"Luca Pacioli" is the father of accounting, who discovered the concept of double entry system of book-keeping. As per this system, each and every business trasaction affects two sides of an account, i.e. debit, and credit. While debit indicates the destination, credit implies the source of monetary benefit. In an accounting entry, the source account of a transaction is credited, whereas the destination account is debited. Debit represents the left hand side of the account, whereas credit … [Read more...]

An activity center or responsibility center is the unit of business organization which is accounted for a specific task or activity. Cost Center and Profit Center are the two major types of the activity centers. A center for which cost is ascertained and used for the purpose of cost control is known as Cost Center, whereas a center whose performance measurement can be done only through its income earning capacity is known as Profit Center. The ascertainment of the cost center is helpful in … [Read more...]

Accounting is an art of systematically keeping the record of business events and transactions, so as to ascertain the financial position and profitability of the company at the end of financial year. It is not exactly same as finance. Technically, finance is a part of economics which is concerned with resource allocation and management. While accounting aims at providing financial information of the company to the users for the purpose of rational decision making, finance focuses on matters … [Read more...]

Accounting, refers to the process of recording, classifying and summarizing in monetary terms, the business transactions and events and interpreting the results. It is used by entities to keep a track of their financial transactions. Financial Accounting and Management accounting are the two branches of accounting. Financial accounting stresses on giving true and a fair view of the financial position of the company to various parties. On the contrary, management accounting aims at providing … [Read more...]

Cash Flow statement shows the changes in the cash position (Inflows and outflows) of a firm. It is an analytical reconciliation statement which explains the reasons for the differences between the opening and closing cash balances over a period. On the other hand, Fund Flow statement is a statement that shows the ups and downs of the financial position or the changes in working capital of the entity between the two financial years. The financial position of any company can be better … [Read more...]

In business and accounting terminology, you might have heard the terms, assets, and liabilities, quite often. Assets can be understood as the items of property, which an individual or company owns. They have a specific value and can be utilized to meet obligations like debt, commitment, and legacies. On the other hand, liabilities refers to the obligations of an individual or entity, which is required to be fulfilled, in future. In short, an asset is what a company owns, while the liability … [Read more...]

A trade discount is one that is allowed by the wholesaler to the retailer, calculated on the list price of the product, whereas cash discount is allowed to stimulate instant payment of the goods purchased. The main difference between trade discount and cash discount is that ledger account is opened for a cash discount, but not for a trade discount. One of the easiest ways to increase sales and so boost profit, used by various traders, businessman, and shopkeepers all around the world, is to … [Read more...]

Provident Fund is an investment fund, wherein specified individuals can make the contribution, and a lump sum amount which includes the principal and interest thereon is paid to the holder, either on maturity or on retirement. EPF or Employees Provident Fund refers to an arrangement whereby a certain percentage of the salary of the employees is deducted every month to contribute it towards the EPF account. On the other hand, PPF or Public Provident Fund is one such scheme for the general … [Read more...]

The term economics refers to a science of making logical decisions regarding the use of scarce resources, so as to satisfy the most compelling of unlimited wants. It is many times juxtaposed with the term finance. Finance is defined as the study and management of funds for the purpose of wealth maximization. While economics studies how people, maximize gains from limited resources, i.e. select the best alternative with the objective of maximizing the level of satisfaction. Conversely, finance … [Read more...]

The biggest difference between layoff and retrenchment is that layoff is volatile in nature, i.e. employees are recalled, once the period of layoff is over while retrenchment is non-volatile i.e. that involves full and final termination of services. The employment contract is terminated with the employees by the employer, due to three major reasons which are: (i) the organization is going through the lean period, (ii) initial faulty hiring, (iii) employee shows deviant behavior, which affects … [Read more...]