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PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTING I – STUDENT HANDOUT

CHAPTER TWO

ACCOUNTING FOR A SERVICE ENTERPRISE

1. The Use of Accounts

 Accounts are used to summarize increases and decreases in the specific


items that appear on the financial statements.
 Each item has a separate account.
 A group of account is referred to as a ledger

2. The Account

A. Classification

 The accounts in the general ledger are arranged in the same order that they
would appear in the financial statements.

 Balance sheet accounts are placed first, followed by the income statement
accounts.

 The accounts of a given business entity are classified in to the following


major categories:

ASSETS

i. Current assets
- Cash
- Notes receivable
- Accounts receivable
- Inventory
- Prepaid expenses

ii. Non-current assets


- Plant assets
- Intangible assets
- Natural resources

LIABILITIES

a. Current liabilities

- Notes payable
- Accounts payable

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- Unearned revenue
- Salary payable
- Rent payable
- Interest payable

b. Non-current liabilities
- Mortgage payable
- Bonds payable
- Long term notes payable

OWNER'S EQUITY

- Capital / capital stock


- Retained earnings
- Withdrawals / dividends

REVENUE

- Sales/service revenue

EXPENSES

B. The Chart of Accounts

 The number and type of accounts in the chart of accounts of a given business will
depend upon one or more of the following factors:
• The nature of the business and the way it operates.
• The size of the business entity
• The amount of detail needed for management to make its decisions; and
• Rulings of regulatory agencies
 In its most elementary form, the account has got three parts:

i. The account title,


ii. A place to record increase
iii. A place to record decrease

 The elementary form of an account looks like this:

Cash

Increase in cash Decrease in cash

 T-account does the following: -

 Keeps record of each transaction by account title,


 Separates the increases and decreases to the account,

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 Stores the amounts for future use, and
 Shows the account balance.

 Sequencing and Numbering

 To facilitate the record keeping process, the accounts in the general ledger
are numbered.
 The use of numbers (codes) to identify accounts in business documents is
much easier than use of the account titles.
 Each business entity will normally devise its own numbering (coding)
system. An identification number (code) is assigned to each account.
 Numbering should not necessarily be consecutive but successive that
allows new accounts to be inserted.
 The first digit indicates the major division of the ledger in which the
account is placed.
 Accounts beginning with: 1 represent assets
2 represent liabilities
3 represent capital and drawing
4 represent revenues
5 represent expenses

 The second digit indicates the position of the account within its division.
 The initial preparation of the ledger based on the chart of accounts is
known as Opening the ledger.
 A chart of accounts is a listing of the account titles and account numbers being
used by a given business.
 Insofar as possible, the order of the items in the chart of accounts should agree
with the order of the items in the balance sheet and the income statement.

3. Rules of Debit and Credit

 The rules may be classified as


 Rules applying to the balance sheet accounts, and
 Rules applying to the income statement accounts.

 Left side of any account is the debit side; and the right side of any account is the
credit side.
 Which side should be used to show the increases/decreases?
 Debits and credits by themselves do not indicate increases or decreases. We must
refer to a specific account to determine if a debit or a credit represents an increase or
a decrease.
 Every single financial transaction affects at least two accounts in the general
ledger – an account in which a debit is recorded and an account in which the credit is
recorded.

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 The amount recorded in the debit accounts must equal the amount recorded in the
credit accounts.

 If one debit account affects more than one credit account, the sum of the credit
accounts affected, of course, must equal the amount of the corresponding debit
account.
 Conversely, if one credit account affects more than one debit account, the sum of
the debit accounts must equal the amount of the corresponding credit account.

4. Normal Balances

 For any account, the normal situation is for the sum of the increases to be greater
or equal to the sum of the decreases to the account. The resulting balance is greater
than or equal to zero rather than a negative balance. The positive balance of an
account is referred to as its normal balance.
 The normal balance of each type of account is always the “increase” side of the
account.
 An account that normally has a debit balance may occasionally have a credit
balance, which indicates a negative amount of the item. This is an indication of an
accounting error or of an unusual situation.

5. Summary of the Rules of Debit and Credit and Normal Balances

Increase Decrease Normal


Accounts Side Side Balance
1. Assets Debit Credit Debit
Balance Sheet 2. Liabilities Credit Debit Credit
Accounts Capital/capital stock Credit Credit Credit
3.Owner's Retained earnings Credit Credit Credit
equity Drawing/dividends Debit Debit Debit

Income 4. Revenues Credit Debit Credit


Statement 5. Expenses Debit Credit Debit
Accounts

6. Illustrate the application or the rules using Softbyte co.

7. Flow of Information through the Accounting System

Business Business Entry Entry posted


Transactions Documents recorded in to
Occurs Prepared Journal Ledger

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8. The Journal

 The journal, or book of original entry, is a chronological record, showing for each
transaction the debit and credit changes caused in specific ledger accounts.
 A brief explanation may also be included for each transaction.
 The unit of organization for the journal is the transaction.
 By making use of both a journal and a ledger, we can achieve several advantages,
which are not possible if transactions are recorded directly in ledger account:

9. The two – column journal

 The following form represents a typical two-column general journal:

Date Description P/R Debit Credit


1991
May 1 Cash xxxxxx
Sales xxxxxx
To record cash sales

10. The Benefits of Using Journals

 It discloses in one place the complete effect of a transaction.

 It provides a chronological order of transactions in the life of the business.

 It helps to prevent or locate errors because the debit and credit amounts for
each entry can be readily compared.

11. Steps in Journalizing a Transaction

i. Analyze the transaction:

a. Determine the type of account being affected by the transaction.


b. Determine the direction of the effect - is it increase or decrease?
c. Associate the direction of the effect with the rules of debits and
credits.

ii. Entering the transaction information in a journal:

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a. Record the date- this specific step involves the recording of the date of
the year, the month, and the specific day in which the
transaction has occurred.
b. Record the debit- this step involves entering the title of the account to
be debited along with the related amount.
c. Record the credit- this step involves entering the title of the account to
be credited along with the related amount.

d. Write an explanation (optional)- this involves writing a brief


explanation pertaining to the transaction.

Remarks:

• A space is left between journal entries to separate between


individual entries.
• The column entitled post ref. (which stands for posting reference) is left blank at
the time the journal entry is made.

12. Posting

 Refers to the process of transcribing the debits and credits in each journal entry to
the appropriate general ledger account.
 T-accounts are simplified representation of actual general ledger accounts.
 Three standard formats of a ledger account are widely used:
 Two-column ledger account
 Three-column ledger account
 Four-column ledger account

Date Explanation P/R Debit Date Explanation P/R Credit

A two-column ledger account

Balance
Date Explanation P/R Debit Credit Debit Credit

A four-column ledger account

Date Explanation P/R Debit Credit Balance

A three-column ledger account

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13. Steps In Posting

Posting involves the following steps:

i. Locate in the ledger the account named in the debited portion


of the general journal entry.
ii. Record the date of the transaction in that account in the
ledger.
iii. Record the general journal reference (GJ) and page number in
the posting reference column of the account debited in the general ledger.
iv. Enter the Birr amount of the debit from the journal into the
debit column of that particular account in the ledger.
v. Determine the balance in the account.
vi. Enter the account number of the ledger account debited in the
posting reference column of the journal on the line of the debit portion of the
transaction.
vii. Repeat the steps above for the credit portion of the journal
entry.

ABC Co.
General Ledger
Page 001
Date Description P/R Debit Credit
1991
May 1 Cash 110 xxxxxx
Sales xxxxxx
To record cash sales

Account title: Cash  A/c No. 1110


Balance
Date Explanation P/R Debit Credit Debit Credit
1991 xxxx
 1 GJ001 xxxx

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May 

14. The Trial Balance

 What is a trial balance??????

 A two-column schedule that lists the titles and debit and credit balances of all the
accounts in the order in which they appear in the ledger.

 Why do we have to prepare a trial-balance.

 Justifying reasons for preparation of the trial balance

 To make an interim mechanical check of the equality of the debits and


credits in the general ledger.

 To portray all general ledger account balances on one concise record so


that preparation of financial statements will be more convenient.

 The steps in preparing a trial balance:

1. Determine the balance of each account in the ledger


2. List the accounts with balances other than zero, with the debit
balance in left-hand column and the credit balances in the right hand column.
3. Add the debit balances
4. Add the credit balances
5. Compare the sum of the debit balances with the sum of the credit
balances.

15. Uses of the Trial Balance

The agreement of the debit and credit totals of the trial balance gives assurance that:

1. Equal debits and credits have been recorded for all transactions.
2. The debit or credit balance of each account has been correctly computed.
3. The addition of the account balances in the trial balance has been correctly
performed.

When the trial balance does not balance, this situation indicates that one or more errors
have been made. The errors may have been:

1. In journalizing the transactions,


2. In posting to the ledger,
3. In determining the account balances,
4. In copying the account balances to the trial balances, or

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5. In adding the columns of the trial balance.

16. Limitations of the Trial Balance

 The trial balance, however, is not a complete proof of accuracy.


 It proves only the equality of debits and credits.
 Numerous errors may exist even though the trial balance columns agree.
 For example, the trial balance may balance even when

1. A transaction is not journalized,


2. A correct journal entry is not posted,
3. A journal entry is posted twice,
4. Incorrect accounts are used in journalizing or posting, or
5. Offsetting errors are made in recording the amount of a transaction

17. Locating Errors

 The lack of balance in the trial balance may be the result of a single error or a
combination of several errors.
 What is the most efficient approach to locating the error (or errors)?
 There is no single technique, which will give the best results every time, but the
following procedures, done in sequence, will often save considerable time and effort
in locating errors.
 Procedures to locate errors:
i. Prove the addition of the trial balance columns by adding the
columns in the opposite direction from that previously followed.
ii. Determine the exact amount at which the schedule is out of
balance. This amount may provide a clue to discover errors such as:
♦Interchange of debits and credits
♦Transposition of numbers
♦Slides
♦Amounts omitted

iii. Compare the amounts in the trial balance with the balances in
the ledger,
iv. Recompute the balance of each ledger account,
v. Trace all postings from the journal to the ledger.

18. Adjustments

 The basic elements of the accounting model are never precisely measured on the
financial statements of a business enterprise.
 Only after completing all the business transactions over the entire life of a
business entity, can the exact amount of assets, revenues, expenses, and net income
be determined.

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 For example, assume a building with a cost of Br.2,400,000 whose expected life
is 40 years.
But 25 years later the building no longer serves its original purpose.

The depreciation expense is calculated as 2,400,000/40 = Br. 600,000

However, the actual yearly expense turned out to be 2,400,000/25 = Br. 960,000.

The precise amount of the yearly expense can be determined only after the useful life
of the building has passed.

 However, decision makers such as managers and investors can't wait for the
business to conclude its operations before they evaluate its financial progress.
 Instead, they expect a business to provide financial reports periodically.
 To provide timely information in financial statements, accountants break the life
of business entities into time frames. At the end of each time frame, accountants
prepare financial statements.
 These time frames are referred to as Accounting periods and are typically a year,
a quarter, or a month in length.
 The breaking of the entire of an entity's life into time schemes is justified by the
periodicity assumption.
 The primary accounting period used by most businesses is one year, for which
they prepare annual financial statements.
 One major advantage of recognizing the life of the business as a series of regular,
successive accounting periods is comparability.
 Businesses also prepare interim financial statements/reports based on one-
month or three-month accounting periods.

19. Need for Adjustments

 At the end of an accounting period, however, preparing financial statements does


present some problems as well.
 At the end of an accounting period, after all transactions are recorded, several of
the accounts in company’s ledger typically do not reflect proper end-of-period
balances for presentation in the financial statements.
 This occurs even though all transactions were recorded correctly. The balances
are incorrect for statement purposes, not through error.
 The types of transactions recorded so far are external transactions.
 Internal economic events have not yet been recorded.
 Consider for example, a company has bought, on Oct. 1 of the current year, for
Br. 1,200, a 12-month insurance policy.

On the date of purchase the policy may be recorded as a prepaid insurance (asset).

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But three months later, on December 31, only 9 months of insurance coverage
remain, while three months insurance expense has been incurred.

 The financial statements prepared at the end of the accounting period must reflect
the shifts in asset and expense values. The financial statement must show the
following:

1. All assets owned. 3. All revenue earned


2. All liabilities owed. 4. All expenses incurred.

 To meet this objective, some of the accounts must be adjusted.


 The adjustment is accomplished by means of a general journal entry called an
adjusting entry.
 Adjusting entire do not involve second parties, and are called internal
transactions.
 To this effect the prepaid insurance (asset) account has to be reduced to Br. 900
and an insurance expense (expense) account has to be raised by Br. 300.

20. Accrual-Basis versus Cash-Basis Accounting

 There are two widely used basis of Accounting: The accrual basis of accounting
and the cash basis.
 The accrual basis
 An accountant recognizes the impact of a business event as it occurs.
 When the business performs a service, makes a sale, or incurs an expense,
the accountant enters the transaction into the books, whether or not cash
has been received or paid.

 The cash-basis of Accounting:


 The accountant does not record until cash is received or paid.
 In this basis of accounting, revenue is recognized when cash is received
and expenses are recognized when cash is paid out.
 GAAP requires that a business use the accrual-basis.
 Why does GAAP require that businesses use the accrual basis? What advantage
does the accrual-basis accounting offer?
 The advantage of accrual-basis over the cash basis is that the former will give
more complete information than the later does. This difference is important because
the more complete the data; the better-equipped decision makers are to reach
conclusions about the firm’s financial health and future prospects.
 The Accrual basis is based on two concepts: The revenue recognition principle
and the matching principle.

21. Revenue Recognition Principle

The revenue principle tells accountants about two things:

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(1) Timing: When to record revenue.

 The general principle guiding when to record revenue says to


record revenue once it has been earned.
 It is not necessarily recorded in the accounting period in which the
cash collection representing the revenue is made.
 In most cases, revenue is earned when the business has delivered a
complete good or service to the customer. The business has done
everything required by the agreement, including transferring the
item to the customer.
(2) The amount of revenue to record.

 The general principle guiding the amount of revenue to record


says to record revenue equal to the cash value of the goods or the
services transferred to the customer.

Example:

 Assume a supermarket sells an item to a credit account customer on Dec. 28.


 The revenue representing the sale of that item is recognized on that date – not when the
customer pays for item, which may be in January or February.

22. Matching Principle

 The matching principle is the basis for recording expenses.


 The matching principle directs accountants:

(1) To identify all expenses incurred during the accounting period,


(2) To measure the expenses, and
(3) To match the expenses against the revenues earned during the same span of
time.

23. Types of Adjusting Entries

There are two broad classifications of adjusting entries:

1. Deferrals - includes goods and services collected or paid for in advance of


benefits given or received.

 Deferrals require adjustments of external transactions previously entered


in the general journal and posted to the ledger accounts.
 Typical examples include prepaid expenses, unearned revenues, and
depreciation.

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2. Accrual - includes revenue already earned and expenses already incurred for
which no transaction has yet been recorded.

 Typical examples of accruals include salaries and interest.


NB: Every adjusting entry affects both the income statement accounts and the balance sheet
accounts.

24. Illustrations

A. Deferrals as Assets/Liabilities

i. Prepaid Insurance

 ABC Co. purchased an insurance policy for Br. 6,000 on Oct. 1, 2002 to
cover one-year period.

Oct. 1 Prepaid Insurance-------------- 6,000


Cash--------------------------------- 6,000

 At the end of Dec., the adjusting entry required is:

Dec. 31 Insurance Expense---------------1500


Prepaid Insurance----------------- 1500

ii. Prepaid Rent

 On Nov. 1, rent at Br. 150 per month for 3 months was paid in advance by
ABC business.

Nov. 1. Prepaid Rent ---------------------- 450


Cash --------------------------------- 450

 At the end of November, the adjusting entry required is:

Nov. 30. Rent Expense ------------------- 150


Prepaid Rent -----------------------150

iii. Office Supplies

 On Nov. 8, ABC business paid cash of Br. 386 for office supplies.

Nov. 8, Supplies -------------------------- 386


Cash ------------------------------ 386

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 At the end of November, supplies on hand were counted and only supplies
costing Br. 133 remained. Thus, the adjusting entry required would be:

Nov. 30. Supplies Expense -------------253


Supplies ------------------253

iv. Unearned revenues

 On Nov. 1, ABC business has received cash of Br. 600 in advance of the
actual services.

Nov. 1. Cash ------------------------------ 600


Unearned service revenue ---- 600

 At the end of Nov., the adjusting entry required is:

Nov. 30, Unearned service revenue-------- 100


Service revenue ------------------- 100

B. Deferrals as Expenses/Revenues

Consider the previous examples with an alternative treatment.

i. Prepaid Insurance

Oct. 1 Insurance Expense------------- 6,000


Cash -------------------------- 6,0000

Dec. 31 Prepaid Insurance ------------- 4,500


Insurance Expense ------------- 4,500

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ii. Prepaid Rent

Nov. 1 Rent Expense------------- 450


Cash -------------------- 450

Nov. 30 Prepaid Rent ------------- 300


Rent Expense------------- 300

iii. Supplies

Nov. 8 Supplies Expense------------386


Cash -------------------------- 386

Nov. 30 Supplies -------------------------- 133


Supplies Expense ------------------133

iv. Unearned Revenue

Nov. 1. Cash ---------------------- 600


Service revenue -----600

Nov. 30. Service revenue--------------------- 100


Unearned Service Revenue ----------100

C. Depreciation

 Accountants systematically spread the cost of each plant asset, except


land, over the years of its useful life.
 This process of allocating the cost of plant assets to expense accounts is
called Depreciation.
 Depreciation expense is the amount of plant asset’s cost assigned as an
expense to a particular accounting period.
 The concept underlying accounting for plant assets and depreciation
expense is an extreme case of prepaid expenses.
 The major difference between prepaid expenses and plant assets is the
length of time it takes for the asset to loose its usefulness.
 Prepaid expenses usually expire with in a year, where as most plant assets
remain useful for a number of years.
 Assume that ABC purchase computing equipment for Br. 7,000 on Jan. 1,
2002. The depreciation expense is calculated at 1000 per annum.
 The adjusting entry required is:

Depreciation Expense -----------------------------1,000


Accumulated depreciation – Equipment -----------1,000

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 The accumulated depreciation is a contra–asset account to a plant asset
account and has credit normal balance.

D. Accruals

i. Accrued Expenses/Liabilities

a. Salary expense/salary payable

Example:

Assume that ABC business pays the weekly salary of employees every Friday. Suppose
further that the daily salary of all employees is Br. 1,064 and that the end of August
31,1999 was on Tuesday. The adjusting entry required as of August 31,1999 is:

Aug. 31 Salary expense -------------------------- 2128


Salary payable -------------------------- 2128
(1064 x 2) = 2128

 The appropriate entry for Sept. 3 would be recorded as follows:

Sept.3 Salaries payable ---------------- 2128


Salary expense --------------- 3192
Cash ----------------------------------- 5320

b. Interest Expense/ Interest Payable

 If the accounting period ends before the interest is paid or received, an


adjusting entry is required.

Example:

 Consider a 12% note payable (Br. 1500) due on March 30,2000. The note
was issued on October 1, 1999
 The interest expense incurred on this note until Dec. 31, 1999 is calculated
according to the following formula:

Interest = principal * rate * time.

 Therefore, the interest in this specific case would be,

Interest = 1,500 * 12% per year. * 3/12 year


= Br. 45.

 The adjusting entry to record the interest expense incurred in October is:

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Dec. 31. Interest expense ----------------- 45
Interest payable --------------- 45

 The journal entry at the time of payment would be:

March 30. Interest payable ---------------- 45


Interest expense-----------------45
Notes payable-----------------1500
Cash -------------------------- 1590

ii. Accrued Revenues/Assets

Examples:

MM has performed consultancy services in the month of August 2002. Billing was not
made until September 15, 2002.

 If this was a 12% note receivable rather that a note payable the adjusting
entry would be as follows:

Oct. 31. Interest receivable --------------- 45


Interest income --------------------- 15

25. Worksheet for Financial Statements

 Many details are involved in the end-of-period procedures that it is easy to


make errors.
 If these errors are recorded in the journal and in the ledger accounts,
considerable time and effort can be wasted in correcting them.
 Both the journal and the ledger are formal, permanent records.
 One way of avoiding errors in the permanent accounting records and of
simplifying the work to be done at the end of the period is to use a work sheet.
 Worksheets are extremely important and helpful, but they are not part of
the permanent accounting records of a business.

 What is it ?????

 It is a columnar sheet of paper on which accountants summarize


information needed to make adjusting and closing entries and to prepare financial
statements.

26. The worksheet helps in four ways:

 It organizes the process of preparing the financial statement.

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 It reduces the possibility of introducing errors in that process.
 It aids in discovering errors that do occur.
 It provides monthly statement without the formal adjusting and closing
process.

27. Preparing the Worksheet

 The heading of the worksheet comprises of:


(1) The name of the business
(2) The title worksheet, and
(3) The period covered.
 The body of a ten-column worksheet contains five pairs of money
columns, each pair consisting of a debit and a credit column.
 The steps involved in preparation of worksheet:

i. Enter the ledger account balances in the trial balance columns.


ii. Enter the adjusting entries in the adjustment column.
iii. Compute each account’s adjusted balance and enter the adjusted
amounts in the Adjusted trial balance column.
iv. Extend the adjusted amounts to the appropriate columns.
v. Compute the Net income or net loss.

28. Illustration on the preparation of worksheet:

The following is the unadjusted trial balance of XYZ Service Company at December
31,19x1, the end of its fiscal year.

XYZ Service Company


Trial balance
December 31,19x1
Debit Credit
Cash Br. 198, 000
Accounts receivable 370,000
Supplies 6,000
Furniture &fixture 100,000
Accumulated depreciation-fur. & fix. 40,000
Building 250,000
Accumulated depreciation-building 130,000
Accounts payable 380,000
Unearned service revenue 45,000
Capital 293,000
Withdrawals 65,000
Service revenues 286,000
Salary expense 172,000
Miscellaneous expense 13,000 ______
TOTAL 1,174,000 1,174,000

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Data needed for the adjusting entries include:

a. Supplies on hand at year end, Br. 2,000


b. Depreciation on furniture and fixtures, Br. 20, 000
c. Depreciation on building, Br. 10, 000
d. Salaries owed but not yet paid, Br. 5,000
e. Accrued service revenue, Br. 12,000
f. Of the Br. 45,000 balance of unearned service revenue, Br. 32,000 was
earned during 19X1

Dear student, please look at the next page for the work sheet.

29. Preparing The Financial Statements

 Even though the worksheet shows the amount of net income or net loss for
the period, it is still necessary to prepare the financial statements.
 The worksheet is not a substitute for the financial statements.
 This is because the worksheet is only a temporary record that facilitates
the compilation of the data needed to prepare the financial statements, which
become part of the permanent accounting records.
 The worksheet provides all the necessary data to prepare the balance sheet,
the income statement, and the statement of owner’s equity.
 Financial statements prepared for XYZ Service Company from the
worksheet are as follows:

XYZ Service Company


Income statement
For the month ended Dec. 31, 19x1
Revenue:
Service revenue Br. 330,000
Expenses:
Salary expense Br. 177,000
Supplies expense 20,000
Depreciation expense- furn.& fixt. 10,000
Depreciation expense- building 4,000
Miscellaneous 13,000
Total expenses 224,000
Net income Br. 106,000

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XYZ Service Company
Statement of owner's equity
For the year ended Dec. 31, 19x1
Capital, January, 19x1 Br. 293,000
Add: net income 106,000
Subtotal 399,000
Less: withdrawal 65,000
Capital, Dec. 31, 19x1 334,000

XYZ Service Company


Balance Sheet
As at Dec. 31, 19x1
ASSETS LIABIL.. & OWNER'S EQUITY
Cash Br. 198,000 Liabilities
A/receivable 382,000 A/payable Br. 380,000
Supplies 2,000 Salary payable 5,000
Furn. & fix. 100,000 Unearned service rev. 13,000
Less: A/Depr- 60,000 40,000 Total liabilities. Br. 398,000
Building 250,000 Owner's equity
Less: A/depr. 140,000 110,000 Capital Br. 334,000
Total assets Br. 732,000 Total Liab. &OE Br.732, 000

30. Journalizing the adjusting entries:

The adjusting entries required for XYZ Service Company as at Dec. 31, 19x1 are:

Dec. 31. Accounts receivable ----------------------12,000


Service revenue ----------------------------12,000

31. Supplies expense-------------------------- 4,000


Supplies------------------------------- 4,000

31. Depreciation expense - building ------- 10,000


Accumulated depreciation - building----- 10,000

31. Depreciation expense- furn.& fix-------20, 000


Accum. Depreciation- furn.& fix--------- 20,000

31. Salary expense ----------------------------5,000


Salary payable-------------------------------- 5,000

31. Unearned service revenue------------- 32,000


Service revenue----------------------------- 32,000

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31. Closing the Accounts

 If we were to rely solely on what we have learned thus far to prepare


financial statements, our work would be more difficult than it need be. We would
have two problems:

(1) At the end of a period the capital account would reflect a beginning-of-period
balance while all other balance sheet accounts would reflect period-end
balances.
(2) The balances in revenue and expense accounts would not be for the latest
accounting period, but rather would be a cumulative balances, starting from
when the company first commenced operations.

32. The closing process is, therefore:

(1) the act of transferring the balances in revenue and expense accounts to a clearing
account called Income Summary Account and then to owner’s capital, and
(2) the act of transferring the balance in the owner’s drawing account to the owner’s
capital account.

33. Thus, the steps in closing the accounts of a proprietorship are as follows:

i. Close revenue accounts:


ii. Close Expense accounts:
iii. Close the Income summary account:
iv. Close the drawing account:

34. Journalizing Closing entries:

Dec. 31. Service revenue-------------- 330,000


Income summary-----------------330, 000

31. Income summary------------- 224,000


Salary expense-------------------- 177,000
Supplies expense----------------- 4,000
Depreciation exp.- furn.& fix-- 20,000
Depreciation exp.- building---- 10,000
Miscellaneous expense--------- 13,000

31. Income summary -------------- 106,000


Capital---------------------------- 106,000

31. Capital--------------------------- 65,000


Withdrawals ------------------- 65,000

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35. The Post Closing Trial Balance

 The post-closing trial balance is the final check on the accuracy of


journalizing and posting the adjusting and closing entries.
 This step ensures that the ledger is in balance for the start of the next
accounting period.

XYZ Company
Post closing trial balance
Dec. 31, 19x1
Debit Credit
Cash Br. 198,000
A/receivable 382,000
Supplies 2,000
Furniture & fixture 100,000
Accumulated Depreciation 60,000
Building 250,000
Accumulated depreciation 140,000
A/payable 380,000
Salary payable 5,000
Unearned service revenue 13,000
Capital 334,000
Total Br. 932,000 Br. 932,000

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