Income Statement reflects the net profit or loss from the business activities for a particular accounting period. On the other hand, cash flow statement keeps a record of overall changes in the cash and cash equivalents of the business organization during a particular financial year. Financial Statement refers to the official record of the financial activities and the overall position of the business entity. It is the final destination of the whole process of accounting, which comprises of … [Read more...]

Retained Earnings implies a portion of companies net earnings that is set aside and not paid as a dividend, for the purpose of investing the amount in primary activities of the business or pay the debt. On the other hand, reserves can be understood as the part of profit earmarked to provide for business needs in future or to fulfill future contingencies and unexpected liability. Risk and uncertainties are inherent in business and so they set up a mechanism to protect the business, on the … [Read more...]

"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...]

Discount is an allowance provided to the customers in specific circumstances. In business, there are two main types of discounts, i.e. trade discounts and cash discounts. While trade discount is the reduction in the list price of the product, whereas cash discount is offered by the firms to its customers to encourage early payments. The main difference between trade discount and cash discount is that a separate ledger account for discounts allowed is opened in the books of the seller and … [Read more...]

Stock Exchange is a marketplace, wherein the trading of securities between buyers and sellers takes place. The two largest and famous stock exchanges of India are the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE). Sensex is a flagship index of BSE, whereas Nifty is a main index of NSE. Important: Every share of a company has equal value and Prices of shares fluctuate depending on the demand and supply of the shares in the market. Nifty and Sensex are basically market indices, … [Read more...]