Finance Tips

Depreciation in accounting is used to spread an asset’s cost over the number of years it will be useful to the entity. It is used to reflect the decreasing value of the asset over time due to wear-and-tear, usage, technological outdating, etc… The original purchase affects the entity’s cash account one time. For the remaining useful life of the item, the assets are affected on the balance sheet as accumulated depreciation and the expenses are affected on the income statement as depreciation expenses. Depreciation is a way to spread the expense of an asset over the span of its useful life, as long as that span is longer than one accounting period. Many different types of assets are depreciable including tangible assets (buildings, equipment, machinery) and intangible assets (software, patents, copyrights). There are several types of depreciation methods used in bookkeeping today. A few are outlined below.

Straight-line depreciation method is graphically exactly what the name implies. It is a straight, horizontal line on a graph of annual depreciation expense versus years of life. It is one pre-determined standard amount that is divided over the estimated useful life span of the asset. This expense is then recorded once per year for the appropriate length of time. This can be calculated by taking the difference of the original cost minus the salvage value (or the amount that the item can be sold for at the end of its useful life to the entity) divided by the useful life. This calculation will give you the amount to be recorded as depreciation each year. For example, if an asset is purchased for $125,000, it’s salvage value is $5,000 ($125,000 – $5,000 = $120,000), and it is estimated to last the entity 6 years ($120,000/ 6 years = $20,000/year) an accumulated depreciation of $20,000 should be recorded each year for the next 6 years.

Related to straight-line depreciation is units-of-production depreciation. Instead of spreading the total asset depreciation over a span of time, it is spread over the amount of units it is expected to produce in its useful life. The depreciation is constant for each unit produced, but if some years are more fruitful in production than others, the amount recorded as depreciation will vary. This is most relevant with an asset that has a useful life closely related to its output. For example, if the same asset listed above was estimated to be able to produce 60,000 units of product in its lifetime ($120,000/60,000) each unit produced should be recorded as an accumulated depreciation of $2. If in 2007 the entity was able to produce 12,000 units, $24,000 should be recorded as accumulated depreciation. Likewise if in 2008 the entity was able to produce 16,000 units, an accumulated depreciation of $32,000 should be recorded for that year. Continue reading ‘Depreciation for Financial Accounting’ »

The Flaw of Accounts Receivable in Financial Accounting to Non-accountants

In my previous publication, The Unresolved Flaws in Financial Accounting I addressed some of the complex flaws in financial accounting that add to the confusion and frustration non-accountants face in trying to decipher financial reports. This time, I look at accounts receivable.

Accounts receivable is an asset account in a balance sheet. It allows a company to hold revenues and expenses within the period they occur which is a generally accepted accounting principle. This recognizes transactions irrespective of when actual payments take place. What this means is that when a firm sells on account, it considers future payments for its goods and/or services as assets thus increasing revenue.

To a non-accountant investor or stockholder, this recording appears easy to understand on a newly released balance sheet. The truth is that there are other entries that derive from the accounts receivable recording. The net realizable value of this account is the actually amount that the firm expects it will actually receive in payments. Off the back, that means that the amount recorded in accounts receivable though making assets look good will not be actualized. This amount is however an estimate based on previous experiences, trends, and ratios.

The net realizable value creates another account, the allowance for bad debt expense. This account holds the difference between what that actual accounts receivable and the net realizable value. Most firms use an aging method, usually in 30-day blocks to make adjustments to the value of their assets on the balance sheet. These uncollectible payments are described as “contra assets” because they reduce the vale of previously declared assets.

Most non-accountants do not understand the forward and backward entries and adjustments to pages and pages of detail reporting regardless of how many pages of accompanying notes there are. The question becomes, why not subtract the estimated bad debt from the account receivable entry? The problem is that though the firm knows or rightfully estimates that some payments will not be received, it cannot write-off an account unless it specifically knows which accounts will be in default.

The danger with this estimated is that if the allowance for bad debt is under estimates, then accounts receivable and net income will be overstated and returns on investments and equity (ROI and ROE) will be inaccurate. This usually is the case when an entity wants to appear conservative in its estimates of uncollectible debts. Continue reading ‘The Flaw of Accounts Receivable in Financial Accounting to Non-accountants’ »

Depreciation and Your Business

Depreciation is the systematic deduction of the worth of assets that are used in production. The assets are the capital investments a company makes to enable production of goods or services. They include equipments and machinery, vehicles, and buildings among others. They are not recorded as expenses. Because these are resources, they are assigned a useful life span. Based on an estimate of the life of an asset minus the salvage value, entities are allowed to distribute the worth of the asset over the period of use of the asset measured in years in most cases. What this means is that at the end of each year, the worth of the asset is deducted because it is no longer expected to as productive as it was at the beginning of the year. There are different methods of depreciation.

Straight-line Depreciation:

The straight-line depreciation method allows entities to calculate the worth of an asset and distribute an even deduction of the amount on a yearly basis over the life of the asset. In this case the cost of the asset minus the estimated salvage value divided by the estimated useful life of the asset. The salvage value is what the asset is expected to fetch when sold at the end of its useful life.

Straight-line depreciation can also be measured in units-of production. In this case, the cost of each unit is calculated and that cost is multiplied by the number of units produced in every given year and that amount is deducted as the depreciated value of the asset. In this case, the cost minus the estimated salvage value divided by the estimated total units to be made.

Accelerated Depreciation:

In the accelerated depreciation method the basic premise consists of depreciating a greater part of the value of the asset in the earlier life of the asset which would be reflected as a greater cost and less income in the financial statement. In this case, either the sum-of-the–years’ digits or the double-declining method is used. In this method, the annual depreciation expense is the cost minus the estimated salvage value and that is multiplied by the remaining life in years divided by the sum-of-the-years’ digits. Continue reading ‘Depreciation and Your Business’ »

For many people, the job titles of accountant and bookkeeper are interchangeable. After all, doesn’t a bookkeeper maintain the accounts of a business by tracking accounts receivable, accounts payable, rent expense, payroll, etc.? The answer is yes, a bookkeeper does perform all of these accounting functions. So why does an accountant get paid so much more than a bookkeeper? Aren’t they one in the same?

To answer this question, we can first think back to geometry. To say that a bookkeeper is equivalent to an accountant is like saying a square is equivalent to a quadrilateral. Both are shapes with four sides. But a square is a specific type of quadrilateral with all four sides equal in length and four right angles. A quadrilateral, on the other hand, is more encompassing. A rectangle, a square and a trapezoid all are quadrilaterals. All have four sides, but it is the length of those sides and the angles between them that differentiate these shapes. The same holds true for accounting. Bookkeeping is a very specific part of accounting which looks at the tracking of money being spent and earned. We all do bookkeeping by (hopefully) balancing our checkbooks. But accounting, like a quadrilateral, is much more encompassing. Accountants use a technique called matching, which goes way beyond standard bookkeeping. Beyond basic bookkeeping, accountants must make decisions regarding the “how, when and why” of documenting a businesses finances. Matching is a principle used to allocate debits and credits to certain accounting periods and reconcile across types of financial statements. Although there are strict laws governing accounting, there is a certain amount of flexibility that allows accountants to have some control over the outcomes of their financial statements.

As a more specific example, let’s compare straight-line and double-declining balance depreciation. To oversimplify, in straight-line depreciation the cost of the equipment is divided by the number of years of its “useful life” (less the salvage cost, or final “worth,” of the equipment once it has reached the end of its useful life). This gives a depreciation amount that is the same year one as it is year ten. It is a very neat and reliable method to use, as there is no variation in the fixed amount. Continue reading ‘Accountants: More Than Just Bookkeepers’ »

Any successful business owner is constantly evaluating the performance of his or her company, comparing it with the company’s historical figures, with its industry competitors, and even with successful businesses from other industries. To complete a thorough examination of your company’s effectiveness, however, you need to look at more than just easily attainable numbers like sales, profits, and total assets. You must be able to read between the lines of your financial statements and make the seemingly inconsequential numbers accessible and comprehensible.

This massive data overload could seem staggering. Luckily, there are many well-tested ratios out there that make the task a bit less daunting. Comparative ratio analysis helps you identify and quantify your company’s strengths and weaknesses, evaluate its financial position, and understand the risks you may be taking.

As with any other form of analysis, comparative ratio techniques aren’t definitive and their results shouldn’t be viewed as gospel. Many off-the-balance-sheet factors can play a role in the success or failure of a company. But, when used in concert with various other business evaluation processes, comparative ratios are invaluable.

When performing a ratio analysis of financial statements, it is often helpful to adjust the figures to common-size numbers. To do this, change each line item on a statement to a percentage of the total. For example, on a balance sheet, each figure is shown as a percentage of total assets, and on an income statement, each item is expressed as a percentage of sales. Continue reading ‘ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS-SELECTIVE TOOLS’ »

They say that accounting is a language of business. You can be a professional musician or a computer genius, but it’s not enough to get money. We also need to think about income and expenditures, and of course taxes. Filing a tax return can be rather a hard problem, especially in our country where we can observe instability in accounting laws and governmental orders concerning this field of business. So to get maximum profit, to speak to taxmen one language and not to let them tease you every person got in touch with any type of business needs to know rules and principles of accounting.

So, what is it, accounting?

Accounting, as it’s said in dictionaries, is keeping financial records, recording income and expenditures, valuing assets and liabilities and so on. Accounting is a service activity. Its function is to provide quantitative information about economic entities. The information is primarily financial in nature and is used in making economic decisions. Accounting records are used in describing the activities and financial status of many different kinds of economic entities including hospitals, schools, cities, governmental agencies and profit-oriented businesses.

how does it work, you wonder? There are a lot of principles being used in the local and international practice, but to start with you should remember the simple rule: you nave to keep records that accurately reflect your financial life. That’s the bottom line, and then you go and get more complex forms of bookkeeping. By the way it seems to be necessary to explain what bookkeeping means. It’s the process of getting financial information, writing down the details of transactions (all economic exchanges of goods, services, money between two or more people). Actually, bookkeeping is only a part of accounting – the record-making part. And accounting itself includes also analytical and interpretation part, it shows the relationship between the financial results and events which have created them. Continue reading ‘What is Accounting?’ »