Determining Price through Demand and Supply
Markets move to a price that equates the quantity of a good consumers are willing and able to purchase (the quantity demanded) with the quantity of the good firms are willing to provide (the quantity supplied). When markets reach the point where quantity demanded equals quantity supplied, they’re in equilibrium.
At this point, all buyers and sellers are satisfied: Everyone who wants to buy the good at the equilibrium price can buy it, and everyone who wants to sell the good at the equilibrium price can sell it. Equilibrium corresponds to the intersection of the demand and supply curves. At that point, the equilibrium price corresponds to PE, and the equilibrium quantity corresponds to QE as illustrated in the figure.
If the market initially has a price below the equilibrium price, such as PM in the following figure, the market has a shortage. Consumers want to buy a greater quantity of the good than businesses are willing to provide. In other words, quantity demanded, QD, is greater than quantity supplied, QS. The shortage equals the difference between the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied. When a shortage exists, consumers who want the good but can’t buy it offer a higher price, so the market price rises toward equilibrium. When the market price finally reaches equilibrium, the shortage entirely disappears.
Similarly, if the market initially has a price that is above the equilibrium price, the market has a surplus. Businesses want to sell a greater quantity of the good than consumers want to buy, so the quantity supplied, QS, is greater than the quantity demanded, QD. The surplus is the difference between the quantity supplied and the quantity demanded. When a surplus exists, businesses lower the price to sell their accumulating inventory — the items they can’t sell at the high price. The market price falls toward equilibrium, and when it finally reaches equilibrium, the surplus disappears.
Accounting Glossary
accounting equation
The equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity, which demonstrates the two-sided nature of accounting and is useful for explaining the concept of double-entry accounting (or double-entry bookkeeping).
Accounting Glossary
accounting period
The time period for which financial information is being tracked in a business, such as monthly, quarterly, or annually.
Accounting Glossary
accounts receivable
An account that records the amounts that customers owe to a business.
Accounting Glossary
adjusting entry
A correction made to a bookkeeping account that adjusts for accounting errors or other necessary changes at the end of the accounting period.
Accounting Glossary
cash flows
Used to describe the source or sources of cash or how cash is used.
Accounting Glossary
Chart of Accounts
A list of all the accounts used by a business, including what types of transactions go into each account.
Accounting Glossary
debit
An accounting entry that increases an asset or expense account, and decreases a liability or income account.
Accounting Glossary
dividends
A portion of a company’s profits paid by share of common stock on a quarterly or annual basis.
Accounting Glossary
FASB
Financial Accounting Standards Board. FASB is the highest-ranking authority in the private (non-government) sector of the U.S. for making pronouncements on GAAP and for keeping accounting standards up-to-date.
Accounting Glossary
Federal Unemployment Tax
In the U.S., the fund that used to be known simply as Unemployment. Employers contribute to the fund, and states also collect taxes to fill their unemployment fund reserves. (The acronym FUTA means Federal Unemployment Tax Act.)
Accounting Glossary
fidelity bonds
A type of insurance — typically carried by employers for their employees — that helps guard against theft and reduce the risk of loss.
Accounting Glossary
FIFO
First-in, first-out. A method for costs of goods sold in which a business charges out product costs to cost of goods sold expense in the chronological order in which the goods were acquired.
Accounting Glossary
fungible
Describes a product that is interchangeable and virtually indistinguishable from another product.
Accounting Glossary
General Ledger
A summary of all of a business’s accounts and transactions.
Accounting Glossary
IASB
International Accounting Standards Board. The IASB (based in London) is the main authoritative accounting standards setter outside the U.S.
Accounting Glossary
Journals
The location in which bookkeepers keep records (in chronological order) of daily company transactions.
Accounting Glossary
LIFO
Last-in, first-out. A method for costs of goods sold that selects the last item you purchased first, and then works backward until you have the total cost for the total number of units sold during the period.
Accounting Glossary
LLP
Limited liability partnership. A legal structure that state laws offer to qualified professionals in which all the partners have limited liability.
Accounting Glossary
PC
Professional corporation. A legal structure that state laws offer to qualified professionals who otherwise would have to operate as an unlimited partnership liability.
Accounting Glossary
petty cash
A cash account that businesses keep on hand for unexpected expenses.
Accounting Glossary
revenue
Monies that are collected in the process of selling a company’s goods and services.
Accounting Glossary
salvage value
The amount that an asset is worth after it has been fully depreciated.
Accounting Glossary
statement of cash flows
A financial statement that summarizes a business’s cash inflows and outflows during an accounting period.
Accounting Glossary
transactions
Economic exchanges between a business or other entity and the parties with which the entity interacts and makes deals.
Accounting Glossary
worker’s compensation insurance
A type of insurance carried by employers that covers its employees in case they are injured on the job.
