Intermediate Accounting

Chapter 1

* Essential characteristics of accounting are (1) the identification, measurement, and communication of financial information about (2) economic entities to (3) interested parties * Financial accounting – process that culminates in the preparation of financial reports on the enterprise for use by both internal and external parties * Users – investors, creditors, managers, unions, and government agencies * financial statements – (1) the balance sheet, (2) the income statement, (3) the statement of cash flows, and (4) the statement of owners’ or stockholders’ equity * president’s letter or supplementary schedules in the corporate annual report, prospectuses, reports filed with government agencies, news releases, management’s forecasts, and social or environmental impact statements * Managerial accounting – process of identifying, measuring, analyzing, and communicating financial information needed by management to plan, control, and evaluate a company’s operations * Capital Allocation – process of determining how and at what cost money is allocated among competing interests * Objective of general-purpose financial reporting is to provide financial information about the reporting entity that is useful to present and potential equity investors, lenders, and other creditors in decisions about providing resources to the entity. Those decisions involve buying, selling, or holding equity and debt instruments, and providing or settling loans and other forms of credit. * Investors and creditors need this financial information to assess ability to generate net cash inflow and to understand management’s ability to protect and enhance the assets of the company, which will be used to generate future net cash inflows. * Entity perspective – companies are viewed as separate and distinct from