Understanding the Accounting Cycle

To understand accounting information and usage accounting information is of import for any concern. “ Information that is provided to external parties who have an involvement in a company is sometimes referred to as fiscal accounting information, ” harmonizing to Williams, Haka, Bettner, and Carcello ( 2006, p. 4 ) . The chief ground in supplying accounting and fiscal information is the usage of said information in decision-making intents. Many groups, including company direction, authorities regulative bureaus, creditors, and providers, use fiscal information in assorted ways to find a company ‘s fiscal wellness and ability to run into duties as such duties become current. Companies and their forces must understand the assorted stairss in the accounting rhythm and how such stairss provide dependable information to the users of fiscal information.
What is the Accounting Cycle?
The accounting rhythm is the “ sequence of accounting processs used to enter, sort, and sum up accounting information in fiscal studies at regular intervals ” ( p. 94 ) . The concluding readying of formal fiscal statements is ever started with the recording of concern minutess and this rhythm repeats so the concern can fix new, current, fiscal statements in response to concern minutess conducted by the house. The accounting rhythm is composed of eight stairss and includes journalizing minutess, posting journal entries to ledger histories, fixing a test balance, doing end-of-the-period accommodations, fixing an adjusted test balance, fixing fiscal statements, journalizing and posting shutting entries, and fixing an after-closing test balance.

Remember debits increase assets while credits increase proprietor equity during the recording and accommodation stages of the accounting rhythm. An history “ has merely three elements: ( 1 ) a rubric ; ( 2 ) a left side, which is called the debit side ; and ( 3 ) a right side, which is called the recognition side ” ( p. 95 ) ; such accountings are called T histories because, on paper, the recording of such histories resembles the missive “ T. ” A sample T history is below:
The history balance is determined in the difference between the debit and recognition sides of the history. If the debit entire is more than the recognition sum, the history is said to hold a debit balance. If the recognition sum is more, so the history is said to hold a recognition balance. In plus histories, the debit entering increases the sum in the plus history and a recognition decreases the sum in the history. Under liability and proprietors ‘ equity histories, the debit decreases the sum in the history, while a recognition increases the sum in the history. This aligns with the equation
and is known as the system of double-entry history.
Journalizing Minutess
The first measure involves puting the concern minutess into a diary, which records the concern minutess chronologically ( daily ) . The sums entered in this subdivision are transferred to the debit and recognition subdivisions of the histories in the leger. A individual puting in the house pays $ 80,000 in hard currency in exchange for stock in the house. The two histories affected by this dealing are the Cash and Capital Stock. The first measure in journalizing this entry is come ining the name of the history debited ( Cash ) , which is written foremost, along with its dollar sum entered in the left-hand money column. The name of the history credited ( Capital Stock ) appears below Cash and is indented to the right, with the dollar sum looking in the right-hand money column. A description of the dealing appears below the diary entry. Below is a sample journal entry:
Posting to Ledger Histories
“ Posting simple agencies updating the leger histories for the effects of the minutess recorded in the diary ” ( p. 98 ) . If the individual reads the diary entry aloud, this means the old diary entries are read as “ Debit Cash $ 80,000 ; recognition Capital Stock, $ 80,000. ”
This procedure is continued until all journal entries are record in the leger. Once all of the leger entries are calculated, the following measure is the readying of the test balance.
Trial Balance
The test balance is prepared to guarantee debits and credits equal one another. All of the leger histories are listed, “ with debits in the left column and credits in the right column ” ( Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, 2007 ) . The debit column is added foremost, so the recognition column. If the sums do non hold, the issue could be a debit was recorded alternatively of a recognition, errors in arithmetic, and clerical mistakes in copying history balances into the test balance. Both columns should be equal ; nevertheless, this does non intend that a dealing was recorded in the incorrect history.
Making End-of-period Adjustments
Adjustments after the test balance is created to enter accrued, deferred, and estimated sums and posting the adjusted entries to the leger histories. Once the entries are entered in the leger, the accountant prepares the adjusted test balance, which contains similar stairss to the unadjusted test balance ; nevertheless, the adjusted test balance contains the seting entries. Accrued points would include wages, involvement income, and unbilled gross ; deferred points would include postpaid insurance, office supplies, and depreciation.
Fixing Fiscal Statements
“ Publicly owned companies-those with portions listed on a stock exchange-have duties to let go of one-year and quarterly information to their shareholders and to the populace ” ( Williams, Haka, Bettner, and Carcello, 2006, p. 192 ) . The fiscal statements include the income statement, the statement of maintained net incomes, the balance sheet, and the statement of hard currency flows ( besides known as the hard currency flow statement ) . The income statement is prepared foremost because it determines the sum of net income in the statement of maintained net incomes. The statement of maintained net incomes is prepared following to supply information for the balance sheet. The balance sheet is prepared from the assets, liabilities, and equity histories of the house. Finally, the hard currency flow statement is prepared utilizing informations from the other fiscal statements.
Fixing Closing Entries to Diaries and Ledger Histories
Closing journal entries closes impermanent histories such as grosss and moves these histories to a impermanent income sum-up history. The balance is so transferred to the maintained net incomes history, which is a capital history ; similarly, dividend or backdown histories are closed to capital. Shutting entries are so posted to the leger histories. After these undertakings the after-closing trail balance is created to guarantee debits equal credits. Error-checking and rectification is made to this test balance.
The Importance of the Accounting Cycle Re-visited
All concerns prepare fiscal statements, so it is of import all comptrollers understand the accounting rhythm to guarantee the proper entry of informations and believable fiscal information out put. Eight stairss comprise the accounting rhythm, from the journalizing of concern minutess to fixing after-closing test balances. Without the accounting rhythm, the information provided in fiscal statements would non be dependable and decision-making procedures would be hard to execute by users of fiscal information.