Event: A happening that will cause a change in assets, liabilities, or equity.
Transaction: An external event between two or more entities.
Account: An arrangement of transactions to show the effect of transactions and events on assets and equity. There should be an account for each asset, liability, expense, and for capital.
Real Accounts: Permanent accounts set up for assets, liabilities, and equity. These accounts will appear on the balance sheet.
Nominal Accounts: Temporary accounts such as revenue, expenses, and dividends. These accounts will be closed periodically.
Ledger: The book or computer file that contains all of the accounts.
Journal: The book of original entry. All transactions and events are recorded here first, and later posted from here to the ledger.
Trial Balance: A list of all open accounts in the ledger and their balances. Two types of trial balances are the "adjusted trial balance" and the "post-closing" trial balance.
Adjusting Entries: These are made at the end of an accounting period so that accurate financial statements may be prepared.
Financial Statements: Final summaries (or scorecard) of accounting data for a given period. The types of financial statements are the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of cashflows, and the statement of retained earnings.
Closing Entries: The entries that close out the nominal accounts for the period, reducing them to zero. This is when a net income would be determined and transferred to an owners' equity account.
Stop back next entry when I discuss what Debits and Credits are.
To return to initial post in my Accounting Review Guide, click HERE.
Accounting, Ledger, Terminology, Journal, Accounts
No comments:
Post a Comment