Key Differences

The meaning of profit is different to different persons, i.e. businessmen, accountant, workers, tax collectors, economist etc. For an accountant, profit means the excess of revenues over expenses, which is known as Accounting profit. At the time of computing accounting profit, only explicit costs, i.e. book costs are considered. The concept of accounting profit differs from taxable profit, in the sense that the latter is the amount which is taxable as per the provisions of the income tax act. … [Read more...]

The cash flow statement tells you the amount of cash inflows and outflows of a business during a financial year. It will reveal how much cash the firm has on hand and provides an understanding of the company's liquidity. If we talk about Income Statement indicates the amount of revenue and expenses during the financial year. These are commonly reported quarterly and annually to disclose financial trends and comparisons. It reflects the net profit or loss from the business activities for a … [Read more...]

Retained Earnings imply a part of companies net earnings that are set aside and not paid as a dividend to reinvest it in business or pay off the debt. But, reserves are that part of the profit which is earmarked to provide for business needs in future or to fulfil future contingencies and unexpected liability. Risks and uncertainities are a part of the business. As human beings, we all save some part of our income to cover our future needs and contingencies. Likewise, business enterprises … [Read more...]

“Luca Pacioli” is the father of accounting. He discovered the concept of a double-entry system of book-keeping. As per this system, each business transaction affects two sides of an account, i.e. debit, and credit. While debit indicates the destination, credit implies the source of monetary benefit. As per the Double Entry System: For each debit or credit entry, there is always a corresponding and equal credit or debit entry. The debit and credit entries are made in the ledger accounts to … [Read more...]

A centre for which cost is ascertained and used to control cost is Cost Center. Whereas a centre whose performance we can measure through its income earning capacity is Profit Center. We divide the organization into various sub-units for the purpose of costing. That is the collection and utilization of cost data in an optimum manner. These sub-units are the smallest area of responsibility or segment of activity. Such sub-units are nothing but cost centres. In the simplest sense, those … [Read more...]

Accounting is the art of keeping the record of business events and transactions in a systematic manner. It helps in determining the financial position and profitability of the company at the end of the financial year. It is not exactly the same as finance. Technically, finance is a part of economics that is concerned with resource allocation and management of funds. While accounting is a sub-domain of finance. The two differ in the sense that accounting is all about recording the flow of … [Read more...]

Financial Accounting is the original form of accounting that deals with recording business transactions and summarizing the data into reports, which are presented to the users so that financial decisions can be made rationally. On the other hand, management accounting is a new field of accounting that studies managerial aspects. It deals with the provision of financial data to the company's management so that they can make rational economic decisions. Financial accounting emphasizes on giving … [Read more...]