What is the difference between revenue, income, profit, gain and return?
Every student who starts accounting and get an idea of these terms, the instinct of differentiating kicks in and he/she starts looking for the differences among these terms. Though there are sometimes minor and sometimes major differences among these terms but these days, with an exception of few, these terms are used interchangeably. For example, […]
What is the purpose of Statement of changes in equity?
Many students find it confusing that if we already have two financial statements, one covering the financial position of the business and the other telling about the financial performance then why do we need yet another statement with the name of Statement of Changes in Equity? And more interestingly, many think that its just a […]
What is the difference between ‘separate entity’ and ‘separate legal entity’?
Separate entity is basically an accounting concept where as separate legal entity is a legal concept which overrules the accounting concept of separate entity. According to separate entity concept (also termed as business entity concept) the business and the owner(s) of the business are two distinct and separate entities which implies that assets and liabilities […]
What is business entity concept?
Business entity concept or Separate entity concept or Separate economic entity concept are different names for the same concept. According to business entity concept, the business is distinct and separate from its owners i.e. business and its owners should not be treated as one and the same thing. Accepting this concept means that the activities […]
Is there any case in which Liability increases and decreases as well?
In one single transaction there are absolutely NO chances that liability increases and also decreases at the same time. And even for the sake of argument we consider that yes it will increase and decrease then the increase and decrease will be equal thus making no difference at all. However, if the question was asked […]
What is the difference between Cost and Expense?
Most of the time the difference between the terms Cost and Expense is ignored and are used interchangeably. However, the difference is significant from accounting perspective and being an accountant it is good if we keep these two terms separate to cause lesser confusion and clearer communication of financial information. Cost can be defined as […]
What is Contra account?
Accounts in any business hold important information regarding different aspects of the entity and its operations. And to keep the information relevant and reliable these accounts needs to be updated to record all such transactions that relates to particular account. For example, funds deposited in the bank account and withdrawn are recorded in the Bank […]
What is Ledger?
In accounting, especially in financial accounting, the term ledger is discussed many times. However, use of ledger is not limited just to financial accounting as we do have ledger accounting in cost accounting as well. Ledger simply means collection of related accounts at one place i.e. a set of accounts mean ledger. Usually accounts with […]
How POSSESSION and CONTROL of an asset are different in financial acconuting?
Possession of an asset might mean just having a physical control of the asset. The party who holds the asset is the possessor of such asset. But the word control holds special meaning in the business world. Especially in financial accounting. And understanding the meaning of control and ability to differentiate between the possession and […]
What is the difference between Account and Ledger?
If we sum up the whole story in one line then it will be like this; Account is a place where transactions are recorded and Ledger is a place where accounts are maintained. Basically when the transaction occurs, we identify the nature of the transaction and then it is recorded in the proper account. Different […]
