credits:

1. If a company borrows $5,000 from the bank, the company will debit Cash (because this asset increased) and will credit Notes Payable (because this liability increased).
2. When a company collects $400 from its customers who were billed earlier, the company will debit Cash (because this asset is increased) and will credit Accounts Receivable (because this asset decreased).
3. If a company bills a client for a service, the company will debit Accounts Receivable (because this asset increased) and will credit Service Revenues (because revenues increased and that in turn increases owner's equity).
4. When a company pays $600 for the current month's rent, the company will debit Rent Expense (because expenses increased and that in turn decreases owner's equity) and will credit Cash (because this asset decreased).
5. If J. Smith, a sole proprietor, withdraws $300 from the business for personal use, the business will debit the account J. Smith, Drawing (because owner's equity decreased) and will credit Cash (because the asset decreased).

Periodically, a trial balance is prepared to prove that the total of the debit balances in the accounts is equal to the total of the credit balances in the accounts.

Sample Debits and Credits Questions

1)  When an amount is entered on this side of an account, we say the account was debited.

2)  A listing of all of the accounts in the general ledger with the debit amounts in one column and the credit amounts in another column is a _________ balance.

3)  A journal entry with just two accounts is a ___________ journal entry.

4)  When a corporation declares these, there needs to be an entry to debit Retained Earnings and to credit a liability account.

5)  A company's accounts are housed in the general _______________.

6)  When a transaction is recorded, there are at least _________ accounts involved.

7)  The difference between a sole proprietorship's total assets and its total liabilities is ___________'s equity.

8)  Costs that have been used to earn revenues.

9)  This type of account is credited when the proceeds from the sale of an asset used in the business exceeds its book value.

10)  Fees that have been earned are recorded in this type of account.

Depreciation

Depreciation involves allocating the historical cost of a long-term asset to expense over the useful life of the asset. Long-term or long-lived assets that are used in a business (except land) must be depreciated in order to match the asset's cost to the accounting periods when revenues are earned from using the asset. In other words, depreciation is not an attempt to value an asset. Rather, depreciation is an attempt to achieve the matching principle.
Since the depreciation reported in the financial statements is based on the useful life of an asset, there can be different depreciation amounts from one company to another using a similar asset. For example, a new machine might be useful for 10 years in a company that processes soft metals, but a similar machine might be useful for only 5 years in a company that processes hard metals. The result might be annual depreciation expense of $10,000 for 10 years for one company, while another company's financial statements will report $20,000 per year for 5 years. (The depreciation for tax purposes will likely be still another amount, since tax depreciation is based on income tax regulations.)
There are different methods for calculating depreciation expense. Generally, companies use straight-line depreciation for its financial statements. The straight-line method means the annual depreciation expense will be the same amount for each full year of use. Alternatively, some companies might use an accelerated method of depreciation such as double-declining balance or sum-of-the-years' digits. The accelerated methods mean more depreciation expense in the early years of an asset's life and less in the later years of an asset's life. Another method of calculating depreciation is the units of production or units of activity method. Under the units of activity method, more depreciation is recorded in the accounting periods when the asset's use is greater. In periods when the asset is used less, the amount of depreciation is smaller.
The accounting entry for recording depreciation for financial purposes is a debit to Depreciation Expense and a credit to Accumulated Depreciation. Accumulated Depreciation is a contra asset account that is reported in the balance sheet classification Property, Plant and Equipment

Sample Depreciation Questions

1)  Instead of the physical life of an asset, depreciation is based on the _________ life of the asset.

2)  This is to natural resources as depreciation is to constructed assets used in a business.

3)  When the cash proceeds from the sale of an asset used in the business is less than the asset's book value at the time of the sale, it results in a ________ being reported on the income statement.

4)  The cost of an asset minus the asset's accumulated depreciation is the asset's ___________ value.

5)  A change in an estimate will not change the amounts reported in _____________ years.

6)  Changing the useful life of an asset will change the reported amounts of depreciation for the current year and the ___________ years.

7)  An estimated value used in computing depreciation.

8)  The cost of an asset minus the estimated salvage value is the asset's ________________ cost.

9)  The sum-of-the-years' __________ is an accelerated depreciation method.

10)  Another name for the estimated scrap or salvage value of an asset at the end of its useful life.

Evaluating Business Investments

Capital budgeting involves the evaluation of potential projects that usually extend for several accounting periods. There are several tools available to assist in the financial ranking of the projects being considered.
Since the projects involve more than one accounting period, it is wise to use techniques that consider the time value of money. These techniques utilize present value calculations, rather than simply using the unadjusted future amounts. In other words, present value calculations discount the future amounts. A dollar received one year from today will have a lower present value than one dollar. The dollar received two years from today will have a present value that is less than a dollar received in one year, and so on.
Two common techniques which use present value calculations are (1) net present value, and (2) internal rate of return. The net present value technique discounts the future cash flow by a specified interest rate. (The interest rate will likely be the required minimum return that a company will accept for the project being considered.) If the present value of the future cash flows is greater than the cash outlay, the project is said to have a positive net present value. This positive excess is the amount earned over and above the return that was used to discount the future cash flows.
The second technique that recognizes the time value of money is the internal rate of return. The internal rate of return calculates the rate that will discount the future cash flows to exactly the amount of the cash outlay.
There are also some techniques that do not consider the time value of money. One is the payback method. This technique looks at a project's cash flows and calculates the years it will take to recoup the initial cash outlay. A shorter payback is viewed to be better than a longer payback. The drawback to this method is that it looks only at the early years of a project and stops when the cumulative amount reaches the amount of the investment. All of the cash received after that point is not considered.
The accounting rate of return is another technique that does not consider the time value of money. At best it gives you an average return based on the income statement amounts in relationship to the amount invested.
To recap, the net present value method and the internal rate of return use all of the cash flows from a project and will discount them with present value calculations. The payback method uses only some of the cash flows and does not discount them. The accounting rate of return does not use cash flows and does not discount the amounts.

Sample Evaluating Business Investments Questions

1)  The _______________ rate of return does NOT use cash flows.

2)  The _____ present value is the difference between the discounted cash going out and the discounted cash coming in.

3)  One step in determining the net present value of a project is to discount the future cash flows by the ___________ rate of return. Also referred to as the targeted, desired, minimum, or hurdle rate of return.

4)  When deciding on replacing an old piece of equipment, the cost of the old equipment should be viewed as a _________ cost, since it is not relevant to the decision.

5)  A corporation's cost of capital is a _____________-average of its cost of common stock, cost of preferred stock, and the cost of its long-term debt.

6)  Payback determines the _________ it takes to recover an investment without discounting any amounts.

7)  The depreciation amount used for book or financial statement purposes is often different from the depreciation amount used for the _______ return.

8)  The ______ value of an asset is its cost minus its accumulated depreciation.

9)  The _____________ rate of return uses discounted cash flows.

10)  Since most companies cannot accomplish all of the capital expenditures that have been identified as needed, companies rank the projects according to priority, profitability, etc. as part of a process known as capital _______________.

Financial Accounting

Financial accounting is focused on four general-purpose, external financial statements:

1. balance sheet
2. income statement
3. statement of cash flows
4. statement of stockholders' equity

Because these financial statements will be used by many different individuals outside of the company, the financial statements must follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These common rules or standards are developed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). All of the rules are based on basic accounting principles and concepts such as cost, matching, full disclosure, going concern, consistency, and more.
GAAP also requires that large corporations follow the accrual basis of accounting. This means that revenues are reported when they are earned (not when the money is received), and expenses are reported when they are incurred (not when paid).
If a corporation's stock is publicly-traded, it is also required to follow the reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an agency of the U.S. government. This means the corporation's financial statements must be audited by an independent registered public accounting firm. The corporation must also provide additional financial reporting such as annual reports to stockholders and to the SEC (Form 10-K), proxy statements, and other financial information.

Sample Financial Accounting Questions

1)  Cost, full disclosure, and matching are three of the basic accounting ______________.

2)  The FASB is responsible for developing new accounting _____________, which will become part of GAAP.

3)  GAAP is the acronym for generally ___________ accounting principles.

4)  Large companies must use the _________-basis of accounting, rather than the cash-basis of accounting.

5)  A corporation's annual report to the SEC is the Form _______-K.

6)  The difference between the amounts of assets and liabilities is stockholders' __________.

7)  The balance sheet is also referred to as the statement of financial __________.

8)  If a corporation's stock is _________-traded, it will have additional financial reporting requirements.

9)  Distributions of some of a corporation's net income to the stockholders.

10)  The word for an entry on the right side of an account.

Financial Ratios

Financial ratios are part of the broader topic financial statement analysis. Since most of the financial ratios are calculated from amounts reported on recent financial statements, they are historic in nature.
The following financial ratios are calculated by using amounts reported on the balance sheet: working capital, current ratio, quick ratio, debt to equity ratio, and debt ratio. The first three ratios are indicators of a corporation's liquidity. The latter two ratios are indicators of a corporation's degree of leverage.
The following financial ratios use amounts from both the balance sheet and the income statement: inventory turnover, accounts receivable turnover, return on equity, and return on assets. For example, the inventory turnover ratio is calculated by dividing the cost of goods sold (from the income statement) by the average inventory amounts that are found on the balance sheets.
Other financial ratios use amounts only from the income statement. For example the gross margin ratio is the gross profit divided by net sales. The return on sales is the net income divided by net sales. These financial ratios are indicators of a company's profitabity.
In addition to financial ratios, another tool in financial statement analysis is common-size financial statements. A common-size balance sheet results when every amount on the balance sheet is divided by the amount of total assets. A common-size income statement is the result of dividing each item on the income statement by the amount of net sales. Common-size financial statements allow for a comparison between companies of any size and also with industry averages. For example, a corporation's common-size balance sheet might indicate that its current assets are 40% of its total assets. That percentage can then be compared to a competitor's percentage and to the percentage for its industry.
If a corporation's stock is publicly traded, the Management Discussion section of its annual report to stockholders provides helpful information behind the financial ratios.

Sample Financial Ratios Questions

1)  Calculating the change (amount and percentage) from one year to the next is referred to as ______________________ analysis.

2)  ____________ size financial statements result from vertical analysis.

3)  A higher debt to ________ ratio indicates more risk than a lower ratio.

4)  Another term for carrying value is ____________ value.

5)  The denominator of the accounts receivable turnover ratio is the _______________ accounts receivable.

6)  One way to determine the number of days' sales in the average inventory is to divide 360 by the inventory ____________ ratio.

7)  Horizontal analysis is also referred to as _____________ analysis.

8)  Working capital, the current ratio, and the quick ratio are indicators of a company's _________________.

9)  For this liquidity ratio, Inventory is excluded from the current assets.

10)  RMA (formerly Robert _____________ Associates) publishes financial ratios and other statistics for many different industries and companies of varying sizes.

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Financial Statements

The three main financial statements are:

1. The balance sheet—which reports a corporation's assets, liabilities, and stockholders' equity as of a point-in-time (e.g., as of midnight of December 31, 2009).
2. The income statement—which reports a corporation's revenues and expenses for a period of time, such as a year, quarter, month, 52 weeks, 13 weeks, etc.
3. The statement of cash flows (or cash flow statement)—which provides information on the change in a corporation's cash and cash equivalents during the same period of time as the income statement.

The financial statements that are distributed outside of a company need to be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). For example, the cost principle generally requires that the balance sheet should report long-lived assets at cost minus accumulated depreciation. The matching principle requires that the cost of long-lived assets used in the business be allocated to various accounting periods in which they generate revenues or are used up. Some costs are deferred to the balance sheet as assets and are expensed in subsequent periods because of the going concern principle and the matching principle. The financial statements are to reflect these basic accounting principles as well as the detailed accounting pronouncements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
When a corporation's stock is publicly traded, its financial statements must be audited by independent certified public accountants. These CPAs issue an audit report stating that the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The financial statements of some companies whose stock is not publicly traded might also be audited for the comfort of the owners and/or lenders.
Always keep in mind that financial statements report the results of past transactions. There is no assurance that the future transactions will be similar to the past transactions.

Sample Financial Statements Questions

1)  The cost flow assumption that results in less net income when the cost of the inventory items is increasing.

2)  The income statement format that reports the amount of gross profit as a line item is the _____________-step format.

3)  A corporation's own stock that has been purchased by the corporation but is not retired is ___________ stock.

4)  When an accountant is faced with two possible alternatives for reporting a situation, this accounting guideline directs the accountant to select the alternative that will result in less net income and less asset amount (or a greater liability amount).

5)  When a long-term asset is sold for less than its book value, the difference is reported on the income statement as a ______.

6)  An accounting year ending with a date other than December 31 is a _________-year company.

7)  A long-term asset used in a business that does not get depreciated.

8)  The cumulative earnings of a corporation minus the cumulative dividends declared by the corporation is generally the amount reported on the balance sheet as ____________ Earnings.

9)  The __________ of the financial statements includes the company name and the name of the financial statement.

10)  Dividends that a corporation declares and pays are reported under this activity on the statement of cash flows

Improving Profits

The decisions necessary for improving profits involve the future and must be based on the current and future amounts. The past amounts, such as the amounts in your accounting records, are historical, sunk, and irrelevant amounts. (No decision will affect or change the past.) Those past amounts are useful only if they help you to estimate the relevant future amounts. Irrelevant amounts also include any future amounts that will not be different between alternatives. Hence, decisions to improve profits need only be concerned with the current and future revenues, costs, and expenses that will differ among alternatives.
The relevant amounts in the decision to replace a machine would be the cost to remove the old machine, the cost to purchase and set up the new machine, proceeds from the sale of the old machine, the future cost savings (such as utilities, labor, less scrap, etc.) increased sales in the future due to the new machine's features, changes in income taxes, and any other incremental changes. Ultimately the decision is whether or not the additional cash outlay today is worth the additional cash inflows in the future.
When examining the future cash flows, it is critical that you consider the time value of money. This is done by applying present value factors to the incremental cash amounts. After all, cash in the future is not as valuable as cash in the present.
When you look at the differences in the future amounts, be sure you look hard at the difference in net income. The difference in the bottom line is more important than the difference in sales. Don't strain your organization for little additional profit.

Sample Improving Profits Questions

1)  Revenues and expenses that are past, and revenues and expenses that will be the same whether or not a decision is made, can be ______________ from an analysis of whether or not to take an action.

2)  When a company has a limited number of machine hours available, the number of machine hours is often referred to as a __________________.

3)  A manufacturer with a limited amount of hours available will maximize its profits in the short run when it produces and sells the items with the highest contribution margin per ________.

4)  Costs that are partly fixed and partly variable are ___________ costs.

5)  For decisions involving the ___________ run, a company might find its profit increasing when it takes actions that result in revenues increasing more than the increase in variable costs.

6)  Relevant amounts for a decision are the amounts that will _____________ if an action is taken.

7)  In the ________ run, companies' revenues must cover all of the costs and expenses, variable and fixed.

8)  Marginal cost is used to describe the cost of the very next unit. _________________ cost is used to describe the cost of the next several units.

9)  A visual aid for seeing how a mixed cost behaves is a ___________ of the cost at various levels of activity. This also allows you to see if some data is not reasonable.

10)  On a per unit basis, fixed costs become _________________ as volume increases.

Income Statement

The income statement is one of the main financial statements. It is also known as the statement of operations, profit and loss statement, or P&L. The income statement reports a company's profitability during the period of time specified in its heading. The period or time interval might be one year, nine months, three months, one month, 52 weeks, 13 weeks, four weeks, and so on.
The elements or components of the income statement are revenues, gains, expenses, and losses. A single-step income statement format shows revenues and gains minus expenses and losses—and the resulting bottom line: net income.
For the bottom line of the income statement to report a meaningful net income, it should be prepared under the accrual-basis of accounting. This means that revenues are reported when they are earned—when the merchandise or services are delivered—and not when the money is collected. Expenses are matched with revenues or are reported when they occur—and not when the expenses are paid.
If a corporation's stock is publicly traded, its net income must also be presented on the income statement as earnings per share of common stock.
The net income reported on a corporation's income statement is part of the retained earnings reported on the balance sheet. As a result, the income statement is a link between the balance sheet at the beginning of the accounting period and the balance sheet at the end of the accounting period.

Sample Income Statement Questions

1)  The accounting principle that encourages the accrual basis of accounting.

2)  Amount before income tax expense.

3)  A change in an accounting ________________ is reported only in the current and future periods' income statement. For example, a change in the useful life of an asset being depreciated.

4)  Results when a long-term asset is sold for less than its book value.

5)  Interest expense is an example of this type of expense.

6)  Results when a long-term asset is sold for more than its book value.

7)  Selling, General & Administrative expenses are also referred to as _______________ expenses.

8)  A year other than a calendar year.

9)  Organization that establishes the accounting rules. (acronym)

10)  The cost of goods available minus ____________inventory equals the cost of goods sold.

Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold

A retailer's inventory is its merchandise that has not yet been sold. The cost of the inventory is reported on the balance sheet as a current asset. When merchandise is sold, the cost of the items sold is reported on the income statement as the cost of goods sold. The formula for the retailer's cost of goods sold is the cost of its net purchases minus the increase in inventory, or its cost of net purchases plus the decrease in inventory. This formula assures the matching of costs with revenues.
A manufacturer reports three inventory amounts: raw materials (at cost), work-in-process (at cost), and unsold finished goods (at cost). The cost of these three inventories is reported on the balance sheet as a current asset. The cost of the finished goods that were sold in the current period is reported on the income statement as the cost of goods sold. The formula for a manufacturer's cost of goods sold is the cost of goods manufactured minus the increase in the finished goods inventory, or the cost of goods manufactured plus the decrease in finished goods inventory. Again, this formula assists in the matching of costs with revenues.
Costs for inventory include all costs that were necessary to get the items into inventory and ready for sale. For a retailer, the cost of a product is the vendor's invoice amount plus any freight-in on goods purchased FOB shipping point. A manufacturer's cost of finished goods and work-in-process will be the cost of direct material, direct labor, and manufacturing overhead.
When costs of items are increasing, one must decide which costs will be reported as inventory and which costs will be reported as the cost of goods sold. Under the first-in, first-out (FIFO) cost flow assumption, the older (lower) costs will be leaving inventory first and the most recent costs will remain in inventory. The last-in, first-out (LIFO) cost flow assumption has the recent higher costs flowing out of inventory first (and will become the cost of goods sold). The older lower costs will remain in inventory (unless the quantity is drastically reduced).
The LIFO cost flow can be different from the physical movement of goods. In other words, a company can diligently rotate its stock by moving the oldest goods to customers and yet flow the most recent costs to the cost of goods sold on its income statement.

Sample Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold Questions

1)  The ___________ -average cost is associated with the perpetual system of inventory.

2)  A manufacturer assigning direct materials, direct labor, and both variable and fixed overhead to its production output is referred to as ____________________ (or full) costing.

3)  _____________ identification might be used instead of FIFO, LIFO, and average when determining the cost of goods sold and the ending inventory.

4)  If a retailer's net ______________ of merchandise during an accounting period was $200,000 and its inventory decreased by $20,000 during that period, the income statement will report the cost of goods sold as $220,000.

5)  Inventory is reported on the balance sheet as a ____________ asset.

6)  Inventory is reported at this amount if it is lower than cost. The "M" in LCM.

7)  This inventory cost flow assumption will result in lower profits when there is deflation in the cost of the inventory items. (accronym)

8)  The inventory system where the Inventory account is increased whenever merchandise is purchased and is decreased whenever merchandise is sold.

9)  A method of estimating ending inventory when both the cost and retail amounts are known.

10)  When goods are shipped FOB Shipping Point, the __________ will incur freight-in costs.

Lower of Cost or Market

The lower of cost or market rule is associated with the accounting guideline or constraint known as conservatism. (Conservatism means that if doubt exists between two alternatives, the accountant should choose the alternative that will result in a lesser asset amount and less profit.)
When the lower of cost or market is applied to inventory, the accountant will value the inventory items at the lower of (1) the cost, or (2) the replacement cost within a ceiling and a floor.
The ceiling is the highest amount for the market amount. The ceiling is the net realizable value (NRV) and it is calculated as follows: the selling price in the ordinary course of business minus any costs of completion and disposal.
The floor is the lowest amount for the market amount and it is the net realizable value minus the normal profit.
Here is one example. Assume an inventory item had a cost of $10. Its replacement cost is now $8. Its net realizable value is $9, and the normal profit is $2. The cost of $10 is compared to the market amount. Market is the replacement cost of $8 constrained by a ceiling of $9 (NRV) and a floor of $7 (NRV of $9 minus $2 profit). Since the $8 replacement cost is within the ceiling and the floor, the accountant compares the cost of $10 to the market of $8. The lower of cost or market is $8.
Here's another example. An item in inventory had a cost of $10. Its replacement cost is $5. The net realizable value is $7 and the normal profit is $1. The market amount is the replacement cost of $5, but it is constrained by a ceiling of $7 and a floor of $6 ($7 minus the normal profit of $1). Because the replacement cost is below the floor amount, the floor amount is used. This means the accountant chooses between the lower of the cost of $10 or the market of $6. Hence, the item should be valued at $6 under the lower of cost or market rule.

Sample Lower of Cost or Market Questions

1)  Another term for "limitation". (For example, the ceiling or floor for replacement cost.)

2)  "Market" in LCM is the constrained replacement cost whether by purchase or production. In other words LCM will apply to a merchant and to a __________________.

3)  The upper limit for the market amount in LCM is also referred to as the _____________.

4)  When cost is less than the floor, the LCM rule requires that ________ be used.

5)  __________ profit is subtracted from NRV in order to determine the floor in LCM.

6)  The type of gain that occurs when the value of items in a company's inventory increases.

7)  The "R" in NRV.

8)  Only in exceptional cases will ARB No. 43 allow inventory to be reported at more than cost. One of these exceptional cases would involve precious ______________ (plural).

9)  If you desire to have the most conservative results from LCM, you should apply the LCM rule to every inventory _________.

10)  The result on the income statement when an adjustment is made to reduce inventory from cost to market.

Payroll Accounting

Payroll accounting includes the computation of gross wages (hours worked times hourly pay rate) and other compensation such as salaries, employee commissions, and bonuses. Payroll accounting also involves payroll withholdings, such as Social Security and Medicare taxes, federal and state income tax withholding, and voluntary withholdings. Voluntary withholdings include union dues, health insurance premiums, United Way contributions, and contributions to savings and retirement plans.
In addition to the computation of the gross wages and salaries, payroll accounting is involved with the calculation and reporting of other payroll related expenses. These additional employer expenses include the matching of Social Security and Medicare taxes, federal and state unemployment taxes, worker compensation insurance, paid holidays, paid vacation days, pension costs, health insurance premiums, and so on. These expenses can amount to an additional 40% of the employees' wages and salaries.
Because of accrual accounting and the matching principle, it is reasonable that companies should recognize the expense and liability of payroll related costs when they are earned by the employees—not when the company pays the costs. For example, the cost of providing agreed upon vacations should be reported as an additional labor cost and a liability when the employee is earning the vacation. Retirement pay and company-paid health insurance during employees' retirement years should also be recorded as an additional cost of labor and as a liability when the employees are working and earning these benefits.
The payroll taxes withheld from employees' pay and the payroll taxes that are an additional cost of the employer are reported as current liabilities until they are remitted to the federal and state governments and other parties.

Sample Payroll Accounting Questions

1)  ________ salary or wages is the amount an employee earns before deductions are made for payroll taxes and other items.

2)  This represents both Social Security and Medicare taxes. (acronym)

3)  A person providing services to a company who is not deemed to be an employee of the company is referred to as an _____________________ contractor.

4)  The additional 50% that employers pay when employees work more than 40 hours in one week is known as the overtime ______________.

5)  Health insurance benefits provided to retirees are part of _______-retirement benefits.

6)  Accruing vacation expense when it is earned by an employee instead of recording the expense when the vacation is taken is an application of the _______________ principle.

7)  A person paid in this manner will receive 26 paychecks per year.

8)  The employer must remit ______ times the amount required to be withheld from employees for Social Security and Medicare taxes.

9)  The tax withheld from employees and not matched by the employer is the federal ___________ tax.

10)  The amount a person "clears" on their paycheck is the employee's ______ pay.

Present Value and Bonds

Present value calculations involve the discounting of future cash amounts to a present value. To discount means to remove the interest or to remove the time value of money.
The rate used to discount the future cash amounts is referred to as the discount rate, the effective interest rate, the yield, the yield-to-maturity, the market interest rate, the required rate, the target rate, the time value of money, the time-adjusted rate of return, the internal rate of return, and perhaps others.
To assist in calculating the present value of the future amounts, one can use mathematical formulas, the present value factors contained in present value tables, a financial calculator or computer software.
The two most common present value tables are (1) the present value of 1 table, and (2) the present value of an ordinary annuity table. The present value of 1 table shows the present value of receiving a single payment of $1 sometime in the future. For example, if the time value of money is 10% per year, receiving $1 at the end of one year has a present value of 0.90909 [1/(1 + 10%)¹] or [1/(1.10)]¹. The present value of receiving a single $1 at the end of two years is 0.82645 calculated as [1/(1 + .10)²] or [1/1.21].
A series of equal cash amounts occurring at the end of equal time intervals is known as an ordinary annuity or an annuity in arrears. When the amount occurs at the beginning of each equal time interval, it is an annuity due or an annuity in advance.
A bond is both an ordinary annuity and a single amount. The bond's interest payments at the end of each six-month period form an ordinary annuity. The bond's maturity amount or face amount is a single amount that occurs when the bond matures. To determine the present value of a bond, both (1) the series of interest payments and (2) the maturity amount must be discounted by the market interest rate. The market interest rate is also referred to as the yield or yield-to-maturity.
Accountants may need to calculate the present value of some future amounts in order to comply with the cost principle.

Sample Present Value and Bonds Questions

1)  The effective interest rate method provides perfect correlation between a bond's interest expense on the corporation's income statement and the bond's ____________ value on the corporation's balance sheet.

2)  A bond maturing in three years will be reported as a long-term _____________on the issuing corporation's balance sheet.

3)  The difference between each year's bond interest expense and the cash paid for interest is the amount of _________________ of a bond's discount or premium.

4)  The amortization of the premium on bonds payable will result in bond interest expense being ________ (less, more) than the cash payment for interest.

5)  The __________ interest rate is used to discount a bond's interest payments and the bond's maturity amount to their present values.

6)  An advantage for issuing bonds instead of common _______ is that the interest is deductible on the corporation's income tax return.

7)  A bond's interest payments form an _____________ annuity.

8)  A bond's _________-to-maturity is also the effective interest rate.

9)  An increase in the market interest rates will cause the market value of a bond to __________ (decrease, increase).

10)  A 20-year bond has a stated interest rate of eight percent per year with the interest paid semiannually. If the market interest rate is ten percent, the present value factor to be used will be based on 'i' equal to _________ percent.

Standard Costing

Standard costing means assigning the expected, budgeted costs to the goods manufactured, the goods in inventory, and the goods sold. In other words, the amounts assigned are the costs that should occur when manufacturing products.
The actual costs are then compared to the standard costs and any differences are reported as variances. Since the standard costs are often tied to the company's annual profit plan, a variance is also an indicator that the actual profit will be different from the planned amount.
To illustrate standard costs, let's assume that a company's profit plan includes a standard of 15 pounds of material at $4 per pound for each unit produced. The standard for the direct labor is 30 minutes at $12 per hour for each unit manufactured. Manufacturing overhead is budgeted to be $36 per direct labor hour. Based on this information, the standard cost for one unit of output is $84 consisting of $60 (15 lbs. x $4 per pound) for direct material + $6 (0.5 hr. x $12 per hour) for direct labor + $18 (0.5 hr. x $36 per direct labor hour) for manufacturing overhead.
If the company manufactures 100 units and uses 1,550 pounds of material, there will be an unfavorable direct material usage variance of $200. This is determined by multiplying the output of 100 units x 15 lbs. (the standard lbs. allowed for each unit) = 1,500 lbs. The 1,500 standard lbs. versus the actual 1,550 lbs. meant that too much material was used to make the actual output. The additional 50 lbs. X $4 standard cost per lb. results in an unfavorable direct material usage variance of $200.
There will be a direct materials price variance when the actual cost of the materials is an amount other than $4 per pound. If the company pays more than $4 per pound, the materials price or purchase price variance will be unfavorable. If the company pays less than $4 per pound, the price variance will be favorable.
There are similar calculations for the direct labor. However, the usage or quantity variance for direct labor is referred to as the direct labor efficiency variance. If the actual labor hours are more than the standard hours allowed for the good output, an unfavorable efficiency variance is reported. The price variance for direct labor is referred to as the direct labor rate variance. If the actual pay rate is greater than the standard hourly pay rate, the variance is unfavorable.
Manufacturing overhead variances include a volume variance and a budget variance associated with the fixed manufacturing overhead. An efficiency variance and a spending (or flexible budget) variance pertain to the variable manufacturing overhead. When actual overhead costs are greater than the standard overhead allowed for the output, the variance is unfavorable.

Sample Standard Costing Questions

1)  For inventory valuation in a standard cost system, standard costs are applied to the good _____________.

2)  Standard costs are more helpful in determining whether a company operated ___________________ (effectively or efficiently) in producing its output during the accounting period.

3)  This direct labor variance occurs when the direct labor is paid an hourly wage that is different from the standard hourly wage.

4)  Because of seasonal fluctuations, manufacturing overhead standards are likely predetermined for the entire __________.

5)  The total manufacturing overhead variance is the difference between the actual overhead costs incurred and the standard overhead costs __________ to the good output.

6)  A variance that occurs when the actual direct labor hours are different from the standard number of direct labor hours.

7)  When the actual cost of an input is less than the standard cost of an input, it is a _________________ variance.

8)  If a company has variances that are very significant and its inventory balances have increased significantly, some of the variance balances should be allocated (or prorated) to ________________.

9)  The fixed overhead volume variance is also referred to as the _________________ volume variance.

10)  The variable manufacturing overhead variance occurring when the actual variable overhead costs are different from the costs expected for the actual inputs.

Stockholders' Equity

Stockholders' equity is one of the three major sections of a corporation's balance sheet. Stockholders' equity is the difference between the reported amounts of a corporation's assets and liabilities.
Stockholders' equity is subdivided into components: (1) paid-in capital or contributed capital, (2) retained earnings, and (3) treasury stock, if any.
The paid-in capital component reports the amounts the corporation received when it issued its common and preferred (if any) stock. If the stock had a par value, the total par value of each class of stock is reported in a separate "par" account. Any amount received that was greater than the par amount is reported in an account such as Premium on Common or Paid-in Capital in Excess of Par—Common Stock.
Retained earnings reports the cumulative net income since the start of the corporation minus the dividends declared since the start of the corporation. (In rare instances there may have been some adjustments to the balance of the retained earnings.) In effect, the retained earnings are the profits that the stockholders have opted to reinvest in the business. The amounts are likely to be invested in various assets and are not likely to be in cash.
Treasury stock (cost method) reports the amount paid by the corporation to purchase its own shares of stock. This account will have a debit balance and therefore reduces the amount of stockholders' equity.
The total of stockholders' equity is the book value of the corporation. You should realize that the book value or stockholders' equity is not an indication of the market value of the corporation

Sample Stockholders' Equity Questions

1)  A type of preferred stock that entitles its owners to receive past omitted dividends plus the current dividend before the common stockholders receive a dividend.

2)  The maximum number of shares of stock that a corporation can issue is the ________________ number of shares of stock.

3)  Dividends declared by a corporation, but not yet paid, are reported on the balance sheet as a __________________.

4)  A 15% stock dividend is considered to be a ____________ (small, large) stock dividend.

5)  A corporation's stock that has been repurchased by the corporation but has not been retired is _____________ stock.

6)  The percentage of ownership in a corporation is dependent upon the number of _________ of stock owned.

7)  When stock is issued for something other than cash, such as land, the land and the stock are recorded at the fair market ___________ of the land or the stock issued whichever is more clearly determinable.

8)  One component of the book value of preferred stock is its ________ price.

9)  Appointed by the board of directors of a corporation to carry out its policies.

10)  Corporations may not report a _______ or loss on the sale of its treasury stock