According to our textbook the closing process serves a dual purpose 1. The temporary accounts (revenues, expenses, gains and losses) are reduced to zero balances, ready to measure activity in the upcoming accounting period, and 2. These temporary accounts are closed (transferred) to retained earnings to reflect changes that have occurred during that accounting period. (Spiceland p. 79). There are three times during an accounting period when a company should perform a closing process, daily, monthly and yearly. This memo will discuss the month- end closing process, the year-end closing process and the accounting process cycle as a whole. “The month-end closing process is an accounting procedure performed at the end of the month to close …show more content…
(Spiceland 58). After is step is complete than it’s on to steps six through ten which are covered in the month-end and year-end closing procedures. The closing process impacts the company’s financial statements because preparing the financial statements is a part of the accounting closing process. The numbers used to prepare the financial statements are able to be easily accessible and determined because of following the steps and procedure of the accounting process cycle. This information is already analyze, calculated and posted before one can focus on preparing financial statements. Without going through the steps of the account process cycle a firms financial statements may not be accurate, following trail on cash flow will be extremely harder. There are basic assumptions and principles that are involved in the month-end and year – end closing process. The GAAP requires a business to use the accrual basis of accounting instead of cash basis accounting. The accrual basis accounting “adheres to the revenue recognition, matching and cost principles”. (yahoo.answers.com). the second principle is revenue recognition principle. In which revenue is recognized when a product is delivered or the service is finished. Lastly the matching principle, in which the cost associated with doing business are recorded in the same period as the revenue the cost help to generate. In order to comply the standards required by the GAAP for
In accounting there is much to be learned, about the financial aspects of a business. In the past five weeks I have learned the importance of financial reports and how they relate to the success of an establishment. These reports may include balance sheets and income statements, which help accountants and the public grasp the overall financial condition of a company. The information in these reports is really significant to, managers, owners, employees, and investors. Managers of a business can take and deduce financial
investors, auditors, executives of the business, etc.) an overview of the financial results and condition of the company. The major financial statements that come out of the accounting cycle are income statements, balance sheets, Statement of cash flows and Statement of retained earnings. Income statements are considered the most important of all the financial statements since it presents the operating results of an entity , e.g. revenues, expenses, and profits/losses generated during the reporting period (Bragg, 2017). Balance sheets provide reports of assets, liabilities, and equity of the entity as of the reporting date and can be considered the second most important statement because it provides information/figures about the liquidity, as well as the capitalization of a company (Bragg, 2017). Statement of cash flows exhibits the cash inflows and outflows that occur during a reporting period, which provides a useful comparison to the income statement, particularly when the amount of profit or loss reported does not reflect cash flows encountered by the businesses (Bragg, 2017). Statement of retained earnings is the least used financial statement that provides information regarding changes in equity during the reporting period and can include information such as: sale or repurchase of stock, dividend payments, and changes caused by reported profits or losses. Statements of retained earnings are often
According to Financial and Managerial Accounting, the accounting cycle is the approach companies use to create their financial statements
When you’re looking at the income statement, you can get information about profitability for a particular period. This is also called the profit and loss statement. The income statement is composed of both income and expenses. This statement can be used to deduct expenses from income and report either a net profit or net loss for that period. This statement will deduct all expenses from income and then report your net profit or net loss for that period. This will allow the business owner to determine if the business is bringing in a good amount of revenue to make a profit. The cash flow statement shows the movement in cash and balance over period. The cash flow can vary depending on the operating activities, investing and financing activities. This statement provides one business owner with insight to the company’s liquidity which is vital to the growth of the business. Reinvesting in business is very important, looking at the statement of retained earnings will tell a business owner how much were reinvested in the company. After profitable period, every big business has to give some of its profits to stockholders, and keep the rest amount as retained earnings. Out of all statements, retaining statement is important to companies that sells stocks to the public. This statement can also provide you with assets and liabilities information. These informations can be used to assess the financial health of your business. The results of a balance sheet will help the business owners to show the risk of liquidity and credit. Looking at these information you can measure trends and relationships to show where in the areas you can improve. These can also be compared to similar companies to show how the business measures up to leading competitors (Ali, 2010). In summary, the financial statements can provide a business owner
Peyton Approved accounting cycle comprises of the following steps– transactions, journal entries, posting, trial balance and worksheet, adjusting journal entries, financial statements and closing of the books (Tarver, E, 2106). As a new company up and coming we have to make sure our payables, receivables, bank recs and all sales have been noted. Also making sure that wages or expenses that are accrued are recorded. We have found that these steps are instrumental as a company when it’s time to prepare our
First, when making journal entries, cash is tied to all the major accounts through everyday transactions. In addition to other asset accounts, liabilities, revenues, and expenses are all impacted by the receipt or expenditure of cash, which in turn impacts the financial statements. So tracking cash could be a big part of verifying the information on the financial statements.
T-Accounts: This is the second step in the accounting cycle and the purpose of journalizing it in the T-accounts is to record the net change in cash caused by the business event. It also help preparing the statement of cash flow faster and could aid the management understanding the movement of cash and non-cash items.
1. We identified significant business processes that affect the significant accounts, disclosures and related assertions for the financial
Refer to SFAS 146 (June 2002 "Accounting for Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities");
In the course of normal business operations certain transactions require specific treatment in accordance with generally accepted accounting procedures (GAAP). To properly prepare financial statements, the analysis of working papers is imperative to insuring compliance. Clarification of why information is needed about adjusting lower cost of market inventory on valuation, capitalizing interest on building construction, recording gain or loss on asset disposal, and adjusting goodwill for impairment is presented here.
As part of this process, reciprocal accounts and intra-entity transactions must be adjusted or eliminated to ensure that all reported balances truly represent the single entity” (Hoyle, n.d.). The consolidation process varies depending if the business combo took place as a statutory merger/consolidation or if the companies remained as separate legal entities. With mergers/consolidations, consolidation should occur annually because the accounts of the parent and subsidiary were brought together permanently. With separate entities, the consolidated process starts brand new annually since there’s no permanent consolidation. So if the firm goes this route they’d have to consolidate each year through the use of worksheets. Attached is a demonstration of the worksheet that would be
Financial statements are used to determine the business activities of a firm and the role of accounting analysis is to determine the accuracy and quality of the information provided. This analysis would look into the degree of its accounting figures captures its business reality through the policies used and its resulting noise, potential forecast errors and its impact on Myer’s profit.
This course provides a framework for financial accounting concepts and practices used by internal and external users in businesses. Topics presented include the accounting cycle, financial reporting, financial statements analysis, ratio calculation and interpretation, and management decision making based on financial results.
Financial statement are often prepared after a fiscal year specifically once in that trading period.
have explained that the Financial statements provide asummarized view of the financial position and operations of a firm. Therefore, much can belearnt about a firm from a careful examination of its financial statements as invaluabledocuments / performance reports. The analysis of financial statements is, thus, an important aidto financial analysis.