Accounting in Business

I The Accounting Environment 1 The Scope and Environment of Business Accounting The Scope of Business Accounting The Nature and Place of Accounting Theory Accounting in Historical Perspective Further Reading Questions for DiscussionII Financial Accounting Theory and Practice 2 The Balance Sheet The Accounting Environment The Environmental Postulates Business Entity The Balance Sheet The Nature of Assets The Valuation of Assets The Nature of Outside Liabilities The Balance Sheet Equation Further Reading Questions for Discussion 3 Income Measurement—Expense The Nature of Profit The Accrual Postulate The Accounting Period Definitions The Relationship between Cost and Expense The Accounting Equation Recording Transactions in the Quadrant The Income Statement and Balance Sheet Further Reading Questions for Discussion 4 Income Measurement—Revenue The Nature of Revenue The Realization Postulate 'Revenue' and 'Receipts' Debtors, Bad Debts and Doubtful Debts Gross and Net Profit The Trading, Profit and Loss Account Accounting and Economic Profit The Assumptions and Conventions of Accounting Appendix—The Effect of Revenue Recognition on Reported Profit Further Reading Questions for Discussion 5 Accounting Records—An Introduction to Bookkeeping Analysis of Transactions using the Quadrant Debit and Credit The Account Analysis of Transactions using Accounts The Trial Balance The Trading, Profit and Loss Account The Position of Stock Asset and Liability Accounts The Balance Sheet Accruals and Prepayments Provisions The Journal and Day Books The Accounting Process The Sources of Financial Data Further Reading Questions for Discussion 6 Income Measurement—The Valuation and Depreciation of Fixed Assets The Nature of Depreciation The Cost of the Asset The Useful Life of the Asset The Salvage (Residual) Value of the Asset The Method of Depreciation Accounting for Depreciation Accounting for the Disposal of Fixed Assets Valuation of Fixed Assets Further Reading Questions for Discussion 7 Income Measurement—The Valuation of Current Assets The Valuation of Stock The Nature of Stock The Bases of Stock Valuation Accounting and Stock Valuation Historic Cost Historic Cost—Comparison of Methods The Valuation of Debtors Further Reading Questions for Discussion 8 Further Aspects of Financial Records Incomplete Records Control Accounts Verification of the Bank Account Matrix Accounting Further Reading Questions for Discussion 9 The Partnership The Nature of Partnership The Proprietary Theory The Partnership Agreement The Final Accounts Capital and Current Accounts The Admission of New Partners—the Valuation of Goodwill The Admission of New Partners—the Treatment of Goodwill Partnership Dissolution Further Reading Questions for Discussion 10 The Public Limited Company—Capital Structure and Financial Reporting The Public Limited Company, Partnership and Sole Trader—A Comparison Memorandum and Articles Shares and Share Capital Par Value and Market Value Share Premium Debentures Capitalization Capital Gearing Reserves—Their Purpose Types of Reserve Dividends Accounting Records and the Capital Structure Valuation of Shares The Final Accounts of Public Limited Companies Disclosure in Company Accounts Statutory Requirements and Published Accounts Further Reading Questions for Discussion 11 The Limited Company—Changes in Capital Structure and Groups of Companies Changes in Capital Structure Groups of Companies Further Reading Questions for Discussion 12 Value and Income Measurement Concepts of Value Value to the Business The Nature of Income—An Economic View Income Measurement in Accounting Income Measurement and Inflation The Nature of Price Changes Partial Solutions to Changing Price Levels Adjustments for General Price Changes Current Cost Accounting—The Sandilands Proposals and ED 18 SSAP 16—Current Cost Accounting SSAP 16—Practice and Criticism Further Reading Questions for DiscussionIII Financial Planning and Control 13 Elements of Cost Accounting The Meaning of Cost The Elements of Cost Financial Records and Cost Flow Income Statements for Manufacturing Businesses Responsibility Accounting Accounting for Materials Accounting for Labor Accounting for Overhead Absorption Costing Marginal Costing Cost Accounting Systems—Job Costing Cost Accounting Systems—Process Costing Absorption and Marginal Costing Compared Further Reading Questions for Discussion 14 Budgets and Budgetary Control Planning and Control The Management Process The Nature of Budgets Budgets—Objectives and Benefits Budgets and Behavior The Framework and Construction of Budgets Profit Budgets—The Sales Budget Profit Budgets—The Production Budget Profit Budgets—Administration, Finance and Selling Budgets Budgeted Income Statement Flexible Budgets Resource Budgets Budget Review Budgetary Models Further Reading Questions for Discussion 15 Standard Costs and Variance Analysis Nature and Purpose of Standard Costs The Setting of Standards Variance Computation and Analysis Material Variances Labor Variances Overhead Variances Sales Variances Summary of Variance Formula Recording Standard Costs Standards and Probability Further Reading Questions for Discussion 16 Accounting for Business Decisions—The Capital Investment Decision Business Objectives The Decision-Making Process Capital Investment Decisions Net Present Value and Yield Methods Compared The Cost of Capital Taxation and the Investment Proposal Capital Investment and Risk Further Reading Questions for Discussion 17 Accounting for Business Decisions—Short-term Decisions Costs and Decision-Making 'Make or Buy' Decisions 'Continue or Abandon' Decisions 'Pricing' Decisions Limiting Factors Break-Even Analysis Operational Research Further Reading Questions for Discussion 18 The Management of Working Capital The Working Capital Cycle The Investment in Stock The Investment in Debtors Types of Debtors The Determinants of Investment in Debtors The Need for Cash Further Reading Questions for Discussion 19 Performance Analysis Business Objectives The Tools of Performance Analysis Tests of Profitability Profitability and Capital Structure Tests of Liquidity Investment Ratios Cash Flow Analysis Bases for Comparison Problems of Analysis and Comparison Summary Further Reading Questions for DiscussionIV Accounting and Society 20 Accounting and Society The Accounting Environment The 'Quality of Life' The Extent of Social Responsibility in Business Accounting and Social Responsibility Developments in Accounting Practice Further Reading Questions for DiscussionSuggested Solutions to Numerical QuestionsIndex