Accounting Reviews

Due to changes in the 2006 Companies Act, there have been some amends to the requirements of Groups preparing company accounts for their subsidiary companies. Following is a brief breakdown of the changes and what they could mean for your company.

Following changes to company law, medium sized groups will now be required to prepare group accounts to be filed at Companies House – Small and medium sized groups were exempt from this previously.

If your company is the parent company of a mid sized group of companies, then you must prepare accounts that combine both your own financial performance and position AND the subsidiary companies.

Such accounts are known as “group accounts”.

Group accounts can be fairly complex depending on the size of the parent group and the number of companies within it.

How do I know if my company is affected?

The 2006 Companies Act had a phased implementation – with the exemption for mid sized group accounts being removed for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2008.

This means that companies with a year end of 30 April 2009 were the first to be affected.

However, if your company has an unusual year end (or prepares accounts for less than one year) your company may have been affected slightly sooner.

For a group of companies to be qualified as medium sized (not small) two of the following three thresholds need to be exceeded for two consecutive years:-

Turnover – 6.5m net (7.8m gross)
Gross Assets – 3.26m net (3.9m gross)
Employees – 50

How do I know if my company is part of a group?

A group of companies is when one company has a controlling interest in one or more other companies – ordinarily the “parent” company will own more than 50% of the ordinary share capital of the “subsidiary” company.

Are there any exemptions?

Yes. Small groups of companies will remain exempt as they always have been from filing group accounts with companies house.

Parent companies which are also a subsidiary company are likely to be exempt. Provided that they form part of a larger group of companies for which group accounts are prepared.

Parent companies whose subsidiary interests can be considered immaterial are also exempt.

If you have any questions about the changes to preparing group accounts and how they will effect your company, contact your chartered accountants firm.

Accounting has become an indispensable tool for guidance and several factors have contributed to its evolution, for instanceInformation technology, management needs of organizations and the need for reliable and relevant accounting information for business leaders and other partners.

SMEs, large groups, accounting firms and auditing, all make use of accounting professionals.

This population currently represents about 400,000 people (140,000 in accounting firms and 260,000 in business). And time is on the drive, recruitment agencies have recorded increases of more than 20% of deals in the sector for positions available for candidates with advanced levels.

In fact, accounting studies pave the way for a wide range of functions at all stages of the curriculum: accounting, auditing, control or management and financial accounting.

The profession of Chartered Accountant and Auditor

The Chartered Accountants are required to exercise the profession, be enrolled in the Institute of Chartered Accountants. They are subject to a rigorous training that is in the interest of their future clients. The Chartered Accountant is the permanent council of the entrepreneur in many corporate areas, such as board of management, business law, tax law, employment law, and consulting for export. They provide a timely response to different events and help make crucial decisions.

Most commonly, a Chartered Accountant functions particularly in the following areas:
1. Business Accounting
2. Business Management
3. Legal obligations of the company
4. Computerization of the company
5. Auditing of the company

Contrary to the Accountant, the Auditor has a statutory mission order. It is mandated by the administration to certify the accounts produced by the company. It guarantees the reliability of financial reporting. It is registered with committees meeting at the chief town of each court of appeal. 90% of accountants are auditors.
Graduate Auditors occupy positions of high responsibility in most small or large organisations:
1. Chief Accountant
2. Manager or Director of consolidation
3. CFO 4. Controller
5. Internal Auditor
6. General Manager

Accounting firms come to play in your business when you face taxation problems and financial liabilities. Firms that handle accounting help you in tracking, organizing and updating your financial records and keep your financial books clean. Based on your needs and your organization’s strength, you will have many firms that would be willing to extend accounting services to you. Finding a good firm that can handle all your accounting needs is a small challenge.

There are many firms that are around you; however, not all of them have the necessary skill sets to be the right choice for you. What to look for in an accounting firm which will give you confidence about its working? Read on to know some very essential points that make a firm a good and a responsible one.

An office is essential for an accounting firm to be trusted. There are many freelance firms that operate on the internet without a proper physical address. Trusting a firm that has no physical address is not a great idea. Accounting firms can be online and can have strong online presence; however, they will also have physical office setup where clients can come to meet. An office builds faith in people, and it also gives you a sense of security. It is after all financial matters that are connected in between your business and the accounting firm.

Employees make or break the organizations. A responsible accounting group will have good quality and qualified employees handling your account. There are many firms hiring freshmen with basic knowledge of accounts. A firm has good and highly qualified employees will be able to give you faster solutions for your problems.

Experienced people working in an organization will give you a sense of confidence to deal with the firm. A company will have many complicated issues and you will need people who are capable of handling any situations with ease. This happens only when the accounting firm has highly qualified people working for them.

Trying new firms is not a bad idea as long as they showcase exceptional quality in their work. If you have a large organization and you handle critical financial situations, you will need a firm that has a reputation of handling such cases. A company can have very complicated situations that need great care and only a firm with good track record will be able to do justice to the job. A good track record with good reference will make an accounting firm superior in itself.

Good track records are built over a period time and it also demonstrates quality of work and reliability. Trying to work with a firm that has excellent track record will give your company an advantage. You will be able to experience the power of expertise in dealing and handling issues that make need experts.

No matter what your need is, having a right firm will have all the financial situations under control and well organized. Look for the above qualities when you plan to hire a accounting firm for your organization.

Revenue

Revenue is the price of goods sold and services rendered during a giver accounting period. Earning revenue causes owner’s equity to increase. When a business renders services or sells merchandise to its customers, it usually receives cash or acquires ar account receivable from the customer. The inflow of cash or receivable from customers increases the total assets of the company. On the other side of the accounting equation, the liabilities do not change, but owner’s equity increases to match the increase in total assets. Thus revenue is the gross increases in owner’s equity resulting from operation of the business.

Various terms are used to describe different types of revenue; for example, the revenue earned by a real estate might be called Sales Commissions Earned, or alternatively, Commissions Revenue. In the professional practice of lawyers, physicians, dentists, and CPAs, the revenue is called Fees Earned. A business which sells merchandise rather than services (General Motors, for example) will use the term Sales to describe the revenue earned. Another type of revenue is Interest Earned, which means the amount received as interest on notes receivable, bank deposits, government bonds, or other securities.
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When to Record Revenue: The Realization Principle When is revenue recorded in the accounting records? For example, assume that on May 24, a real estate company signs a contract to represent a client in selling the client’s personal residence. The contract entitles the real estate company to a commission equal to 5% of the selling price, due 30 days after the date of sale. On June 10, the real estate company sells the house at a price of $120, 000, thereby earning a $6, 000 commission ($120, 000 x 5% ), to be received on July 10. When should the company record this $6, 000 commission revenue in May, June, or July?

The company should record this revenue on June 10 the day it rendered the service of selling the client’s house. As the company will not collect this commission until July, it must also record an account receivable on June 10. In July, when this receivable is collected, the company must not record revenue a second time. Collecting an account receivable increases one asset, Cash, and decreases another assets, Accounts Receivable. Thus, collecting an account receivable does not increase owner’s equity and does not represent revenue.

Our answer illustrates a generally accepted accounting principle called the realization principle. The realization principle states that a business should record revenue at the time services are rendered to customers or goods sold are delivered to customers. In short, revenue is recorded when it is earned, without regard as to when the cash is received.

Expenses

Expenses are costs of the goods and services used up in the process of earning revenue. Examples include the cost of employee’s salaries, advertising, rent, utilities, and the gradual wearing-out (depreciation) of such assets as buildings, automobiles, and office equipment. All these costs are necessary to attract and serve customers and thereby earn revenue. Expenses are called the “costs of doing business”, that is, the cost of the various activities necessary to carry on a business.

An expense always causes a decrease in owner’s equity. The related changes in the accounting equation can either (1) a decrease in assets or (2) increase in liabilities. An expense reduces assets if payment occurs at the time that the expense is incurred (or if payment has been made in advance). If the expense will not be paid until later, as, for example, the purchase of advertising services on account, the recording of the expense will be accompanied by an increase in liabilities.

When to Record Expenses: The Matching Principle. A significant relationship exists between revenue and expenses. Expenses are incurred for the purpose of producing revenue. In measuring net income for a period, revenue should be offset by all the expenses incurred in producing that revenue. This concept of offsetting expenses against revenue on a basis of “cause and effect” is called the matching principle.

Timing is an important factor in matching (offsetting) revenue with the related expenses. For example, in preparing monthly income statements, it is important to offset this month’s expenses against this month’s revenue. We should not offset this month’s expenses against last month’s revenue, because there is no cause and effect relationship between the two.

Accounting is a subject that differs from others its chapters are often interlinked. Failure to master the early chapters would make learning subsequent chapters even more difficult. If you are struggling with accounting, its likely you have not mastered the foundation well. The best way is to relearn the basics from scratch from a qualified teacher.

4 Tips for Mastering Accounting

1. Understand the technical terms – Learning accounting is like trying to live in a foreign country. The first thing is to understand the alphabets, the language and how terms are defined in the foreign world. Take some time to understand the new technical terms in accounting. Often, the same terms used in accounting are different from ordinary usage. Be sure to clarify them quickly with your lecturer or tutor.

2. Master the nature of the accounts – Accounts can be classified as either debit nature or credit nature. Beginner students often think debit increases and credit decreases. This is only true if the account is debit nature. A credit nature account increases by crediting, and decreases by debiting. All accounts have a nature, be sure to memorize the nature of the major categories of accounts before proceeding to learn double entry. Not knowing the nature of the accounts is like not knowing the ABCs.

3. Master Double Entry Seek a good instructor and good books to master double entry. Students who fail to master double entry will find tremendous difficulty in grasping future concepts as double entry is a pre-requisite to understanding future chapters such as correction of errors, depreciation and Provision for doubtful debts.

4. Practice diligently Accounting is a hands on subjects like maths, there must be sufficient practice time devoted to test and develop an understanding of the accounting concepts.

Follow these 4 tips and you will be on track to mastering the subject!