English 300 Major Report Essay
Genres
Some of the Documents that I Should be Familiar with as an Accountant
My advisor informed me that math and accounting are inseparable Siamese twins, and any document that relates to both is a must-know for accounting. For example, as an accounting major, I should know how to draft ledger accounts, T-accounts, trial balances, income statements, statement of changes in retained earnings, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. These are financial documents that accountants draft after obtaining details of a business or organization. Usually, this information is in receipts and occurrences that involve the exchange of money and services.
The Most Demanding Document in Accounting
From my academic advisors’ reply, I felt scared as and interested at the same time because of my interest in them. However, I realized that the most demanding document of them is the Income Statement, as one has to be careful of terminologies. For example, when accounting for businesses in the U.S., the reference of checks is in the form of cash, while most countries treat them as entries of the bank account. Also, accountants should know which figures belong in the income statement as expenses or ones to contribute to getting revenues because interchanging them can hinder the reconciliation of the accounts.
The Organization of Content in Accounting
The income statement is organized into sections like the revenues, expenses, net income before tax, net income tax expense, and net income after tax. This organization makes it easier for the accountant to identify the figures to add and subtract at any point in the income statement – only activities that contribute to income. But
Places to Find an Example of an Income Statement
The best place to get information on accounting documents is the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Handbook of Policies and Procedures (2020), found online. However, this handbook is mainly for accountants, but you can see this information from various books assigned for the accounting classes from any university’s syllabus.
Lexis
The Technical Terms
Some of the technical lexis in accounting include cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, expenses, capital, liabilities, assets, owners’ equity, drawings, prepayments, and depreciation.
Definitions
Cash is money currency that a business receives for goods and services. In the American accounting system, checks are considered cash payments as the recipients have to cash them. These have debit entries on the respective accounts.
Accounts receivable are revenues that the business expects to receive and have debit balances, which are offset once the debtors pay – a current asset.
Accounts payable are those goods and services that the business buys on credit from creditors and have credit entries on their respective accounts- a current liability.
Expenses are the payments that the business incurs to run for a particular period are debited.
Capital is a financing asset for the business.
Liabilities are credited amounts in the ledger and represent obligations of a business to creditors. These can be current or long term.
Assets are advantages or benefits of a company and can be current or long term.
Equity is the value of the owners’ input in the business.
Drawings are the amounts that the owner of the business takes out of the company and affects the capital account.
Prepayments are a particular type of liability for the business in the current financial year but an individual liability in the next.
Depreciation is the value by which a long term asset like equipment and buildings reduce.
Introduction Method in Class
The instructor introduced these terms by topic. For example, the main ones like Assets, drawings, expenses, liabilities, equity, and revenue were added as part of a mnemonic device to know when to credit or debit them. The instructor then introduced the rest under each following topic while I read ahead to get more for this report.