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Accounting is the medium of communication between a business firm and the various parties
interested in its financial activities. It transmits financial information by means of periodic reports
principally the financial statements. As the major end-products of accounting, these statements carry
to the management and other interested parties the messages about the financial activities of the
business.
The functions of accounting in business can be attributed to the three fundamental objectives of an
information system.
1. To fulfill the stewardship function of the management (or owners);
2. To help increased users come up with informed decisions; and
3. To support daily operations of the business.
BRANCHES OF ACCOUNTING
Public of Accounting
In public accounting, the accountant performs or offers to perform any activity that will result
to the issuance of an attest report that is in accordance with professional standards. Such activities
include consulting services, personal financial planning services, the preparations of tax returns, and
advice on tax matters for a fee. Usually, a public accountant works in a firm offering its services to
various clients. Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) refer to those who had passed the licensure
examination for accountants.
External Auditing
The public accountants examine the financial statements in order to express an
opinion on whether statements have been fairly presented or not. The auditor critically
examines the accounting record of the client to check if the business transactions have been
properly recorded. The auditor then issues an independent audit report of his or her findings.
Private of Accounting
Private accounting involves setting up systems of recording business transactions that are
aggregated into financial statements. It includes the development and interpretation of accounting
information intended to assist management in operating the business. The private accountant is an
employee of the company who will be performing the day-to-day accounting needs.
Examples of private accounting services are as follows:
Financial Accounting
This branch of private accounting provides economic and financial information for
investors, creditors, and other external users. It uses a system of reporting designed to meet
the information needs of external users. Financial accounting is governed by an established
body of standards and principles. If focuses on the recording and classifying of business
transactions while applying generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
Cost Accounting
Cost accounting focuses on accumulating manufacturing cost for financial reporting
and decision-making purposes. It covers the reporting of financial information relevant to
manufacturing operations. It provides management with the necessary tools and information
for planning and controlling activities.
The primary role of cost accounting is to determine the inventory cost for financial
reporting purposes.
Budgeting
Budgeting provides a detailed collection and reporting of the expenditures and
revenues involved in a business or company operations. This branch of private accounting
tracks the financial details of the firm, including the money taken in and the money spent by
the company and the staff. It also assists the management in quantifying goals concerning
revenue, cost of sales of services, and operating expenses.
Accounting Information System
Accounting information system collects and processes transaction data. It also
disseminates information to interested parties. It involves the designing of both manual and
computerized data processing system.
Tax Accounting
It deals with the preparation of various tax returns and doing tax planning for the
business. This is similar to the tax services done in public accounting.
Internal Auditing
This branch of private accounting reviews the business operations to check if they are
complying to management policies. It also evaluates the efficiency of business operations.
Normally, an internal auditor is hired employee of a company.
Government Accounting
Government accounting is a system used in government offices to record and report financial
transactions. It is the systematic process of collecting, recording, classifying, summarizing, and
interpreting the financial transactions relating to the revenues and expenditures of government
offices.
Government accounting reveals how public funds have been generated and utilized. It is
employed in both national and local governments.
Date Developed: Document No.1
Fundamentals of ABM 1 June 2023 Revision # 01
Basic Concepts of Accounting Developed by: Issued by: Page 2 of 202
Roberto P. Rebucas Lala NHS
CPAs are needed in all levels of government. He or she could be a provincial accountant, a
Commission on Audit (COA) auditor to various government agencies, a BIR examiner to local and
national businesses, a budget officer of the Department of Budget and Management, or a bank
examiner of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Accounting Education
This branch of accounting is responsible for training future accountants. It engages in
teaching accounting, financial management, taxation, and other related business course. As per
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 3, series 2007, a CPA
in accounting education should possess the educational qualifications, professional experience,
classroom teaching ability, computer literacy, scholarly research productivity, and other attributes
that are essential for the successful conduct of a professional accounting system.
CPAs are encouraged to be part of the academe and become an integral force in inspiring
learners pursue a career in accounting. Accounting educators could be teachers, administrators, or
researchers. Accounting research, though a separate discipline, usually falls under this branch.
Accounting research is broader is scope and wider in coverage. It encompasses research interests in
the areas of financial accounting, management accounting, auditing and assurance, and taxation,
among others.
CPAs in Specialized Areas
1. Forensic Accounting
Forensic accountants provide the detective work needed to investigate and examine
evidence of white-collar financial crimes such as stealing and fraud. They often act as expert
witnesses in legal proceedings and prepare evidence to be presented in court.
2. Information Technology Services
Businesses often seek individuals who can design and implement customized software
system. CPAs who possess strong skills in information technology can work with e-
commerce ventures and consult with others to determine which decisions are the most
financially and technologically sound for the company.
3. Environmental Accounting
CPAs involved in environmental accounting determine how companies can be both
profitable and environmentally responsible. They do environmental compliance audits and
set up preventive systems to ensure compliance and avoid future environmental related
claims or disputes.
4. International Accounting
International Accountants are knowledgeable in international trade rules and
regulations, international mergers, government regulations, tax laws, and overseas
transactions. CPAs who work in this area often travel abroad and can understand different
languages.
Internal users are those who make decisions on behalf of the organization, they are:
1. Management. Financial statements information is used in planning, implementing,
controlling and decision making. Analysis of these reports helps the management in
determining the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations.
2. Business Owners. Proprietors rely on financial information to monitor and evaluate the
status and performance of the management. Through these reports the owners determine the
returns of their investments.
3. Employees. Workers are also interested in the financial statements of their company to have
the necessary information in wage negotiations and other terms of employment.
Date Developed: Document No.1
Fundamentals of ABM 1 June 2023 Revision # 01
Basic Concepts of Accounting Developed by: Issued by: Page 3 of 202
Roberto P. Rebucas Lala NHS
External users are those who makes decisions based on the company’s financial information, they
are:
1. Investors. They need information to help them decide whether they should invest or not in
the business.
2. Creditors. Financial statements are used by creditors and suppliers to evaluate the ability of
the company to pay their existing obligations and to determine credit terms.
3. Customers. They assess the financial position of their suppliers which is necessary for them
to maintain a stable source of supply in the long run.
4. Suppliers. They use financial reports of their customers to determine whether the debts owed
to them will be paid when due or whether the customer has enough funds of resources to pay
the goods to be delivered or the services to be rendered.
5. Tax Authorities. They use financial reports to determine the credibility of the tax returns
filed on behalf of the company. They are interested to know if the business paid the taxes
correctly.
6. Regulatory Bodies. They want to ensure that the company’s disclosure of accounting
information is in accordance with the rules and regulations set in order to protect the interest
of the stakeholders who rely on such information. Examples of these are Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bangko Central ng Pilipinas (BSP).
7. Public. They use financial information to know how the business affects the economy
possible prospects for employment.
A person puts in or invests capital when he starts a business. A business assumes one of the
three forms of organization.
1. Sole Proprietorship – the business is owned by a single person known as the proprietor who
generally is also the manager. This is the simplest form of business organization.
2. Partnership – the business is owned and operated by two or more persons who bind
themselves to contribute money, property, or industry to a common fund, with the intention
of dividing the profits among themselves.
3. Corporation – presently the most popular form of business organization. The business is
owned by its stockholders. Stockholders are persons who put in capital in a corporate
business. Certificate of stocks are issued to them as their evidence of ownership.
1. Service - the business performs services for a fee like the laundry shop, beauty parlor, barber
shop, law firms, dental clinic and medical clinic.
2. Merchandising or Trading – these are businesses engaged in the buying and selling of
finished goods or commodities. Grocery store, textile store, drug store and department store
belong to this group.
3. Manufacturing – engages in the production or manufacturing of goods that it sells. The
business buys raw materials, convert them into products and then sell the products to other
companies or to final consumers. For example, paper mills, steel mills, car manufacturers
and drug manufacturers.
Date Developed: Document No.1
Fundamentals of ABM 1 June 2023 Revision # 01
Basic Concepts of Accounting Developed by: Issued by: Page 4 of 202
Roberto P. Rebucas Lala NHS
ACCOUNTING CONCEPTS and PRINCIPLES
In recording business transactions, accountants should consider the following concepts in
understanding the records
Accounting is called the language of business. It communicates the financial condition and
performance of a business to interested users for decisions-making purposes. A widely accepted set
of rules, concepts, and principles referred to as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
(GAAP) governs the application of accounting procedures.
Accounting practices follow certain guidelines known as the generally accepted accounting
principles. In order to generate information that is useful to the users of financial statements,
accountants rely upon the following principles:
1. Objectivity Principle. Accounting records and statements are based on the most reliable data
available so that they will be accurate and as useful as possible. Ideally, accounting records
are based on information that flows from activities documented by objective evidence.
2. Cost Principles. This principle states that acquired assets should be recorded at the actual
cost and not at what management thinks they are worth as at reporting date.
3. Revenue Recognition Principle. Revenue is to be recognized in the accounting period when
goods are delivered or services are rendered or performed.
4. Matching Principle. This principle requires that expenses be matched with revenues. It
means that in a given accounting period, the revenue recorded should have its corresponding
expense recorded, in order to show the true profits of the business.
5. Full Disclosure Principles. Requires that all relevant information that would affect the
user’s understanding and assessment of the accounting entity be disclosed in the financial
statements.
6. Materiality Principle. Financial reporting is only concerned with information that is
significant enough to affect evaluations and decisions. Materiality depends on the size and
nature of the item judged in the particular circumstances of its omission.
7. Conservatism of Prudence Principle. This principle states that given two options in the
valuation of business transactions, the amount recorded should be the lower rather than the
higher value. If a situation arises where there are two acceptable alternatives for reporting an
item, conservatism directs the accountant to choose the alternative that will result in less
effect on net income and/or less amount.
Financial Statements are the means by which the information accumulated and processed in
financial accounting are periodically communicated to the users.
The objective of the financial statements is to provide information about the financial position,
financial performance, and cash flows of the business that is useful to key personalities who are
making economic decisions. To meet this objective, financial statements provide information about
the business assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses, contributions by and contributions to
owners.
1. Assets. This refers to economic resources of an enterprise that are recognized and measured
in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. This includes properties or
property rights owned by the business as at a given date. Examples are cash, receivables,
equipments, furniture and others.
2. Liabilities. These are the economic obligations of an enterprise that are recognized and
measured in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. This includes claims
of creditors against the assets of the company. Examples are accounts payable, notes
payable, accrued expenses, loans payable, SSS premium payable, taxes payable and others.
3. Owner’s Equity. This refers to the interest of the owner in an enterprise which is the excess
of an enterprise’s assets over its liabilities. It includes original investment, additional
investment and withdrawals of the owner, increased or decreased by net income or net loss.
4. Revenues. Are gross increases in assets or gross decreases in liabilities recognized and
measured in conformity with the generally accepted accounting principles that resulted from
those types of profit-directed activities of an enterprise that can change owner’s equity.
Examples are service income, rental income, interest income, fees income and others.
5. Expenses. Gross decreases in assets or gross increases in liabilities recognized and measured
in conformity with the generally accepted accounting principles that resulted from those types
of profit-directed activities of an enterprise that can change owner’s equity. Examples are
salaries and wages, rent expense, office supplies, transportation expenses and others.
6. Net income (net loss). The excess (deficit) of revenue over expenses for an accounting
period, which results to an increase (decrease) in the owner’s equity (assets minus liabilities)
of an enterprise for an accounting period arising from profit-directed activities that is
recognized and measured in conformity with the generally accepted accounting principles.
Non-current Assets.
Property, Plant and Equipment or Plant Assets or Fixed Assets. Are tangible assets used in
the business that are of a permanent or relatively fixed nature.
Land. Real estate owned by a business and used in operations such as land on which is
constructed an office building is referred to as land.
Building. This includes structures like plants, shops, office and others which are being used
in the normal course of business operations. It is debited for acquisition and constructions of
such structures and credited when sold and retired.
Normal Balances
The rules of debit and credit, and the normal balances of the various types of accounts are
summarized below.
TASK 1-2. Write TRUE if the statement is correct or FALSE if the statement is incorrect.
______ 1. Potential investors are interested in financial information that will help them know the
ability of the entity to pay dividends.
______ 2. The financial statements provide all the needed information by decision makers.
______ 3. The financial statements assist the investors decide whether to sell or hold their
investment in the entity.
______ 4. The shareholders or owners, management, and the company employees are external users
with indirect interest in the business.
______ 5. Internal users of financial information are decision-makers who belong to the business
organization itself.
______ 6. Taxing authorities are external users of financial information with direct interest in the
business entity.
______ 7. Suppliers use accounting information as bases of decisions whether to extend credit to the
economic entity.
______ 8. Financial reports provide information on the ability of the firm to pay wage increase to
their employees.
______ 9. Manager use financial information to set goals for the company.
_____ 10. Creditors make use of financial report to know how the business used the money lent to
the entity.
TASK 1-3. Identify what concept is being referred by the following given definitions.
_____________ 1. A business organization formed by at least fifteen individuals, operated to benefit
each member.
_____________ 2. Business operation that involves purchasing and converting raw materials into
finished product.
_____________ 3. An economic unit that sells goods with the prime objective of generating profit.
_____________ 4. A business organized by two or more individuals who agreed to contribute
money, property or industry.
_____________ 5. Contains provisions for internal administration of the corporation.
_____________ 6. A business which is easy to form and with minimal requirements.
_____________ 7. A vulcanizing shop.
_____________ 8. A business organization with unlimited commercial life.
_____________ 9. Owners who originally formed the corporation.
____________ 10. A boutique shop.
Date Developed: Document No.1
Fundamentals of ABM 1 June 2023 Revision # 01
Basic Concepts of Accounting Developed by: Issued by: Page 10 of 202
Roberto P. Rebucas Lala NHS
TASK 1-4. Indicate the type of business activity performed by the following firms.
TASK 1-5. Identify the accounting assumption or principle that suit the statement.
1. ________________ the account title to describe money, either paper or in coins and money
substitutes like checks, postal money orders, bank drafts, etc.
2. ________________ are defined as short-term, highly liquid instruments that are readily
convertible into cash and they present insignificant risk to changes in values because of changes
in interest rates.
3. ________________ these are assets which are held for sale in the ordinary course of business; in
the process of production for such sale or I the form of materials and supplies to be consumes in
the production process.
4. ________________ the account title for financial obligation of an enterprise that constitutes an
oral or verbal promise to pay.
5. ________________ is a liability evidenced by a promissory note.
6. ________________ refers to the withdrawals by the proprietor in the business.
7. ________________ is the general term used to refer to any kind of income from services
rendered.
8. ________________ the account title generally used by professional for income earned from the
practice of their professions.
9. ________________ the amount paid for business permits, licenses and other government dues.
10. ________________ an account title for the expired portion of the insurance premium.
11. ________________ these are expenses incurred by the enterprise but are not paid.
12. ________________ includes calculators, typewriters, adding machines, computers, steel cabinets
and the like.
13. ________________ includes chairs, tables, counters, display cases and the like.
14. ________________ the account titles for expenses that are paid in advance but are not yet
incurred or have not yet expired.
15. ________________ the account title for cash received in advance but services are to be rendered
yet.
TASK 1-7. On the space provided, indicate whether the normal balance of each of the given account
is Debit of Credit.