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Objectives of Financial Accounting and Accounts/Finance Functions
Financial Accounting Process steps involved till final accounts differences
among proprietorship firm, partnership firm and a limited company in terms of
Financial Accounting
Different financial statements and their purposes in business
Figures what they mean to a business understanding financial statements
for decision-making in business
Financial Accounting as different from Management Accounting and Cost
Accounting
Formats of Financial statements for business Profit & Loss statement,
Balance Sheet, Cash flow statement and Funds flow statement
Introduction
Financial Accounting is done on the basis of certain Accounting Principles that are universal in
nature
It is based on a specific accounting system and has to follow certain basic rules that are again
universal in nature
It also involves specific standards called Accounting standards and practices called Generally
Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP), which are different from country to country. Indian
Accounting standards are known as AS and Generally Accepted Accounting Practices are known
as GAAP, India
At present, readily available application software has simplified maintenance of financial accounts
and generation of required financial statements
enterprise. Similarly, the money going out could be for purchasing of assets required by the
business or for meeting expenses of the business enterprise or for paying off loans earlier taken.
Whatever be the purpose of money coming in and money going out, these financial transactions
are required to be recorded on a day-to-day basis so that at any given time, the owners will be in a
position to know:
How much money has come into the business and what the source of this money is
How much money has gone out of business and the purposes for which the money has
been spent
This is called Financial Accounting. In short, Financial Accounting faithfully records all the
transactions in a business enterprise that involve money and these transactions are referred to as
Financial or Accounting transactions. Let us examine the following examples to understand the
purpose of Financial Accounting.
Example no. 1
I have purchased goods for sale worth Rs.20,000/- against cash I need to record the details to
know the value of goods purchased by me and against what like cash or credit and in case it is a
credit transaction, from whom as I will be required to pay the supplier later, what is the quantum of
goods purchased so that I can know any given time how much unsold items I have on hand (called
stocks)
Similarly I have taken a loan of Rs. 1,00,000/- from a bank to run my business. I need to record the
details to know who has given me money so that I can return the same to the lender as and when
required and as and when agreed at the time of taking the loan.
Another example I am selling goods worth Rs.50,000/- on credit. The buyer is going to pay me
after some time. I need to record the details to know who my customer to whom I have sold goods
on credit is, so that I can follow-up for getting the payment.
If we carefully go through the above examples, we will notice that Financial Accounting
transactions could involve:
Cash or credit (the manner of payment, now or later respectively)
Income or Expense (revenue coming in due to sale of goods or services and revenue going
out due to purchase of goods or services respectively)
Asset (what the business enterprise owns, purchased out of capital, owners contribution
and/or loans from others) and Liability (what the business enterprise owes to an outsider
who has given it financial resources for purchase of assets)
Thus the objective of Financial Accounting is:
To know the financial position of the business enterprise in terms of:
How much revenue has come in (Income) and how much revenue has gone out
(Expense)
At the end of a given period, say one year, whether the business is in profit
(Income > Expenses and difference between Income & Expenses) or Loss (Expense
> Income and difference between Expense & Income)
What the sources of money coming into the business enterprise (Liabilities) are and
where they have been used (Assets)
How much money did the owners bring into the business enterprise at the
beginning and what its current value is (owners funds original investment as
enhanced by profits retained in the business)
Related terms in connection with the above objective are:
Accounting principles these are common for the entire globe. For example, the
owner of the business enterprise and the business enterprise are different from
each other from Accounting angle. Proof of this principle the owners contribution
called capital to the business enterprise is reflected as Liability in the Accounts of
the enterprise, while the owner accounts for it as an Asset as it is an investment.
Accounting Rules & Regulations these are again common for the entire globe.
These rules and regulations essentially tell us which account is to be credited or
which account is to be debited. For example I sell goods against cash Goods
account is credited and cash account is debited.
Accounting system Cash system that can be followed by a proprietorship firm or
partnership firm this follows cash coming in or going out for accounting for an
item of income (that could result cash coming in) or expense (that could result cash
going out). This system does not consider credit transactions. Hence accounting
is not done of outstanding transactions. There is no receivable or payable in
this case
Accounting standards (AS) given by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India (ICAI) along with Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP), India.
Operating income (coming from the main operations of the enterprise like trading,
manufacturing or services) and non-operating income (coming from investments
made outside the business in some other business could be share capital or debt
instruments like debenture, bond etc.)
Accounting period this would depend upon the country in which the business
enterprise operates. For instance in India, the accounting period is from 1 st April to
31st March this is also called Uniform Accounting Period (as all kinds of business
organizations like Proprietorship firm or Partnership firm or Limited company have
to follow this uniformly in India) or Financial Year
Profit and Loss statement statement prepared at the end of the Accounting period
as above showing the summary of all income items and expense items besides the
result of performance, namely Profit or Loss for the period.
Balance Sheet statement of Assets and Liabilities as at the end of the Accounting
period as above, i.e., the sources of funds (term indicating money) Liabilities and
uses of funds Assets
Other Accounting Terms have been explained in the Chapter Glossary of Terms
Fund this represents financial resource taken or given by the business enterprise
depending upon whether money comes in or goes out. This is a macro term and
includes both cash and credit. For example, a supplier giving goods on credit does
not give cash but gives goods that are worth certain specified value.
The above information will be useful to the following users of financial statements:
Owners of the Business Enterprise
Lenders who have given money to the Business Enterprise
Other stakeholders of the Business Enterprise like employees, suppliers etc.
Government agencies like Income Tax authorities and others who are interested in
investing in the business enterprise in Share capital or loan, like debenture or bond
Accounting Process
Verification step whether the sum of all credits is equal Transactions are consolidated in a
to sum of all debits as it should be in case the business control book of accounts named
enterprise is following double-entry book-keeping system General Ledger this contains a
also known as Accrual Accounting System single consolidated account for each
This is done by extracting all the balances of General item of income, expense, asset and
Ledger in a statement known as Trial Balances. In this liability example, one account for
statement, the income and liabilities will appear under operating income, one debtors
Credit side while assets and expenses will appear under account, one creditors account etc.
Debit side. This statement will however disclose errors
of some types like wrong head of accounting, error of
omission or commission on both the sides to the same
extent. Example customer debited for credit sale by
Rs.10,000/- more and sales also credited by Rs.10,000/-
more.
Process of rectification of errors pointed out by the Trial Closing entries are then made
Balance statement. Further where the errors are not shown depreciation on fixed assets, provision
by the Trial Balance, the process of reconciliation is for bad and doubtful debts, provision for
initiated especially in the case of creditors, debtors and outstanding expenses, outstanding
bank accounts. This is done by asking for statements of income, adjustment for pre-paid
our accounts with them so that we can go through entry expenses and income received in
by entry and verify whether the entries are correct or not. advance etc. are made before
If there is a mistake correction is carried out preparation of final financial statements
for the accounting year, namely Profit &
Loss statement & Balance Sheet
Step no. 6 Closing and adjustment entries at the end of the Accounting period
Step no. 7 Preparation of Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet as per prescribed formats in
the case of limited companies as per Schedule VI of the Companies Act
Responsible for budgets both revenue and Cash management stand-by arrangements,
capital both in case of excess and deficit
Tax compliance and tax planning besides audit Responsible for treasury management largely,
liquidity management, risk management and
investment management
Management Information System & Reports for Strategic Financial Management initiatives like
Finance expansion, diversification etc.
Finance and accounts functions may be integrated in an organisation. This means that one
department handles both. In most of the small and medium size units in India, the functions will be
integrated. A business enterprise will require a full-fledged finance department only when the
functions listed above are predominant functions impacting business in a big way. If the finance
functions are not predominant functions, Accounts department looks after Finance also. Constant
requirement of funds, surplus for investment etc, could be some of the factors influencing the need
for a full-fledged Finance department.
Statement no. 1 Profit & Loss statement - Denotes profit or loss for the enterprise for
the year. Usually prepared for a year that is referred to as Financial year. This is also called
Uniform Accounting Period. Can be prepared on a monthly basis too. The result will not be
accurate as some of the figures like depreciation will be more accurate only on an annual basis.
The same thing goes for provision for outstanding income or expenses too. Profit and Loss
statement indicates the financial performance of the year just gone by.
3. How do operating expenses behave? Are they increasing in proportion to the increase
in revenue or disproportionately to the increase in revenue? If they increase
disproportionately, it means that stricter control over expenses is indicated.
4. In case operating expenses have gone up, which group/s of operating expenses have
gone up? Is it manufacturing/operations or administrative or selling/marketing or
finance expense that is going up disproportionately?
5. What is the level of closing stock in the Profit and Loss statement? Has the level gone
up disproportionately to the increase in revenue? This is important, as increase in
levels of inventory is going to involve carrying cost like return on investment made in
it and this will surely reduce the profits of the enterprise.
Example no. 2:
Suppose the sum total of all assets = Rs. 120 lacs and the external funds invested in business =
Rs. 80 lacs. The shareholders funds are = Rs. 120 lacs (-) Rs. 80 lacs = Rs. 40 lacs. Suppose the
starting point for this business enterprise is Rs. 20 lacs from the owners towards capital, this
means that at present the original investment of Rs. 20 lacs has grown to Rs. 40 lacs over a period
of time.
Statement no. 3 Cash flow statement Denotes the position of cash inflow and cash
outflow for a particular period. The period is usually one month, but can be more frequently done.
This is useful to a business enterprise from the point of view of control and monitoring the amount
of cash available in business, also known as liquidity. This information is required both for
planning, i.e., arranging for back up in case the available cash is less than required and control, in
case the available cash is more than required. The business enterprise cannot afford to keep more
cash than required, as idle cash does not earn any return and it is better to save tax by putting the
excess cash back into overdraft etc. The loss incurred by keeping more cash than required is often
referred to as opportunity cost.
Example no. 3:
My enterprise requires Rs.10lacs on an average by way of cash. Suppose my projected receipts for
December 2004 are Rs.250lacs and projected outflows are Rs.260lacs with opening balance of
Rs.10lacs. This will result in my closing balance of cash of Rs.20lacs.
This is far in excess of my requirement of Rs.10lacs. What do I do with this excess cash? I put it
back into my bank account so that I can earn some interest especially if my bank account is
overdraft like account in which case, I pay interest on the amount used by me. Once I prepare the
cash flow statement, I compare it with the actual position at the end of the month so that I can
verify as to how far I have been good in projecting my cash position for the month under review.
Statement no. 4 Funds flow statement - Denotes movement of funds (please refer to
fund under terms at the beginning) during a period under review. Generation of funds and its use
can be explained in terms of assets and liabilities in simple terms as under:
s
In liabilities or in assets = Source of funds
From the above, the reader can understand the linkage between Funds flow statement and the
balance sheet of the enterprise.
Usually this period is one year. Funds flow statement can be prepared on an Estimation or
Actuals basis this entirely depends upon the purpose for which funds flow statement is being
prepared. If it is for Financial Planning and Resources Mobilization, it is done on Estimation basis
say for the next one to two years; on the other hand, if it is prepared for review purposes, it is done
on Actuals basis. Having seen that this statement is closely linked to balance sheet, let us see the
difference between the two statements. While funds flow statement tells you about the movement
of funds (proposed or actual), balance sheet gives the impact on Assets and Liabilities due to
movement of funds during a given period.
Funds are divided into Resources (funds coming into business) and Uses (funds going out of
business). Resources are presented in three broad heads while uses are presented in two broad
heads as under:
Resources:
Long-term accruals from business = Funds generated from operations
Long-term funds (external) = Fresh capital coming into business like share capital or loans
+ sale of fixed assets + sale of investment etc.
Short-term funds (external) = Fresh short-term borrowing from banks for working capital +
any increase in other short-term funds like creditors for goods, creditors for expenses etc.+
any decrease in short-term (working capital) assets like inventory or cash/bank or
receivables
Uses:
Long-term uses = Fresh purchase of fixed assets + fresh investment made by the business
+ repayment of loans or redemption of bonds/debentures etc.
Short-term uses = Fresh purchase of inventory + any increase in level of receivables or any
other short-term (working capital) asset + any reduction in short-term liabilities like bank
overdraft or level of creditors etc.
In the above example, we observe that short-term funds are deficient in comparison with short-
term use, whereas long-term funds are in excess of long-term use. This should be the feature of
any Funds flow statement, as long-term sources that include profit retained in business will be
available both for long-term and short-term use. As against this, short-term funds (otherwise known
as working capital funds) are not available for long-term purposes. The reason is obvious short-
term funds are available for day-to-day operations and hence if they are diverted to long-term use,
the efficiency of the business enterprise will be drastically affected. It will affect the income as well
as increase the cost by way of interest in case we take additional borrowing to fill the gap caused
by reduction in working capital funds.
Function is to record all the Function is to analyse costs Function is to make required
financial transactions in associated with an activity or a modifications in the financial
accordance with certain product or a division and accounting, analyse and
principles, standards etc. ascertain whether the activity present it to the management
or a division or a product is for control and managerial
profitable or not decision-making
Provides historical data and is Is concerned more with costs Financial accounting data
a measure of performance of associated with a specific modified by regrouping the
the business enterprise as a product etc. to ascertain the items as required for decision-
whole profitability of the product or making. Non-financial data like
division provides a tool in the quantitative data also used in
hands of the management to management accounting.
take decision on product or Further even future data
activity. Works with the data considered as required by
provided by Financial management
accounting
Compulsory for all the business Not compulsory at least in Not at all compulsory in any
enterprises to follow some industries. Maintained industry. It is purely at the
purely for pricing decisions, instance of the management
control of costs and planning for their purpose and not for
for profits any external use
Useful more for outsiders as a Useful for managerial decision- Useful for owners of the
pointer to the financial making including management. business enterprise in any set-
performance of the business May not be useful for owners in up.
enterprise a professional set-up
Not much flexibility more or Involves detailed study of costs Thoroughly flexible in approach
less standardised and hence depends upon the depending upon the
nature of enterprise requirement of control from the
managements point of view.
Involves generation of
Management Information
System Reports
Learning points:
Interest is charged to income before determining the profit of the organisation. Once the profit
of the organisation is determined, tax is paid at the stipulated rate and the dividend is paid
only after this. Thus, dividend is profit allocation.
This difference between interest and dividend gives opportunity to business enterprises, to
have a mix of capital of the owners and loans taken from outside, so that they can save on tax,
through the interest charged as expense on the income. The amount of tax so saved is called
tax shield on the interest.
In the case of profit distributed among the partners as well in the case of dividend distributed
among the shareholders, these are not taxed again in the hands of the owners.
Example no. 6
The balance sheet is also known as Assets and Liability statement. A sample balance sheet is
shown below:
(Rupees in lacs)
Liabilities Assets
Share capital: 100 Fixed Assets 60
Reserves: 150 Less: Depreciation 30
(Retained profits Net Fixed Assets: 30
over a period of Investments: 80
time) Current Assets:
Net worth 250 Bills Receivable 100
Bank overdraft 30 Cash and Bank 35
Creditors for expenses 10 Other current assets 60
Other current liabilities 15 Total current assets 195
Total current liabilities 55
Suppose profit for the year is Rs.30 lacs after paying tax and dividend. This would be transferred
to the balance sheet and the reserves at the end of the current year would be Rs.150 lacs + Rs.30
lacs = Rs.180 lacs. Similarly the depreciation claimed on the fixed assets and shown as an
operating expense would also get transferred to the balance sheet to reduce the value of the fixed
assets.
Let us assume that there is no increase in the fixed assets during the year that there are no other
changes and the depreciation for the year is Rs.10 lacs. We can construct the balance sheet for
the next year without much change, excepting to accommodate these figures of depreciation and
increase in reserves.
The balance sheet as at the end of the next year would look as under:
(Rupees in Lacs)
Liabilities Assets
Share capital 100 Fixed assets 60
Reserves and surplus 180 Less: depreciation 40
Net worth 280 Net fixed assets 20
Bank overdraft 30 Investments 100
Creditors for expenses 10 Bill Receivable 120
Other current liabilities 15 Cash and Bank 35
Total current Other current assets 60
liabilities 55 Total current assets 195
Total liabilities 335 Total Assets 335
We see that between the two balance sheets, there are two changes
Investment has gone up by Rs.20 lacs and
Bill receivable has gone up by Rs.20 lacs.
The total is Rs.40 lacs. Where have these funds come from? This amount is the total of profit
transferred to balance sheet from the profit and loss account and depreciation added back, as it
does not involve any cash outlay. The figure is Rs.30 lacs + Rs.10 lacs = Rs.40 lacs. This figure is
referred to as internal accruals.
This need not be the case all the times. Where we use these funds entirely depends upon the
business priority and what we have shown is only a sample.
Learning points:
The business enterprise generates funds from operations, known as internal accruals
comprising depreciation (which is added back, being only a book-entry) and profit after tax and
dividend;
Where these funds are used is entirely dependent upon business exigencies;
Depreciation claimed in the books as an expense goes to reduce the value of the fixed assets in the
books, while profit after tax and dividend is shown as Reserves and increases the net worth of
the company.
(Rupees in Lacs)
Cash Receipts
Revenue Receipts
Sales Receipts 100
Dividend income on shares 5
Rent income 10
Total 115
Capital Receipts
Fresh debenture 50
Fresh term loan 100
Sale of fixed asset 10
Total 160
Non-Revenue Receipt
Sale of shares 20
Total 20
Total Receipts 295
Cash Payments
Revenue expenditure
Payment to creditors 75
Payment of interest 15
Payment of expenses 25
Total 115
Capital expenditure
Purchase of fixed assets 150
Repayment of term loan 25
Total 175
Non-Revenue expenditure
Purchase of UTI Units 2
Total 2
Total Payments 292
Dividend paid 80 80
2. What is the objective of financial accounting from the point of view of the owner
of an enterprise?
3. Suppose you want to know the financial performance of your business for the
current year. Which statement gives you the relevant figures? Which statement
gives you the financial position of the enterprise?
4. Trace the advantages of a cash flow statement to a business enterprise. Can you
use this statement for planning for resources? If no, which statement is available
to you?
5. For you as the owner of a business enterprise, is it necessary to know in depth the
process of financial accounting? In case your answer is no how can you run the
enterprise with a full control over the amount invested in business?
6. What is the significance of operating income from business point of view?
Suppose you have operating loss of Rs. 5 lacs and overall profit of Rs. 2 lacs, what
does it mean? What is the source of the overall profit of Rs. 2 lacs?