3. The Accounting Information System

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Account

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A systematic arrangement that shows the effect of transactions and other events on a specific element (asset, liability, and so on). Companies keep a separate account for each asset, liability, revenue, and expense, and for capital (stockholders' equity).

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Accounting cycle

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Standard set of accounting procedures to record transactions and prepare financial statements.

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Accounting information system

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A system that collects and processes transaction data and then disseminates the financial information to interested parties. Accounting information systems vary widely from one business to another, depending on the nature of the business and its transactions, the size of the company, the volume of data to be handled, and the informational demands.

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Accrual basis

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The recognition of revenue when the performance obligation is satisfied, and the expenses in the period incurred, without regard to the time of receipt or payment of cash.

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expenses

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Expenses incurred but not yet paid or recorded at the statement date. Examples are interest, rent, taxes, and salaries. An accrued expense on the books of one company is often an accrued revenue to another company.

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Accrued revenues

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Revenues recognized but not yet received in cash or recorded at the statement date. Accrued revenues result from the passing of time (e.g., interest revenue and rent revenue) or from unbilled or uncollected services that a company performed (e.g., commissions and fees).

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Adjusted trial balance

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A trial balance prepared from a company's ledger accounts after journalizing and posting all adjusting entries. It shows the effects of all financial events that occurred during the accounting period.

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Adjusting entry

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Adjustments made at the end of the accounting period to ensure that a company has recorded revenues in the period in which it satisfies the performance obligation and recognized expenses in the period in which it incurs them—in other words, that it has followed the revenue recognition and expense recognition principles. Companies often prepare adjustments after the balance sheet date but date the entries as of the balance sheet date.

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Balance sheet

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Financial statement that shows the financial condition of a company at the end of a period by reporting its assets, liabilities, and owners' equity.

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Book value

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The difference between a depreciable asset's cost and its related accumulated depreciation. Book value of an asset generally differs from its fair value because depreciation is a means of cost allocation, not of valuation.

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Closing entries

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Journal entries made at the end of a company's annual accounting period to transfer the balances of temporary accounts to a permanent owners' equity account (retained earnings or a capital account, depending on the company's form of organization).

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Closing process

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Accounting process at the end of the accounting period that reduces the balance of nominal (temporary) accounts to zero in order to prepare the accounts for the next period's transactions. In the closing process, the company transfers revenue and expense account balances to Income Summary, which matches expenses and revenues.

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Contra asset account

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An account that offsets an asset account on the balance sheet. An example is the accumulated depreciation account, which companies use in order to disclose both the original cost of an asset and the total expired cost to date.

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Credit

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The right side of an account. Commonly abbreviated as Cr.

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Debit

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The left side of an account. Commonly abbreviated as Dr.

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Depreciation

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The process of allocating the cost of an asset to expense over its useful life in a rational and systematic manner.

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Double-entry accounting

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The universally used accounting system in which a company records the dual (two-sided) effect of each transaction in appropriate accounts. If a company records every transaction with equal debits and credits, then the sum of all the debits to the accounts must equal the sum of all the credits.

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Event

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A happening of consequence, which generally is the source or cause of changes in assets, liabilities, and equity. Events may be external or internal.

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Financial statements

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The principal means through which a company communicates its financial information. These statements reflect the collection, tabulation, and final summarization of the accounting data. The statements most frequently provided are (1) the balance sheet, (2) the income statement, (3) the statement of cash flows, and (4) the statement of owners' or stockholders' equity. Note disclosures are an integral part of a company's financial statements.

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General journal

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A complete record of a company's transactions or other financial events, listed chronologically and expressed in terms of debits and credits made to accounts.

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General ledger

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A list of all of a company's asset, liability, stockholders' equity, revenue, and expense accounts.

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Income statement

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Financial statement that measures the results of operations during a particular period and presents those results in terms of net income or net loss.

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Journal

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The “book of original entry” where the company initially records transactions and selected other events. The company transfers that information from the journal to the ledger.

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Journalizing

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The process of entering transaction data in the journal.

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Ledger

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The book (or computer printouts) containing the accounts. A general ledger is a collection of all of the asset, liability, owners' (stockholders') equity, revenue, and expense accounts. A subsidiary ledger contains the details related to a given general ledger account.

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Modified cash basis

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A mixture of the accrual basis and cash basis, with modifications that have substantial support, such as capitalizing and depreciating plant assets or recording inventory.

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Nominal accounts

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Revenue, expense, and dividend accounts; except for dividends, these accounts appear on the income statement. Companies close nominal accounts, also called temporary accounts, at the end of the accounting period.

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Post-closing trial balance

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The trial balance after closing entries are made; consists only of asset, liability, and owners' equity accounts (the real accounts).

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Posting

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The process of transferring the essential facts and figures from the book of original entry (the journal) to the ledger accounts, using debits and credits made to accounts.

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Prepaid expenses

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Assets paid for and recorded before a company uses them. Prepaid expenses expire either with the passage of time (e.g., rent and insurance) or through use and consumption (e.g., supplies). Companies typically recognize prepaid expenses by making adjusting entries to record the expenses that apply to the current accounting period and to show the unexpired costs in the asset accounts.

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Real accounts

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Asset, liability, and equity accounts; these accounts appear on the balance sheet. Companies do not close real accounts, also called permanent accounts.

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Reversing entries

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Journal entries, made at the beginning of the next accounting period, that are the exact opposite of the adjusting entries made in the previous period. Making reversing entries is an optional step in the accounting cycle.

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Special journals

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Records of transactions possessing a common characteristic, such as cash receipts, sales, purchases, cash payments. Using such journals reduces bookkeeping time.

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Statement of cash flows

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Financial statement that reports the cash provided and used by operating, investing, and financing activities during the period.

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Statement of retained earnings

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Financial statement that reconciles the balance of the retained earnings account from the beginning to the end of the period.

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Strict cash basis

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Companies record only when they receive cash, and they record expenses only when they disburse cash.

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Subsidiary ledger

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A list that contains the details related to a given general ledger account.

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T-account

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Basic account form, shaped like the letter T, which shows the effect of transactions on particular asset, liability, stockholders' equity, revenue, and expense accounts.

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Transaction

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An external event involving a transfer or exchange between two or more entities.

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Trial balance

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The list of all open accounts, in the sequence in which they appear in the ledger, and their balances. Companies may prepare a trial balance at any time, though they usually do so at the end of an accounting period. The trial balance proves the mathematical equality of debits and credits after posting and also uncovers errors in journalizing and posting.

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Unearned revenues

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Revenues received in cash and recorded as liabilities before a company satisfies its performance obligation. Examples are rent, magazine subscriptions, and customer deposits for future service. Unearned revenues are the opposite of prepaid expenses.

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Worksheet

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An informal device for accumulating and sorting information needed for the financial statements. The worksheet typically provides columns for the first trial balance, adjustments, adjusted trial balance, income statement, and balance sheet. Completing the worksheet provides considerable assurance that a company properly handled all of the details related to the end-of-period accounting and statement preparation.