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Financial Accounting

Financial Accounting aims at finding the results of an accounting year in terms of profits or losses and assets and liabilities. In order to do this, it is essential to record various transactions in a systematic manner. Financial Accounting is defined as, ‘Art and science of classifying, analyzing and recording business transactions in a systematic manner in order to prepare a summary at the end of the year to find out the results of the concerned accounting year.’ The definition given above is self explanatory, however for understanding clearly, the following terms are explained below.

Business transactions

A transaction means an activity, a business transaction means any activity which creates some kind of legal relationship. For example, purchase and sale of goods, appointing an employee and paying his salary, payment of various expenses, purchase of assets etc.

Classification of transactions

Before recording any transaction, it is essential that it is to be classified. A transaction can be classified as cash transaction and credit transaction. Similarly transactions of receiving income and payment of expenditure can be segregated. Even in case of expenditure, transactions involving revenue expenditure and capital expenditure can be segregated.

Recording of transactions

The essence of financial accounting is recording of transaction. In accounting language, recording of the transaction is known as entry. There are well defined rules for recording various transactions in books of accounts. As per the rules of financial accounting, each and every transaction is recorded at two places and hence it is called as ‘Double Entry’ system of accounting.

Summary of transaction

After recording all transactions, it is essential to prepare a summary of them so as to draw meaningful conclusions. The summary will help in finding out the Profit/Loss of a particular year and also ascertaining Assets and Liabilities on a particular date. In fact, the very purpose of financial accounting is to know the results of a particular year. From this angle, the process of preparing the summary is extremely important.

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Concepts and conventions of Financial Accounting

There are some well defined concepts and conventions of financial accounting system. Concepts can also be termed as ‘principles’ while conventions are those which have been followed over a period of time and are accepted as norms to be followed in financial accounting systems. The concepts and conventions of financial accounting are explained in the following paragraphs.

Concepts of Financial Accounting

The following are the concepts of financial accounting.

Separate Entity

This concept implies that the businessman is different from business. Thus if X starts his business known as X and Sons, X as a person shall be different from his firm, i.e. X and Sons. Actually in Law, separate entity concept is recognized only in the case of joint stock companies registered under Companies Act, 1956. In case of partnerships and sole proprietorship business, separate entity concept is not recognized under Law. However in accounting, separate entity concept is recognized and the accounting entries are passed in the books of the business and not in the books of the proprietor as such. Thus when X starts his business and invests his own money as capital, it is shown as liability in the Balance Sheet of the business. On the other hand, if the proprietor incurs any private expenditure from the resources of the business, it is shown as recoverable in the books of accounts of the business. Thus the principle of separate entity is applied in practice.

Double Entry

This principle can be called as ‘Heart’ of the entire accounting mechanism. Double entry means a transaction is recorded at two places in the books of accounts, the reason being that any transaction has two fold effects and hence it is to be recorded at two places. The following example will clarify the point.

• If goods are purchased for cash, the cash goes out and goods come in. Thus one effect is the cash going out and the second effect is that goods come in.
• When goods are sold for cash, the first effect is that the cash comes in and the second one is that the goods are going out.
• In case of credit transactions like purchase of goods, one effect is that goods come in and the person from whom the goods are purchased becomes the creditor of the business.
• Thus in double entry system, each and every transaction has the two fold effects. There is another system of recording the transactions, which is known as single entry system. In single entry system, every transaction is recorded only once and hence no double effect is given. There are very few organizations where single entry system is still implemented. However the double entry system is now being accepted everywhere.

Money Measurement Concept

Another important concept of financial accounting is the money measurement concept. This concept means that only the transactions which are capable of being expressed in monetary terms will be recorded in the books of accounts. In other words, transactions which cannot be expressed in monetary terms cannot be recorded in the books of accounts. For example, in books of accounts monetary value of assets or goods will be recorded and not the quantity of the same. Furniture will not be recorded as 1 table or 12 chairs or 100 cupboards, but the values of the same in monetary terms will be recorded. This principle means that items like Human Resources will not be recorded in the books of accounts as they cannot be converted into monetary terms. This principle is important as it brings uniformity in recording transactions in the books of accounts.

Going Concern Concept

As per Glossary of terms, International Accounting Standards, 1999, the definition of ‘Going Concern’ is as follows

That enterprise is normally viewed as a going concern, that is as continuing in operation for the foreseeable future. It is assumed that the enterprise has neither the intention nor the necessity of liquidation or curtailing materially the scale of its operations.’

The implications of this concept is that the financial statements, fixed assets are shown at the cost of acquisition less depreciation accumulated up to the date of closure. The reason is that it is assumed that the enterprise is going to continue for a long period of time and there is no intention to close it down in the near future. Therefore the market values of the same are not relevant at all, the cost prices are relevant and hence the assets should be shown at the cost value.

Matching Concept

Matching of costs and revenues concept is explained below in the International Accounting Standards

Expenses are recognized in the income statement on the basis of a direct association between the costs incurred and the earnings of specific items of income. This process involves the simultaneous or combined recognition of revenues and expenses that result directly and jointly from the same association or other events. However, the application of the matching concept does not allow the recognition of items in the Balance Sheet which do not meet the definition of assets or liabilities.’

In other words, matching concept means that it is necessary to periodically match the costs and revenues in order to find out the results of a particular period. This period is called as accounting year. For any business it is essential to find out the profit or loss after periodic intervals. Actually, real profit or loss can be found out only after the business is closed down. But in the earlier concept we have seen that any business organization is a going concern and not likely to shut down in the near future. Therefore it is necessary to match the revenue and expenditure on periodic basis. This period is normally for one year and is called as accounting year. In case of limited companies established under the Companies Act, 1956, first accounting year in case of a company can be of 18 months but subsequent accounting years must be of 12 months duration. A business organization is free to choose the accounting year, i.e. a calendar year can be adopted as accounting year or financial year starting from 1st April to 31st March can be an accounting year. The assessment year for income tax purpose is always from 1st April to 31st March and hence many organizations adopt this period as accounting year.

Accounting Cycle

It is essential to describe the accounting cycle in brief. The cycle commences with the happening of a transaction and ends with the preparation of final accounts, i.e. Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet. The following chart will show the accounting cycle.

Transaction

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Entry

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Books of Prime Entry – Journal and Subsidiary Books

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Posting in Ledger – Book of Secondary Entry

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Trial Balance

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Final Accounts – Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet

As mentioned above, the accounting cycle starts with a transaction. As soon as a transaction takes place, it is recorded in the books of Prime Entry, i.e. either Journal or subsidiary books. After recording the same in these books, the transaction is posted in the ledger which is called as book of secondary entry. All ledger accounts are closed and a list of the same is prepared which is called as ‘Trial Balance’. From the trial balance, final accounts, Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet are prepared.

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Utility of Financial Accounting

The utility of financial accounting can be explained in the following manner.

Financial Accounting provides well defined rules and principles of recording business transactions. This provides uniformity in recording the transactions and thus results of various organizations become comparable.

For any organization, whether it is profit making or non-profit making, it is essential to find out the results of a particular accounting period, i.e. accounting year. Financial accounting mechanism enables them to prepare Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet at the end of the financial year.

Financial Accounting helps the taxation authorities for determining the tax liability in a fair manner. Income Tax is levied on the profits and financial accounting helps to disclose true and fair view of the business as regards to profits. Thus the assessment of tax liability becomes rational and free from any controversies.

Financial Accounting is also helpful for the investors who are interested in finding out the profitability of the business in which they want to invest the money. Financial accounting information helps in ascertaining profitability so that decision-making is easier.

In the course of the business, a firm has to borrow money for various objectives such as expansion, diversification, modernization and so on. The lenders have to ensure that the money lent by them will be repaid back. For this, they study financial statements viz. Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet to ascertain the financial condition of the business. Thus the financial accounting helps them in decision-making regarding granting of loan.