Differences between financial and managerial accounting.
1)List and define three components of the balance sheet.
2)Describe the differences between financial and managerial accounting.
- Assets: Assets are resources that a company owns or controls that have economic value. Assets can be tangible, such as cash, inventory, and equipment, or intangible, such as patents, trademarks, and goodwill.
- Liabilities: Liabilities are debts that a company owes to others. Liabilities can be current, such as accounts payable and accrued expenses, or long-term, such as bonds payable and mortgages.
- Equity: Equity is the difference between a company's assets and liabilities. Equity can be divided into two categories: contributed capital, which is the amount of money that shareholders have invested in the company, and retained earnings, which is the company's accumulated profit.
- Purpose: Financial accounting is used to provide information about a company's financial performance to external users, such as investors, creditors, and government agencies.
- Timeliness: Financial accounting information is typically prepared on a periodic basis, such as monthly, quarterly, or annually.
- Accuracy: Financial accounting information is required to be accurate and unbiased.
- Regulation: Financial accounting is regulated by accounting standards, such as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the United States.
- Purpose: Managerial accounting is used to provide information about a company's financial performance to internal users, such as managers and executives.
- Timeliness: Managerial accounting information is typically prepared more frequently than financial accounting information.
- Accuracy: Managerial accounting information does not have to be as accurate as financial accounting information, but it should be reliable.
- Regulation: Managerial accounting is not regulated by accounting standards.
- Focus: Financial accounting focuses on the past, while managerial accounting focuses on the present and future.
- Users: Financial accounting information is used by external users, while managerial accounting information is used by internal users.
- Format: Financial accounting information is typically presented in a standardized format, while managerial accounting information can be presented in a variety of formats.
- Goals: The goal of financial accounting is to provide information about a company's financial performance, while the goal of managerial accounting is to help managers make decisions that will improve the company's performance.