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《会计专业英语/高职高专“十二五”规划教材》在编写时注重国际会计准则与中国会计准则的结合,集会计基础和会计实务为一体,体系完整,结构合理,通俗易懂,深入浅出,适用面广,内容充实,习题丰富,难易适中;案例具体,解释详细,思路清晰。不仅适合合高职院校会计专业的学生学习外,还适合有初步会计基础的社会人才进行自学。
《会计专业英语/高职高专“十二五”规划教材》在编写时注重国际会计准则与中国会计准则的结合,集会计基础和会计实务为一体,体系完整,结构合理,通俗易懂,深入浅出,适用面广
Unit1 Accounting:Its Foundation
1.1 What is Accounting?
1.2 Who Uses Accounting Data
1.3 Accounting Conventions or Assumptions
1.4 Basic Accounting Equation
1.5 Effects of Changes in the Economic Business on the Accounting
Equation
1.6 Financial Statement
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit2 The Recording Process
2.1 Double Entry
2.2 The Account
2.3 Debits and Credits
2.4 Steps in the Recording Process
2.5 The Journal
2.6 The Ledger
2.7 Posting
2.8 The Trial Balance
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit3 Adjusting the Accounts
3.1 AccrualBasis VS.CashBasis Accounting
3.2 The Basics of Adjusting Entries
3.3 Types of Adjusting Entries
3.4 Adjusting Entries for Prepayments
3.5 Adjusting Entries for Accurals
3.6 The Adjusted Trial Balance
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit4 Completion of the Accounting Cycle
4.1 Preparing Closing Entries
4.2 Preparing Postclosing Trial Balance
4.3 Correcting Entries—an Avoidable Step
4.4 Classed Balance Sheet
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit5 Current Assets
5.1 Cash and Cash Equivalents
5.2 Accounts Receivable
5.3 Inventory
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit6 LongTerm Assets
6.1 PIant and Equipment(Fixed Assets)
6.2 Intangible Assets
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit7 Liabilities
7.1 Current Liabilities
7.2 Longterm Liabilities
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit8 Owner’s Equity
8.1 Accounting for Single Proprietorship
8.2 Accounting for Corporation
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit9 Measurement of Bussiness Income
9.1 Revenue
9.2 Expense
9.3 Business Income
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
Unit10 Financial Statements
10.1 Balance Sheet
10.2 Income Statement
10.3 The Statement of Owner’s Equity
10.4 The Statement of Cash Flows
Key Words and Expressions
Exercises
Extended Reading
A List of Reference Book
Unit One Accounting: its foundation
Learning Objectives
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
1. Explain what accounting is.
2. Identify the users and uses of accounting.
3. Explain the accounting conventions or assumptions.
4. State the basic accounting equation.
5. Analyze the effects of business transactions on the basic accounting equation.
6. Understand what are the four financial statements are and how they are prepared.
1.1 What is Accounting?
Accounting is an information system that identifies, records, and communicates the economic events of an organization to interested users.
The accounting process may be summarized as follows.
Accounting should consider the needs of the users of financial information. Therefore, you should know who these users are and something about their needs for information.
1.2 Who Uses Accounting Data
Because it communicates financial information, accounting is often called “the language of business.” The information that a user of financial information needs depends upon the kinds of decisions the user makes. The differences in the decisions divide the users of financial information into two broad groups: internal users and external users.
1.2.1 Internal Users
Internal users of accounting information are managers who plan, organize, and run a business. These include marketing managers, production supervisors, finance directors, and company officers. In running a business, managers must answer many important questions, as shown in the following Illustration.
To answer these and other questions, users need detailed information on a timely basis. For internal users, accounting provides internal reports. Examples are financial comparisons of operating alternatives, projections of income from new sales campaigns, and forecasts of cash needs for the next year. In addition, summarized financial information is presented in the form of financial statements.
1.2.2 External Users
There are several types of external users of accounting information. Investors (owners) use accounting information to make decisions to buy, hold, or sell stock. Creditors such as suppliers and bankers use accounting information to evaluate the risks of granting credit or lending money. Some questions that may be asked by investors and creditors about a company are shown in the following Illustration.
The information needs and questions of other external users vary considerably. Taxing authorities, such as the Internal Revenue Service, want to know whether the company complies with the tax laws. Regulatory agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade commission, want to know whether the company is operating within prescribed rules. Customers are interested in whether a company will continue to honor product warranties and support its product lines. Labor unions want to know whether the owners can pay increased wages and benefits. Economic planners use accounting information to forecast economic activity.
1.3 Accounting Conventions or Assumptions
1.3.1 Accounting Entity Convention
The accounting or financial information of the business is always treated as a separate unit or body from the owner’s personal financial information.
The business exists separately from the owner.
It requires that the activities of the entity be kept separate and distinct from the activities of its owner and all other economic entities
For example, the owner has a business, which includes a warehouse and trucks used in the business, and these are both recorded (or shown) in the books of the business. However, the house where the owner lives and the boat that is used on the weekend is personal property and is not shown (or recorded) in the books of the business. Also, the bank account of the business is to be kept separate from any personal or private bank accounts.
In accounting, the owner is treated as separate from the business. In a court of law, however, the owner of the business may not always be treated as separate from the business.
1.3.2 Accounting Period Convention
The life of a business, however long it lasts, is broken into equal periods of at least one year.
The accounting or financial reports are prepared for a specific period of time to enable two things: an assessment of the results from the buying and selling of goods, and a meaningful comparison with expected or past results.
1.3.3 Going Concern Convention
It is also called Continuity of Activity Convention. Financial reports or statements are prepared on the assumption that the life of the business will continue indefinitely. A business is regarded as a going concern as long as it can pay its bills when they have to be paid and the intention of the owner is not to cease business but to carry on with that business.
A business is started because the owner expects it to be successful and to earn adequate profits. Even when the owner wants to retire, there may be an expectation that the business will be sold and will carry on indefinitely into the future.
1.3.4 Monetary Unit Convention
The monetary unit convention requires that only transaction data that can be expressed in terms of money be included in the accounting records. This assumption enables accounting to quantify (measure) economic events. This assumption does prevent some relevant information from being included in the accounting records.
If a monetary value can not be given to a transaction, then it cannot be recorded in the books of the business, or, eventually, be included in an accounting financial statement or report.
The sale of 1000 goods or items for $5.00 each is recorded as sales of $5000. The 1000 units are not shown, only the monetary value of those units.
An important part of the monetary unit assumption is the added assumption that the unit of measure remains sufficiently constant over time. However, the assumption of a stable monetary unit has been challenged because of the significant decline in the purchasing power of the dollar. For example, what used to cost $1.00 in 1960 dollars over $4.00 in 2001 dollars is highly questionable. The profession has recognized this problem and encourages companies to disclose the effects of changing prices.
1.4 Basic Accounting Equation
Other essential building blocks of accounting are the categories into which economic events are classified. The two basic elements of a business are what it owns and what is owes. Assets are the resources owned by a business. The relationship of assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity can be expressed as an equation as follows.
This relationship is referred to as the basic accounting equation. Assets must equal the sum of liabilities and owner’s equity. Because creditorsˊ claims must be paid before ownership claims if a business is liquidated, liabilities are shown before owner’s equity in the basic accounting equation.
The accounting equation applies to all economic entities regardless of size, nature of business, or form of business organization. It applies to a small proprietorship such as a corner grocery store as well as to a giant corporation. The equation provides the underlying framework for recording and summarizing the economic events of a business enterprise.