...ACCOUNTING ASSUMTIONS, PRINCIPLES AND CONSTRAINTS Financial accounting provides a business with information that will help guide the company. Financial accounting will record the businesses financial transactions. In order to do this, they have to go by standardized guidelines, in which transactions are recorded, summarized and put into a financial report or statement. The standardized guidelines are called generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which means that these principles and guidelines have “substantial authoritative support.” This support comes from two standard-setting bodies: the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (Weygandt, Kimmel & Kieso, 2008), which will be discussed more in details later. Accounting Guidelines Accounting requires one to handle many practical financial issues, which requires them to need more detailed guidelines. This is why the FASB is needed, to help implement operating guidelines. These guidelines are classified as assumptions, principles and constraints. Assumptions provide a foundation for the accounting process. * Monetary unit assumption states that only transaction data that can be expressed in terms of money be included in the accounting records. * Economic entity assumption states that the activities of the entity be kept separate and distinct from the activities of the owner and of all other economic entities. * Time period...
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...Checkpoint 1: Accounting assumptions, principles, constraints Accounting Assumptions, Principles, and constraints The basic Assumptions of accounting are: monetary unit assumption, time period assumption, economic entity assumption, and going concern assumption. Monetary unit assumption is when records only show data that can be expressed in terms of money. Health of owners, the quality of service, and morale of employees are not included because companies cannot qualify this information in terms of money (Accounting in action). Going concern assumption is when the business is assumed to have a continuous life of existence it will not close or be sold. Since the business is assumed to have a continues life of existence the life of the business is divided into equal periods that when these equal periods are over the accountant prepares the financial statement, this called the time period assumption. this period can be yearly, annually, monthly or quarterly it depends. and finally entity assumption wherein the business considered as a separate and distinct entity apart from the owner. The principles of accounting: the first principles is the cost principle, this dictate the company's assets at their cost. This means the amount spent when the item was obtained whether it was purchased today or 20 years ago. Cost will be recorded as purchased even if the cost has had increase in value over time, this is referred to as historical cost. This basic accounting principle is the basis...
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...Accounting Assumptions, Principles, and Constraints XACC 280 It can be said that when dealing with all aspects of accounting one would have their own assumptions of what exactly accounting can be interpreted to be. Along with assumptions, there are certain principles and constraints that are established in the accounting field. A clear explanation of principles, assumptions, and constraints can be done. The assumptions in accounting are first the monetary unit assumption which is the requirement of companies to express transaction data in accounting records in terms of money. Economic entity assumption is the requirement of each entity activities is separated from the activities of the owner and other economic entities. The cost principle is one of the principles of accounting which delegates the business asset information on their own cost for the time it is purchased and for the time it can be held. GAAP (generally accepted accounting principle) is another principle that shows how to give information on the economic events indicated. There are other principles like International and Financial Accounting Standard Board, and Securities and Exchange Commission. To ensure sound financial reporting the purpose of using the principle in the correct way, like the GAAP can help companies accounting stay intact and will also keep information clear and recorded along with the constraints of knowing what can or cannot be done in the company’s accounting. These choices will differ...
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...Accounting Assumptions, Principles, and Constraints Hcemac XACC/280 · There are three major guidelines that are used in the conceptual framework of accounting also known as assumptions, principles, and constraints. Assumptions provide a foundation for the accounting process (Weygandt, Kimmel & Kieso, 2008, p. 297).These include monetary unit assumption which states that only monetary data can be reported, economic entity assumption which states that entities such as the owner’s personal finances and the business must be reported separately and the same rule applies to more than one enterprise, the time period assumption states that a businesses economic life can be divided into time periods such as monthly, quarterly, or annually, and going concern assumption works on the basis that a company will operate long enough to complete its given objectives (Weygandt, Kimmel & Kieso, 2008) . The basic principles of accounting include revenue recognition which states that organizations should recognize revenue with-in the time period that it is earned. The matching principle state that expenses should be match to revenue in the time frame in which effort were made to generate the revenue. The full disclosure principle requires organizations to disclose pertinent information from financial statements to users (including investors) and the cost principle states the organizations must record assts at...
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...Assumptions of accounting provide a foundation for the accounting process. There are two main assumptions the monetary unit assumption and the economic entity. The monetary unit assumption requires that companies include in the accounting records only the transactions data that can be expressed in terms of money. This type of assumption allows accounting to see a quantity or measure of economic events. This is vital for the company to apply the cost principle. This type of assumption also prevents the inclusion of some irrelevant information in the accounting records. Economic entity assumptions can be any organization or unit in society. This assumption requires that the activities of the entity be kept separate from the activities of the owner. The principles of accounting can be described by saying that there are certain standards such as accepted accounting principles that indicate how to report economic events. The security and exchange commission is the agency of the US government that oversees the U.S. markets. The financial accounting standards board is the primary accounting standard in the U.S. One important principle is the cost principle because it dictates that companies record assets and their cost. Cost can be easily verified but market value is often subjective. The constraints of accounting are the limitations of providing financial information that exist in the financial reporting environment. One of these limitations is the cost of providing financial...
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...Accounting Assumptions, Principles & Constraints Greg Young XACC/280 03/10/2013 Salena Ford Accounting assumptions provide a foundation for the accounting process. There are three major assumptions; the monetary unit, economic entity, and time period assumptions. The fourth assumption is the going concern assumption. The Monetary Unit Assumption makes it mandatory that only transaction data that can be expressed in terms of money be included in the accounting records. The reason for this is so that a company does not put a dollar value on something that cannot be expressed easily, such as the president of a company. The Economic Entity Assumption states that the activities of an entity be kept separate and distinct from the activities of the owner and of all other economic entities. An example of this would be the assumption that the activities of Budweiser are different from other breweries such as Coors or Guinness. The Time Period Assumption states that the economic life of a business can be divided into artificial time periods. This assumption is stating that companies are able to divide their activities in months or quarters for financial reporting purposes. The Going Concern Assumption assumes that a company will continue to operate long enough to complete their existing objectives. Accounting principles area basically a guideline on how to properly record and report economic events. The revenue recognition principle dictates that companies should...
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...Checkpoint Accounting Assumptions Principles, And Constraints Diana Michalak XACC/280 Sara Carpenter August 5, 2011 The basic assumptions of accounting consist of four assumptions. Monetary Unit Assumption, which states that “only transaction data that can be expressed in terms of money be included in the accounting records(Ch 7.).” Economic Entity Assumption, which states that “the activities of the entity be kept separate and distinct from the activities of the owner and of all other economic entities. (Ch 7)” The Time Period Assumption which is an assumption that “the economic life of a business can be divided into artificial time periods (Ch 7).” The Going Concern Assumption which states that “the company will continue in operation long enough to carry out it’s existing objectives (Ch 7.).” The Principles of accounting consist of 4 principles. The first principal is The Revenue Recognitions Principle. This principle “dedicates that companies should recognize revenue in the accounting period which it is earned (Ch 7).” The second one is The Matching Principle which dedicates “that companies match expenses with revenues in the period in which efforts are made to generate revenues (Ch 7).” The third is the Full Discloser Principle which requires that companies disclose certain circumstances and events that make a difference to financial statement users (Ch 7).” The fourth one is the Cost Principle which “dedicates that companies record assets at their cost...
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...Accounting Assumptions, Principles, and Constraints The four assumptions used by an accountant are accounting entity, money measurement, going concern, and accounting period. The accounting entity is an assumption that allows the accountant to separate the business transactions from the owner’s transactions. Dealing with the money measurement, “This assumption requires use of monetary unit as a basis of measurement, i.e., the currency of the country where the organization is to report its operations” (HubPages, 2012, pg. 1). Going concern means the business base its operations on future events. The accounting period is the time that the information is prepared and reported on a quarterly or annually bases. The accounting principles consist of four basic parts they are the historical cost principle, matching principle, revenue recognition principle, and full disclosure principle. When dealing with historical cost principle the assets are altered if changes occur in the market value but no adjustments are made. Matching principles compare the revenues and expenses that was earned and occurred within that time period. Revenue recognition principle takes place when a business has all the revenue needed. The information is reported under the earned column on the books. The full disclosure principle is kicks in when the information concerning business entity is written in a comprehensible form. Constraints of accounting are based on “The limitations to providing financial...
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...There are four basic assumptions in financial accounting. The first is the monetary unit assumption which states that a company can only report transaction information in financial records that can be expressed in a monetary amount. The next assumption is the economic entity assumption. This assumption states that the company’s financial information and activities need to be recorded separate from the owners and other entities. Next, the time period assumption tells companies to divide the economic life of their business into artificial time periods. And last, the going concern assumptions is an assumption that a company will stay afloat long enough to carry out all existing objectives (Weygandt, Kimmel, Kieso, 2008). Financial accounting also consists of 4 principles; revenue recognition, matching, full disclosure, and the cost principle. These principles are “rules” of sorts that accounting must follow in their records. They state that companies should recognize their revenue during the time period that it was earned, they must match their expenses with their revenues during the period in which the effort to generate the revenue was made, they must disclose any circumstance or events that would make a difference to those using the reports, and they must record their assets at the price that it cost them (Weygandt, Kimmel, Kieso, 2008). There are also constraints that allow the company some leeway with the principles as long as it does not affect the usefulness of the data...
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...Paper Kaitlin Williams University of Phoenix ACC/280-Principles of Accounting Carol Demuth Jun 22, 2011 Financial Statement Paper Businesses today need to run quickly, efficiently, and have smaller margin for error than ever before. To keep up with the fast paced world around them, companies must assure things run as smoothly as possible to have a chance at competing with their competitors. One of the biggest details that have to be correct is the company’s accounting. Getting the numbers right isn’t just important, it’s the reason that a business can make money. Without proper accounting, it would not be possible to know how much money is being made or lost, what can be done to change these things for the better, or even where the money ends up. It is a part of everyday business, and will be as long as people continue to do business. Accounting is utilized to record all of the receiving, sending, and all other transfers of money for a particular company. Think of it like the balancing of a checkbook for an entire business as opposed to a personal bank account. If transactions are not kept up with, money can easily fall through the cracks and companies could lose a substantial amount of it simply by not knowing what the numbers should look like. It would be impossible to know if someone was stealing money from the company, or if a company that business was done with had actually paid its bill correctly. Accounting is more than a necessity, it is impossible to run a business...
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...creditors, and banks to continue to be profitable. The information that these entities receive is product of the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) that are practiced by companies to create and release their annual finances. The financial statements allow the outside entities to judge the economic health of the company and from this decide if investments and larger lines of credit are wise. In the United States the Security and Exchange Commission enforce the GAAP although it is not actual law. The GAAP can be broken down into three sections which are assumptions, principles, and constraints. There are four assumptions declare that’s the business is a "separate entity" from its expenses and personal expenses are kept separate. The assumptions also discuss the form of currently that will be used in financial reporting as well as time periods that will be recorded in said statements. There are basic principles that are cost, revenues, principle, and disclosure and these principles require that the business reports what money is spent when something is acquired, and when it is earned and documented. The statements must be matched to the reported revenue and all information to make decisions on the company's finances must be disclosed. Lastly there are four constraints: objectivity, materiality, consistency, and conservatism. The first constraint means that the information that is in the financial statements must be supported by evidence and significant to a third party. Consistency...
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...C H A P T E R 2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you should be able to: •1 •2 •3 •4 Describe the usefulness of a conceptual framework. Describe efforts to construct a conceptual framework. Understand the objective of financial reporting. Identify the qualitative characteristics of accounting information. Define the basic elements of financial statements. •6 •7 Describe the basic assumptions of accounting. Explain the application of the basic principles of accounting. Describe the impact that constraints have on reporting accounting information. •8 •5 What Is It? Everyone agrees that accounting needs a framework—a conceptual framework, so to speak—that will help guide the development of standards. To understand the importance of developing this framework, let’s see how you would respond in the following two situations. SITUATION 1: “Taking a Long Shot . . . ” To supplement donations collected from its general community solicitation, Tri-Cities United Charities holds an Annual Lottery Sweepstakes. In this year’s sweepstakes, United Charities is offering a grand prize of $1,000,000 to a single winning ticket holder. A total of 10,000 tickets have been printed, and United Charities plans to sell all the tickets at a price of $150 each. Since its inception, the Sweepstakes has attracted area-wide interest, and United Charities has always been able to meet its sales target. However, in the...
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...in making long-term decisions * helpful in improving the performance of the business * useful in maintaining records Basic concepts To achieve basic objectives and implement fundamental qualities GAAP has four basic assumptions, four basic principles, and four basic constraints. Assumptions * Accounting Entity: assumes that the business is separate from its owners or other businesses. Revenue and expense should be kept separate from personal expenses. * Going Concern: assumes that the business will be in operation indefinitely. This validates the methods of asset capitalization, depreciation, and amortization. Only when liquidation is certain this assumption is not applicable. The business will continue to exist in the unforeseeable future. * Monetary Unit principle: assumes a stable currency is going to be the unit of record. The FASB accepts the nominal value of the US Dollar as the monetary unit of record unadjusted for inflation. * The Time-period principle implies that the economic activities of an enterprise can be divided into artificial time periods. Principles * Historical cost principle requires companies to account and report based on acquisition costs rather than fair market value for most assets and liabilities. This principle provides information that is reliable (removing opportunity to provide subjective and potentially...
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... 1. Economic entity assumption (45) - (f) indicates that personal and business record keeping should be separately maintained. 2. Going-concern assumption (46) - (d) Rationale why plant assets are not reported at liquidation value. (Do not use historical cost principle.) 3. Monetary unit assumption (46) - (j) assumes that the dollar is the “measuring stick” used to report on financial performance. 4. Periodicity assumption (46) - (g) separates financial information into time periods for reporting purposes. 5. Historical-cost principle (47) - (b) Indicates that market value changes subsequent to purchase are not recorded in the accounts. (Do not use revenue recognition principle.) 6. Matching principle (49) - (a) Recognizes expenses based on contribution to revenues in the proper period. 7. Full disclosure principle (51) - (c) Ensures that all relevant financial information is reported. 8. Cost-benefit relationship (53) - not defined in any assumptions, principles or constraints in (a) - (j). 9. Materiality (54) - (i) requires that information significant enough to affect the decision of reasonably informed users should be disclosed. (Do not use full disclosure principle.) 10. Industry practices (55) - (h) Permits the use of market value valuation in certain specific situations. 11. Conservatism (56) - (e) anticipates all losses, but reports no gains. Exercise 2-8 (Assumptions, Principles, and Constraints) Presented below are a...
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...CHAPTER 2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK UNDERLYING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING Show Me the Earnings! The growth of new-economy business on the Internet has led to the development of new measures of performance. When Priceline.com splashed onto the dot-com scene, it touted steady growth in a measure called “unique offers by users” to explain its heady stock price. To draw investors to its stock, Drugstore.com focused on the number of “unique customers” at its website. After all, new businesses call for new performance measures, right? Not necessarily. In fact, these indicators failed to show any consistent relationship between profits and website visits. Eventually, as the graphs below show, the profits never materialized, and stock prices fell. The lesson here: Although the new economy may require some new measures, investors need to be careful not to forget the reliable traditional ones. PRICELINE.COM Net unique offers by users 3.0 million 2.0 1.0 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 DRUGSTORE.COM Unique customers 2.0 million 1.5 1.0 0.5 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 Stock price $120 a share 80 40 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 2000-IV close $2.13 Stock price $40 a share 30 20 10 0 I II III IV 1999 I II III IV 2000 2000-IV close $1.03 Source: Story and graphs adapted from Gretchen Morgenson, “How Did They Value Stocks? Count the Absurd Ways,” New York Times (March 18, 2001), section 3, p. 1. 34 Copyright ©2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Preview of Chapter 2 ...
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