Accounting - : Basic Terms in Accounting - 1. Transaction
Accounting - : Basic Terms in Accounting - 1. Transaction
Accounting - : Basic Terms in Accounting - 1. Transaction
2. Assets-
Assets are economic resources of an enterprise that can be usefully expressed in
monetary terms. Assets are items of value used by the business in its operations. For
example, Super Bazar owns a fleet of trucks, which is used by it for delivering
foodstuffs; the trucks, thus, provide economic benefit to the enterprise. This item will
be shown on the asset side of the balance sheet of Super Bazaar. Assets can be broadly
classified into two types: Fixed Assets and Current Assets.
Fixed Assets are assets held on a long-term basis, such as land, buildings, machinery,
plant, furniture and fixtures. These assets are used for the normal operations of the
business.
Current Assets are assets held on a short-term basis such as debtors (accounts
receivable), bills receivable (notes receivable), stock (inventory), temporary
marketable securities, cash and bank balances.
3. Liabilities
Liabilities are obligations or debts that an enterprise has to pay at some time in the
future. They represent creditors’ claims on the firm’s assets. Both small and big
businesses find it necessary to borrow money at one time or the other, and to purchase
goods on credit.
Liabilities are classified as long-term liabilities and short-term liabilities (also known
as short-term liabilities).
Long-term liabilities are those that are usually payable after a period of one year, for
example, a term loan from a financial institution or debentures(bonds) issued by a
company.
Short-term liabilities are obligations that are payable within a period of one year, for
example, creditors, bills payable, bank overdraft.
4. Capital
Amount invested by the owner in the firm is known as capital. It may be brought in the
form of cash or assets by the owner for the business entity capital is an obligation and
a claim on the assets of business. It is, therefore, shown as capital on the liabilities side
of the balance sheet.
5. Sales
Sales are total revenues from goods or services sold or provided to customers.
Sales may be cash sales or credit sales.
6.Revenue
These are the amounts of the business earned by selling its products or providing
services to customers, called sales revenue. Other items of revenue common to many
businesses are: commission, interest, dividends, royalties, rent received, etc. Revenue
is also called income.
7. Expenses
Costs incurred by a business in the process of earning revenue are known as expenses.
Generally, expenses are measured by the cost of assets consumed or services used
during an accounting period. The usual items of expenses are: depreciation, rent,
wages, salaries, interest, cost of heater, light and water, telephone, etc
8. Profit
The excess of revenues of a period over its related expenses during an accounting year
profit. Profit increases the investment of the owners.
9. Gain
A profit that arises from events or transactions which are incidental to business such
as sale of fixed assets, winning a court case, appreciation in the value of an asset.
10. Loss -The excess of expenses of a period over its related revenues its termed as
loss. It decreases in owner’s equity.
11. Discount - Discount is the deduction in the price of the goods sold. It is offered in
two ways. Offering deduction of agreed percentage of list price at the time selling
goods is one way of giving discount. Such discount is called ‘trade discount’. It is
generally offered by manufactures to wholesalers and by wholesalers to retailers. After
selling the goods on credit basis the debtors may be given certain deduction in amount
due in case if they pay the amount within the stipulated period or earlier. This
deduction is given at the time of payment on the amount payable. Hence, it is called as
cash discount.
13. Goods -It refers to the products in which the business units is dealing, i.e. in terms
of which it is buying and selling or producting and selling. The items that are
Purchased for use in the business are not called goods. For example, for a furniture
dealer purchase of chairs and tables is termed as goods, while for other it is furniture
and is treated as an asset.
14. Drawings - Withdrawal of money and/or goods by the owner from the business
for personal use is known as drawings. Drawings reduces the investment of the
owners.
15. Purchase - Purchases are total amount of goods procured by a business on credit
and on cash, for use or sale. In a trading concern, purchases are made of merchandise
for resale with or without processing. In a manufacturing concern, raw materials are
purchased, processed further into finished goods and then sold. Purchases may be cash
purchases or credit purchases.
18. Creditors - Creditors are persons and/or other entities who have to be paid by an
enterprise an amount for providing the enterprise goods and services on credit. The
total amount standing to the favors of such persons and/or entities on the closing date,
is shown in the Balance Sheet as sundry creditors on the liabilities side.
19. Going Concern Concept - The concept of going concern assumes that a business
firm would continue to carry out its operations indefinitely, i.e. for a fairly long period
of time and would not be liquidated in the foreseeable future. This is an important
assumption of accounting as it provides the very basis for showing the value of assets
in the balance sheet.
Basis of Accounting - From the point of view the timing of recognition of revenue
and costs, there can be two broad approaches to accounting. These are:
(i) Cash basis
(ii) Accrual basis.
(1) Cash Basis - Entries in the book of accounts are made when cash is
received or paid and not when the receipt or payment becomes due.
(2) Accrual Basis - revenues and costs are recognized in the period in which they
occur rather when they are paid. A distinction is made between the receipt of cash and
the right to receive cash and payment of cash and legal obligation to pay cash. Thus,
under this system, the monitory effect of a transaction is taken into account in the
period in which they are earned rather than in the period in which cash is actually
received or paid by the enterprise. This is a more appropriate basis for the calculation
of profits as expenses are matched against revenue earned in relation thereto.
Accounting Equation –
Accounting equation signifies that the assets of a business are always equal to the total
of its liabilities and capital (owner’s equity). The equations reads as follows:
A=L+C
Where,
A = Assets
L = Liabilities
C = Capital
The balance sheet is a statement of assets, liabilities and capital.
The claim of the proprietors is called capital and that of the outsides is known as
liabilities. Asset side of the balance sheet is the list of assets, which the business entity
owns. The liabilities side of the balance sheet is the list of owner’s claims and
outsider’s claims.
Real Accounts
Personal Accounts
Nominal Accounts
Real Accounts
Real Accounts are Accounts relating to properties and assets, which are owned by the
business concern. Real accounts include tangible and intangible accounts. For example,
Land
Building
Goodwill
Cash
Personal Accounts- Personal Accounts are Accounts which relate to persons.
Personal Accounts include the follow-ing.
Suppliers
Customers
Nominal accounts - Nominal Accounts are Accounts which relate to incomes and
expenses and gains and losses of a business concern. For example,
Salary Account
Dividend Account
Purchases
Sales
Accounts can be broadly classified under the following four groups.
Assets
Liabilities
Income
Expenses
The above classification is the basis for generating various financial statements viz.,
Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss A/c and other MIS reports. The Assets and liabilities are
taken to Balance sheet and the Income and Expenses accounts are posted to Profit and
Loss Account.
Two fundamental rules are followed to record the changes in these accounts
We have also seen that if there is any change on one side of the equation, there is
bound to be similar
change on the other side of the equation or amongst items covered by it or an opposite
change on the same
side of the equation. This is illustrated below:
Transactions Total
Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Capital
`
It is a tradition that:
(i) increases in assets are recorded on the left-hand side and decreases in them on the
right-hand side; and
(ii) in the case of liabilities and capital, increases are recorded on the right-hand side
and decreases on the left-hand side. When two sides are put together in T form, the
left-hand side is called the ‘debit side’ and the right hand side is ‘credit side’. When in
an account a record is made on the debit or left-hand side, one says that one has
debited that account; similarly to record an amount on the right-hand side is to credit
it.
From the above, the following rules can be obtained:
(i) When there is an increase in the amount of an asset, its account is debited; the
account will be credited if there is a reduction in the amount of the asset concerned :
Suppose a fi rm purchases furniture for ` 8,00,000 the furniture account will be debited
by ` 8,00,000 since the asset has increased by this amount. Suppose later the fi rm sells
furniture to the extent of ` 3,00,000 the reduction will be recorded by crediting the
furniture account by ` 3,00,000.
ii) If the amount of a liability increases, the increase will be entered on the credit side
of the liability account, i.e. the account will be credited: similarly, a liability account will
be debited if there is a reduction in the amount of the liability. Suppose a fi rm borrows
` 5,00,000 from Mohan; Mohan’s account will be credited since ` 5,00,000 is now owing
to him. If, later, the loan is repaid, Mohan’s account will be debited since the liability no
longer exists.
(iii) An increase in the owner’s capital is recorded by crediting the capital account:
Suppose the proprietor introduces additional capital, the capital account will be
credited. If the owner withdraws some money, i.e., makes a drawing, the capital
account will be debited.
(iv) Profit leads to an increase in the capital and a loss to reduction: According to the
rule mentioned in
(iii)above, profit & incomes may be directly credited to the capital account and losses
& expenses may be similarly debited.
However, it is more useful to record all incomes, gains, expenses and losses separately.
By doing so, very useful information will be available regarding the factors which have
contributed to the year’s profits and losses. Later the net result of all these is
ascertained and adjusted in the capital account.
(v) Expenses are debited and Incomes are credited: Since incomes and gains increase
capital, the rule is to credit all gains and incomes in the accounts concerned and since
expenses and losses decrease capital, the rule is to debit all expenses and losses. Of
course, if there is a reduction in any income or gain, the account concerned will be
debited; similarly, for any reduction in an expenses or loss the concerned account will
be credited.
The rules given above are summarised below:
(i) Increases in assets are debits; decreases are credits;
(ii) Increases in liabilities are credits; decreases are debits;
(iii) Increases in owner’s capital are credits; decreases are debits;
(iv) Increases in expenses are debits; decreases are credits; and
(v) Increases in revenue or incomes are credits; decreases are debits.
The terms debit and credit should not be taken to mean, respectively, favourable and
unfavourable things.
They merely describe the two sides of accounts
Heads Of Account-
Journal Entries :-
1. Capital Introduces into Business- (F6-Receipt)
Cash A/c Dr *
Capital A/c *
2. Cash Deposited into Bank. (F4-Contra)
Bank A/c Dr *
Cash A/c *
3. Bank Transfer- (F4- Contra)
Bank A/c (1) Dr *
Bank A/c *
(ii) Out of the above, 25,000 is withdrawn from the bank. By this transaction the bank
balance is reduced by 25,000 and another asset, cash account, comes into existence.
Since increase in assets is debited and decrease is credited, the journal entry will be:
Cash Account 25000
To Bank Account 25000
(iii) (iii) Furniture is purchased for 12,00,000. Applying the same reasoning as above
the entry will be:
Furniture A/c Dr 12,00,000
To Bank A/c 12,00,000
(iv) Purchased goods for cash ` 4,00,000. The student can see that the required entry
is:
Purchase a/c Dr 4,00,000
To Bank A/c 4,00,000
(v) Purchased goods for ` 10,00,000 on credit from M/s Ram Narain Bros. Purchase of
merchandise is an expense item so it is to be debited. ` 10,00,000 is now owing to the
supplier; his account should therefore be credited, since the amount of liabilities has
increased. The entry will be:
Purchase A/c Dr 10,00,000
To Ram Narain Bros A.c 10,00,000
(vi) Sold goods to M/s Ram & Co. for ` 6,00,000. Amount is received in cheque. The
amount of bank increases and therefore, the bank amount should be debited; sale of
merchandise is revenue item so it is to be credited. The entry will be:
Bank Account Dr. 6,00,000
To Sales Account 6,00,000
(Being goods sold vide CM No....)
(vii) Sold goods to Ramesh on credit for ` 13,00,000. The Inventories of goods has
decreased and therefore, the goods account has to be credited. Ramesh now owes `
13,00,000; that is an asset and therefore, Ramesh should be debited. The entry is:
Ramesh Dr. 13,00,000
To Sales Account 13,00,000
Note: There are two views on classification of “Purchase Account” and “Sales Account”.
One view is that they represents “flow of goods”, so they should be classified as ‘Real
A/c’. However, others are of the opinion that only nominal a/cs are closed by
transferring to ‘Trading or Profit and Loss A/c’. Therefore, purchases and sales shall be
classified as Nominal A/cs. However, in both the views, there will be debit balance of
Purchase A/c and credit balance of Sales A/c.
(viii) Received cheque from Ramesh 13,00,000. The amount of bank increased
therefore the bank account has to be debited. Ramesh’s liability towards firm has
decreased infact in this case he no longer owes any amount to the firm, i.e., this
particular form of assets has disappeared; therefore, the account of Ramesh should be
credited. The entry is:
Bank Account Dr. 13,00,000
To Ramesh 13,00,000
(Being cheque received against Bill No....)
(x) Paid rent ` 1,00,000. The bank balance has decreased and therefore, the bank
account should be credited. No asset has come into existence because the payment is
for services enjoyed and is an expense. Expenses are debited. Therefore, the entry
should be:
Rent Account Dr. 1,00,000
To Bank Account 1,00,000
(xi) Paid 22,000 to the clerk as salary. Applying the reasons given in (x) above, the
required entry is:
Salary Account Dr. 22,000
To Bank Account 22,000
(xii) Received ` 2,20,000 interest. The bank account should be debited since there is an
increase in the bank balance. There is no increase in any liability; since the amount is
not returnable to any one, the amount is an income, incomes are credited. The entry is :
Bank Account Dr. 2,20,000
To Interest Account 2,20,000
When transactions of similar nature take place on the same date, they may be
combined while they are journalised. For example, entries (x) and (xi) may be
combined as follows:
Rent Account Dr. 1,00,000
Salary Account Dr. 22,000
To Bank Account 1,22,000
When journal entry for two or more transactions are combined, it is called composite
journal entry. Usually, the transactions in a firm are so numerous that to record the
transactions for a month will require many pages in the journal. At the bottom of one
page the totals of the two columns are written together with the words “Carried
forward” in the particulars column. The next page is started with the respective totals
in the two columns with the words “Brought forward” in the particulars column.
ILLUSTRATION
Journalise the following transactions. Also state the nature of each account involved in
the Journal entry.
Following fi gures are given in (‘00)
1. December 1, 2016, Ajit started business with capital ` 4,00,000
2. December 3, he withdrew cash for business from the Bank ` 2,000.
3. December 5, he purchased goods making payment through bank` 15,000.
4. December 8, he sold goods` 16,000 and received payment through bank.
5. December 10, he purchased furniture and paid by cheque ` 2,500.
6. December 12, he sold goods to Arvind ` 2,400.
7. December 14, he purchased goods from Amrit ` 10,000.
8. December 15, he returned goods to Amrit ` 500.
9. December 16, he received from Arvind ` 2,300 in full settlement.
10. December 18, he withdrew goods for personal use ` 1,000.
11. December 20, he withdrew cash from business for personal use ` 2,000.
12. December 24, he paid telephone charges ` 110.
13. December 26, amount paid to Amrit in full settlement ` 9,450.
14. December 31, paid for stationery ` 200, rent `5,000 and salaries to staff ` 2,000.
15. December 31, goods distributed by way of free samples ` 2,000.
Entry
1. Dec. 1 Bank Account Dr. Personal A/c 4,00,000
To Capital Account Personal A/c 4,00,000
(Being commencement of business)
2. Dec. 3 Cash Account Dr. Real A/c 2,000
To Bank Account Personal A/c 2,000
(Being cash withdrawn from the Bank)