General (Accounting) Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-25-2022

Every business and not-for-profit entity needs a reliable accounting system to facilitate day-to-day operations and to prepare financial statements, tax returns, and internal reports to managers. The Accounting For Canadians For Dummies Cheat Sheet provides a quick and easy introduction into the key functions and responsibilities of the accounting department in any organization.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-28-2022

As a business manager, taking care of your company’s accounting needs is top priority. Correctly preparing a financial statement involves knowing all the information that needs to appear on the statement. Making a profit keeps you in business, so follow the financial statements closely, make adjustments if needed, and follow some basic rules for presenting accounting information to your business’s managers.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-28-2022

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.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

Want to get seriously savvy with your business accounting, but don’t know where to start? You don’t need to be a professional accountant to decode the jargon. Use these pointers to find out how to make sense of your accounts, balance your budgets, and boost your profit margin.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022

The accounting field covers a lot of ground, from setting up accounts and producing financial reports to budgeting for a business and preventing and detecting fraud. Quickly get up to speed on the basics with tips for controlling cash in a business, an overview of cash flow and profit, quick access to essential cost-accounting formulas, and the red flags of financial statement fraud.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-22-2022

Managerial accounting helps managers and other decision-makers understand how much their products cost, how their companies make money, and how to plan for profits and growth. To use this information, company decision-makers must understand managerial-accounting terms. When planning for the future, they follow a master budgeting process. To prepare this budget, and to understand how costs behave, the decision-makers should understand cost-volume-profit relationships, which explain how changes in volume or price affect profits.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-22-2022

Intermediate accounting builds on basic financial accounting skills. It's still all about generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and preparing financial statements. The material that intermediate accounting covers, however, goes beyond basic accounting scenarios. Think of financial accounting as the appetizer and intermediate accounting as the main course. Hope you're ready to chow down (Number Munchers, anyone?)!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 12-15-2021

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. You'll also want to get the scoop on text-taking strategies for cost accounting students.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 12-07-2021

Corporate finance is the study of how groups of people work together as a single organization to provide something of value to society. It’s the job of those in corporate finance to manage the organization so that resources are efficiently utilized, the most valuable projects are pursued, the corporation can remain competitive, and everyone gets to keep their job.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 11-12-2021

Accountants keep the books of businesses, not-for-profits, and government entities by following systematic methods of recording all financial activities. If you invest your hard-earned money in a private business or a real estate venture, save money in a credit union, or are a member of a nonprofit association or organization, you likely receive regular financial reports. You should read these financial reports carefully, but if you don’t — or if you do but don’t understand what you’re reading — this Cheat Sheet can help you understand the language and necessity of accounting.