Accounting Concepts and Convention 1 PDF

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Accounting Concepts and Conventions

Entity concept The business entity concept (also known as separate entity and economic entity concept) states that the transactions related to a business must be recorded separately from those of its owners and any other business. In other words, while recording transactions in a business, we take into account only those events that affect that particular business; the events that affect anyone else other than the business entity are not relevant and are therefore not included in the accounting records of the business.

The going concern concept The going concern concept of accounting implies that the business entity will continue its operations in the future and will not liquidate or be forced to discontinue operations due to any reason. A company is a going concern if no evidence is available to believe that it will or will have to cease its operations in foreseeable future.

Periodicity The time period assumption (also known as periodicity assumption and accounting time period concept) states that the life of a business can be divided into equal time periods. These time periods are known as accounting periods for which companies prepare their financial statements to be used by various internal and external parties

Duality Concept The dual aspect concept states that every business transaction requires recordation in two different accounts. This concept is the basis of double entry accounting, which is required by all accounting frameworks in order to produce reliable financial statements. The concept is derived from the accounting equation, which states that: Assets = Liabilities + Equity The accounting equation is made visible in the balance sheet, where the total amount of assets listed must equal the total of all liabilities and equity. One part of most business transactions will have an impact in some way on the balance sheet, so at least one part of every transaction will involve assets, liabilities, or equity.

Money Measurement Concept The money measurement concept states that a business should only record an accounting transaction if it can be expressed in terms of money. This means that the focus of accounting transactions is on quantitative information, rather than on qualitative information. Thus, a large number of items are never reflected in a company's accounting records, which means that they never appear in its financial statements.

Accrual Concept An accrual is a journal entry that is used to recognize revenues and expenses that have been earned or consumed, respectively, and for which the related cash amounts have not yet been received or paid out. Accruals are needed to ensure that all revenues and expenses are recognized within the correct reporting period, irrespective of the timing of the related cash flows. Without accruals, the amount of revenue, expense, and profit or loss in a period will not necessarily reflect the actual level of economic activity within a business. Accruals are a key part of the closing process used to create financial statements under the accrual basis of accounting; without accruals, financial statements are considerably less accurate. Under the double-entry bookkeeping system, an accrued expense is offset by a liability, which appears in a line item in the balance sheet. If accrued revenue is recorded, it is offset by an asset, such as unbilled service fees, which also appears as a line item in the balance sheet.

Matching principle The matching principle requires that revenues and any related expenses be recognized together in the same period. Thus, if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between revenue and the expenses, record them at the same time. If there is no such relationship, then charge the cost to expense at once. This is one of the most essential concepts in accrual basis accounting, since it mandates that the entire effect of a transaction be recorded within the same reporting period. Historic Cost Concept A historical cost is a measure of value used in accounting in which the price of an asset on the balance sheet is based on its nominal or original cost when acquired by the company Prudence Concept Under the prudence concept, do not overestimate the amount of revenues recognized or underestimate the amount of expenses. You should also be conservative in recording the amount of assets, and not underestimate liabilities. The result should be conservatively-stated financial statements. Another way of looking at prudence is to only record a revenue transaction or an asset when it is certain, and record an expense transaction or liability when it is probable. Another aspect of the prudence concept is that you would tend to delay recognition of a revenue transaction or an asset until you are certain of it,

whereas you would tend to record expenses and liabilities at once, as long as they are probable. Also, regularly review assets to see if they have declined in value, and liabilities to see if they have increased. In short, the tendency under the prudence concept is to either not recognize profits or to at least delay their recognition until the underlying transactions are more certain.

Objectivity

The objectivity principle is the concept that the financial statements of an organization be based on solid evidence. The intent behind this principle is to keep the management and the accounting department of an entity from producing financial statements that are slanted by the opinions and biases of the company....