Accounting News

Working capital is the difference between a business’ current assets and liabilities. Negative working capital can happen when a business’ current assets are below its current liabilities. Therefore, working Capital = Accounts Receivable + Inventory – Accounts Payable. It’s a way to measure a company’s ability to meet short-term liabilities, such as managing inventory, satisfying vendor bills, etc., and how well its longer-term investments are implemented. When a business has a surplus of current assets against its current liabilities, it’s said to have positive working capital. Generally speaking, when it’s positive, the business is able to service liabilities over the next 12 months, putting itRead More →

Whether it’s maintaining compliance with accounting standards or ensuring asset values are not overvalued for internal stakeholders or external existing or potential new investors, looking at net realizable value (NRV) is an important concept to understand and discuss how it’s implemented. Defining NRV Net realizable value examines what an asset can be sold for after accounting for selling or disposal costs. This results in the final value of inventory or accounts receivable. Used by both the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), it embodies the concept of accounting conservatism that compares NRV to the inventory’s cost. This notion leads accountantsRead More →

Bad debt expense is an important concept that businesses must account for when it comes to their financial reporting. Regardless of the timeframe a company accounts for, it helps companies determine what portion of their receivables are collectible and what portion are not – and therefore, a bad debt expense. Depending on the receivables’ amount, this bad debt expense can take the form of either the allowance method or the direct write-off method. Direct Write-Off Method Explained While a company can see its receivables increase quickly, collections of these receivables might not be possible in the future due to client defaults. The direct write-off methodRead More →

Depreciation can help a business realize tax benefits, maintain compliance with financial reporting requirements, and project asset replacement. The half-year convention for depreciation is an important practice to understand. For fixed assets, depreciation is recognized and recorded on a 50 percent basis for the initial and concluding years over its schedule. This supposes that fixed assets have been in service for 50 percent of their initial calendar service year upon acquisition. It’s normally implemented by taxation agencies to limit the upper limits for depreciation attestations to 50 percent of the yearly figures. The balance of the annual 50 percent depreciation amount is recognized/recorded during theRead More →

When it comes to financial analysis, there are two metrics that internal stakeholders and external users, such as investors and analysts, can use to assist with analyzing a business’s operations. Free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) is used as part of a discount cash flow (DCF) calculation that aids in determining a company’s intrinsic value, helping investors make better informed decisions. This metric provides insight into how much cash flow is available to all funding claimants of the business (be it convertible bond investors, debt holders, and preferred and common stockholders). This is compared to free cash flow to equity (FCFE), which is howRead More →

With the number of Amazon Prime member subscribers growing from 58 million in 2016 to 180 million in 2024, according to Statista, there’s a sustained recurring subscription model that one of America’s most successful retailers has increased more than 200 percent in eight years. Whether it’s a large company such as Amazon or a solopreneur beginning their recurring subscription services, it’s important to first distinguish between overall bookings and recurring revenue; and then to illustrate how businesses can measure these two types of revenue. Dissecting Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and Bookings Bookings are assurances of all anticipated earnings (recurring and one-off deals) because the businessRead More →

A Dec. 3 proposal from FASB’s Accounting Standards Update (ASU) might provide some flexibility for private businesses and select nonprofits. “Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326)” looks at measuring credit losses for contract assets and accounts receivable for these entities. When it comes to determining projected credit losses for current accounts receivables and current contract assets, businesses face immense resource needs and reporting requirements, including for assets acquired prior to the publication dates of financial statements. With public comments being received through Jan. 17, 2025, industry professionals have reported that when it comes to gauging projected credit losses for current contract assets and currentRead More →

Also known as greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, carbon accounting is a way for managers and analysts to measure a company’s total carbon emissions.  It’s a comprehensive approach to analyze how a company uses energy for its buildings, offices, conveyances and production processes. Carbon accounting examines firsthand, secondhand and tertiary energy uses. Environmental, Social & Governance Looking at ESG standards (Environmental, Social & Governance), it’s not only becoming encouraged, it’s becoming required for businesses, especially for publicly traded businesses. Whether it’s the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or other governmental agencies in the global economy, these administrative organizations are mandating emission declarations for businesses toRead More →

Looking at accounting and journal entry considerations, if accounts receivables are debited and revenue is credited, it can be interpreted as the business recognizing revenue without the customer paying. As such, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sees the potential for intentional manipulation of earnings. It is important to review this type of transaction to see how the U.S. government and accounting standards treat deviations from these activities. Defining Bill-and-Hold Arrangements This type of agreement permits sellers to recognize revenue before delivery is made. Instead of shipping the product first, the seller bills the customer first, and delivery is arranged for a future date.Read More →

With more than 14 million electric vehicle (EV) registrations in 2023 worldwide and 2023 seeing an increase in EV sales over 2022 by 35 percent, manufacturers are probably happy – but not those producing the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. This is according to the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook 2024: Trends in Electric Cars. This statistic is important because it illustrates how assets can be rendered less useful and potentially turn into stranded assets. A stranded asset, defined, is an asset that’s no longer able to provide its owner the profitable payback they originally expected. The difference is based on shifts, primarilyRead More →