One of the universally accepted fact is, money has time value, i.e. one rupee has higher value today, than one year later. Time value of money is helpful in determining the value of financial assets. There are two techniques used in this context, i.e. annuity and perpetuity. Annuity, may be defined as the a series of cash flows, usually of fixed amount, paid/received at regular intervals. The interval can be annually, semi-annually or tri-monthly, monthy etc. Perpetuity, on the other hand, is … [Read more...]

The material is an integral part of the production cost, as it is composed of 80% of the total product cost. So every manufacturing concern keeps a track of its inventory purchased, returned and issued during the year, through the inventory record system. The inventory system is of two types: Perpetual Inventory System, in which the movement of the stock is recorded continuously and Periodic Inventory System, which updates the inventory records from time to time only after the physical count of … [Read more...]

Both Standard Costing and Budgetary Control are based on the principle that costs can be controlled along certain lines of supervision and responsibility, that focuses on controlling cost by comparing actual performance with the predefined parameter. However, the two systems are neither similar nor interdependent. Standard Costing delineates the variances between actual cost and the standard cost, along with the reasons. On the contrary, Budgetary Control, as the name suggest, refers to the … [Read more...]

The budget can be understood as a quantitative plan that acts as an estimate of future operation. Based on the Capacity, there are two types of budgets prepared in cost accounting, namely, fixed budget and flexible budget. Fixed Budget is a budget that remains constant, irrespective of the levels of activity, i.e. the budget is created for a standard volume of production. On the contrary, Flexible Budget can be understood as the budget created for different production levels or capacity … [Read more...]

There are various cost accounting techniques used to measure the cost of the product. When the goods are produced only against special orders, job costing is used by firms. On the other hand, when a product passes through several processes or stages, the output of one process becomes the input of next process, and to determine the cost of each process, process costing method is applied. It is generally used when like units are to be manufactured, that too in a continuous flow. In other words, … [Read more...]

In simple terms, the amount paid for the use of borrowed funds is known as interest. It is the money that is paid at short intervals at a specified rate for the money lent or for postponing the repayment of the financial obligation. It should not be confused with the dividend, which is the amount which a company pays to its shareholders out of its profit. Perhaps, the interest and dividend can be payable or receivable depending upon whether the company owns or owes money. When the funds are … [Read more...]

There are two alternative approaches for the valuation of inventory; they are Marginal Costing and Absorption Costing. In marginal costing, marginal cost is determined by bifurcating fixed cost and variable cost. Only variable costs are charged to operation, whereas the fixed cost are excluded from it and are charged to profit and loss account for the period. Converselty, Absorption costing or otherwise known as full costing, is a costing technique in which all costs, whether fixed or … [Read more...]

In the business glossary, provision implies money set aside to cover an anticipated liability or loss. Look the other term Reserve, reserves refer to withholding some amount for any use in future. Provision and reserves are two terms which are highly confused, but they carry different meanings. While running a business, some expenses or losses relate to the current financial year, but their amount is not known, as they are not yet incurred. For such expenses/losses provision is created, as a … [Read more...]

Financial Management is concerned with the proper utilization of funds in such a manner that it will increase the value plus earnings of the firm. Wherever funds are involved, financial management is there. There are two paramount objectives of the Financial Management: Profit Maximization and Wealth Maximization. Profit Maximization as its name signifies refers that the profit of the firm should be increased while Wealth Maximization, aims at accelerating the worth of the entity. Profit … [Read more...]

When accounting process ends, auditing begins, for the purpose of determining the true and fair picture of books of accounts. It is an activity of record keeping and preparation & presentation of the financial statement. Accounting is used by the firms for keeping a track of their monetary transactions. It is the language the business understands, as it is the tool for reporting financial statement of the business entity. Conversely, Auditing is an activity of verification and evaluation … [Read more...]