Kenneth W. Boyd

The certified public accountant (CPA) credential is a valuable tool for you to obtain. The designation will help you pursue a career in accounting and in other areas of business. To become a CPA, you must study for and pass the CPA exam. To increase your chances of success, you need to make sure you’ve prepared properly, including completing the necessary paperwork and requirements for your state, and study thoroughly for each of the four tests that make up the exam.

Accounting, as you may guess, involves a lot of math. As you practice various types of accounting problems, and when you begin doing accounting work for real, you will need to utilize various formulas to calculate the information you need.10 useful accounting formulasThe following are some of the most frequently used accounting formulas.

Cost accounting is a valuable tool you use to reduce and eliminate costs in a business. You also use cost accounting to determine a price for your product or service that will allow you to earn a reasonable profit.Familiarize yourself with the most important formulas, terms, and principles you need to know to apply cost accounting.

In cost accounting, the dual rate cost allocation method categorizes cost into two types of cost pools: fixed costs and variable costs. You calculate a different cost allocation rate for each cost pool. A more specific review of costs leads to more precise cost allocations. Say you manage an online tutoring business.

Just-in-time purchasing (JIT purchasing) is a cost accounting purchasing strategy. You purchase goods so that they’re delivered just as they’re needed to meet customer demand. With JIT, when you get customer orders, you plan purchases. You purchase the minimum number of items to meet customer demand. JIT purchasing typically results in more smaller orders and frequent deliveries.

Whether you’re starting a new business, launching a new division or a new product line, or simply preparing for the future, you need to develop a strategic plan — your business’s road map to the future. The plan reminds you, your employees, and third parties what you do, how you do it, the customers you do it for, and maybe even how you’ll do it in a superior way.

In cost accounting, a budget is a financial plan that includes both financial and non-financial information. Its most obvious features are a projection of revenue (how much you anticipate selling) and expenses (how much you anticipate spending). The budget can also contain non-financial information, such as how many employees you think you need.