- Explain the term account payable?
Account payable is referred as the amount company owes to its suppliers, its employees, and its partners. In other words, it is the basic cost levied on the company to run business process that is outstanding. Account payable for one company may be account receivable for another firm or company.
- What is the Master Account?
A Master Account has subsidiary accounts. A master account receivable could be anything, it could be account receivable for various individual receivable accounts.
- Mention what is Bank Reconciliation?
A bank reconciliation is a process done by a company to ensure that the company’s records (check register, balance sheet, general ledger account, etc.) are correct and that the bank’s records are also correct.
- Explain me what is accrual accounting?
Accrual Accounting is a method for measuring the performance and position of the company by identifying economic events regardless of when cash transaction happened. In this method, revenue is compared with the expenditures, at the time in which the transaction happens rather than when the payment is made.
- What is General ledger account?
The General ledger account is an account where the company records all the information for its various expenses and income types into separate accounts. Such that all the debits and credits pertaining to that particular type of transaction can be entered in one place and kept balanced.
- Tell us what is working capital?
Working capital is a financial metric that calculates the resources available to the company to finance its day-to-day operations. It is typically calculated by deducting current liabilities from current assets.
- What is “deposit in transit”?
A deposit in transit is a checks and cash that have been received and recorded by an entity, but which have not yet been entered in the records of the bank where the funds are deposited.
- What is the disadvantage of double entry system?
The disadvantage of double entry system,
☛ If there is any compensatory errors, it is difficult to find out by this system
☛ This system needs more clerical labour
☛ It is difficult to find the errors if the errors are in the transactions recorded in the books
☛ It is not preferable to disclose all the information of a transaction, which is not properly recorded in the journal
- What is ledger?
A ledger can be referred as an accounting book that keeps the record of journal entries in a chronological order to individual accounts. The process of recording this journal entries is known as posting.
- What a deferred asset is and give an example?
A deferred asset refers to a deferred debit or a deferred charge. An example of a deferred charge is bond issue costs. These costs involves all of the fees or charges that an organization incurs in order to register and issue bonds. This fees are paid in a near time when the bonds are issued but it will not be expensed at that time.
- Tell me what is scrap value in accounting?
It is the residual value of an asset. The residual value is the value that any asset holds after its estimated life time.
- What is GAAP?
GAAP means Generally Accepted Accounting Principle; it is a framework of accounting, standards, procedures & rules determined by the professional accounting industry and practiced by publicly traded U.S companies all over the U.S.A.
- What is the equation for Acid-Test Ratio in accounting?
The equation for Acid-Test Ratio in accounting
Acid-Test Ratio = (Current assets – Inventory) / Current Liabilities
- Can you differentiate between consignor and consignee?
Consigner is the owner of the goods or you can say he is the person who delivers the goods to the consignee. The consignee is the person who receives the goods.
- What is compound journal entry?
A compound journal entry is just like other accounting entry where there is more than one debit, more than one credit, or more than one of both debits and credits. It is essentially a combination of several simple journal entries.
- What is reversing journal entries?
Reversing journal entries are entries made at the beginning of an accounting period to cancel out the adjusting journal entries made at the end of the previous accounting period.
- What does the standard journal entry includes?
A standard journal entry includes, date of business transaction, name of the accounts affected, amounts to be debited or credited and a brief description of the event.
- Tell me what is depreciation and its types?
By depreciation we mean that a value of an asset is decreasing as it is in use. It has two types such as “Straight Line Method” and “Written Down Value Method”.
- What is trial balance in accounting?
In accounting, trial balance is an accounting report that lists the balances in each of an organization’s general ledger accounts. This is done at the end of posting journal entry to ensure that there are no posting errors.
- Can you list out the Stages of Double Entry System?
☛ Recording of transactions in the journal
☛ Posting of journal entry in to the respective ledger accounts and then preparing a trial balance
☛ Preparing final accounts and closing of books of accounts
- Do you know what are bills receivable?
All types of exchange bills, bonds and other securities owned by a merchant that is payable to him are said as bills receivable.
- What is an over accrual?
An over accrual is a condition where the estimate for an accrual journal entry is too high. This estimate may apply to an accrual of expense or revenue.
- Tell me what is the term material facts in accounting?
Material facts are the bills or any document that becomes the base of every account book. It means that all those documents, on which account book is prepared, are called material facts.
- Explain me trade bills?
We know that all types of transactions need to be documented. The trade bills are the documents, generated against each transaction.
- What is balancing in accounting?
Balancing means to equate both sides of the T-account i.e. the debit and credit sides of a T-account must be equal/balanced.
- What is account receivable?
A short term amounts due from buyers to a seller, who have purchased goods or services from the seller on credit is referred as account receivable.
- Mention in which account does the unpresented cheque will get recorded?
The unpresented cheque will get recorded as a credit to the cash account in the company’s General ledger.
- Explain me retail banking?
It is a type of banking that involves a retail client. These clients are the normal people and not any organizational customers.
- Tell me what is marginal Cost?
Suppose you have to produce an additional unit of output. The estimated cost of additional inputs to produce that output is actually the marginal cost.
- Where do generally accruals appear on the balance sheet?
Accrued expenses usually tend to be extremely short-term. So you would record them within the “current liabilities section” of the balance sheet.
- Do you know where a cash discount should be recorded in journal entry?
A cash discount should be recorded in journal entry as a reduction of expense in “cash account”.
- Deferred taxation is a part of which equity?
Deferred taxation is a part of owner’s equity.
- Under what type of account does the unearned revenues fall?
The unearned revenues falls under “Liability” account.
- Please explain overhead in terms of accounting?
It is the indirect expenditure of a company such as salaries, rent dues etc.
- Tell us what is assets minus liabilities?
Assets minus liabilities is equal to owners’ equity or stockholders equity.
- What is partitioning in accounting?
It is a kind of groups made on the basis of same responses by a system.
- Do you know what is company’s payable cycle?
It is the time required by the company to pay all its account payables.
- Can you define Offset accounting?
Offset accounting is one that decreases the net amount of another account to create a net balance.
- Tell us entries to revenues accounts such as Service Revenues are usually?
Entries to revenues accounts such as Service Revenues usually goes into credit side.
- Which account is responsible for interest payable?
Account which is responsible or affected by the interest payable is “Current liability account”
- What does the investment of personal assets by the owner will do?
The investment of personal assets by the owner will increase total assets and increase owner’s equity.
- What is Bad debt expense?
A Bad debt expense is the amount of an account receivable that is considered to NOT be collectible.
- What is double-entry accounting? Explain with an example?
Double entry accounting is an accounting system that requires recording business transaction or event in at least two accounts. It is the same concept of accounting, where every debit account should be matched with a credit account.
For example, if a company takes a loan from a bank, it receives cash as an asset but at the same time it creates a liability on a company. This single entry will affect both accounts, the asset accounts, and the liabilities accounts, such entry is referred as double entry accounting.
- Explain the meaning of long-term notes payable is or long term liabilities?
Long-term notes payable or liabilities are referred for that loan that are not supposed to due for more than a year. These are the loans from banks or financial institution that are secured against various assets on the balance sheet, such as inventories.
- Tell us whether the account “Cash” will be credited or debited, when a company pays a bill?
The account “Cash” will be credited when a company pays a bill.
- Can you differentiate between provision and reserve?
Provisions are the liabilities or the anticipated items such as depreciation. You can say provisions are expenses. Reserves are the profits of any company and a part of that profit is placed back to the business to keep it sustainable in tough times of a company.
- Tell us what do we mean by purchase return in accounting?
It is the term introduced in the records for every defective or unsatisfactory good returned back to its supplier.
- Under the accrual basis of accounting, when revenues are reported in the accounting period?
When service or goods have been delivered, then revenues are reported in the accounting period.
- How you can adjust entries into account?
To adjust entries into account, you can sort entries into five categories.
☛ Accrued expenses: Expenses have been incurred but the vendors invoices are not generated or processed yet
☛ Accrued revenues: Revenues have been earned but the sales invoices are not generated or processed yet
☛ Deferred revenues: Money was received in advance of having been paid or earned
☛ Deferred expenses: Money was paid for a future expense
☛ Depreciation expense: An asset purchased in one period must be allocated to expense in each of the accounting periods of the asset’s useful life
- Can you list out things that fall under intangible asset?
Things that fall under intangible asset are,
☛ Patents
☛ Copyrights
☛ Trademarks
☛ Brand names
☛ Domain names, and so on.
- What knowledge should financial accountant have?
A certified financial accountant should have knowledge about
☛ Accounting principles and practices
☛ Reporting and analysis of financial data
☛ Auditing practices and principles
☛ Account management
☛ Budgets
☛ Software knowledge dealing with Accounting
☛ Knowledge of relevant laws, codes and regulations
- Tell me the types of ledger?
There are three types of ledger
General ledger
Debtors ledger
Creditors ledger
- Tell me what is dual aspect term in accounting?
As the name implies, the dual aspect concept states that every transaction has two sides. For example, when you buy something, you give the cash and get the thing. Similarly, when you sale something, you lose the thing and gets the money. So this getting and losing is basically two aspects of every transaction.
- Explain me the types of accounts involved in double entry book-keeping?
Double entry book-keeping involves five types of accounts,
☛ Income accounts
☛ Expense accounts
☛ Asset accounts
☛ Liability accounts
☛ Capital accounts
- List out some of the examples for liability accounts?
Some of the examples for liability accounts
☛ Accounts Payable
☛ Accrued Expenses
☛ Short-term Loans Payable
☛ Unearned or Deferred Revenues
☛ Installment Loans Payable
☛ Current Portion of Long-term Debt
☛ Mortgage Loans Payable
- What are the activities that includes in Cash Flow Statement?
The cash flow statement showcase the cash generated and used during the year or months. Various activities that are involved for the Cash Flow are
☛ Operating activities – business activities accounting to cash
☛ Investing activities – sale and purchase of equipment or property
☛ Financial activities- purchase of stock and own bonds
☛ Supplemental information- exchange of significant items that don’t involve cash
- Why some asset accounts have a credit balance?
Some asset accounts have a credit balance due to following reasons,
☛ Receiving and posting an amount that was higher than the recorded receivable
☛ Expenses occurred faster than the agreed upon prepayments
☛ An error caused by posting an amount to a wrong account
☛ The amount of checks written exceeded the positive amount in the Cash account
☛ Continuing to amortize or depreciate an asset after its balance has reached zero
- What is the difference between depreciation and amortization?
Capital expenses are either depreciated or amortized based upon the type of asset.
Depreciation
☛ Depreciate means to lose value of an asset due to their usage, wear and tear, outdated, etc.
☛ Depreciation cost is calculated in terms of tangible assets like furniture, plant & machinery, building, etc.
☛ The purpose of calculating depreciation costs recovery
☛ The easiest way to calculate depreciation is to know the loss of value of an asset over its life.
☛ For example, a car worth $30,000 has estimated the lifetime of 10 years after that it will have no value in the market. The cost or loss in value throughout this 10 years is known as depreciation
☛ Various method for depreciation includes straight line depreciation, declining balance method, group depreciation method, unit of time/production depreciation method, etc.
Amortization
☛ Amortize means to write off or pay the debt over a period of time. Amortization can be for loans, or it can be for Intangible assets
☛ Amortization cost is calculated in terms of intangible assets like goodwill, trademark, loans, patents, etc.
☛ The purpose of calculating amortization is also for cost recovery
☛ Amortization calculates the amount spent after the intangible assets throughout the life for that asset
☛ For example, Pharmaceutical Company spent $20 million dollars on a drug patent with a useful life of 20 years. The amortization value for that company will be $1 million each year
☛ Various method for amortization is negative amortization, zoning amortization, business amortization, etc.
- What is liabilities and what all does include in current liabilities?
Liability can be defined as an obligation towards another company or party. It may consist of delivering goods, rendering services or paying money. They are the opposite of assets, and it may include
☛ Account payable
☛ Interest and dividend payable
☛ Bonds payable
☛ Consumer deposits
☛ Reserves for federal taxes
☛ Short term loans
- What are the three factors that can affect your cash flow and business profitability?
The three factors that can affect your cash flow and business profit includes
☛ Cash flows from investing activities: It includes shares, bonds, physical property, machineries, etc.
☛ Cash flows from operating activities: It does not include cash received from other sources like investments
☛ Cash flow from financing activities: It includes any activities that involves dividend payments that the company made to its shareholders, any money that includes stock to the public, any money borrowed from the lender etc. in other words, it is a report that tells the firm about the money borrowed and paid out in order to finance its activities.
- What happens to company’s “Cash Account” if it borrows money from the bank by signing a note payable?
Due to double entry, the “cash account” will increase as such the liability account increases.
- What is the difference between accumulated depreciation and depreciation expense?
The difference between accumulated depreciation and depreciation expense is that
☛ Accumulated depreciation: It is the total amount of depreciation that has been taken on a company’s assets up to the date of the balance sheet
☛ Depreciation expense: It is the amount of depreciation that is reported on the income statement. Basically, it is the amount that corresponds only to the period of time indicated in the heading of the income statement.
- Explain me what is the general classification of accounts that usually ledger account involve?
The general classification of accounts that usually ledger account involves are
☛ Assets- Cash, Accounts Receivable
☛ Liabilities- Accounts Payable, Loans Payable
☛ Stockholders’ equity- Common Stock
☛ Operating revenues- Revenues through Sales
☛ Operating expenses- Rent Expense, Salaries Expense
☛ Non-operating revenues and gains- Investment Income, gain on Disposal of Equipment
☛ Non-operating revenues and losses- Interest Expense, Loss on Disposal of Equipment
- Tell me what are the accounting events that are frequently involved in compound entries?
The accounting events that are frequently involved in compound entries are;
☛ Record multiple line items in a supplier invoice that address to different expenses
☛ Record all bank deductions associated to a bank reconciliation
☛ Record all deduction and payments related to a payroll
☛ Record the account receivable and sales taxes related to a customer invoice
- Tell us how much mathematics knowledge is necessary or required in accounting?
Not much knowledge but basic mathematical background is required in accounting for operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
- Mention in simple terms what is the difference between Asset, equity, and liabilities?
☛ Asset: What financial institute (bank) or people owe you
☛ Liabilities: It is something you owe people or organization
☛ Equity: It is something you own, for example, the amount of your house loan you paid off
- What does financial statement of the company includes?
Financial statement of the company includes various information like
☛ Balance Sheet ( Assets, liabilities, and equity)
☛ Income statement ( Profit or Loss statement)
☛ Equity statement
☛ Cash flow statement
- Can you list out some of the accrued expenses and the accounts in which you would record them?
☛ Wage accrual is entered with a credit to the “wages payable account”
☛ Interest accrual is entered with a credit to the “interest payable account”
☛ Payroll tax accrual is entered with a credit to the “payroll taxes payable account”
- What are things will not be included in bank reconciliation statement?
In a bank reconciliation statement, following thing can be excluded.
☛ Direct payments made by bank not entered in Cash book
☛ Cheques deposited but not cleared
☛ Cheques dishonoured not recorded in cash book
☛ Wrong debits given by bank
☛ Bank Charges or Interst debited by bank
☛ Banks direct payment not entered in Cash book
- Tell us what are the rules for debit and credit for different accounts to increase the amount in your business accounts?
The rules for debit and credit for different accounts,
☛ for a capital account, you credit to increase it and debit to decrease it
☛ for an asset account, you debit to increase it and credit to decrease it
☛ for a liability account, you credit to increase it and debit to decrease it
☛ for an expense account, you debit to increase it, and credit to decrease it
☛ for an income account, you credit to increase it and debit to decrease it
- Tell me what is fair value accounting?
As per fair value accounting, a company has to show the value of all of its assets in terms of price on balance sheet on which that asset can be sold.
- Tell us how much statistics knowledge is necessary or required in accounting?
You must be very good at statistics if you want to do well in accounting. Otherwise, with minimum knowledge you cannot manage your day to day transactions effectively in accounting.
- Tell us have you ever prepared MIS reports and what are these?
Yes, I have prepared few MIS reports during my previous jobs. MIS reports are created to identify the efficiency of any department of a company.