BAF Notes Edited Fundamentals of Accounting
BAF Notes Edited Fundamentals of Accounting
STUDY MATERIAL
AND
FINANCE
@TU
Table of Contents
PREFACE......................................................................................................................................5
Course Description........................................................................................................................5
COURSE OUTLINE.....................................................................................................................6
1.0 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................9
1.1 Financial Accounting.....................................................................................................10
1.2 Cost accounting...............................................................................................................10
1.3 Management accounting.................................................................................................11
1.4 Book Keeping and Accounting.......................................................................................12
1.5 Users/interested parties in accounting information.......................................................13
1.9. FORMS OF BUSINESS:......................................................................................................37
CHAPTER TWO:........................................................................................................................38
PRINCIPLES OF DOUBLE ENTRY AND ACCOUNTING SYSTEM................................38
2.3 DOUBLE-ENTRY ACCOUNTING....................................................................................54
CHAPTER THREE.....................................................................................................................65
THE PREPARATION OF BOOKS OF ACCOUNTS.............................................................65
3.3 JOURNALS............................................................................................................................69
3.3.5 BANK STATEMENT:......................................................................................................78
3.3.6 PETTY CASH:..................................................................................................................78
3.4 THE MAIN BOOK OF ACCOUNTS..................................................................................81
3.4.1 THE LEDGER...................................................................................................................84
3.5 Posting transactions from the Journals to the Ledgers......................................................93
CHAPTER FOUR.....................................................................................................................105
ADJUSTMENTS IN ACCOUNTS:.........................................................................................105
4.2 ACCRUALS AND PREPAYMENTS:...............................................................................119
4.3 BAD(IRRECOVERABLE) DEBTS..................................................................................121
4.4. Provisions and contingencies: (IAS 37).............................................................................124
CHAPTER FIVE.......................................................................................................................127
PREPARATION OF A TRIAL BALANCE...........................................................................127
5.1 Definition of a trial balance................................................................................................127
5.2 Preparing a trial balance.....................................................................................................127
5.3 EXTRACTION OF TRIAL BALANCE...........................................................................133
5.4 Errors detected by a trial balance......................................................................................142
CHAPTER SIX..........................................................................................................................145
BANK RECONCILIATIONS..................................................................................................145
6.1 Preparing Bank Reconciliation Statements........................................................................145
6.2 Agreement of the cash and bank balances..........................................................................147
6.3 Steps to follow reconciling account balances:....................................................................150
6.4 Relevance of Bank reconciliation.......................................................................................152
CHAPTER SEVEN...................................................................................................................155
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF SOLE TRADERS.......................155
7.1 FINAL ACCOUNTS OF A SOLE TRADER...................................................................156
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FROM INCOMPLETE RECORDS162
8.1 INCOMPLETE RECORDS:..............................................................................................162
We shall study the preparation of final accounts of a sole trader by looking at an example.
.......................................................................................................................................................96
Example:.......................................................................................................................................96
Trial Balance of Sarah Kagezi on 31/12/2010...........................................................................96
Total..............................................................................................................................................96
Additional Information...............................................................................................................96
Treatment of Depreciation in Final Accounts...........................................................................96
Total..............................................................................................................................................96
Additional Information...............................................................................................................96
Required: Prepare.......................................................................................................................96
Treatment of Bad Debts Provisions in Final Accounts............................................................96
Total..............................................................................................................................................96
Total..............................................................................................................................................96
CHAPTER EIGHT......................................................................................................................96
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FROM INCOMPLETE RECORDS. 96
8.1 INCOMPLETE RECORDS:................................................................................................96
CHAPTER NINE.........................................................................................................................96
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF PARTNERSHIPS:........................96
9.1 Definition of a partnership....................................................................................................96
9.2.1 Advantages in comparison to sole trading........................................................................96
9.2.2 Advantages in comparison to a company..........................................................................96
9.2.3 Disadvantages of partnerships...........................................................................................96
9.3 Partnership agreements.........................................................................................................96
9.3.1 Rules in the absence of an agreement............................................................................96
9.3.6 Interest on capitals..............................................................................................................96
9.3.7 Interest on drawings...........................................................................................................96
9.3.9...............................................................................................................................................96
Salaries to partners......................................................................................................................96
9.4 Preparation of final accounts of partnerships.......................................................................96
Example........................................................................................................................................96
9.5 CHANGES IN PARTNERSHIPS;.......................................................................................96
Good will.......................................................................................................................................96
Example :......................................................................................................................................96
Locke 3,500.................................................................................................96
Partners Current accounts..........................................................................................................96
DR CR................................................................................................................................96
CHAPTER TEN...........................................................................................................................96
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF LIMITED COMPANIES:...........96
10.1 Definition of a limited company.........................................................................................96
10.1 Types of companies............................................................................................................96
10.2 IAS 1 Presentation of financial statements:........................................................................96
Types of shares...........................................................................................................................96
10.3 Profit or loss for the period:................................................................................................96
10.3.2 Statement of financial Position format:..........................................................................96
10.3.3.............................................................................................................................................96
Format: Statement of comprehensive income:.........................................................................96
ABC Co.........................................................................................................................................96
2010 2009................................................................................................................................96
10.4 Notes to financial statements:.............................................................................................96
10.5 Items in the statement of comprehensive income:............................................................96
10.6 Items in the statement of financial position:.......................................................................96
Required :Prepare relevant accounts for its internal and external use....................................96
10.8 IAS 18 Revenue:.................................................................................................................96
CHAPTER ELEVEN..................................................................................................................96
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF NON PROFIT MAKING
ORGANISATIONS.....................................................................................................................96
11.1 Definition of nonprofit making organization.....................................................................96
11.2 Accounts prepared by non-trading organization................................................................96
Example........................................................................................................................................96
Required to prepare relevant accounts......................................................................................96
Solution.........................................................................................................................................96
Assets.............................................................................................................................................96
Income........................................................................................................................................96
Expenditure.................................................................................................................................96
Required prepare the relevant accounts....................................................................................96
CHAPTER TWELVE.................................................................................................................96
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS............................................................................................96
12.1 IAS 7 Statement of Cash flows:.........................................................................................96
12.2 Presentation of a statement of cash flows:.........................................................................96
12.3 Reporting cash flows from operations:...............................................................................96
12.4 Advantages of cash flow accounting:.................................................................................96
REFERENCES:...........................................................................................................................96
PREFACE
Course Description
This course offers an introduction to the basic principles underlying the logic of Accounting,
students will undertake an analysis of business transactions and preparation of financial
statements. the purpose and function of financial reporting and its impact on the various users
such as management, owners, creditors and other external users will be examined. Students
develop an understanding of the fundamentals of financial Accounting relating to
bookkeeping and preparation of financial statements.
Course Objectives
1) To classify forms of business organizations
2) Record transitions on books using double entry system
3) Prepare books of prime entry
4) Getting to know the role of reporting frame work
5) Learn to prepare simple financial statements for a business organization and non-profit
making organizations
6) Construct a trial balance
COURSE OUTLINE
Detailed Course Description;
UNIT 1: Introduction
a) Definition of Financial Accounting
b) Branches of Accounting
c) Users of Accounting information and their information needs
d) Accounting concepts/principles/conventions 4hrs
UNIT 2: Forms of Business
a) The entity concept
b) Categories of business organizations their characteristics, benefits and limitations
c) Partnerships
d) Limited companies 4hrs
UNIT 3: Principles of Double Entry and Accounting System
a) Accounting equation
b) Double entry book keeping
c) Books of prime entry
Mode of assessments
Take-home assignment 10%
Course work test2 30%
Final exam 60%
Total 100%
Teaching methods
Face to face lectures, group and class discussions
REFERENCES
Serwanga A (2005) Introduction to Financial Accounting 1 st Edition. Wide link services
Kampala.
Frank Wood and Alan Sangster Business Accounting 1 (10the Ed). Prentice Hall.
H. Johnson & Whitman A Practical Foundation in Accounting. Routledge.
IASB International Financial Reporting Standards. IASB.
Government of Uganda. Laws of Uganda: The Companies Act, Capital markets Acts,
Financial Institutions Act, and Insurance Act.
N.A Saleemi-Foundation of Accounting
FUNDAMENTALS OF ACCOUNTING I
[.]
Kampala.
Email: info@teamibme.ac.ug
PREFACE:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course offers an introduction to the basic principles underlying the logic of accounting. Students will
undertake an analysis of business transactions and preparation of financial statements, the purpose and
function of financial reporting and its impact on the various users such as management, owners, trade
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
2. Develop knowledge and understanding of the underlying principles and concept relating to financial
accounting
65. Understand and identify the purpose of each of the financial statements.
CHAPTER ONE:
- Introduction
- Accounting principles/concepts
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter defines the different sub systems of the accounting systems which include; cost accounting,
management accounting and financial accounting system. The financial accounting system that
constitutes the process of book keeping is our main focus in this course. We shall also look at the
different forms of business and highlight the stakeholders of any business pointing out their needs. The
chapter will also deal with accounting concepts that are behind preparation of financial statements
Learning Objectives:
Compare and contrast the three sub systems of the accounting system
Identify and define types of business entities and recognize their legal requirements
Identify the users of financial statements and state and differentiate between their
information needs.
based
Financial Accounting is the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information
to permit informed and rational decisions to be made. Rational decisions made by the organization
include for example; working capital decisions, capital budgeting decisions, investment decisions, etc. It
Without limiting accounting to finances, in general use, accounting means explaining and defending or
justifying actions or results of those actions. All those who have been entrusted with safe custody of
others resources are usually required to account or submit accountability to the owners of the
resources.
accordance with costing principles, methods and techniques. Determining product costs and assigning
In many organizations, cost accounting is concerned with ascertainment and analysis of product costs.
Costs should determine the least price (floor) to be charged for a product unless the environment is too
competitive. Costing products with-a view to setting a selling price is very crucial.
A cost accountant will also analyze costs into their behavior patterns ie. fixedFixed, variable or semi fixed
and semi variable. This analysis will help management on how to control and minimize costs and Plan for
profits. Cost accounting developed and gained prominence during the industrial revolution when
Financial accounting though it predates cost accounting became inadequate in providing information for
cost control. Key costing techniques for cost control are, standard costing and variance analysis, target
costing and budgeting and budgetary control. Key techniques for planning are, marginal costing also
called Cost Volume Profit analysis or break even analysis and budgeting. Costing methods such as job
costing, contract costing, process costing, service costing are also major areas of study. Cost accounting
is taught as a separate course or subject usually in the third year of study for students majoring in
accounting.
functions. It was observed earlier that management is in dire need of information for planning, control
Management accounting is primarily concerned with data gathering, processing, analysis, interpretation
and communication of the resulting information to management so that they can more effectively plan,
A management accountant must be knowledgeable of managerial processes so that he/she can provide
However, there is no clear dividing line between cost accounting and management accounting. Cost
accounting is an important source of data for management accounting purposes. Most of the
information that management needs is cost related. For this reason the two are sometimes taught as
In organizations, there is no need for both positions of a cost accountant and management accountant
because it will lead to duplication of functions. Though management accounting draws heavily on cost
accounting, its scope is a bit wider it also borrows from other disciplines such as financial management,
financial accounting, operations research economics etc. as long as the information so generated is
Management accounting uses more advanced techniques than cost accounting; Management
accounting is more recent compared with cost accounting. It arose when there was need to bring an
accountant closer to management i.e to sit in a table where management's strategies and various
decisions are being made. Expert advice from an accountant is important in such meetings.
Management accounting is taught at Masters Level in many universities after studying cost accounting at
undergraduate level.
Described more clearly, it is the clerical part of accounting. It includes the preparation of books of
account such as cashbooks and ledgers. It is usually said that the work of a bookkeeper ends at the
preparation of the trial balance from where the accountant takes over.
Accounting is broader, though it encompasses bookkeeping; its scope extends to financial reporting i.e
preparation of financial reports. It also involves analysis and interpretation of financial statements.
Unlike bookkeepers, accountants authorize financial transactions. Bookkeepers simply record financial
transactions that have been completed. Accountants also design accounting systems but book keepers
Usually after earning a university degree one is not supposed to work as a bookkeeper.
Activity
parties (stakeholders) have to make decisions connected with the organisation. Accounting information
is very necessary if decisions are to be made accurately and rationally. Various parties are interested in
accounting information about the activities of a business to facilitate their decision making. Accounting
information is provided in form of financial statements/reports, entries in books of accounts and other
business documents.
Accounting is user-oriented thus an accountant needs to identify the user and target him/her with the
relevant information for the decision. In other words a business should produce information about its
activities because there are various groups of people who need information about the business.
The users or decision makers interested in accounting information are broadly divided into two groups,
They are involved in the day to day running of the organization. They are insiders so to speak and
Management
An organization’s management team may comprise inter alia, directors, senior executives and managers
at various levels especially top managers. These people run the organization on behalf of the owners
(shareholder). They are entrusted with safe custody or stewardship of the shareholders resources. They
have to ensure that shareholders resources are well managed and invested.
They are charged with the duty of increasing the shareholders wealth and making sure that the owners
get dividends from their investments. To be able to run the organization profitably and give
shareholders return on their investment, they have to plan for profits, control activities/operations and
take timely decisions. Key decisions to be made could be what markets to enter, what prices to charge,
how to minimize costs and how to formulate strategies for beating off competitors. For all these
activities, management requires accounting information. In fact they require services of an accountant
all the time if they are to execute their roles successfully. Such an accountant who is relied on by
Accounting reports or statements also indicate to management whether they are making profits or
losses and whether they are in the right business. Management must also submit accountability to the
owners. The accountability that they submit is in form of financial statements/reports backed by books
They need accounting information about the company’s finance situation for two major reasons.
They want to support their claim or agitation for salary and wage increments using accounting
information. The profit and loss account shows how much profit the company made. They use it to judge
whether their remuneration was commensurate with the profits earned. If they did not par take a due
share, they use the profit and loss account as a base for bargaining salary and wage increase.
Trade unions leaders agitate for better pay for their members after examining financial statements and
Another reason why employees require accounting information is to assess and judge their job security
or continued tenure. If the employing organization is perpetually making losses, it is definitely not a
going concern and any time it can collapse. When the organization is in poor financial health there are
often last minute attempts to save the organization from total collapse. Cost cutting reviews are
normally instituted, among which, is to down size the work force by retrenching staff. If the organization
is not a going concern employees start searching for alternate employments before they are retrenched
They are external in the sense that they are not involved in the day-to-day running of the organization
but they are stakeholders or interested parties. They view the organization from outside the fence with
keen interest. These parties make decisions that have a bearing on the organization. These parties
include shareholders (investors), Trade payables, donors and other external financiers, Government,
Shareholders (investors)
They are primary stakeholders of the business because they contributed capital by subscribing to shares
or are contemplating to invest. They are the company’s owners. Existing investors or shareholders are
interested in knowing how their business is performing i.e. whether the organization is well managed,
They examine management's accountability statements, books of accounts and documents through
their auditors and evaluate management's performance. They are particularly interested in knowing
whether management is not misusing financial resources through abuse or vices such as embezzlement
and fraud. Shareholders have the power to change management if they feel that management is not
Prospective investors analyse the company's past and projected financial performance before they can
buy shares in it. Financial analysts usually perform financial analysis for them. They examine financial
statements and other information disclosed in the company’s prospectus before buying shares.
Today, analysis has gone beyond financial or accounting figures to include examining managerial
capacity for sustaining the organization. Suppose for instance, the current management delivers but are
old or are said to be sick from incurable diseases. If such management did not groom effective managers
to take over from them, there would be managerial vacuum and you would not want to buy shares from
such a company. Studies have shown that poor management has accounted for the bankruptcy and
Trade Contacts
This includes suppliers who provide goods to the company on credit and customers who purchase goods
Trade payables (suppliers) are individuals and financial institutions that extend credit to company. Trade
payables(suppliers) are interested in getting paid for goods and services that they extend on credit.
Financialcredit. Financial institutions like banks that extend loans to the company are interested in
making sure that the loans are serviced and do not become nonnone performing. Before loans or any
credit facility is granted, the credit worthiness of the applicant is analysedanalyzed. Credit analysis can
Non profit making organizations like Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) get- funding from donor
agencies abroad. These agencies are always interested in making sure that the money they donate
achieves the objectives for which it was released. Most of their objectives are societal. Donors rigorously
Government
Government is another external user of accounting information. Through tax authorities like URA,
government collects tax revenue from companies and individuals for financing public expenditures. The
government of Uganda finances its recurrent budget from tax revenue. Tax authorities are interested in
companies filing income tax returns for tax assessments. Returns submitted for tax assessments are
statements showing operating performance especially profitability of the business. Failure to file returns
to form a basis for tax assessments could result into more tax liability through estimated assessments or
penalties.
In mixed economies like that of Uganda where there are state owned public business enterprises
existing alongside private ones, government monitors the performance of its public enterprises
Furthermore, every government must provide policy ingredients for businesses to thrive. Government
collects accounting data from companies to enable it analyze the effect its policies have on businesses.
This enables formulation of policies that promote private sector development which is the motor of
economic development.
Competitors
Competitors are interested in accounting information of firms in the same industry with them so as to
judge whether they are doing badly or fairly in comparison with other players in the same business.
Some competitors also require information for market intelligence purposes. In order to be able to
develop competitive strategies for beating other participants in the market place. For this reason very
few companies will provide detailed information regarding their business operations to non entitled
persons. Students doing research do get considerable difficulty in getting data from companies.
General public
The public includes individuals and organizations which ensure that businesses make their profits in a
socially acceptable manner without damage to the environment and consumers health. Environmental
pressure groups advocate for minimization of "pollution which degrades the environment. Consumer
groups or associations try to ensure that businesses offer safe and not adulterated products to their
consumers and should not charge very high prices for poor quality products. This group attempts to
mitigate extreme consumer exploitation. This action aimed at protecting the consumer is known as
Even ordinary members of society questions the contribution made by an organization operating in their
locality to the enhancement or improvement of the quality of their lives or welfare. If an organization
does not contribute to local developmental initiatives or efforts by people in the area in which it
operates, that organization will not be rated well by that community. Social responsibility of businesses
is gaining attention.
When accounts are prepared and incomes and expenditures recorded, profits/losses can be ascertained
and thus helps in planning the way forward. Every business organization is formed with the view to
making profits (Peter Drucker might disagree). Profits have to be planned for.
Preparation of accounts helps shareholders to monitor management and other stakeholders to evaluate
the performance of the organization. The relationship between shareholders and management is that of
agency. The shareholders are principals and managers are agents. The shareholders (principals) should
Accounts make tax assessment easy and advantageous to both the organization and the Tax Authority.
Monitoring of trade receivables and trade payables is easy if accounts are prepared. Without a record of
trade receivables or trade payables, it will be difficult to tell who owes you money and to whom you owe
money.
presentation of financial accounts. It is important at this point to explain them in some detail. These
concepts/conventions/principles are very many; hereunder all of them are examined. It is however the
responsibility of the enforcing or overseeing institutions to spell out in the accounting standards the
Some of these conventions are basic while others are procedural that distinction is however of
consequence. Hereunder the concepts/conventions are discussed without an attempt being made to
International Accounting Standard (ISA 1) identifies four fundamental concepts when preparing
statements
- It also considers other concepts like prudence, substance over form and materiality which
- Prescribe the basis for presentation of general purpose financial statements, to ensure
comparability both with the entity’s financial statements of previous periods and with financial
Financial statements should present fairly the financial position, financial performance and cash flows of
policies or notes
There are few occasions where management decides that compliance with a requirement of IAS/IFRS
would be misleading and any departure to achieve fair presentation should be disclosed.
This concept requires recognition and recording of transactions relating to the entity (organization) in
question and excludes private transactions of the owners or those running it. Record is only made for
what the entity owes the owner (capital) and what the owner owes the entity (drawings). When an
organization is set up and is fully incorporated under the law, it becomes a separate legal person (entity)
capable of transacting on its own including the power to borrow and lend.
isolating business from non-business private transactions. For instance if the owner purchases a suit for
himself for Shs.600,000, it is not a business cost and should therefore not be charged to the businesses
trading and profit and loss account. If the resources to buy the suit came from transacting business, it
should be recorded as the owner borrowing from the business termed as a drawing. Drawings reduce
owner's capital. For this reason private expenses should not be regarded as business expenses and
likewise private incomes should not be recorded as business incomes. The aim is to report accurate
financial performance of the entity. There is normally a temptation to increase expenses in order to
declare lower profits and thereby minimize tax liability. This might involve increasing expenses by
including those of a private nature or not declaring all incomes of the entity. These actions are illegal and
outlawed, tax assessors are aware of this and they usually have to restate profits to be taxed by
removing private expenses of the owners or management of the entity that are unallowable deductions
The limitation of this concept can be appreciated from the perspective of a humble business
man/woman like a sole trader or a family run business. The owner and the business are actually
inseparable. For instance if a sole trader sells but also dwells in the same premises, rent and utilities
paid on those premises will be difficult to apportion between the owner and the business especially if
According to this concept or convention all transactions to be recorded must be quantified in monetary
terms or language of money. Money is a common denominator for all transactions. Let alone being an
objective measure, money is also a unit of account and store of value. This convention assumes money
has stable value over time and it is a source for one of its criticisms.
This concept limits recognition of business transactions to those that can be expressed in monetary
terms. Even where goods are exchanged for goods (barter trade), value must be attached to the items in
question. Whatever, cannot be monetized is not recorded. Money is favored because it is an objective
a. It assumes that money has stable value over time and yet it is common knowledge that
money loses value with time a phenomenon referred to as inflation. Under inflationary
circumstances, money ceases to an objective measure of value b. There are certain events or things that
cannot be expressed in monetary terms, thus not recorded, and yet they materially impede or enhance
business operations. For instance if the manager is ill or the accountant has poor working relationship
with say the production manager, business will not flow smoothly. These are both costs to the business
but cannot be recorded since they cannot be expressed in monetary terms. Furthermore, there are
some intangible assets like goodwill, brand name, patent etc which lead to increased turnovers and
profits but cannot be recorded as assets because they are difficult to quantify in financial terms.
Attempts are being made to value intangible assets for inclusions in the statement of financial position.
This concept states that the business entity is assumed to continue in operational existence in the
foreseeable future. The business is not on the verge of collapse unless there are indications to suggest
Accounts are written on the assumption and understanding that the business will continue in operation.
This concept makes it possible for accountants to project or prepare estimates for a long period into the
nature for example preparing cash flow projections or forecasts for five years or preparing budget
estimates for many years into the future. Fixed assets are depreciated knowing that they will last for
many years. All these can be done if the going concern assumption is upheld otherwise it would be
senseless to prepare budget. Estimates,Estimates make cash flow forecasts or depreciate fixed assets
when you are aware that the business will cease operating. The assets in the statement of financial
position would be recorded at liquidating (saleable) values. The statement of financial position and
profit and loss account are written on the assumption that there is no intention or necessity to liquidate
There is almost no challenge against the going concern assumption and has been embraced and
this assumption is at times farfetched or makes accountants and managers complacent. The business
will be there any way! Good management is necessary for a business to be a going concern. What about
those many companies that have collapsed and many other business failures, didn't they make the going
concern assumption?
This concept requires accountants to record assets and liabilities at historical costs of their acquisitions.
Assets are recorded at their acquisition (invoice) costs even if the value today is more than the historical
cost. Likewise liabilities are recorded at amounts they were incurred though the true value of the liability
might have changed due to foreign exchange fluctuations and other macro economicmacroeconomic
issues such as inflation, devaluation, currency reform etc. However the focus of the historical cost
convention is on recording of assets since there is more temptation of over valuing assets in the
A big shortcoming of this concept is that during inflation, historical cost will not reflect the true value of
the asset to the business. The true value is not reflected. For instance if an asset was bought for Shs.
1,000,000 at the beginning of the year and the annual inflation rate is 90%, its value at the end of the
year will be Shs. 1,900,000. The historical cost concept will require 1,000,000 and not 1,900,000 to be
recorded. There has been debate on the validity of the historical cost concept. Those in favour of it
argue that departing from the historical cost will open room for subjectivity in valuing assets. According
to them, no other value is verifiable and objective like the historical cost. Verification of historical cost is
possible by examining purchase documents such as invoices, vouchers etc. Those against the historical
cost of course point out its inadequacy during inflation because it will not reflect the true value of the
asset. The compromise position is that the historical cost should be converted to current cost using price
or inflation indices.
Current Cost Accounting (CCA) statements are then disclosed side by side with historical cost statements
in order to afford users better evaluation. Historical cost statements being primary disclosure and
Specific accounting standards have been developed for preparing accounts and reporting under
inflationary environment. Details of inflation accounting standards are taught in the third year of
1.7.6. Realization
This concept demands that accountants recognize income as earned only when a sale has been made
and the goods have been accepted by the customer or services have been offered and enjoyed by
customers or where value has been created by a transaction and legal rights and obligations have
resulted. Gains that result from operations like selling goods and services are called operating gains and
are recorded as income in the income statement. Income is recognized when the customer has accepted
the goods/services and is obliged to pay for them. Holding gains that arise from an asset that has
appreciated but is not sold is not realized income and should not be recorded in the income statement.
It should be separate from operating gains. The aim is to deter accountants from exaggerating incomes
by adding those not realized or distorting reporting of actual operating income by mixing extra ordinary
items.
There is no major problem with the realization concept, however question debated is that which point in
time should income be recognized as earned'. The majority argue that income should be recognized
when a sale has been made and title has passed. Others argue that income should be recognized when
the goods have been shipped or dispatched to the customer and he/she has been invoiced and there is a
strong likelihood of amounts being collected i.e absence of bad debts. To them recognizing income
immediately a credit sale is made without money actually being received or the prospect of receiving it
being high is deceptive and gives a false cash flow position of the business. In accounting, those who
push for income to be recognized when a sale has been made prevail over those who want it recognized
when cash has been received or strong certainty income existing. This is reinforced by the accrual
concept.
1.7.7 Accrual
According to this concept, income is recorded as earned even though it might have not been received
cash provided there is right to income (see realization concept). The portion of income that has not been
received cash is recorded as an asset (accrued income or trade receivables). Likewise expenses or costs
should be recorded and recognized as incurred although cash might have not been paid in respect of
those expenses or costs in case those expenses were not paid cash they should be recorded as liabilities
(accruals or accrued expenses). Accrual concept does bring out the view that there is no exact
coincidence between the right to receive income and the actual receipt of that income cash and likewise
there is no exact coincidence between the obligation to pay an expense and the actual cash payment.
Transactions occur but cash payments or receipts may be deferred.^ Accrual is one of the most
fundamental ones in many countries accounting standards. Accrual basis accounting whereby both
incomes and expenses are recognized without cash necessarily changing hands is upheld and prevails
over cash basis accounting where only transactions involving cash movement are recognized and
recorded. Lack of observing the accrual concept will narrow the scope of accounting to preparing the
cashbook. Trade receivables and trade payables ledgers for example will not be prepared and to assume
that only cash and not credit transactions will result is farfetched. .
There is no major criticism of this concept just like the realization concept, however when preparing a
cash flow statement which shows the actual or expected cash flow position of the enterprise, accrued
items should be eliminated. Investment decisions are based on the available or expected cash, accrued
This concept requires accurate matching of expenses against incomes by writing off only those costs or
expenses that were incurred in generating specific income for the period ended. Costs or expenses paid
should be adjusted for any part-period that does not relate to the overall period. For instance if income
of Shs. 50,000,000 was earned during a particular financial year and rent of 1,800,000 had been paid for
one and half years. Not all Shs.1,800,000 should be written off or subtracted from 50,000,000 because
part of the rent is for another financial year. Since the rent was paid for 18 months, monthly rent is
100,000. For one financial year (12 months) the rent is 1,200,000. The correct amount to be subtracted
from income of 50,000,000 is 1,200,000 and not 1,800,000. The difference of 600,000 is recorded as
prepaid rent. Likewise if electricity expense paid was 500,000 but some electricity equivalent to 200,000
was used but not paid, that amount should as well be matched against that income. The amount of
The matching concept and indeed the accrual concept are very important in the preparation of the
conservatism or prudence concept it is good practice to follow a procedure that tends to understate
a) An accountant should not anticipate revenues and profits until realized but should provide, for
all possible losses. Provisions for bad debts are created and written off from profits for: this reason.
Provisions are also made for all known contingent liabilities in order to be prudent or conservative.
b) If there are two or more methods of valuing an asset, an accountant should choose a method or
base that leads to a lower value. Rules 'like the lower of cost or market value' stem from this
concept i.e you record an asset either at cost or market value whichever is lower. This would of
course contradict the historical cost concept that insists that assets must be recorded at historical
costs. Let us assume for example, though it rarely occurs that, market values are lower than the
historical costs, the statement of financial position would carry market values. There would be a
Other than being inconsistent with the historical cost concept, conservatism concept has also been
criticized for discourages optimism, ambition, creativity and innovation because it requires accountants
to behave in a conservative manner. Even in ordinary use of the word, being conservative means sticking
to old ways of doing things, intransigence ie. Reluctant to embrace change etc. If somebody tells you
that you are conservative, you will not have a good taste for that and will not filter in-well within you .
This concept has been criticized for discouraging ambition and challenging of existing literature and has
This concept is also at fault because it gives the impression that while overstatement of assets or
earnings is bad, understatement is not bad and may be a positive virtue. Deliberate misstatement in
either direction i.e on the higher or lower sides should not be condoned. Unwarranted conservatism in
1.7.10. Consistency
It states that once a particular accounting method or base has been selected and has become
accounting policy, it must be applied continuously or consistently from year to year. Changes in
accounting methods or policies are permitted only if there are justifiable reasons for doing so for
instance if the old ones have become inappropriate for the present circumstances. When a change is
made, the effect of the change on the reported net profit and statement of financial position if material
Many accounting bases are allowed for instance in valuing inventory, FIFO, LIFO, weighted average cost
etc may be used and in the depreciation of fixed assets, straight line, declining balance, sum of years
digits etc may be applied what the consistency concept requires is that once management has chosen
one of those methods and has become an accounting policy, it must be applied on a consistent basis.
Switching from one method to another will cause distortions in financial reporting.
This will prevent accurate analysis of a company's accounts over time. Inter period comparisons and
intercompany comparisons will be difficult if some companies keep changing their accounting policies.
The consistency concept also requires that similar items should have the same treatment.
Consistency is one of the most fundamental concepts required by UK and international accounting
This concept makes financial reporting mandatory and is enshrined in the Companies Act of Uganda and
of many other countries. At the end of an accounting or financial year (may not be a calendar year but
twelve months), a company must prepare and disclose financial statements. Publishing annual accounts
is made an obligation by this concept. Disclosure can be made more than once a year if the accountant
so wishes. If interim accounts are to be published, it is n6"t discouraged. Non disclosure even once a
year is illegal. All material information must be disclosed, an accountant must not be seen to be hiding
1.7.12. Materiality
It requires recognition of only material items and excluding immaterial or trivial items or matters.
Information is material if it is able to influence the decision. For instance if the cost of recording certain
items is not justifiable, then they should be left out. Take an example of buying a razor blade at Shs.50
for the business from your own money, it is immaterial to record that amount in the cashbook or as your
asset. Some assets like good will and some low value assets are written off in the profit and loss account
rather than being included as assets in the statement of financial position because of materiality
consideration. Departures from good accounting practice that are not material should also be ignored.
The concept of materiality has to be applied with some caution because there is no threshold or
quantitative guidelines for judging whether an asset is material or not. Materiality is a matter of
1.7.13. Objectivity
It states that whatever figure is recorded in accounting books and financial statements must have clear
criteria or yardstick for its measurement. Figures must have a basis for arriving at them but not simply
planted into financial statements. Accountants must be able to defend figures in financial statements
This concept aims at eliminating subjectivity and free accounting information from bias. The entire
concept is reflected in all the others and other forms of accounting regulations. The preparation of
judging the materiality of amounts or issues. While personal discretion cannot be done away with
completely, accounts should be prepared with minimum amount of bias and the maximum amount of
overall objectivity.
It requires a transaction to be recorded twice (dual recording). The rule is a recognition that every
transaction involves giving and receiving effect. When somebody gives something another must receive
it. This is in effect a requirement for double entry book keeping. Double entry is a principle rule or
principle in accounting and is thoroughly explored in later chapters. For now it suffices to mention that
the receiving account is debited while the giving account is credited. Double entry therefore means that
one account is debited while another is credited. The meaning of debit and credit are also explained in
later chapters.
It states that transactions and other events should be accounted for and presented in accordance with
their substance and financial reality and not merely with their legal form. For instance if you buy a motor
vehicle for your business on hire purchase, when you make a down payment you can be given the
vehicle to use as you continue making installment payments. The registration book, which is evidence of
ownership, will not be released to you until you make the last installment payment. The lawyers say that
title passes on fully paying up. The question then is, how do you account for such a vehicle, should you
make it off-statement of financial position i,e not to record in your statement of financial position.
Substance over form gives the answer as follows. The substance and reality is that you are using the
vehicle in your business so it's a business asset and should be recorded in its books and statements. You
should stop worrying about legalities of title passing after all you will complete installment payments
1.7.16. Relevance
According to this concept the overall message that the accounts are trying to relay may be obscured if
too much information is presented. Accounting statements should contain only information that
complies strictly with the specific requirements of the user. This concept is at times combined with
materiality concept.
Activity
Having looked at the accounting principles, qualitative characteristic, users and so forth, we now have to
Accounting rules are imposed on accountants in order to make sure that their reporting is free from
bias. Accounting legislation requires financial accounts be prepared and presented in conformity with
GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). GAAP refers to accounting principles or practices that
are regarded permissible by the accounting profession. The rule may be derived from national company
legislation (company’s Act), National and international accounting standards, statutory requirements in
other countries, inventory exchange etc. The key terms used in accounting regulatory framework
include:
Accounting bases
Accounting policies
Accounting standards
Also known as accounting concepts, conventions or postulates, are basic ground rules which must be
followed when financial accounts are being prepared and presented. They are also referred to as
assumptions or prepositions that underlie the preparation and presentation of financial reports. Most of
"These are methods developed for applying fundamental concepts to financial transactions and items
• For determining the accounting periods in which revenue and costs should be recognized in the profit
• For determining the amounts at which material items should be stated in the statement of financial
position.
These are the specific accounting bases selected and consistently followed by a business enterprise as
being in the opinion of management, appropriate to its circumstances and best suited to present fairly
These are guideline statements or rules issued by professional accounting bodies governing accounting
practice, relating to how accounts should be prepared and presented. These may be developed both at
local level and international level. In Uganda the professional body responsible for issue of accounting
standards is the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) and internationally there is
the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB ). The IASB develops IFRS’s (International Financial
Reporting Standards) through an international process which involves the world wide accountancy
profession, preparers, users of financial statements and national standard setting bodies. Prior to 2003
standards were issued as International Accounting Standards (IAS) and all new standards issued
To develop in the public interest, a single set of high quality, understandable and enforceable
information.
Below is a list of the full range of that are currently in use and examinable at your level, as you proceed
with accounting you will meet other several IAS’s and IFRS’s;
IAS 2-Inventories
IAS-18 Revenue
Much as accounting concepts are credited with ensuring reliability of accounting information, they fall
variety of methods or bases. It is therefore possible for accountants to prepare different statements
(content) from the same data while conforming to the concepts mentioned above.
Accounting standards ensure uniformity and therefore comparability of accounting statements, which is
very important to the users. This is because practicing accountants who must be members of a
professional accountancy bodies are obliged to adopt the same accounting practice/treatment.
Accounting standards harmonize accounting policies and accounting treatments or practices that would
allow variations. For instance, in order to value inventory, you could use FIFO, LIFO, weighted average
cost method etc. These methods lead to different values of inventorys. In order to discourage
differences in value of the same inventory, an accounting standard on inventory valuation will specify
If accounting standards are not in force it is possible for less efficient firms using less rigorous accounting
methods to present accounts overstating their financial performance and therefore divert capital to
themselves at the expense of those companies that have adopted more rigorous accounting methods.
Users of accounts such as prospective shareholders or investors examine the accounts of companies
that they want to invest in or subscribe to their shares. Accounts of companies must therefore be
comparable so that the differences will only be on financial performance and not due to the accounting
methods or bases used. For this reason inventory exchanges require companies that quote on it to apply
rigorous accounting standards. Governments also in order to protect its citizens from doctored accounts
require companies to adopt proper accounting standards and accounting methodology specified in
Companies Acts.
Accounting standards specify the accounting concepts to be regarded as fundamental. You can observe
from the above that accounting concepts are very many. Requiring members to observe all of them will
be expecting too much. Accounting standards focus on some core concepts that members are obliged to
apply while preparing and presenting financial statements and in disclosing their accounting policies.
IAS 1- presentation of financial statements identifies four fundamental principles that must be
Going concern.
Accrual
Consistency
Conservatism (prudence)
IAS I also recognizes Conservatism (Prudence), Substance over form and Materiality as important
It should be noted that the above mentioned concepts do not constitute Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles (GAAP). Those concepts are only fundamental in countries where those standards are
enforced. In fact those standards are criticized for limiting recognition of accounting concepts to only a
Besides the accounting standards mentioned above, there are many others on specific items. A more
detailed treatment of these standards is handled in the third year of study for accounting students.
Activity:
1. Which IAS deals with accounting assumptions?
2. Outline the assumptions included in IAS 1.
3. What is meant by the following?
- Going concern
- Prudence
4. Making an allowance for receivables is an example of which concept?
5. Why is the regulatory framework necessary?
Sole traders
Partnerships
Sole traders are people who work for themselves e.g local shopkeeper, plumber, hair dresser etc. The
term sole trader refers to the ownership of the business and sole traders can have employees.
Partnerships occur when two or more people decide to run a business together e.g an accountancy
Limited liability companies are incorporated to take advantage of limited liability of their owners
(shareholders). This means that while sole traders and partners are personally responsible for the
amounts owed by the business, the shareholders of a limited liability company are only responsible to
In law sole traders and partnerships are not separate entities from their owners but a limited liability
company is legally a separate entity from its owners and it can issue contracts in the company’s name.
For accounting purposes, all three entities are treated as separate from their owners.
d) The company is taxed as a separate entity from its owners and the tax rate on companies may be
They have to publish annual financial statements so anyone including competitors can see how
Their financial statements have to comply with legal and accounting requirements
Financial statements have to be audited, this can be inconvenient, time consuming and
expensive.
Share issues are regulated by law so it is difficult to reduce the share capital.
CHAPTER TWO:
- Introduction
- Accounting equation
- Accounts
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
2.0 Introduction
In the last chapter, we saw the framework within which accountants are supposed to present financial
accountability. In this chapter, we will ably show that the whole of financial accounting is based on a
very simple idea - the accounting equation. We shall pay attention to the way business transactions are
The statement of financial position of an enterprise is a statement of the financial position of that
enterprise at a given date. It represents the assets and liabilities of that business. The accounting
The accounting equation is the elementary presentation of the statement of financial position. It
consists of three elements: the assets, liabilities and owners equity. The assets are the resources that are
owned by the business while liabilities and owners equity represent who supplied the resources.
We shall start by showing how to account for business transactions from the time trading begins.
In business where the equity (capital) is contributed by the owner solely the resources owned will be
equal to what the owner invested. (Assets = Equity). However most business concerns have liabilities
and therefore, resources are supplied by the owner and liabilities Like Trade trade payables/ Accounts
payable.
Owner's equity represents the resources that are invested by the owner. It variously means claims from
the business by the owners. It is Capital introduced in the business by owners and is intended to remain
in the business for as Long as it continues to exist (see Going Concern Principle in Chapter 1).
We define capital as that wealth which is set aside to assist in the creation of further wealth. In the sole
proprietorship business owners equity comprises of the individual funds contributed while in the
company owners equity comprises of preference and ordinary share capital, reserves (retained earnings,
Assets
Anything that is= Liabilities + Owners equity
owned by the What the business Owner’s funds
business owes others invested in the
business
OR
OR
IllustrationExample
Mukasa is a sole trader who set up his business in Kisenyi. The following were the transactions that took
iii) Bought a Motor vehicle for business operations using the cash at bank of 2,000,000
iv) Sold goods to James for 600,000 cash which had cost-him 500,000
vii) Used business cash of 300,000 to buy for hi's wife and children Christmas clothes
Required Construct an accounting equation for each of the transactions above and extract prepare a
i)
Cash 10,000,000
30,000,000 30,000,000
ii)
iii)
iv)
Assets = Liabilities + Owners equity
M/vehicle 2,000,000
Inventory 2,500,000 Trade trade payables Capital 30,000,000
Bank 18,000,000 3,000,000 Profit 100,000
Cash 10,600,000
33,100,000 33,100,000
V)
Assets = Liabilities + Owners equity
M/vehicle 2,000,000
Inventory 2,500,000 Trade trade payables Capital 30,000,000
Bank 18,000,000 3,000,000 Profit 50,000
Cash 10,550,000
33,050,000 33,050,000
VI)
33,050,000 33,050,000
vii)
Illustration TwoExample
Mukwano is a businessperson dealing in general merchandise .Below is the transactions for the month
of January .Show the accounting equation and the balance-sheet for the transactions below,
ii) A motor vehicle of 10,000,000 was bought on credit from Lonhro ltd
vii)Secured a DFCU loan of 5,000,000, which was deposited on his bank account to be paid within one
year.
x) He used the business debit card to withdraw 1,000,000 for buying, a mobile phone for his girl friend.
Solution
i)
Bank 20,000,000
50,000,000 50,000,000
ii)
iii)
iv)
V)
vi)
x)
Conclusion
In the foregoing chapter, we have been able to demonstrate the fundamental accounting equation
that is the pivotal of the statement of financial position. It is a fact that the totals of each side of the
statement of financial position will always equal one another, and this will always be true no matter
how many transactions there may be! The actual assets, capital and liabilities may change, but the
total of the assets will always equal the total of capital and liabilities.
Example 1:
John starts a business. The business starts by owning the cash that John has put into it, if its say shs
2,500,000. The business is a separate entity from John so it owes shs 2,500,000 to John as capital
Capital is an investment of money with intention of earning a return. In the above example capital
Example 2:
From example 1 above, If john purchases a market stall at shs 1,800,000 and also some flowers at
shs 650,000. This leaves a balance of Shs 50,000 in cash after paying for these items. This alters the
Flowers 650,000
Cash 50,000
If John sells the flowers for shs 900,000 cash, he earns a profit of (900,000 – 650,000 = 250,000). If
this profit is not used to pay anything out to John it is called retained profits and is an addition to the
proprietor’s capital.
Drawings are amounts taken out of the business by the owner. Since John made a profit of shs 250,000,
he may withdraw shs 180,000 for himself, this is not an expense, it just reduces the retained profit. The
NOTE: You should now know that when business transactions are accounted for it should be possible to
restate the assets and liabilities after the transaction has taken place and in all cases the accounting
Trade accounts payables are liabilities and trade accounts receivables are assets. A payable is a person
to whom a business owes money. In accounts of a business debts still outstanding from the purchase of
materials, components or goods for resale are called trade accounts payable
Just as a business might buy goods on credit, so too might sell goods to customers on credit. A customer
who buys goods without paying for them cash straight away is a receivable. So the amounts owed by
Activity:
From example of john above; if he realizes that he is going to need more money in the business and
ii) He persuades his uncle Henry to lend him shs 500,000 immediately
iii) He decides to buy a van to pick up flowers from his supplier and bring them to the stall at Shs
Required: State the accounting equation in each of the three cases above.
Assets: are defined as economic resources which are owned by the business and are expected to benefit
future operations. Assets are also defined as anything of value that is owned by the organization
The assets may exist in their physical form such as the buildings and machinery while other assets may
not physically exist for example investments in the treasury bills amounts due to customers.
We classify assets as
Current assets
Noncurrent assets/ Fixed Assets: are assets which will be used in the business for a number of years
specifically for not more than one year. Examples of noncurrent assets are Motor vehicles. Buildings,
Current assets: are assets that will be easily realized (turned into cash) or are quickly consumed in the
operation of the business. The current assets have a short Life and are expected to be consumed within
a period of one year. Current assets are short-term assets. Examples of current assets include A/Cs
receivables /Trade trade receivables, Inventory/inventory, Bank, Prepaid expenses. Accrued Income,
Cash at hand.
Liabilities: These obligations transfer out organization's economic benefits. They are amounts owed or
debts to other organizations - in short, the financial obligations of a business .Liabilities are classified
Current liabilities
Current liabilities: These are obligations, which have to be settled within a period of one year. They are
payable by the business within one year of the statement of financial position date. Examples include
A/Cs payable/ Trade trade payables, prepaid incomes, accrued expenses, short-term loans and bank
overdrafts.
Non-current /long-term liabilities: are obligations that have to be settled within a period of more tfian
one year. So they are payable by the business at a date more that one year from the statement of
financial position date. Examples include long-term bank loans, capital, debentures, and so on.
Exercises.
Multiple-choice questions
b) Machinery
c) Cash at bank
d) Motor vehicles,
e) None
(c) Liabilities + Assets = Capital (d) Liabilities + Capital = Assets (e) None
4) Given the following, what is the amount of capital? Assets: Premises UGX.20M, Inventory UGX.8.5M,
(a) None (b) UGX.21.1M (c) UGX.21.6M (d) UGX.32.4M (e) UGX.35.6M
The following are incorrect except; ffcfy a Profit increases capital (c) Profit reduces capital
(b) Profit does not alter capital (d) Capital only comes from profit.
(a) Goods sold on credit (b) Sale of an item previously included in purchases,
-(c) Purchases by Peter from us (d) Office fixtures sold (e) None
while in the company owner's equity comprises of preference and ordinary share capital, and
d) It is correct only that we should remove preference (e) Me, I do not know
89) The accounting equation is the elementary presentation of the statement of financial position. It
consists of
(a) Assets ' (b Revenue (c) liabilities (d) Equity interest (e) None
9) Non-current/long term liabilities are obligations that have to be settled within a period of more than
one year. So they are-payable by the business at a date more that one year from the statement of
financial position date. The following are examples except (a) Long-term bank loans (b) capital (c)
10) In business where the equity (capital) is contributed by the owner solely the following will
not be true;
(a) Motor vehicle (b) Incomes . (c) Rent (d) (a) (e) (b) & (c)
Other Questions
1. Newton is a businessperson in Masaka. The following were transactions that transpired in the
!
iii) He bought land using a bank loan of 4,000,000 to be repaid in 2 years
iv) Sold inventory, of goods 40.0,000 cash which had cost him 300,000
vii) To ease the transportation of inventory he bought a motor vehicle using cash 3,000,000
Required: Construct an accounting equation for each the above transactions and the statement of
2. Muggaga is an Entrepreneur owning a manufacturing firm in the industrial area .The following
i)Started business with 100,000,000 on his bank account obtained as a retirement benefit.
iii) Rent out part of the of the building and received 4,000,000 cash
iv) He bought a computer from Copy cat ltd for storing the company's records paying 2,000,000 cash and
vi) vi) He withdrew 600,000 to shop for his concubine in the Garden city vii) Obtained a mortgage from
Housing finance of 22,000,000 cash viii) Paid fuel of 200,000 cash and parking tickets of 40,000 cash
Required Construct an accounting equation for each of the above transactions and extract a Statement
business transaction has been evolved to provide the arithmetic check regarding the accurate and complete
record of these transactions. We state that every business transaction requires two entries, which are
named as a debit and credit entries. These two entries are made in the ledger, which has two sides - the left
hand side being the debit and the right hand side being the credit.
In a transaction, the total amounts on the credit side must equal the total amounts on the debit side. If
double entry rule is not complied with the account will not balance and finally the statement of financial
position. Double entry book keeping is based on the idea that each transaction has equal but opposite
effect.
• Every business transaction has at least two effects on the accounting elements. This dual effect
• In double-entry accounting, both effects of a transaction are recorded in the accounting records.
Example:
A firm buys equipment on credit. The asset Equipment increases, and the liability Accounts payable/
trade payables increase. In double-entry accounting, it is necessary to record both the increase in the
Increase an asset
Decrease a liability
Increase an expense
Decrease an asset
Increase a liability
Increase income
The basic rule which must always be observed is that every financial transaction gives rise to two
2.4 Accounts
Definition: A separate record that is kept of the increase and decrease in each asset, each liability, and
• A firm must have a well-organized accounting system with detailed Information about the effects of
• The effects of transactions can be recorded by updating the accounting equation. However, this is
May be kept by hand in a bound book or tooseloose-leaf binder, or they may be part of a computer
system.
There are various forms used for ledger (to be explored later in detail) accounts, A common
Account title and number are located at the top and identify each account as an asset, liability, or aspect
of owner's equity.
The debit side and the credit side of an account contain the following columns:
T- Accounts:
Simplified version of the standard form of account for learning purposes. Looks like the capital letter T.
Title of Account
The left side of any account is the debit side, and the right side is the credit side.
* To debit an account is to enter an amount on the left, or debit side.
* To credit an account is to enter an amount on the right, or credit side. * Dr used for debit
The rule of debit and credit are based on the location of assets, liabilities, and owner's equity. Recall;
Assets:
Assets Account
Debit Credit
+ -
Liabilities and owners equity appear on right side of the accounting equation.
* Accounts increase on the right, or credit side.( To record an increase in Liabilities and owners equity)
* Accounts decrease on the left, or debit side. .( To record a decrease in Liabilities and owners equity)
- + - +
Note: Debit and credit do not necessarily mean increase and decrease. They mean Left and right.
Recording transactions
a) Ali Musa starts a traveL agency with an investment of UGX25, 000 in cash. The owner's investment
increases the assets cash by UGX25, 000. Assets accounts are debited to record an increase. Thus, the
(a) Entry
+ - -+
Ali Musa buys a computer and other office equipment for the business for UGX 9,000 on credit. The
asset office equipment increased by UGX9, 000 and Asset accounts are debited to record an increase.
Thus, the office equipment account must be debited for UGX9, 000. The liability accounts payable
increases by UGX9, 000. Liability accounts are credited to record an increase. Thus, the accounts
(b) Entry
Ali Musa buys offices supplies for the business for UGX 300 in cash. The assets office supplies are
debited to record an increase. Thus, the office supplies account must be debited with UGX, 300.
The asset office supplies increases by UGX 300 and cash reduces by UGX 300
( c ) Entry
+ - +-
Ali Musa pays UGX 3000 of the amount her business owes for office equipment previously brought on
credit. The liability payable decreases by UGX3000. Thus, the account payable must be debited for
UGX3000. The asset cash decreases by UGX3000. Assets accounts are credited to record a decrease.
(d) Entry
3000
The Shilling amounts of the debits and credits must be equal when transactions are recorded.
Checking that the same sides of the accounting equation are equal is a way of verifying the
mathematical accuracy of the transactions that have been recorded. In double-entry accounting, a debit
recorded in one account must be matched by a credit record in another account. Making equal debit
and credit entries for each transaction keeps the accounting equation in balance.
Owners' equity increases with revenue or reduces when the owner withdraws cash or other assets and
Revenue is the income earned from carrying out the main activities of the business, such as Selling
goods or services.
Definition: accounts whose balance will be transferred to the owner's capital account at the end of the
accounting period.
Includes;
Expense account
Revenue account
It is not practical to mix the owner's investment together with revenue, expenses, and withdrawal in
one account. A better practice is to enter only transactions involving the owner's investment in the
owner's capital account and use separate accounts to record other owner's equity transactions.
The rules of debiting and crediting revenue and expense accounts are based on the relationship of these
Revenue accounts
Like an investment by the owner, revenue increases owner's equity. The rules are the same as the rules
for debiting and crediting the owner's capital account. Increase on the credit side and decrease on the
debit side.
Expenses account
An expense decreases owner's equity. The rules are the opposite of those for debiting and crediting
owner's capital account. Increase on the debit side and decrease on the credit side.
The increase and decrease sides of the revenue accounts are the same as those of the owner's capital
account.
- + -+
The increase and decrease sides of the expense accounts are opposite of the owner's capital account.
- + + -
Revenue transactions
(e) Ali Musa receives fees of UGX 4, 000 in cash during the first month of her firm's operations.
The asset cash increases by UGX 4, 000. Asset accounts are debited to record an increase. Thus, the cash
Revenue accounts are credited to record an increase. Thus, the fees earned or whatever form of
Revenue (we shall later call this sales revenue) account must be credited for UGX4, 000.
(e) Entry
- + -+
Expense transactions
(f) Ali Musa pays the monthly rent of UGX700 for her office.
The expenses of the business increase by UGX700. Expense account must be debited for UGX700.
Expense accounts are debited to record an increase. Thus the rent expense account must be debited for
UGX 700
The asset cash decreases by UGX700. Asset accounts are credited to record a decrease. Thus, the cash
(f) Entry
+ - +-
700 700
Recording withdrawals
When the owner withdraws cash or other assets for personal use, it is possible to record the
However, it is better to use a separate temporary owner's equity account called a drawings account.
Because withdrawals by the owner decrease owner's equity, the drawing account increases on the debit
side. The rule for increasing the owner's drawing account is the opposite of the rule for increasing the
Ali Musa withdraws UGX1, 000 for her personal use during the first month of her firm's operations. The
withdrawal by the owner results in a UGX1, 000 increase in the drawings account The drawings account
is debited to record an increase. Thus, Ali Musa, drawing must be debited for UGX1, 000. The assets
cash decreases by UGX 1,000. Assets accounts are credited to record a decrease. Thus, the cash account
Remember in double-entry accounting, the total debits in the ledger accounts must always equal the
total credits. For that matter, this equality in form a trial balance will be illustrated in the next chapter.
Chart of account balance
An account usually has more increases than decreases. Thus, the normal balance of an account is on the
Example: assets accounts increase on the debit side and their normal balance is a debit balance.
Type of account
+ - Normal
Side Side Balance
Debit Credit Debit
Credit - Debit Credit
Credit Debit* Credit
Debit Credit Debit
Credit Debit Credit
Debit Credit Debit
Conclusion
As a learner, you must master the double entry principle. This chapter is, in fact, key to the following
chapters.
Exercise
1. Show the following transactions, as they are entered in the double entry system
f) Some furniture, which had cost UGX 3,000, sold for cash at cost.
CHAPTER THREE
Chapter Outline:
- Introduction
- The journal
- Bank statement
- Petty cash
Learning objectives
1. Classify accounts
5. Prepare a trial balance and a simple statement of financial position there from.
3.0 Introduction
All business transactions will be ultimately recorded in a main book of accounts. In this chapter, we
introduce the books kept by an enterprise and economic transactions recorded there. We shall
acknowledge and illustrate that the ledger is the main book accounts.
3.1 Subsidiary books and sources of information
As transactions occur; business papers are prepared as evidence of the transactions. We call these
business papers source documents. All entries made in the ledger (the use of which we shall come to
shortly) accounts are first recorded in some other books which are known as subsidiary books, B
These books are used to reduce the bulk of the work in the" ledger. This procedure also enables
different staff members to work simultaneously as they can work on different books. We post the
transactions recorded in the subsidiary books to the ledger accounts at the end of every month and in
case of some transactions, only total amounts are posted. The books used to record all transactions of a
particular category prior posting to the ledgers are the books known as subsidiary books or books of
The purchase daybook or journal; this book records the details of all goods purchased on credit.
Sales daybook or journal; this book records the details and amounts of all goods sold on credit.
Purchases return book or returns outwards journal; this book records the details and amounts of
Sales return book or return inwards journal; this books records the details and amounts of goods
Petty cash book; this book records the small cash receipts or payments. This books is also used to
Journal or diary; the journal is that daybook in which we can record the details of any transaction that
cannot be recorded in any other subsidiary book. We call all other books of original entry the
division of journal for recording specific type of transactions. The main uses of the journal are the
following.
transactions and we call these business papers source documents. Source documents should be the
basis for recording transactions and this conforms to the principle of objective evidence. Documentary
evidence must support all entries in the books of account. We use the following documents for this
purpose.
1) Invoice - Shows the claim of money regarding the goods sold on credit. They are of two types
We write up the purchases daybook from the incoming invoices and the sales daybook from the
outgoing invoices. Then we post entries made in the purchase and sales daybooks in the ledger accounts
at the end of every month (usually). The term 'posting' means to record a transaction in a ledger account
from a book of original entry. We make the double entry as- under:-
2) Credit note - This shows the decrease in a claim of money. It is issued when part of the goods sold or
purchased are returned or price over-charged is reduced at a later stage. Credit notes may be of two kinds.
(i) Out going credit notes - These are sent to trade receivables
The returns out ward daybook is written up from the incoming credit notes and return in wards daybook
from the outgoing credit notes. We make the double entry as under;
At the end of the accounting period, the balances in returns account are transferred to the, trading
3) Debit note or supplementary invoice - The seller sends this document to the buyer to correct for
under under-charge on the original invoice. Treat the Debit note in exactly the same way as an invoice.
4) Statement of account - the seller sends the statement of account to the buyer at the end of the
every month and it indicates the amount due from the buyer. He/she sends this statement to remind to
5) Remittance advice note - This is a note sent by the buyer to the seller together with a cheque at the
end of the month and shows the details of the items against which that payment is made.
they occur. Businesses maintain several types of journals and the nature of operations determine the
number and the types of journals needed. The journal was once the most used book in bookkeeping, but
today entries in the journal are limited to records of 'unusual' transactions, which are improperly
recorded in any of other books of original entry that will be described. Such transactions are those which
do not purely involve the receipt or payment of money (whether in cash or through the bank), and which
are not credit sales or purchases or returns inwards or returns. However the types of Journals are;
a) General journal
d) Cash book -,
Before looking at the Journals in details, it is important that we understand the place of the journal-in
the accounting process. After the occurrence and documentation of the business transaction it is
recorded in the books of account. Transactions are first recorded in the journal and then posted to "the
ledger. Recall that a business transaction is defined as an event, which can be expressed in money form
and must be recorded in the accounting books. The relationship between the transactions of a business,
the journal and the ledger can be discerned from the following diagram.
All business transactions
We can also use this journal for all types of transactions with two money columns, although in the
diagram above we have said it used to record other types of transaction other than those specifically
b) Write the name of the account to be debited and record -the amount in the first money column
c) Write the name of the account to be credited in the second money column
d. A brief explanation is given about the transaction immediately after the account is credited
e. Journals have a Ledger page column .This column provides a convenient cross-reference with the
ledger.
Let us now illustrate the operation of the general journal using the following transactions
IllustrationExample
The following were the transactions of XYZ ltd for the month of January
i) On January 1st XYZ ltd started business with cash of UGX 2,000,000 and money at the bank of UGX
3,000,000
iii) 6th Jan Bought a Motor vehicle for UGX 1,500,000 by cheque >
vii) 23rd Jan Sold goods for UGX 200,000 on credit to Mary
x) 29th Jan purchased goods from John on credit for UGX 300,000
In almost all businesses sales will be made on credit .The sales day book is used for recording the credit sales
Name of the customer .The person who bought the goods on credit (individual or company)
Invoice number .The number on the sales invoice. A sales invoice is a document showing details of goods
Folio column
IllustrationExample
i) On May 1st soLd goods to Jackie of UGX 400,000 and the invoice number was Oil
ii) On May 4th sold goods to James of UGX 300,000, invoice number 016
iii) On 7th sold goods to Peter UGX 700,000, invoice number 018
iv) On 10th sold goods to Meyer UGX 500,000 invoice number 020
customer ol
io
1,900,000
The purchases daybook is book of original entry for recording goods bought on credit. The purchases
• Date
• Name of creditor
• Invoice number
• Folio column
• Amount
Another illustrationexample
The company bought the following goods on credit in the month of May.
i) On May 3rd bought goods from Stephen for UGX l,5QO,000, invoice number 10.
ii) On 7th purchased from Brian for UGX 3,000,000/invoice number 14.
iii) On 20th purchased from Derrick for UGX 2,000,000,invoice number 18.
iv) On 22nd bought goods from Adrian for UGX 700,000 ,invoice number 20.
number o
3rd
- 7,200,000
D)3.3.4 Cashbook
Although this is a major topic (Chapter 8) in its own right, it is introduced here as one of the specialized
journals. The cashbook is a book of original entry for recording cash and bank transactions. It shows the
business receipts and payments. It is also a day book used to keep a record of money received and money
paid out by the business. We also classify a cashbook as a ledger. A cashbook can have two columns or three
columns.
i) Two-column cashbook
The two-column cashbook has the bank and cash column both on the debit and credit side. The
Title
Date Particulars Cash Bank Date Particulars Cash Bank
1st 3rd
6th
The particulars column of the cashbook just contains the name of the other accounts and tracing such
accounts may be difficult .Folio columns will indicate where we find such accounts when we need more
information.
The three-column cashbook has additional columns of discount received and discount allowed column in
Discount allowed. This is the discount (reduction in the prices) that is given to customers by the
business. It reduces the amount paid by the customer. We enter the discounts allowed in the discount
paid to suppliers. The discounts received are entered in the discounts column on the credit side of the
cashbook.
IllustrationExample
The company purchased goods on credit from Man/ for UGX2, 000,000.
i) The company was able to pay on 4 May (in time) using a cheque and therefore qualified for a
discount of 5%. ii) The company has a debtor 3ohn whose balance was 1)0X200,^000. He paid cash on
10 April (in time) and this made him qualify for discount of 2%.
Required: Show how the above transactions will appear in the cashbook
i, Discount received
The amount of money that the company paid to Mary amounted to 2,000,000-100,000 =1,900,000
The discount allowed is UGX 4,000 (will appear in the discount column on the debit side of the cash
book)
Three-column cashbook
Date Details Discount Cash Bank Date Details Discount Cash Bank
4 n
Exercise: Refer to the General Journal of Kyeswa Ltd and prepare a Cash book Note: we shall come to a
This can be received by a business either weekly or monthly. It is used to check that the amount shown
as a balance in the cash book agrees with the amount on the bank statement and that no cash has gone
Most businesses keep petty cash on the premises which is topped up from the main bank account under
the imprest system. This is where an agreed sum is kept so that each topping is equal to the amount paid
out in the period. The recording is done in a petty cash book which is a cash book for small claims. The
The returns day books record goods, which have been returned to and by the business These books are:
Return inwards refers to goods which have been sold but have been returned to the business .When the
goods are returned and the amounts are refunded, a credit note is issued to the customer .It is called a
credit note because the customer’s account will be credited. The returns on the credit notes will be
recorded in the:
Sales ledger (Trade receivables subsidiary ledgers) by crediting the individual customers accounts
IllustrationExample
i) On 3rd September David returned goods for UGX50,000 ,credit note number 012
ii) On 8th September Isaac returned goods for UGX80,000 ,credit note number 019 iii) On
iii) 20th September Deborah returned goods for UGX100,000, credit note number 020
The return outwards day book records the goods which have returned by the business to its suppliers.
When goods are returned, the business issues a debit note to the supplier and gives reasons for their
return.
IllustrationExample
i) On 4th May returned goods to peter of UGX80,OQO,debit note number 013 ii) On 28th May
returned goods to Ivan of UGXl30,000,debit note number 015 iii) On 30th May returned goods to Mark
accounting system the ledger is a book where the accounts are kept.
Activity:
2. What is the difference between a cash book and petty cash book?
The purpose of bookkeeping is to provide an accurate and detailed record of every transaction involving
the exchange of money or money's worth between the-enterprise and others, whether they are
individuals or organizations.
Before looking at the ledger however, it is important that the specialized meaning of certain words and
terms commonly used in bookkeeping and accounting be clearly understood. At this stage, the following
explanations should be thoroughly learnt to ensure that progress in learning will be rapid and easy; any
'skipping' through the explanations or an "I know it already" attitude at this stage can lead to
Assets: these are the possessions of an enterprise, that is, what it owns. Assets include actual cash
(currency notes and coins). They also include money in bank accounts; investment and, depending on
the type and size of an enterprise, land and buildings; plant, equipment and machinery. They include
in manufacturing goods; and anything else owned by the enterprise, which has monetary value,
including money owed to it by individuals, and other enterprises, and often called book debts.
What are called Non-current assets are items, which an enterprise acquires in order to be able to carry
out its activities, and they are usually acquired with the intention of their being retained for some time,
perhaps many years. The variety of such items is great and, depending on the type and size of the
particular enterprise, may range from desk to chair, type writers and other office equipment, to factory
buildings, machinery and plant, motor vehicles, etc; in fact any material item large or small in size or
value which assists the enterprise to run effectively and profitably. In some countries non-current assets
are called working assets because they enable the enterprise to perform its 'work'.
All other assets of an enterprise are called current assets, and their total value is constantly changing or
fluctuating with the day-to-day operations of the enterprise. Current assets include
inventorysinventories of goods and / or raw materials, cash and bank balances, debts owing to the
enterprise, etc, whose total values change daily as purchases and sales are made, as bills are paid and as
Liabilities: those are any sums, measured in monetary value, which an enterprise owes to others? that
is, they are the debts of the enterprise. Liabilities may include the values of goods, materials or services
paid for by customers but not yet provided to them; as well as bank overdrafts, and loans made to the
Trade receivables: are people and organizations who owe money or money's worth to the enterprise.
Trade receivables are mainly customers who have been supplied with goods or services 'on credit'. That
is, without having to pay for them at the time of sale; but can also be those to whom the enterprise has
loaned money and those who have been paid in advance for goods or services not yet provided (eg
insurance cover is usually-paid in advance for a whole year). Those who incur debts to a business as the
result of its normal business activities are commonly called 'trade trade receivables'. As mentioned
earlier, debts owing to an enterprise are assets; and sums owed by trade receivables (book debts) are
Trade payables: are people and organizations to which an enterprise owes money or money's worth.
Trade payables may be suppliers who have supplied goods, materials or services on credit. That is,
without demanding payment at the time of supply, or may be people who have paid in advance (e.g.
rent paid in advance to a land lord); both groups of whom are commonly referred to as trade payables.
They may also be banks or other financial institutions, which loaned money to the enterprise, or banks
which have permitted the enterprise to 'overdraw 1 its current account (a matter that is dealt with fully in
a later chapter). As already stated, all sums owed to trade payables are liabilities of an enterprise.
Capital is an essential prerequisite of any business enterprise; whatever it's intended or eventual size it
will require initial capital to enable it to commence its operations. Initial capital requirements will, vary
considerably, but money will be needed to acquire the necessary fixed assets as well as the relevant
Sufficient capital - 'working capital' - will also be required to finance the enterprise, that is, to meet all
the expenses which will be incurred (e g rent, salaries, electricity, advertising, etc) until sufficient income
from initial production and/or sakes is generated.Thegenerated. The amount of an enterprise's working
capital at any point in time is the total value of its current assets less the total value of its current
liabilities.
Income and expenditure: income is all the money, in whatever form, received by an enterprise; whilst
'expenditure' is all the money, in whatever form, paid out by the enterprise to enable it keep running -
its expenses.
Profit: enterprises - often called 'businesses' in the private sector- are started and run to make profits or
gains for their owners. Some people do not hold the 'profit motive' in esteem, and it is therefore worth
considering what profit is and how it arises. This will be dealt with later in the text. For now, we return to
the Ledger.
The books that are the subject of bookkeeping are referred to as the "books of accounts". The main book of
accounts is the ledger. In a summarized form it records andrecords and can provide all the following
information:-
(a) The total income of the business, and in general the different sources from which it is derived;
(b) The amounts involved in meeting each type of expense, and the total expenditure incurred by the
business;
(c) What assets are owned by the business, the values of each general type and the total value of all its
assets;
(d) The values of the different liabilities of the business, and the total value of all its liabilities;
(e) Who its trade receivables are, how much they owe to the business, and the total amount owed to the
business;
(f) Who the trade payables of the business are, how much is owed to each by the business, and the total
(g) Whether the business has made a profit or a loss during a given period of time, and the amount of that
profit or loss;
(h) The amount of working capital available to the business at the point in time
(i) A ledger comprises many different sections, each of which is called an account. In a ledger book, there
will usually be one account on each page of it; in a large business, each account may have its own card or
sheet - all the account - cards or account - sheets together jointly make up the business' ledger.
1. Each individual account is headed by a name or by a title. That name or title may be the name of a person
2. Only information about the transactions concerning the person, organization or item named
3. Each account must be kept separate, or treated separately, from all the other accounts in the Ledger, and
there must be only one account in the Ledger for any one particular person,
organization or item.
4. Each ledger account is divided into two sides by a Line - or by two close parallel (although for purposes of
this book, we one line) Lines - drawn down the middle of it, from top to bottom
5. The Left-hand side of an account is called its debit side, and it records all values received by
6. The right-hand side of an account is called its credit side, and it records all values given (or
paid out by) the person, organization or item named at its head.
In addition to a name or title, each account also has a number located to it; that number is called a folio or
an account number.
A specimen ledger account
Debit side (receipt) CLARENDON HOTEL credit side (value given out)
The transactions - or entries - are rarely recorded direct into the Ledger account. Generally, information
is first recorded in one of the 'subsidiary books' or 'day books' - which are collectively often called 'the
books of original entry. The information is then transferred, or 'posted', as the process is called in
The most commonly used subsidiary books are the cashbook, the sales book, the purchases book and
the returns inwards and outwards book, which have all been described in this chapter already.
Now let us turn to an examination of the specimen ledger account and note the meaning of the
following abbreviations used in the specimen account, and which will frequently be met with in
c/f - this is the abbreviation for "carried forward" and means that the figure, total or balance against
which it appears has been transferred to another place, for example from the bottom of one page to
b/f - this abbreviation stands for "brought forward" and means that the figure, total or balance
alongside which it appears was transferred from another place, e.g. to the top of one page from the
c/d - this is the abbreviation for "carried down" and indicates that the balance alongside which it is
b/d - this abbreviation stands for "brought down" and means that the balance against which it is
written has been transferred from a higher position on the same page.
bal - this is the common abbreviation for the word "balance", which is the difference between the
total value of the debit entries in an account and the total value of the credit entries in it.
After making the entry for the payment from Clarendon on the 15th, Mr. Trader needed to know how
much was still owed to his business by Clarendon. To obtain that information, he carried out a process,
called balancing. What he did was first to add up the values of the entries on the debit side of
Clarendon's account in the ledger; their total amount to UGX 1,272.70. He wrote that total below the
fourth entry - remember that fig. 1/1 shows an 'historical record, and that on the 14th the other entries
Next, he added up the value of entries on the credit side of the account - their total, which was UGX.
814, was deducted from UGX 1,272.70 to give the balance - the amount still owing by Clarendon - of
UGX 458.70. that amount was entered on the credit side, making the totals of the entries on both sides
equal, and so the total was entered on the credit side, on the same line as the total of the debit entries;
and both - equal - totals are neatly underlined, or 'ruled off as the process is called. Finally, the balance
was carried down from the credit side to the debit side, showing that Clarendon had received an excess
Balancing is an easy process and can be carried out on any account at any time it is considered
necessary to do so. It is generally carried out on the account of all trade receivables and trade payables
at the end of each month, and on each account at the end of a financial or trading year or other
accounting period and you will learn why that is done as you progress with your studies. Before we
An account may be defined as a record of transactions of a particular type or with a particular person
usually expressed in financial terms and maintained in a ledger. Each page of a ledger is given a heading
or title and it is used to record transactions of a similar nature. For example, all sales of goods are
recorded on one page and it is known as sales account and so on. In a ledger, we classify various
accounts as under;
ACCOUNT
S
Personal accounts - These accounts contain the name of a business, person or firm. In a ledger,
Capital account; this account records the transactions between the proprietor and the business. Any
Trade payables' account; the persons to whom money is owed by the business are called trade
payables.Thepayables. The goods purchased on credit basis from suppliers create a Liability of the business.
These amounts owing to trade payables are recorded in their personal accounts, which are opened
Trade receivables' account; trade receivables are the persons owing money to the business. This
money is owed to the business against goods sold to the customers on credit basis. A separate account is
Real accounts; these relate to tangible items. These accounts always represent something we can
see, touch, or move. The accounts of assets like land and buildings, plant and machinery, motor vehicles,
Nominal accounts; these relate to intangible items. These accounts record transactions for which
we have nothing tangible to show; for example, purchases, rent, sales, wages and salaries, electricity,
The classification of accounts enables us to establish rules for making double entry (we saw double
entry principle in operation in the previous chapter) in case of different transactions. When faced with
DR. CR.
ACCOUNTS The The
DR. CR. Recei Give
Expenses Incomes ver r
and Losses and Gains
DR. What CR. What
comes in goes out
Adopted from: Saleemi (1982)
We divide all the many accounts, which will jointly make up the ledger of a business, into these three
Let us return to the ledges details. We noted earlier that source documents provide information for the
journal, which in turn will be posted to the ledger. The following diagram can help once again to explain
this relationship.
All business transactions
Subsidiary ledger that includes the cashbook, sales ledger, purchases ledger, etc
General ledger
ledger will contain accounts such as cash account, bank account, purchases account etc but on different
pages. It is important to note that the general ledger will not contain individual accounts for the trade
receivables and trade payables. For example, the account for Mary as a debtor will not appear in the
general ledger but the trade receivables account will appear having information about all the trade
receivables.
Subsidiary ledgers
Businesses have so many customers and suppliers therefore it is necessary to have each individual
We call these individual accounts subsidiary ledgers because they support and general ledger controls
them.
• Private ledger
• Cash book
This is a summary of an individual debtor's transaction. The general ledger shows information
concerning all the trade receivables but does not bring out the details about each individual debtor. The
subsidiary ledger brings out these details. For example, Mary who is a debtor will have transactions
This is a summary of individual creditor's transactions. The general ledger will show information
concerning all the trade payables but will not details of each individual creditor. In the trade payables
Private ledger
The private ledger columns contain accounts that the proprietors wish to keep secret from other people
.These accounts may include: capital A/C, drawings A/C, income A/C depending on-the organization etc
that appear in the debit column of the general journal will be posted to the debit side of the respective
ledger.The transactions that appear in the credit column of the general journal will posted on the credit
Letaccount. Let us look at a few entries in Kyeswa's General journal and post them to the general
ledger.
UGX
Mar.1 Bank account 50,000,000
Purchase account
UGX
Mar.2 A/C Payable (Bridgestone account 10,000,000
A/C Payable (Bridgestone account)
UGX
Mar.2 Purchases account 10,000,000
The process continues like that until all entries made in the journal are posted to their respective
ledgers. You will see later that all the entries of XYZ General Journal have been posted both in the
General Ledger and the subsidiary Ledger. You can also at this moment continue with posting the
Balancing off the ledger accounts (you may wish to refer to the specimen of ledger account of
Clarendon Hotel)
There, we noted that the ledger accounts are balanced off to determine the balance by the end of
the financial period. Balancing off the accounts involves the following stages:
i) Adding both sides of the account to determine the total for each side
ii) For example the debit side of the account below adds up to 5,000,000 while the credit side to
700,000 [in)
iii) Leave space after all the transactions have been posted for inserting in the end of period balances.
iv) The Larger amount after adding both sides will become the total for both sides.
v) Subtract the smaller total from the larger total ( e.g. 5,000,000-700,000= 4,300,000).
vi) Enter the difference (4, 300,000) on the side with the smaller amount and it is represented as
vii)Now both the debit and credit side will have the same total.
viii) Double entry of the balances should be fulfilled by carrying down the balance to the beginning of
ix) If the balance carried down is on the credit side of the account then the balance brought down will
Normal Balances
Liabilities, capital and revenue accounts should have credit balances. Assets (apart from the bank
overdraft), expenses and drawings account should have a debit balance. If these accounts have
different balances from the normal then the accounts were not properly prepared.
With this in mind, the ledger accounts for XYZ Ltd now appear as follows
Cash account
20 Loan 80,000
5,380,000 5,380,000
3,00,000
3,000,000
Capital A/C
1 Bank 1,500,000
5,000,000 5,000,000
Capital A/C
1,400,000 1,400,000
1,500,000 1,500,000
300,000 300,000
29 Purchases 300,000
800,000 800,000
3,000,000 3,000,000
Sales A/C
23 Debtor(Mary) 200,000
600,000 600,000
The trade receivables for XYZ Ltd are Mary and Peter .We are going to have Mary and Peter
accounts separately.
Mary’s A/C
000,0200,000 200,000
Peter’s A/C
100,000 100,000
Note that the balance in the trade receivables' account (220,000) should always be equal to the
total of all individual balances. In this example the total of individual balances (for Mary and Peter
The trade payables for XYZ Ltd are John and TK ltd
TK Ltd A/C
500,000
Johns A/C
300,000 300,000
Similarly, the balance in the trade payables account in the General ledger (800,000) should always
be equal to the total of all individual trade payables (i.e. of TK Ltd and John in this example)
(500,000+300,000 =800,000))
Enter up the sales, purchases and returns daybooks from the following details. Then post the
individual items to the relevant accounts in the sales and purchases ledger and transfer the totals
of the various
May 7 Credit Purchases; A. Thomas UGX.147, R. Burton UGX.100, C. Malthus UGX.190 May 9
Solution
PURCHASES LEDGER
R. B URTON PL-1
___
600 600
C. MALTHUS PL-2
A. THOMAS PL-3
S. DAVID PL-4
333 333
SALES LAGER
C. MALTHUS SL-1
630 630
P. WHITE SL-2
490 490
P. BLACK SL-3
270 270
GENERAL LEDGER
- Introduction
- Bad(irrecoverable) debts
4.0 Introduction
This chapter highlights the adjustments required in final accounts of different items including
depreciation, provisions, bad debts, accruals and prepayments. It also shows how different transactions
and events are recorded in the accounts. The chapter will describe the different methods of calculating
depreciation and how to account for it when there is revaluation or disposal of noncurrent assets. It
shows the effect of accruals and prepayments, provisions and contingencies and bad debts on financial
statements of a business.
Learning objectives
Understand the impact on profit and net assets of accruals and prepayments
Identify the impact of bad debts on the income statement and statement of financial position
When fixed assets are used in business they lose value therefore the monetary costs in a fixed assets is
termed as depreciation.
Depreciation is a monetary loss in fixed assets due to use, wear and tear, passage of time running out of
date (obsolescence) Erosion for hard, decay for machinery depletion for quarries, etc.
Depreciation is part of the original cost of the fixed assets consumed during its period of use by the firm
therefore it is an expense for services consumed in the same way as expenses for items such as salaries and
It is also deducted from the value of noncurrent assets in the statement of financial position.
With the exception of land held on free hold or very long leasehold, every noncurrent asset eventually wears
out over time. Machines, fixtures and fittings and even buildings to not last forever.
Since an asset has a cost, a limited useful life and its value eventually declines, it follows that a charge should
be made in the income statement to reflect the use that is made of the asset. This charge is what we call
depreciation.
Accounting for depreciation is governed by IAS 16 Property, Plant and equipment which spells out the
following definitions.
Depreciation is the allocation of depreciable amount of an asset over its estimated useful life.
Depreciation for the accounting period is charged to the net profit or loss for the period.
- Are held by an enterprise for production or supply of goods and services etc
Useful life is the period over which a depreciable asset is expected to be used by the enterprise.
Depreciable amount is the historical cost less the estimated residual value.
IAS 16 requires the depreciable amount to be allocated on a systematic basis to each accounting period
The following factors should be considered when estimating the useful life of a depreciable asset;
- Obsolescence
Residual value in most cases is immaterial and if it is likely to be material it should be estimated based
on current situation.
4.1.1.Depreciation methods:
Consistency is important ie the depreciation method selected should be applied consistently from period to
period unless circumstances justify a change. If changed the effect should be quantified and reason for the
change disclosed.
- Total depreciation allocate for the period Gross amount of depreciable assets and the related
accumulated depreciation.
We have already seen that when a non current asset is depreciated, the charge for depreciation is an
expense of the accounting period and the reduction in the value of the asset is shown by reducing the
asset in the statement of financial position by the depreciation charge to get the net book value.
This is the most commonly used. It assumes equal amount of depreciation charge each year over the
Where a fixed asset has no disposal value at the end of its life span the formula changes to
Example
A motor vehicle is bought for 10,000,000/= and has an expected lifespan of 4 years after which
disposed at 2,000,000/= Calculate depreciation on the motor vehicle.
Solution
lifespan
= 8,000,000
b) Depreciation = cost
life span
Depreciation = 10,000,000
If noncurrent assets are acquired during the year, then its fair to charge an amount for depreciation which
reflects the limited use the business has from the asset in that period.
Activity:
A business which has an accounting year which runs from 1 January to 31 December purchases a new
noncurrent asset on 1 April 2010 at a cost of shs 24,000,000. The expected life of the asset is 4 years and it
has a nil residual value. What shoud be the depreciation charge for 2010?
Solution:
But since the asset was acquired on 1 April, the business has only benefited from the use of the asset for 9
months instead of 12 months. So it would be fair to charge depreciation in 2010 only 9/12 * 6,000,000 = shs
4,500,000.
Reducing balance method where a fixed rate of percentage for depreciation is applied on costing. In the first
year and subsequent, years the rate is applied on the reducing balance i.e cost less depreciation charge in
the 4 years.
Example
The percentage rate may not be given therefore the rate can be calculated by use of:-
R = 1 - n s
s = residual value
c = cost of the asset
r = rate of depreciation
Example
A machine is bought for 8,000/= and estimated to have a lifespan of 4 years after which be disposed at
Solution
Shs
Cost 8,000
When the market value of a non current asset falls and the fall is expected to be permanent, the asset
should be written down to its new low market value. The charge in the income statement for the
Shs
If the useful life of an asset changes, the depreciation charge will also change and the new charge is
calculated as below;
Activity:
2. In what circumstances is the reducing balance method more appropriate than the straight line
method?
depreciation charge is made posted to the income statement in each accounting period and the total
accumulated depreciation on a non current asset builds up as the asset gets older. The following entries are
made;
CR: Accumulated depreciation account (statement of financial position) with depreciation charge for the
period.
The balance on the statement of financial position depreciation account is the total accumulated
depreciation. The non current asset account is unaffected by depreciation. In the statement of financial
position, the total balance on the accumulated depreciation account is set against the value of non
current assets to derive the carrying value (Net book value) of the non current asset.
Example:
ABC ltd set up a computer software business on business on 1 March 2006. He purchased a computer
system on credit from a manufacturer at a cost of shs 1,600,000. The system has an expected life of 3
years and a residual value of shs 250,000. Using straight line method of depreciation. Prepare the non
current asset account, accumulated depreciation account and an extract of income and expenditure and
Solution
Shs Shs
Accumulated depreciation
Income statement:
When a non current asset is revalued depreciation is charged on the revalued amount. Revaluation gain
cannot go to the income statement as it has not be realized and it is recognized in the statement of
Revalued amount
When a non current asset is sold, there is likely to be a profit or loss on disposal. On disposal of a fixed
i) An asset disposal account is opened where the cost price of the asset is posted to thus
Cr. Disposal of non current asset with the sale price of the asset.
Example
A machine is bought on 01-01-19x5 for shs 1000 and another machine is bought on 01-01-19x6 for shs 1200.
The first machine is sold on 30-06-19x7 for 720. the firm policy is to depreciation machinery at 10% using the
straight line method and the financial year end on 31-12-19xx. Show the required accounts.
Solution
Machine a/c
19x5 19x5
19x6 19x6
2200 2200
19x7 19x7
Jan 01 Bal b/f 2200 J un 30 Machinery 1000
Disposal a/c
____ Dec 31 Bal c/f 1200
2200 2200
19x8
19x7 19x7
1000 1000
19x5 19x5
19x6 19x6
320 320
19x7 19x7
440 440
19x8
Jan 01 Bal b/f 240
Cashbook
19x7
Shs
Less
19x5
Dec 31 Provision for Depreciation (machinery) 100
19x5
Dec 31 Provision for Deprecation (machinery) 220
19x7
Dec 31 Provision for Depreciation (machinery) 120
Loss on disposal (machinery) 80
a) Its probable that future economic benefits associated with the asset will flow to the entity
Please note that an item that qualifies as property plant and equipment is initially measured at cost and the
Cr Cash/payable
Purchase price
Initial costs of dismantling and removing the items and restoring site on which it is located
Directly attributable costs e.g site preparation, initial delivery and handling costs,installation costs,
professional fees.
This is used to record all noncurrent assets and is an internal check on the accuracy of the nominal ledger.
Reference number
Cost
From time to time the asset register should be checked to the accounting records. Any discrepancies
Activity:
1. In a statement of financial position prepared in accordance with IAS 16, what does carrying value
represent?
4.2 ACCRUALS AND PREPAYMENTS:
We shall start by defining what the above terms mean.
Accrued expenses (accruals) are expenses which relate to an accounting period but have not been paid
Prepaid expenses (prepayments) are expenses which have already been paid but relate to a future
accounting period. They are shown in the statement of financial position as an asset.
Accruals and prepayments might seem difficult at first but the example below will help us clarify the
principal involved, that expenses must be matched against ttthe period to which they relate.
Example:
Ford motor spares end its financial year on 28 February each year. His telephone was installed on 1 April
2006 and he receives his telephone account quarterly at the end of each quarter. On the basis of the
following data calculate the telephone expense to be charged to the income statement for the year
Shs
30.6.2006 23,500
30.9.2006 27,200
31.12.2006 33,400
31.3.2007 36,000
Solution
The telephone expenses for the year ended 28 February 2008 are
Shs
1 March-31 March 2006 0
108,100
The charge for 1 January -28 February 2007 is two thirds of the quarterly bill received on 31 March As at
28 February 2007 no telephone has been received because it is not due to another month. Telephone
charge of shs 24,000 is accrued which is two thirds of the bill for the quarter. This will appear in the
Example: prepayments
Gatsby garage pays fire insurance annually in advance on 1 June each year. Its financial year ends 28
February. The following recording of insurance payments has been provided. You are required to
calculate the charge to the income statement for the financial year to 28february 2008
Insurance paid
Insurance cost for the year charged to the income statement 675,000
At February 2008 there is a prepayment covering the period 1 March-31 May 2008. This insurance
premium was paid on 1 June 2007 but inly 9 months of full annual costis chargeable to the accounting
period ended 28 February. The prepayment of 3/12 x 700,000) Shs 175,000as at 28 February 2008 will
appear as a current asset in the statement of financial position.
The prepayment of 3/12 x 600,000= 150,000 will appear in the statement of financial position as at 28
February 2007.
The table below shows us how accruals and prepayments affect the profit and net assets:
expenses assets/liabilities
DR irrecoverable debts
Irrecoverable debts written off are shown as an expense in the income statement
The credit entry removes the receivable from the receivables account.
DR Cash account
Allowances for receivables may be specific or simply a percentage allowance based on past experience
of irrecoverable debts. An increase in the allowance for receivables is shown as an expense in the
income statement.
The receivables in the statement of financial position are shown net of any receivables allowance.
At the end of the accounting period, the balance on the irrecoverable debts accounts is transferred to
DR I & E account
However if the irrecoverable debt is subsequently recovered, the accounting entries will be
DR Cash account
Example:
At 1 October 2005 a business had a total outstanding debt of shs 8,600,000. During the year to 30
c) Two debts for shs 180,000 and 420,000 were declared irrecoverable and the consumers are no longer
Required:
Prepare the trade account receivable and the irrecoverable debts account for the year.
Solution:
52,600 52,600
Irrecoverable debts
Receivables 420
600 600
Only movement on the receivable allowance is debited or credited to irrecoverable debts in the income
statement. In subsequent years adjustments mnay be needed to the amount of the allowance and the
IAS 37 views a provision as a liability of uncertain timing or amount. It distinguishes provisions form
other liabilities on the basis that for a provision there is uncertainty about timing or amount of the
DR Expense account
CR Provision account.
Example:
A business has been told by its lawyers that it is likely to pay shs 10,000,000 damages for a product that
failed. The business duly set up the provision on 31 december 2007. But in the following year the
lawyers found that the damages were morelikely to be shs 50,000,000. How is the provision treated in
Solution:
In the income statement under expenses we have provision of shs 10,000,000 and in the statement of
At 31 December 2008
DR Damages 40,000,000
CR Provision 40,000,000
So statement of financial position will show noncurrent liability (provision for damages at 50,000,00) and
An entity should not recognize a contingent asset or liability but it should disclose it.
IAS 47 defines a contingent liability as a possible obligation that arises from past events and whose
existence will be confirmed only by the occurrence or non occurrence of one or more uncertain future
This is a possible asset that arises from past events and whose existence will be confirmed by the
occurrence of one or more uncertain future events not wholly within the enterprises control. A brief
description of these must be provided including the estimate of their financial effect and details of any
uncertainties. Contingent assets must only be disclosed in notes if they are probable.
Review Questions
1. A business purchases two machines on 1 January 2005 at a cost of Sh 15,000,000. Each had an
estimated life of five years and nil residual value. The straight line method is used. On 31 March 2007
one machine was sold for shs 8,000,000 on credit because of reduction in activity. Later in the year
production was abandoned altogether and the second machine was sold on credit to a buyer at shs
Required:
Prepare the machinery account, depreciation of machinery account and disposal of machinery account
2. When Dan commenced trading as a car dealer on 1 January 2001, he purchased business premises at
a) The land part of the business premises was worth shs 20,000,000 (not to be depreciated)
b) The building part of the premises was worth the remaining shs 30,000,000. This would be depreciated
After 5 years of trading on 1 January 2006, Dan decides that the business premises are now worth shs
150,000,000 divided as Land 75,000,000 and building 75,000,000. He estimates that the building still has
Required:
Calculate the annual charge for depreciation in each of the 30 years in its life, and the statement of
financial position value of land and building at the end of each year.
CHAPTER FOURFIVE
PREPARATION OF A TRIAL BALANCE
Chapter Outline:
-Introduction
5.0 Introduction:
In the previous chapter we learnt how to post different transactions to the ledger accounts. In this
chapter we shall look at how to prepare a trial balance from the ledgers and eventually how to prepare
Learning Objectives:
Identify errors which are detected and those not detected by the trial balance
A trial balance is prepared periodically to test the equality of the debits and credits in the ledge
accounts. A trial balance is usually prepared at the end of each month. However, it can be prepared at
any time.
Step 1: find the balance of each ledger account Footing (adding) the amount on the debit side of the
account Footing the amounts on the credit side When calculating the difference between the total
Cash
)
Step 2: prepare the trial balance
Remember;
The trial balance is not a final statement or report It is simply a working paper that is used to prove the
equality of the debits and credits in the ledger.) Now assuming that Ali Musa was operating a business
called Ali travel agency, then the trial balance would look thus;
AM Travel Agency
Trial Balance
Cash 24,000
Remember;
Since the debits and credits are equal, we can draw up a simple statement of financial position from our
example, thus;
AH travel agency statement of financial position
Assets UGX
Office equipment 9,000
Office supplies 300
Cash 24,000
Total assets 33,300
Owner's Equity and Liabilities Capital
Ali Musa, Capital (25,000 - 1,000 (note 1) - 700 (note 2))) 23,300
Fees earned (note 3) 4,000
Liability
Accounts payable 6,000
Total owner's equity and liabilities 33,300
Note 1
That was Ali Musa's drawing of cash for private use. As earlier mentioned it has to
Note 2
That was rent expense. As earlier mentioned, these expenses must reduce owner's
equity, so capital has been reduced accordingly. The alternative would have been to
reduce the fees earned with the rent expense (you may recollect that expenses must
be matched with revenues earned - matching concept). This would have given us a
Note 3
These incomes belong to the owner of the business and thus form part of the owner's
equity.
The Trial Balance of XYZ Ltd for the month of January can also be drawn; thus
Assets
1,500,000
Motor vehicle
220,000
Trade receivables
1,500,000
Bank
4,780,000
Cash
8,000,000
Total assets
Capital (800,000)
3,000,000
Noncurrent liability
Loan 800,000
Current liabilities
8.00,000
Trade payables
Refer to journal of Kyeswa Ltd, post to the Ledgers including the general ledger and extract a trial
balance
The trial balance always has to balance that is the debit side always has to be equal to the credit
Arithmetical errors may have been committed while balancing off the accounts
The double entry rule was not properly observed .For example if goods were sold for cash,
the cash account has to be debited while the sales account credited. If the cash account is debited
but the sales account is not credited the trial balance will not agree. However the trial balance can
agree when there are still errors that have been committed. These are referred to as errors that
Activity
1) Which of the following errors will affect the agreement of the trial balance?
a) Sales returns of UGX.l, 500, correctly entered in the sales return account but posted to the
b) A sale of UGX.540, 000 to Ali debited to the sales account by the same amount
d) None.
suppliers
iii) RepaidLtdpart of loan from Nkunda by Loan from Nkunda Bank
cheque
iv) Bought Machinery on credit from NCBS NCBS Machinery
(a) ii) & iv) ) b) ii) & iii) c) i) & iii)
Only
1. Which of the following is/are incorrect?
a) It is a special account
true
d) True only when they are personal accounts e) May be true in future
12) The sales day book must contain the following except
c) Invoice number if invoice is sent with the goods .The number on the sales invoice.
d) Folio column
e) Monetary amounts
12) David obtained a loan of 2M to be paid in 2 years. It was transferred on his bank account.
a) DR Bank, Cr David
b) Dr Bank, Cr Loan
c) Dr Cash, Cr David
d) Dr Loan, Cr Bank
13). Duncan started business with cash of 1M. On 3rd June he bought inventory of goods for
0.3M Cash. He sold the inventory of goods which had cost 0.1M for 0.15M. He bought more
Which of the following accounting equations best describes the above transactions?
Assets = Liabilities + Owner's equity
1M Nil 1M
1.5M 0.5M 1M
1.2M 0.2M 1M
14) Which of the following error(s) affect the agreement of the trial balance?
15) The sales daybook is a book of original entry used for recording;
preparation - Interpretation
preparation - Interpretation
preparation - Interpretation
preparation - Interpretation
18) Irene Ltd Purchased a motor vehicle for the company work. They paid for the car by cheque.
19) Another name for the trade receivables' subsidiary ledger is;
cash as part payment for the clearance of the outstanding amount. Edwin Ltd then obtained more
goods on credit from Nalukenge Ltd for UGX.300, 000. Edwin Ltd Paid UGX.50,000 later for the
Other questions
9th Bought computers of 2,000,000 to help in the efficient running of the business 16th Purchased
20th Okello bought goods from the company for 50,000 on credit
24th The goods which were bought from XY Ltd were returned because they were damaged,
28th Sold one of the Computers which had cost 500,000 by cheque
Required: Enter the above transactions in the General journal, cash book, post to the ledger and
September 2 Bought a business Pick-up for 10 million on credit from Toyota Uganda.
8 Acquired an interest free loan from his uncle of 75 million, which was deposited on his account
16 Paid Mama Boy 80,000 Cash for the Katogo food supplied to business employees.
22 Agreed with Roko Constructors to extend and complete the building at 20 million. He made an
initial payment of 10 million by cheque and promising to pay the balance later.
Required: Prepare Enter the above transactions in the books of original entry, post to the ledger and
At the end of a specified period most often a month, all ledger accounts including the cash book are
closed or balanced off. The purpose of doing this is to obtain the net balances on each account at
After the accounts have been closed, a trial balance is extracted. You might wonder what a trial
balance means. It is simply a list of debit and credit balances that are extracted from the ledger and
being entered into the books of account. If there was non-conformance to the rules of the
2. The trial balance also checks whether no arithmetic errors of additions or subtractions
were made in the ledger, especially at the time of closing or balancing off accounts. If
arithmetic errors were made, the trial balance will not balance.
It could be summarized that the trial balance checks the accuracy of the accounts though when it
balances it does not always mean that there was total accuracy. This is because there are certain errors
that the trial balance cannot detect. These errors will be discussed later.
Draw two lines below each side of an account. The upper line should be single and the bottom lines
should be double. Remember to leave one blank line between the last figure and the first line closing
the account. This blank line is where the balance carried forward (c/f) or carried down (c/d) will be put.
Step 2:
Add up all the figures on both the debit and credit sides without inserting the totals. Having ascertained
the side with the greater total, that total is put on both sides of the account.
Step 3:
Determine the difference by which the two sides were not previously agreeing and insert it on the
deficient side and call that difference the balance carried down or carried forward. You should
remember that the difference you obtain ie. the balance carried down is put on the blank line which you
had reserved.
Step 4:
In order to complete the double entry recording of the balances, the balance brought down or brought
forward is put on the opposite side of the account below the totals. The date to be indicated is the
Note: Bal. c/f and Bal. c/d mean the same thing and are used interchangeably. They mean balances at
the end of the period. Likewise Bal. b/f and Bal. b/d are used interchangeably and mean the opening
balances.
With the above knowledge, we are now ready to close or balance off the ledger accounts for Ltd. and
PTC Ltd and there after extract trial balances at the end of the month.
Cash A/C
Shs Shs
Capital A/C
Shs Shs
Land A/C
Shs Shs
5,380,000 3,000,000
3,000,000
Shs Shs
2,000,000 2,000,000
2,000,000 2,000,000
Bank A/C
Shs Shs
Ltd
17 Vehicle 3,000,000
Loan A/C
Shs Shs
8,000,000 8,000,000
Bank 3,000,000
15,000,000 15,000,000
Shs Shs
Drawings A/C
Shs Shs
800,000 800,000
e (Details)
Oct. 1 Capital 20,000, Oct. 2 Land 3,000,00
000 0
Oct. 5 Loan 8,00 Oct. Equipment 1,500,0
0,00 15 Suppliers 00
Oct.20 Land 500,000 Oct. Vehicle 10,000,0 3,000,0
0
Oct. Spear 2,000,0
25 Motors 00
Oc Drawings 800,000
Oc Bal. c/d 6,700,00 1,500,0
20.500, 8.00 20.500.0 8,000,0
No Bal b/d 6,700,0 1,50
As mentioned above, a trial balance is a list of debit and credit balances extracted from the ledger aimed
at checking the accuracy of the accounting process. Accounts with net debit balances ie. beforeBefore
closing the account, the total on the debit side was more than the total on the credit side. Meaning Bal.
c/d is on the credit side and Bal. b/d on the debit side, will appear on the debit side of the trial balance.
Likewise accounts with net credit balances will appear on the credit side of the trial balance.
All asset accounts (except bank in case of bank overdraft), expense accounts and drawings account are
expected to have debit balances. If you get credit balances on these accounts, it means your working
was wrong. Similarly all liability accounts, revenue or income accounts, capital account and reserve
accounts are expected to have credit balances. If you get a debit balance on any of those accounts, then
With the above knowledge, we can now prepare ABC's trial balance.
ABC LTD
TRIAL BALANCE
AS AT 31ST COCTOBER
Shs Shs
Cash 6,700,000
Bank 1,500,000
Drawings 15,000,000
Capital 800,000
Loan 500,000
8, 000,000 8,000,000
28,500,000 28,500,000
Note: Spear Motor’s A/C is completely closed ie has a nil balance and therefore does not appear in
Mukasa’s
Trial balance
Cash 7,050
Bank 1,000
Rent 1,700
Electricity 550
Drawings 800
Sales 8,000
25,000 25,000
2. Connie commenced a stationery business on 1st January 2010 with her salary savings of Shs. 50,000
which she was keeping with Crane bank. She transformed her personal account into a business account
and thereafter the salary had to be channeled to her account with Cairo bank. She also took on her
sister as her assistant in the business and she was to be paid a salary of Shs. 5,000 per month. During the
Jan. 1 She withdrew Shs. 10,000 for use in the day-to-day operations of the business.
2 Bought2 Bought stationery worth Shs. 15,000 from ABC Stationers on credit, and also transferred her
furniture worth Shs. 10,000 from home for use in the business.
3 Bought further inventory of stationery at Shs. 18,000 and paid by cheque. She also paid Shs.
1,500 for transporting the stationery to the place of work paying cash.
5 Cash sales were Shs. 8,000. She also sold stationery to Katwe Primary School at Shs.
14,000 on credit.
7 Paid ABC Stationers Shs. 9,000 by cheque for stationery previously bought, and returned some
10 Bought stationery worth Shs. 20,000 from Kim Investments Ltd. On credit.
13 Katwe Primary School paid Shs. 6,000 by cheque and returned some items worth Shs. 800
20 Sold books worth Shs. 23,000 to Kibuye School on condition that payment is made before the
30 She agreed with Picfare Industries Ltd to purchase stationery worth Shs. 20,000 per month and
Required:
i) To record transactions into the books of original entry (ignore returns books)
You will recall that the purpose of the trial balance is to check the accuracy of the books. It
(a) Where the principles or rules of the double entry were not observed eg. if goods were
sold cash for 500,000/=, the cash A/C is debited but the sales A/C is not credited. Or
if the cash A/C is debited with 500,000/- but the sales account is credited with a
different figure say 5,000,000/=. The trial balance will detect such errors by failing to
balance.
(b) The trial balance also detects arithmetic errors in the balancing off the ledger accounts
ie. wrong additions or subtractions. The trial balance will fail to balance if such
When a trial balance balances or agrees, it is not a guarantee that no errors were committed.
Certain errors may be committed but evade detection by a trial balance. A trial balance will balance
in a deceptive manner. Readers should know that balancing the trial balance does not mean that all
was okay.
These errors originate from source documents eg. Invoices, vouchers, receipts, bank paying slips etc.
These errors are carried throughout the accounting process ie. from the journal through the ledger
to the trial balance and eventually to the final accounts. For instance goods were sold to John on
credit for 2,300,000/7= but was recorded hfif the sales invoice as 3,200,0007=, a wrong figure will be
journalised, posted to the ledger and will end up in the trial balance. Since double entry is effected
though with a wrong figure, the trial balance will still balance and cannot detect such an error.
(b)Errors of Omission
These are errors of omitting transactions from all books of account. If a transaction occurs and is not
recorded anywhere, the trial balance cannot detect such an error. For instance, if goods were
bought cash for 300,000/= and entries were not made in both the cash account and purchases
account, the trial balance cannot detect such an error. Fraudulent individuals always attempt to
These errors are committed when an entry is made on a wrong person's account or account title but
the double entry properly effected. For instance, goods worth 2,000,000 were sold to Jane on credit
but Jone's account was debited instead of the correct account of Jane. The sales account being
properly credited. The trial balance is not too intelligent to know that the name should have been
Jane and not Jone. It only tests whether the figure debited was also credited.
Errors of Principle
These are errors of making entries on wrong classes or types of accounts. For if a capital expenditure
for say purchase of a motor vehicle is made, and it is debited to the purchases account instead of
the correct motor vehicle account. Or if an old fixed asset was disposed off and the proceeds from
Compensating Errors
These are errors that cancel out in the trial balance. They get concealed because £he error on one
side of the trial balance is compensated by a similar error on the other side of the trial balance. For
instance, if an item that appears on the debit side of the trial balance eg. Purchases is overcast by
200,0007= and by coincidence another account that appears on the credit side of the trial balance
say the sales account is also overcast by 200,000/=. These errors will neutralise each other and the
These errors are committed when entries are made on wrong sides of the accounts. For instance,
Wages totaling 5,000,000/= were paid cash and the bookkeeper debits the cash account and credits
the wages account. Such an action completely reversed what should have been done ie. debit wages
Introduction
6.0 Introduction:
This chapter explains why we need bank reconciliation and the sort of differences that have to be
reconciled. It will also high light errors made in the cash book.
Learning Objectives:
Identify the main reasons for the differences between the cash book and the bank statement.
transactions with the business. It is a summary of transactions between the account holder and the
bank. The transactions include deposit and withdrawals to and from the account respectively.
The bank statement also shows the running balance after every transaction. Banks prepare bank
statements for their account holders at the end of each month or any time on request. A moment's
thought will suggest that the contents of the cashbook are the same as the record provided by the
bank in the form of a bank statement, and therefore our records should correspond with the bank
The ledger account maintained by the bank is the opposite way round to the cashbook. This is
because the bank records the balance in favour of an individual as a credit balance that is a liability of
the bank to the individual. From the individual's point of view it is, of course, an asset, that is a debit
balance in his cash book (or bank control account in the general ledger)
Timing differences must inevitably occur. A cheque payment is recorded in the cashbook when the
cheque is dispatched. The bank only records such a cheque when it is paid by the bank, which may be
The existence of the bank statement provides an important check on the most vulnerable of a
company's assets - cash. However, the timing differences referred to above make it essential to
reconcile the balance on the ledger account with that of the bank statement. This reconciliation
In this chapter the relationship between the balance in the cashbook (or cash account), and the
balance on the bank statement will be considered. The likely reasons for any differences wilt be-
Bank reconciliation is the process of bringing cashbook and bank statement balances into agreement
by adjusting an account balance reported by a bank to reflect transactions that have occurred since
The process by which you compare the information in the company's records with the statements
provided each month by the bank for the bank account and deal with the difference so that the
usually the canceled cheques and any debit or credit memos that have affected the amount. The
cheques returned are called canceled cheques because they are canceled by stamping to show that
the bank has paid them. During any month, besides the cheques drawn, the bank may deduct from
the account amounts for service charges, returned cheques and for errors. The bank notifies the
depositor of each deduction with a debit memo. The bank may also add amounts to the depositor's
account for errors and interest. A credit memo is used to notify of any additions. A copy of each
When a cheque or cash is deposited, the customer account will be credited in the bank. When the
customer withdraws cash or when payments are made out of the customer's account, the account is
debited.
The bank column of the cashbook shows the transactions of the customer with its bankers. A,
customer who deposits money debits his cashbook and when a withdrawal is made, the cashbook is
credited.
becomes a device for proving the cash in bank account. The proof normally begins with the
preparation of a reconciliation of the bank balance. To simplify this process, request the cutoff date
of the bank statement to be the Last working day of the month. Thus, if all credits in the bank were
also debited to the cashbook and all debits in the bank were credited in the cashbook and vice-
versa, the two balances would agree and there would be no need of bank reconciliation. However,
this is not aiways the case. The balance as per bank statement rarely agrees with the balance as per
6.2.1 Numerous things may causeWhy the bank statement balance to differ from the cash balance
These are cheques that have been written and are listed on the cash disbursement journal but have
not cleared through the bank. They are drawn and credited in the cashbook but not presented to
the bank for payment. These cheques are not debited to the bank statement.
Often deposits are made on the day following the Last day of the month; consequently, these
deposits do not appear on the bank statement for that month but they appear on the cash receipts
journal. Deposited to the bank and debited to the cashbook but not credited by the bank.
A bank often deducts amounts from a depositor's account for services rendered and for returned
cheques. The bank notifies you of each deduction with a debit memo. These deductions should be
recorded as soon as they are received. They are debits in the bank statement not credited to the
cashbook and payments effected by the bank without requiring a cheque to be issued by the
account holder. Since cheques are not issued for such payments, they are not recorded in the
cashbook yet debited in the bank statement. They include the following.
Bank charges,
The bank, for services offered to the account holder, Levies these charges; they include ledger fees,
These are arrangements where the account holder instructs the bank to make certain routine and
fixed type of payments directly to the payees on behalf of the account holder. The account holder
does not issue cheques for these types of payments. Such transactions include; insurance premiums,
paying utility organizations such as water bills and telephone charges. Others include paying interest
and amortizing fixed installment loans. If the deduction occurs close to the end of the month, it may
not show on the bank statement. The standing orders usually appear in the bank statement but not
in the cashbook.
iv) Direct credits and Interest earned: (credits in the bank statement not debited to the cashbook)
These are receipts that are directly credited to the bank statement without having been debited to
the cashbook. For instance, some trade receivables may clear their indebtedness by paying directly
to the payee's bank account and some accounts earn interest that is posted to the account by the
bank at the end of the month making the bank statement the only notification.
sent to the account holder and may not be included in the cashbook.
v) Clerical errors
Errors made in recording amounts or wrong postings in the cashbook or bank statement make the
cashbook and bank statement balances disagree. Regardless of care and systems of internal control,
both the bank and the depositor may make errors that affect a bank balance. These errors are not
When a bank refuses to pay or recognize a cheque as an instrument for transferring money from
Expired cheques (cheques get stale or expire six months from the date on the cheque),
Where drawer's confirmation is required by contract and cheques are not confirmed.
For some cheques, if payment vouchers are required and are not presented
6.3 Steps to follow reconciling account balances:
STEP ONE: Compare the deposits listed on the bank statement with deposits recorded in the cheque
register and the cash receipts journal. Identify any differences and determine which is correct. List the
STEP TWO: Compare the cancelled cheques listed on each bank statement. Note any discrepancies.
Review the previous month's reconciliation and check off the cheques that cleared during the current
month that were outstanding last month. List any cheques that are still outstanding. Verify all deposits
in transit that were listed Last month to assure that they have been recorded by the bank on the current
statement.
STEP THREE: Compare each of the cheques with its entry in the cash disbursement journal. Identify any
STEP FOUR: Determine if any debits or credits appearing on the bank statement need to be recorded in
the cheque register. Make general journal entries to record them. Any corrections to deposits or
cheques noted should be made by general journal entries. Do not go back and change the cash
disbursement or cash receipts journals. Changes to those records must be made in the following month
through general journal entries. The purpose of reconciling the bank statement is to verify balances per
your cheque book and to resolve discrepancies. If discrepancies or bank errors are found, notify the
bank immediately.
STEP FIVE: Compare each of the cheques with its entry in the cash disbursement journal. Identify any
corrections or discrepancies. List any outstanding cheques on the-reconciliation form. Determine if any
debits or credits appearing on the bank statement need to be recorded in the cheque register. Make
general journal entries to record them. Any corrections to deposits or cheques noted should be made by
general journal entries. Do not go back and change the cash disbursement or cash-receipts journals.
Changes to those records must be made in the following month through general journal entries. The
purpose of reconciling the bank statement is to verify balances per your cashbook and to resolve
discrepancies. If discrepancies 01 bank errors are found, notify the bank immediately.
prevention of fraud. When bank transactions are involved, manipulations in the cashbook can
discovered.
It enhances accuracy of records. A mistake in either the cashbook or the bank statement can be is
i) You can begin with the cashbook balance, adjusting, updating or correcting the cashbook and then
preparing a bank reconciliation statement. The aim of this method is to arrive at the bank statement
balance.
ii) Beginning with the bank statement balance and working towards the cashbook balance.
iii) Adjusting the cashbook balance and adjusting the bank statement balance. The aim is to show
by this book is that of preparing an adjusted cashbook (Bringing the cash book up to date) id then
At 30th September 2010, the balance in the cashbook of Reco ltd was shs 805,150 debit. A bank
statement on the same date showed Reco ltd to be in credit by shs 1,112,300. On investigation of
a) The cash book had been undercast by shs 90,000 on the debit side
b) Cheques paid in not yet credited by the bank amounted to shs 208,200
c) Cheques drawn not yet presented to the bank amounted to shs 425,350
Required
b) Prepare a statement reconciling the balance pre bank statement to balance per cash book.
Solution:
a) shs
b) Shs
1,320,500
Activity
Activity:
Name three categories in which differences between the cash book and bank statement fall.
What are the common reasons for the differences between the cashbook and the bank
statement
Review questions:
1. On 31st January 2008 a company’s cash book showed a credit balance of shs 150,000 on its
current account which did not agree with the bank statements balance. In performing the
Shs
400,000 in error. What was the original balance on the bank statement?
2. A company’s bank statement shows shs 715,000 direct debits and shs 353,000 investment income
not recorded in the cash book. The bank statement does not show a customer cheque for shs
875,000 entered in the cash book on the last day of the accounting period. If the cash book shows a
credit balance of shs 610,000. What balance will appear on the bank statement?
CHAPTER FIVE:SEVEN
CHAPTER
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF SOLE TRADERS
Chapter Outline:
-Introduction
7.0 Introduction:
This chapter deals with preparation of financial statements of a sole trader beginning from the trial
balance and making some adjustments. From the information covered so far you should be able to
prepare a set of final accounts for a sole trader after incorporating some adjustments.
Learning objectives:
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to;
Prepare a set of final accounts for a sole trader from a trial balance
position.
i) The title of the Income Statement must be with the words for the period/year ended ……
ii) All revenue/income relating to the period covered by the Income Statement must be included,
whether already received or not. Similarly all revenue/income not belonging to that period must
be excluded.
iii) All expenses belonging to the period covered by the Income Statement must be included, whether
already paid or not. Similarly, all expenses not relating to that period must be excluded.
iv) Carriage inwards must be included in the cost of sales when calculating Gross Profit/Loss.
vi) Generally, wages, when not combined with salaries, are treated as part of Cost of Sales.
We shall study the preparation of final accounts of a sole trader by looking at an illustrationexample.
We have already covered extraction of financial statements from the trial balance and this is no different
for the sole trader. You are therefore required to try the following examples.
Example: Trial Balance of Sarah Kagezi on 31/12/2010
DR CR
Shs. Shs.
000 000
Purchases and sales 586,500 614,800
Inventory on 1.1.2010 24,500
Motor van at cost 70,000
Salaries 6,150
Rent 4,950
Electricity 1,800
Sales Returns and Purchases Returns 2,300 3,200
Carriage in 1,600
Carriage out 2,400
Furniture and Equipment at cost 5,000
Trade Receivables/Creditors 15,000 18,000
Cash at Bank 9,800
Drawings 4,200
Bad Debts 750
Advertising 1,350
Discounts 1,900 2,200
Capital 100,000
Total 738,200 738,200
Additional Information
iii) A water bill of shs 600,000 is due for 2010 but unpaid, while electricity of shs 400,000 is
Required
a) An income statement for Sarah Kagezi for the year ended 31 December 2010
Example:
Trial Balance of Amos Baguma on 30/6/2010
DR CR
Shs. Shs.
000 000
Salaries 8,200
Purchases 646,800
Sales 700,400
Inventory 1.7.2010 18,500
Capital 47,000
Trade Receivables/Creditors 12,500 17,000
Motor Van (cost 80m) 48,000
Furniture at cost 4,000
Rent 3,800
Accum. Depreciation on Furniture 600
Drawings 3,500
Cash at bank 15,500
Cash on hand 1,200
Equipment at cost 3,000
Total 765,000 765,000
Additional Information
Required: Prepare
a) An income statement for Amos Baguma for the year ended 30/6/2010
EExample
DR CR
Shs. Shs.
000 000
M/Van – at cost 70,000
- Cumulative depreciation 21,000
Salaries 7,500
Purchases/Sales 528,500 600,600
Trade Receivables/Creditors 12,000 15,000
Capital 56,000
Inventory 1.1.2010 42,000
Rent 4,600
Cash at bank 17,500
Drawings 2,400
Furniture and equipment (cost 9m/=) 8,100
Total 692,600 692,600
Additional Information
Example 2
DR CR
Shs. Shs.
000 000
Purchases and sales 724,500 802,800
Trade Receivables/Creditors 15,000 16,120
Provision for Bad Debts 480
Motor Van at costs 60,000
Drawings 2,800
Inventory 1.1.2003 25,000
Capital 35,000
Cash at bank 16,500
Salaries 6,400
Rent 4,200
Total 854,400 854,400
Additional Information
Required: Prepare
Example
Matovu & sons ltd prepares final accounts on 31/12 every year. For the year ended 31/12/2010, with
awith total receivables at shs 16,000,000, they decided to provide for bad debts at 31/12/2010 on trade
Unpaid expenses
Denis prepares end of year final accounts on every 31st December each year.
He pays rent in advance for every quarter at shs 360,000. As on 31 st December 2009, he had paid rent up
Required
Example 2
Given: As in example 1, above, except that as on 31 st December, Denis had paid rent for the period from
Required:
Show the Rent Account for 2009, duly balanced
Example 3
Sarah is in business; she sublets part of her premises for shs 150,000 per month. She prepares her end
of year final accounts every 31st December every year. As on 31st December 2009, Sarah had received
rent income covering the period 1st January 2009 to 31st March 2010.
Required
Example 4
Given: As in example 3, except that as on 31 st December 2009, Sarah had received up to 31 st October
2009.
Required
-Introduction
-Incomplete records
8.0 Introduction:
In preparation of accounts for a sole trader we have assumed that a full set of records are kept but
in practice many sole traders do not keep a full set of records and some techniques have to be used
to arrive at necessary figures. This chapter looks at incomplete records and highlights the techniques
Learning objectives:
A trader does not maintain a ledger and therefore has no continuous double entry record of
transactions.
The approach to incomplete record questions is to build the information given so as to complete the
necessary double entry. This may involve reconstructing the control accounts for cash and bank, trade
Where inventory is the unknown figure it will be necessary to use information on gross profit
percentages so as to construct a working for gross profit in which the unknown figure can be inserted as
a balance.
The construction of a cash book largely from bank statements showing receipts and payments during
Drawings often appear as an incomplete records problem. The trader has been drawing money but does
not know how much.
Where no trading records have been kept, profit can be derived from opening and closing net assets by
There should not be any missing item in the opening statement of financial position of a business,
however a question is brought with the two sides of the statement not balancing, then use the
Example:
Suppose John’s business has the following assets and liabilities as at 1.1.2010
Shs
Inventory 4,500
Required: Prepare a statement of financial position inserting the balancing figure for proprietor’s
capital.
Solution:
Shs
Assets
Current assets
Inventory 4,500
Prepayment 450
Current liabilities
The approach here is to build up the information given so as to complete the necessary double
entry. This may involve reconstructing control accounts for cash and bank , trade accounts
Shs
Example:
Suppose that John’s business had trade accounts receivable of shs 1,750,000 on 1 st April 2010 and
trade accounts receivable of shs 3,140,000 on 31 st March 2011. If payments received from
receivables during the year to 31 March 2011 were shs 28,490,000 and if there are no bad debts,
Alternatively you could make the above calculation in a T- account with the credit sales being the
closing balances for trade payable and amounts payable to suppliers during the period. You can get
Shs
Activity:
Suppose that John’s business has trade payables of shs 3,728,000 on 1 October 2010 and trade
payables of shs 2,645,000 on 30 September 2011. If payments to trade payables during the year to
30 September 2011 were shs 31,479,000, what would be the purchases for the year?
8.1.4 Establishing cost of sales:
Where inventory, purchases or sales is the unknown figure it would be necessary to use information on
gross profit percentages to construct a working for gross profit in which the unknown figure can be
inserted as a balance.
The following formula can be used to find the figure for cost of purchases.
Since Opening inventory + Purchases – closing inventory = Cost of goods sold, then
Example:
Suppose that the inventory for John’s business on 1/7/2010 has a value of shs 8,400,000, and an
inventory count at 30/6/2010 showed inventory to be valued at shs 9,350,000. Sales for the year to
30/6/2010 are shs 80,000,000 and the business makes a markup of 33 ⅓% on cost for all items that it
Solution:
The cost of goods sold can de rived from the value of sales as follows;
Shs
Purchases 60,950,000
From the above example, the mark up on cost is 33⅓% and the gross profit percentage is 25% ie (
33⅓/133⅓ * 100%)
between the cost of goods sold and Opening inventory at cost + purchases- closing inventory.
Such a loss is not a trading loss and should be accounted for in the two methods below;
a) If the lost goods were not insured, the business must bear loss
DR Income Statement
CR Cost of sales
CR Cost of sales
The cash book is largely prepared from bank statements showing receipts and payments of a business
during a given period and is often an important feature of incomplete records problems.
This can happen in a shop where its at times difficult to construct a cash book daily. Where there
appears to be a sizeable volume of receipts and payments a two column cash book can be helpful in
the item concerned should be found from the opening balance b/f and cash payments for the item
during the period. This figure can be got as a balancing figure in the T account.
Example:
Suppose on 1 April 2006 a business had prepaid rent of shs 700,000 which relates to the next accounting
period. During the year to 31 March 2007 it pays shs 9,300,000 and at 31 March 2007 the prepayment of
rent is shs 1,000,000. What would be the cost of rent in the income and expenditure account for the
year to 31 March 2007 ?
Solution:
Rent
10,000,000 10,000,000
8.1.8 Drawings:
These often feature as a missing item in an incomplete record problem. The trader has been drawing
money but does not know how much. Where personal items of receipts and payments are made, the
E.g if a business owner receives shs 600,000 in dividend income and pays it into his bank account, the
accounting entry is
DR cash
CR Drawings
DR Drawings
CR Cash
below;
Capital is changed by money paid in by the trader, drawings by the trader and profits or losses. So if we
establish thrthe traders net assets at the beginning of the period, we can compute profits by Profit (loss)
From the discussion in this chapter we can be able to deal with incomplete record problems by following
a) Establish the opening statement of financial position and the proprietor’s interest.
b) Open up four accounts ie income and expense, cash book, trade receivables and trade payables.
d) Work through the given information line by line and enter each item into the appropriate account
John is a sole distributor of tiles and he purchases floor tiles at a trade discount of 20% from his supplier
and annually in May she receives an agency commission of 1% of his purchases every May for the year
ended previous 31 March. For several years he has obtained a gross profit of 40% on all sales. In January
there was burglary and John lost inventory costing sh 4,000,000 as well as many accounting records.
After carefullcareful investigations, the following information has been obtained covering the year
Shs
Building at Cost 10,000,000
c) Inventory at cost at 31 March 2011was valued at shs 3,000,000 more than a year previously
d) In October 2010 inventory costing shs 1,000,000 was damaged by dampness and had to be scrapped
as worthless.
e)Trade accounts payableat 31 March 2011 related entirely to goods received whose list prices totaled
sh 9,500,000
f) Discounts allowed amounted to shs 1,620,000 and discounts received were shs 1,200,000
i) Vehicle expenses for year ended 31 march 2011 were shs 6,700,000
k) Depreciation is charged annually at the following rates buildings 5% on cost and Motor vehicles 20%
on cost
l) Commissions received are paid directly to the bank
m) Other bank payments were; Vehicle expenses shs 6,720,000, Drawings shs 4,300,000 and trade
expenses shs 7,360,000.
n) John is not insured against loss owing to burglary or damage to inventory due to dampness.
Required:
Prepare John’s Income statement for the year ended 31 March 2011 and the statement of financial
CHAPTER NINE
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF PARTNERSHIPS:
Chapter Outline:
-Introduction
-Partnership agreements
- Changes in partnerships
9.0 Introduction
So far we have considered businesses owned by one person. In this chapter we will consider how we can
account for business owned by more than one person. It examines how we can account for
partnerships.
Learning objectives:
Understand the nature of capital and current accounts and division of profits
Prepare extracts of the income statement and statement of financial position of a partnership.
9.1 Definition of a partnership
Partnership may be defined as a relationship between persons carrying on a business with a view of
Thus the minimum number of partners is two and the maximum is normally 20. The exception being
banks where there cannot be more than 10 partners and professional bodies like accountants, solicitors,
a). Business risks are spread among more than one person.
b). Individual partners can develop special skills that can benefit other partners, where as in sole
c). Certain partners may be able to draw upon larger capital resources.
a). The arrangement for set up is less formal than that of a company.
b). A partner may be jointly and severally liable for his partners. This means that if one partner is
being sued in relation to the business of the partnership, the other partners share in
responsibility.
c). Like sole trading, there is no limited liability in partnership except for limited partners.
between the partners. The terms under which the partnership operates are set out in this document.
The initial capital put into business by each partner is shown by means of a capital account for each
partner. The net profit of the partnership is appropriated by the partners according to previously agreed
ratio. Each partner also has a current account to which their drawings are charged. Partners may be
Where no agreement exists, then the provisions of the partnership act apply.
e). Any loan made to the partnership by a partner is to carry interest at the rate of 5% p.a.
The partners contribute capital as specified in their agreement. Partners need not contribute equal
amounts of capital. The balance for the capital account will always be a brought forward credit entry in
partnership accounts, because the capital contributed by proprietors is a liability to the business.
9.3.3Current. Current Accounts are used to deal with the regular transactions between the partners and
the firm. They are used to record profits retained in the business by each partner. A current account is a
sort of capital account which increases in value when partnership makepartnership makes profits.
The main differences between capital and current account in accounting for partnerships are;
- The balance on the capital account remains static from year to year
- When the agreement provides for interest on capital, partners receive interest on their balance
The drawings account serveaccount serves the exact purpose as the drawings account of a sole trader.
Each partners drawings are recorded in a separate account. At the end an accounting period each
An existing or previous partner may make a loan to partnership in which case he becomes a creditor of
the partnership. On theOn the statement of financial position such a loan is not included in partners
However interest on such a loan will be credited to the partners current account.
Note that interest on loans from partners is accounted for as an expense in the income statement and
Profit and loss sharing ratios are fixed and mentioned in the partnership deed. These ratios are normally
fixed in view of capital contributed by the partners. The sharing out is shown in an appropriation
account which follows the income statement. The accounting entries are;
DR appropriation account
CR Current accounts of each partner with additional share of profits for each partner.
DR current accounts
CR appropriation of profit
d) The difference between the net profits and appropriations for salaries and interest is the residual
f) The balance on each partners drawings account is debited to his current account.
Sometimes, the partnership agreement provides the payment of interest to the partner at a specific
percentage of their capital amounts contributed. If capital contributed is different then the payment of
interest will give more benefit to partners who have contributed greater amounts. The payment of
Partners may be entitled to withdraw some money for their personal users. To deter the partners from
The agreement may provide that one partner has a guaranteed minimum profit share.
Example:
Tony, Joy and Gordon are in business sharing profits 4:3:3 after allowing salaries of shs 30,000 for tony
and John. Tony has a guaranteed minimum profit share of shs 120,000. Profit for the year is Shs 260,000.
Solution
Adjustment for
9.3.9
Salaries to partners
A partner may be responsible to perform some extra duties as compared to the other partners. As a
reward for this he may have a salary, which is paid out of profits.
9.4 Preparation ofThe final accounts of partnerships
The final accounts of a partnership consist of: -
There is no difference in the trading account and profit and loss account of a sole trader and a
partnership. However a partnership has an extra section, the profit and loss appropriation account
Example I
Black and white are in partnership sharing profits and losses in the ratio 3:2 respectively. During the
year ended 31st December 20 10 the net trading profit was shs 15,500,000 and the partners
drawings were;
Black 3,000,000
White 2,500,000
Interest is charged on partner's capital at the rate of 5%. Interest is also charged on drawings at the
rate of 5%.
Required;
Prepare the partnership profit and loss appropriation account and the partners current accounts for
SSolution;
Profit and loss appropriation account for the year ended 31st Dec.-20 x1.
Shs Shs
Black 150,000
15,775,000
Black 300,000
White 250,000
1,500,000 2,050,000
Salaries: White
13,725,000
Balance of profits shared
8,235,000
Black 3/5
5,490,000 13,725,000
White 2/5
capital
Salary - 1,500,000
Example II
Mukasa and Masembe are in partnership sharing profits and losses equally. The following is their
Dr Cr
Shs Shs
Buildings at cost 75,000
Receivables 16,243
Payables 11,150
Sales 123,65
Purchases 85,416
Masembe 29,500
DR CR
Masembe 298
Masembe 5,650
269,604 269,604
Required:
Prepare the trading and profit and loss appropriation account for the year
ended 30 June 20 12 and a balance sheet as at that date.
The change may also take the form of the same partners changing their profit and loss sharing ratios.
When there is change in a partnership the capital gains made or goodwill build by old partners must be
credited to their capital accounts. This helps give some benefits to the old partners for their earlier
Example:
Hooke and line have been in partnership for many years, sharing profits equally. On 1 st October
2008, Fatty is admitted to the partnership and it is decided that Hooke, line and fatty will now share
profits 4:2:2. The net profit for the year to 31 December 2008 is 150,000,000. Show how this will be
Solution:
There are two distinct periods here; 9 months of Hooke and line and 3 months of Hooke, Line and
9.5.1Goodwill
When a business changes hands, the price paid will commonly exceed the net value of the tangible
assets owned by the business. The difference is an intangible asset referred to as goodwill.
Goodwill has been defined as the advantage, whenever it may be, which a person gets by continuing
to carry on a business which has been carried on for some time previously.
Goodwill is the excess of the cost of the acquisition over the acquirers interest in the fair value of
the identifiable assets and liabilities acquired as at the date of the exchange transaction.
A large number of customers who will continue with the new owner.
Valuation of Goodwill
There is no generally acceptable standard formularformula for valuing goodwill. Different parties
300,000,000 at 1 October 2008. The partners request that goodwill is created and then reversed on
each change.
Solution:
Good will
Example :
Locke, nice and Mussyt are in partnership with an agreement to share profits in the ratio 3:2:1. They
The statement of financial position of the partnership as at 31 December 2005 revealed the
followindfollowing
Shs000 Shs000
Capital accounts
Locke 20,000
Niece 8,000
Current accounts
Locke 3,500
Niece (700)
Locke 6,000
Niece 4,000
Mussy 7,000
Net profit for the year to 31 December 2006 was shs 24,530,000.
Required:
Prepare the appropriation account for the year ended 31 December 2006 and the partner’s capital
Solution:
The interest payable by each partner on their drawings during the year is
Shs000
These payments are debited to the current accounts and credited to the appropriation account.
Appropriation Account
25,080
Less Mussy Salary (6,000)
19,080
Less interest on capital
Locke 12% x 20,000,000 2,400
Niece 12% x 8,000,000 960
Mussy 12% x 6,000,000 720
4,080
15,000
Residual profits
Locke 3/6 7,500
Niece2/6 5,000
15,000
Locke, Niece, Mussy
Appropriation account
Residual profits
Locke 7,500
Niece 5,000
25,080 25,080
7,200
Balance c/f 7,400 1,060 3,670 Salary 6,000
Shs000 Shs000
Capital accounts
Locke 20,000
Niece 8,000
Current accounts
Locke 7,400
Niece 1,060
52,130
Net assets:
As at 31 December 52,130
Activity:
If Hooke, line and fatty continued trading for a further year and they are considering admitting
another partner Sonia on 31 December 2009. For the purposes of calculating goodwill, the partners
obtain a valuation of the business as if it were to be sold on 31 December 2009. The valuation is shs
750,000,000. The statement of financial position as at 31 December 2009 shows net assets of shs
Solution:
= 750,000,000 – 375,000,000
= Shs 375,000,000
Review Questions
1. What is a partnership?
3. What is the difference between partnerspartner’s capital account and a partnerspartner’s current
accountaccount?
Example
Mukasa and Masembe are in partnership sharing profits and losses equally. The
following is their trial balance as at 30 June 20 x 2.
Dr Cr
Shs Shs
DR CR
Current Accounts: Mukasa 1,306
Masembe 298
Drawings: Mukasa 6,400
Masembe 5,650
269,604 269,604
Required:
Prepare the trading and profit and loss appropriation account for the year ended 30 June 20 12 and
c). Depreciate fixtures at 10 per cent on reducing balance basis, building shs 1,000
CHAPTER
ADJUSTMENTS IN ACCOUNTS:
This chapter highlights the adjustments required in final accounts of different items including
Learning objectives
Understand the impact on profit and net assets of accruals and prepayments
Identify the impact of bad debts on the income statement and statement of financial
position
Fixed assets are those assets of monetary and material value bought for use in business over their life
span. When fixed assets are used in business they lose value therefore the monetary costs in a fixed
Depreciation is a monetary loss in a fixed assets due to use, wear and tear, passage of time running out
of date (obsolescence) Erosion for hard, decay for machinery depletion for quarries, etc.
Depreciation is part of the original cost of the fixed assets consumed during its period of use by the firm
therefore it is an expense for services consumed in the same way as expenses for items such as salaries
and wages, rent electricity etc it is charged against profit.
It is also deducted from the value of noncurrent assets in the statement of financial position.
With the exception of land held on free hold or very long leasehold, every noncurrent asset eventually
wears out over time. Machines, fixtures and fittings and even buildings to not last forever.
Since an asset has a cost, a limited useful life and its value eventually declines, it follows that a charge
should be made in the income statement to reflect the use that is made of the asset. This charge is what
we call depreciation.
Accounting for depreciation is governed by IAS 16 Property, Plant and equipment which spells out the
following definitions.
Depreciation is the allocation of depreciable amount of an asset over its estimated useful life.
Depreciation for the accounting period is charged to the net profit or loss for the period.
- Are held by an enterprise for production or supply of goods and services etc
Useful life is the period over which a depreciable asset is expected to be used by the
enterprise.
Depreciable amount is the historical cost less the estimated residual value.
IAS 16 requires the depreciable amount to be allocated on a systematic basis to each accounting
period during the useful life of the asset.
The following factors should be considered when estimating the useful life of a depreciable asset;
- Obsolescence
Residual valuein most cases is immaterial and if it is likely to be material it should be estimated
Depreciation methods:
Consistency is important ie the depreciation method selected should be applied consistently from
period to period unless circumstances justify a change. If changed the effect should be quantified
We have already seen that when a non current asset is depreciated, the charge for depreciation is
an expense of the accounting period and the reduction in the value of the asset is shown by
reducing the asset in the statement of financial position by the depreciation charge to get the net
book value.
This is the most commonly used. It assumes equal amount of depreciation charge each year
Where a fixed asset has no disposal value at the end of its life span the formula changes to
Example
A motor vehicle is bought for 10,000,000/= and has an expected lifespan of 4 years after which
lifespan
= 8,000,000
b) Depreciation = cost
life span
Depreciation = 10,000,000
If non current assets are acquired during the year, then its fair to charge an amount for depreciation
which reflects the limited use the business has from the asset in that period.
Activity:
A business which has an accounting year which runs form 1 January to 31 December purchases a
new noncurrent asset on 1 April 2010 at a cost of shs 24,000,000. The expected life of the asset is 4
years and it has a nil residual value. What shoud be the depreciation charge for 2010?
Solution:
But since the asset was acquired on 1 April, the business has only benefited from the use of the
asset for 9 months instead of 12 months. So it would be fair to charge depreciation in 2010 only
Reducing balance method where a fixed rate of percentage for depreciation is applied on costing. In
the first year and subsequent, years the rate is applied on the reducing balance i.e cost less
Example
Shs
Cost 10,000,000
The percentage rate may not be given therefore the rate can be calculated by use of:-
R = 1 - n s
s = residual value
r = rate of depreciation
Example
A machine is bought for 8,000/= and estimated to have a lifespan of 4 years after which be disposed
r =1 - n s
c
r = 1 - 4 x 500
8000
r = 1 - 4 x 0.0625
1 – 0.5
Solution
Shs
Cost 8,000
When the market value of a non current asset falls and the fall is expected to be permanent, the
asset should be written down to its new low market value. The charge in the income statement for
the diminution in the value of the asset during the period should be
Shs
If the useful life of an asset changes, the depreciation charge will also change and the new charge is
calculated as below;
Activity:
2. In what circumstances is the reducing balance method more appropriate than the straight line
method?
Accumulated depreciation:
This is the amount set aside as charge for wearing out of non current assets. You should remember
that the depreciation charge is made posted to the income statement in each accounting period and
the total accumulated depreciation on a non current asset builds upas the asset gets older. The
CR: Accumulated depreciation account (statement of financial position) with depreciation charge for
the period.
The balance on the statement of financial position depreciation account is the total accumulated
depreciation. The non current asset account is unaffected by depreciation. In the statement of
financial position, the total balance on the accumulated depreciation account is set against the value
of non current assets to derive the carrying value (Net book value) of the non current asset.
Example:
ABC ltd set up a computer software business on business on 1 March 2006. He purchased a
computer system on credit from a manufacturer at a cost of shs 1,600,000. The system has an
expected life of 3 years and a residual value of shs 250,000. Using straight line method of
depreciation. Prepare the non current asset account, accumulated depreciation account and an
Solution
Shs Shs
Accumulated depreciation
Income statement:
When a non current asset is revalued depreciation is charged on the revalued amount. Revaluation
gain cannot go to the income statement as it has not be realized and it is recognized in the
are;
Revalued amount
When a non current asset is sold, there is likely to be a profit or loss on disposal. On disposal of a
i) An asset disposal account is opened where the cost price of the asset is posted to thus
Cr. Disposal of non current asset with the sale price of the asset.
Example
A machine is bought on 01-01-19x5 for shs 1000 and another machine is bought on 01-01-19x6 for
shs 1200. The first machine is sold on 30-06-19x7 for 720. the firm policy is to depreciation
machinery at 10% using the straight line method and the financial year end on 31-12-19xx. Show the
required accounts.
Solution
Machine a/c
19x5 19x5
19x6 19x6
19x7 19x7
Disposal a/c
2200 2200
19x8
19x7 19x7
1000 1000
Provision for depreciation account
19x5 19x5
19x6 19x6
320 320
19x7 19x7
440 440
19x8
19x7
Shs
Less
19x5
19x5
19x7
Shs Shs
19x5
19x6
Machinery (Cost) 2,200
19x7
IAS 16 covers all aspects of accounting for property, plant and equipment. This represents a bulk of
a) Its probable that future economic benefits associated with the asset will flow to the entity
Please note that an item that qualifies as property plant and equipment is initially measured at cost and
Cr Cash/payable
Purchase price
Initial costs of dismantling and removing the items and restoring site on which it is located
Directly attributable costs e.g site preparation, initial delivery and handling costs,installation
This is used to record all noncurrent assets and is an internal check on the accuracy of the nominal
ledger. The following data data detail is kept in the asset register.
Reference number
Cost
From time to time the asset register should be checked to the accounting records. Any discrepancies
Actvity:
1. In a statement of financial position prepared in accordance with IAS 16, what does carrying value
represent?
Accrued expenses (accruals) are expenses which relate to an accounting period but have not been
paid for. They are shown in the statement of financial position as a liability.
Prepaid expenses (prepayments) are expenses which have already been paid but relate to a future
accounting period. They are shown in the statement of financial position as an asset.
Accruals and prepayments might seem difficult at first but the example below will help us clarify the
principal involved, that expenses must be matched against ttthe period to which they relate.
Example:
Ford motor spares ends its financial year on 28 February each year. His telephone was installed on 1
April 2006 and he receives his telephone account quarterly at the end of each quarter. On the basis
of the following datacalculate the telephone expense to be charged to the income statement for the
Shs
30.6.2006 23,500
30.9.2006 27,200
31.12.2006 33,400
31.3.2007 36,000
Solution
The telephone expenses for the year ended 28 february 2008 are
Shs
108,100
The charge foer 1 January -28 February 2007 is two thirds of the quartely bill received on 31 March
As at 28 February 2007 no telephone has been received because it is not due to another month.
Telephone charge of shs 24,000 is accrued which is two thirds of the bill for the quarter. This will
Example: prepayments
Gatsby garage pays fire insurance annually in advanceon 1 june each year. Its financial year ends 28
February. The following recording of insurance payments has been provided. You are required to
calculate the charge to the income statement for the financial year to 28february 2008
Insurance paid
Insurance cost for the year charged to the income statement 675,000
At February 2008 there is a prepayment covering the period 1 March-31 May 2008. This insurance
premium was paid on 1 June 2007 but inly 9 months of full annual costis chargeable to the
accounting period ended 28 February. The prepayment of 3/12 x 700,000) Shs 175,000as at 28
February 2008 will appear as a current asset in the statement of financial position.
The prepayment of 3/12 x 600,000= 150,000 will appear in the statement of financial position as at
28 February 2007.
The table below shows us how accruals and prepayments affect the profit and net assets:
expenses assets/liabilities
income
BAD(IRRECOVERABLE) DEBTS
These are specific debts owed to a business which it decides are never going to be paid.
Ther are written off as an expense in the income statement. The following entry is passed.
DR irrecoverable debts
CR receivable control account
Allowances for receivables may be specific or simply a percentage allowance based on past
experience of irrecoverable debts. An increase in the allowance for receivables is shown as
an expense in the income statement.
The receivables in the statement of financial position are shown net of any receivables
allowance.
At the end of the accounting period, the balance on the irrecoverable debts accounts is
transferred to the I & E ledger account.
DR I & E account
CR Irrecoverable debts account
However if the irrecoverable debt is subsequently recovered, the accounting entries will be
DR Cash account
CR Irrecoverable debts account (expense)
Example:
At 1 October 2005 a business had a total outstanding debt of shs 8,600,000. During the year
to 30 September 2006 the following transactions took place.
a) Credit sales amounted to shs 44,000,000
b) Payments from various customers amounted to Sh 49,000,000
c) Two debts for shs 180,000 and 420,000 were declared irrecoverable and the consumers
are no longer purchasing goods from the company. These are to be written off.
Required:
Prepare the trade account receivable and the irrecoverable debts account for the year.
Solution:
Irrecoverable debts
Receivables 180 I & E a/c 600
Receivables 420
600 600
Example:
Abusiness has been told by its lawyers that it is likely to pay shs 10,000,000 damages for a
product that failed. The business duly set up the provision on 31 december 2007. But in the
following year the lawyers found that the damages were morelikely to be shs 50,000,000.
How is the provision treated in the account at 31 december 2007 and 31 december 2008.
Solution:
The business needs to set up a provision as follows;
DR Damages (IS) 10,000,000
CR Provision (SOFP) 10,000,000
In the income statement under expenses we have provision of shs 10,000,000 and in the
statement of financial position this figure appears under non current liabilities.
At 31 December 2008
The business needs to increase the provision
DR Damages 40,000,000
CR Provision 40,000,000
So statement of financial position will show non current liability (provision for damages at
50,000,00) and in the income statement the expense will be shs 40,000,000.
A provision is made when there is a legal and constructive obligation. Examples include
warranties, guarantees and sale returns.
Contingent liability
An entity should not recognize a contingent asset or liability but it should disclose it.
IAS 47 defines a contingent liability as a possible obligation that arises from past events
and whose existence will be confirmed only by the occurrence or non occurrence of one or
more uncertain future events or a present obligation that arises from past events.
A contigent asset is a possible asset that arises from past events and whose existence will be
confirmed by the occurrence of one or more uncertain future events not wholly within the
enterprises control. A brief description of these must be provided including the estimate of
their financial effect and details of any uncertainities.
Review Questions
1. A business purchases two machines on 1 January 2005 at a cost of Sh 15,000,000. Each
had an estimated life of five years and nil residual value. The straight line method is used.
On 31 March 2007 one machine was sold for shs 8,000,000 on credit because of reduction in
activity. Later in the year production was abandoned altogether and the second machine
was sold on credit to a buyer at shs 2,500,000 cash on 1 December 2007.
Required:
Prepare the machinery account, depreciation of machinery account and disposal of
machinery account for the year to 31 December 2007.
2. When Dan commenced trading as a car dealer on 1 January 2001, he purchased business
premises at a cost of shs 50,000,000.
For purposes of calculating depreciation, he decided the following;
a) The land part of the business premises was worth shs 20,000,000 (not to be depreciated)
b) The building part of the premises was worth the remaining shs 30,000,000. This would
be depreciated by straight line method to nil residual value over 30 years.
After 5 years of trading on 1 January 2006, Dan decides that the business premises are now
worth shs 150,000,000 divided as Land 75,000,000 and building 75,000,000. He estimates
that the building still has a further 25 years of useful life remaining.
Required:
Calculate the annual charge for depreciation in each of the 30 years in its life, and the
statement of financial position value of land and building at the end of each year.
CHAPTER TEN
- Introduction
- Types of companies
- IAS 18
10.0 Introduction:
This chapter looks at preparation of financial statements of limited companies and their general
content which is governed by IAS 1, presentation of financial statements. We shall explain items in
the financial statements that we have not yet discussed in the previous chapters. We shall also look
at IAS 18 revenue since this has a great impact on the content and form of company accounts.
Learning Objectives:
of the business. This is also coupled with the limitations of sole trade and partnership businesses.
Abusinesses. A limited company is a legal person set up by law. A company once set up can sue or
The process of setting up a company is initiated by promoters, who draft the constitution of the
Articles of association.
Limited liability companies: In event that such a company fails to pay its debts, the members are only
liable to the debts up to the amount of capital in form of shares they subscribed.
sheet. It also give guidance on how items should be presented in the financial statements.
1) AuthorisedAuthorized share capital: This is the share capital that the company has been
allowed to issue out to shareholders. It can also been referred to as registered or nominal
capital.
2) Issued share capital: This refers to the total share capital actually issued to shareholders.
3) Called up share capital: This comprises thatof that proportion of the issued share that the
4) Uncalled up share capital: This is the proportionthe proportion of the issued share capital
5) Paid up capital: This is the total of the amount of share capital that has been paid for by the
shareholders.
Types of shares
Shareholders of limited companies are entitled to rewards in form of dividends. The amount of
dividends that each shareholder receives depends on the type of shares as follows:
a) Preference shareholders are entitled to a fixed percentage dividend and are supposed to receive it
before any other shareholders receive anything. In the final accounts preference shares are stated as,
say; 50,000 10% preference shares of shs. 1,000 each. This means that the total capital raised was;
b) Ordinary shareholders: These are also referred to as equity shareholders rank for dividend from the
remainder of the total profits. It is worthy of mention that the remaining profits of the company belong
to the ordinary shareholders. They can be stated as, say, 20,000 Ordinary shares of shs. 1,000 each. The
dividend for ordinary shareholders is normally determined by directors mid way (interim) or at the end
in a period shall be included in profit or loss unless a standard or an interpretation requires otherwise.
10.3.1 Statement of comprehensive income:
This adjusts the income statement for certain gains and losses e.g gain on properyproperty revaluation.
So it presents all gains and losses recognized in the income statement and those recognized through
other reserves.
Some items must appear on the face of the statement of financial position or income
statement.
They must be distinguished from any other information published with them. Each element of financial
statements should be identified clearly. The following should be clearly spelt out; name of entity,
reporting date, reporting currency and the level of precision used in presenting the figures.
ABC Co
2010 2009
Shs Shs
Assets:
Noncurrent assets
Plant property & equipment x x
Goodwill x x
Other intangible assets x X x X
Current assets:
Inventories x x
Trade receivables x x
Other current assets x x
Cash & cash equivalents x X x X
Total assets XX XX
10.3.3
ABC Co
Shs Shs
Revenue x x
Gross profit x x
Other income x x
Note that if a question requires you to prepare an income statement, then that will include items
following policispolicies should be disclosed; depreciation, inventories, revaluation of long term assets.
2b. General statement of financial position disclosures include;
- Plant nd equipment
- Accumulated depreciation
-goodwill
-Patents, trademarks
5e. Investments
6f. Receivables
7g. Cash
- share capital with all the detail like number of shares, par value etc
11k. Payables
1.Revenuea. Revenue:
2b. Cost of sales: This represents a summary of detailed workings as we used in the sole traders
statements.
3c. Expenses: These are collected under headings. Any detail is given in the notes
4d. Managers salary. Remember for a sole trader this is an appropriation not an expense.
5e. Income tax. Taxation affects both the statement of financial position and the income statement. All
companies pay corporation tax on profits. The charge for income tax in a year is shown as a deduction
from net profit and in the statement of financial position tax payable is shown as a current liability.
The matching concepts apply to revenue and expenses. So we have to adjust for accruals and
prepayments.
The net profit is usually transferred to retained earnings in the statement of changes in equity and the
closing balance in the statement of changes in equity is transferred to the statement of financial
position.
10.6 Items in the statement of financial position:
1.The assets are the same as those of a sole trader. The only difference is that the detail is given in notes
and only the totals are shown on the face of the statement of financial position.
2. Equity
3. Liabilities
4. The statement of financial position makes use of the accounting equation concept
Note: You should be aware of the current and non currentnoncurrent distinction as well as their
disclosure requirements laid down in IAS1. We have already discussed these in the previous chapters so
you can refer.
Example 1
The following list of balances as at 31.03.201103 was extracted from the books of Great Africa Ltd.
Item (shs)
Additional information:
ii) The company’s freehold property was valued at £ shs190,000 on 31.03.20032011. The
company’s directors have decided that the valuation should be reflected in the accounts
iii) (a) Rates and rent prepared at 31.03.2003 2011 amounted to £shs 2,300
(b) Accrued expenses included telephone and postages; motor expenses were 900 and 300
respectively.
iv) In February 20032011, the company sold a motor vehicle, which had been bought for £shs
8000 in January 200009. The only entry in the company’s books of accounts relating to the
sale concerns the receipt of the sale proceeds of £shs1500, which have been credited to
motor expenses.
v) The directors are recommending that a dividend of 15% be paid on the ordinary shares for
Required :to pPrepare relevant accounts for its internal and external use.
Solution
Great Africa Ltd
Trading, profit and loss appropriation accountIncome statement
For the year ended 31.03.201103
Current assets
Stock 38,000
Debtors 21,700
Prepaid 2,300
Bank 7,000
69,000
Current liabilities
Creditors 7,800
Proposed Div 30,000
Accrued expenses
Telephone and postages 900
Motor expenses 300 39,000 30,000
Financed by:
AuthorisedAuthorized share capital 250,000
Ordinary share of £1 each
Share premium 200,000
Profit on revaluation 20,000
Retained profit 50,000
38,000
308,000
Freehold premises
Disposal acco
unt 8,000
DDisposal account
Cost 8,000
30,400
Disposed 4,800
Revenue is recognized when an entity has transferred to the buyer the significant risks and rewards
Revenue is recognized as earned at the point of sale at which four criteria have been met
The buyer has recognized his liability to pay for the goods or services provided
The buyer has indicated willingness to hand over cash or other assets to settlement of a
liability.
IAs 18 recognizes revenue when future economic benefits will flow to the entity and when the
benefits can be measured reliably. It recognizes revenue from specific types of transactions or
events like sale of goods, rendering of services, use by others of entity assets yielding interest,
The standard excludes various types of revenue arising from leases, insurance contracts, changes in
value of financial instruments or other current assets, natural increases in agricultural assets etc.
Revenue is gross inflow of economic benefits during the period arising in the course of the ordinary
activities of an entity whose inflow results in increases in equity. Revenue does not include sales
- Accounting policies
Review question:
Abacus a limited company has the following trial balance as at 31 December 2010
DR (shs000) CR (shs000)
Buildings 10,000
Suspense 1,500
Accumulated depreciation
Buildings 4,000
22,352 22,352
a) Inventory at 31 December 2010 was valued at shs 1,600,000.While doing the inventory count,
error in the previous year’s inventory count were discovered. Inventory b/f at the beginning of the
- Plant and equipment at 20% on reducing balance basis charged to cost of sales
d) A customer has gone bankrupt owing shs 76,000. This debt is expected to be recovered and an
e) 1 million new ordinary shares were issued at shs 1.5 on 1 December 2010. The proceeds have
Required
Prepare the income statement for the year to 31 December 2010, a statement of financial position
and statement of changes in equity at that date in accordance with the requirements of IAS 1.
Ignore taxation.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
PREPARATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF NON PROFIT MAKING
ORGANISATIONS
Chapter outline:
- Introduction
11.0Introduction:
This chapter deals with preparation of financial statements for non profit making organization and
will highlight how these differ from financial statements of limited companies
Learning objectives:
given
members or relief its members or community from unfavourable conditions/situations. Such as poverty,
famine etc. such organizations may include clubs, charities, associations etc.
Ordinarily Non-profit/trading organizations don’t prepare a trade, profit and loss account unless they
carry out some trading activity. So a trading account is prepared to ascertain the trading profit or loss of
that activity.
therefore receipts received in the period and payments for the same period are cash.
b) Income and expenditure account – prepare to ascertain the surplus or deficit for the period of a
non-trading organization. It shows income and expenditure for the organization for the financial
year end.
c) Statement of affairs – prepared to ascertain accumulated fund for the organization either at end
d) Statement of financial position – prepared to ascertain the financial position of the organization
N.B Non-trading organisation raise their operational funds by subscriptions, life membership,
Example
The following is a summary of the receipts and payments of Mbarara Rotary Club during the year
Receipts and payments account for the year ended 31 July 2011.
3,324,000 3,324,000
2010 2011
Solution
Assets
Equipment 975,000
Liabilities
Subscription in advance 10,000
Subscription account
2,082,000 2,082,000
c) Competition prizes
(creditors)
376,000 376,000
d) Sales of tickets
Shs
165,000
e) Rent account
Shs
Cash 1,402,000
902000
Shs
195,000
g) Accumulated depreciations
Shs
640,000
Mbarara Rotary Club
Income and expenditure account for the year ended 31st July 2011
Shs Shs
Income
Subscription 1,980,000
Profit on sale of tickets 165,000
Donations 177,000
2,322,000
Expenditure
Rent 902,000
Speakers expenses 1,275,000
Secretarial expenses 163,000
Stationery 179,000
Donations to charities 35,000
Depreciation 195,000 2,749,000
Deficit 427,000
Assets (current)
Stock of prizes 46,000
Subscription in arrears 85,000
131,000
Liabilities (current)
Creditors for prizes 68,000
Subscription in advance 37,000
Bank overdraft 13,000 118,000
Net current assets 13,000
Total net assets 793,000
Financed by:
Accumulated fund 1,220,000
427,000
793,000
Review Question
The assets and liabilities of Mbarara FC as at 31st December 2009 were as follows:-
(shs)
Miscellaneous 750
Shs Shs
12.0 Introduction
This chapter deals with preparation of cash flow statement and highlights the importance of the
distinction between cash and profit. The chapter adopts a systematic approach to preparation of this
statement.
Learning objectives:
Describe the benefits and draw backs to users of financial statements of a statement of
cashflow.
Statement of cashflows concentrates on the sources and uses of cash and is a useful indicator of a
company’s liquidity.
The aim of IAS 7 is to provide information about the entity’s ability to generate cash and cash
equivalents as well as indicating the cash needs of the entity. The statement of cash flows should be
presented as an integral part of an entity’s financial statements. All entities are required by the standard
to produce it.
Its provides information that helps users to appreciate the change in net assets of the entity and the
ability to adapt to changing circumstances by adjusting the amount and timing of cash flows.
Cash equivalents: - are short term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to
known cash amounts. The cash equivalents are not held for investment or other long term
purposes. To fulfill this an investment’s maturity date should normally be three months form the
acquisition date.
Operating activities are the principal revenue producing activities of the enterprise other than
Investing activities are the acquisition and disposal of non current assets and other investments
not included in cash equivalents. This includes loans and borrowings from banks
Financing activities are activities that result in changes in the size and composition of the equity
Operating activities: This shows whether and to what extent, companies can generate cash from
their operations. It will mostly comprise of items which determine the net profit or loss of the
Investing activities: This shows the extent of new investment in assets which will generate future
profit cash flows. Examples of cash flows under this heading are;
Cash payments to acquire property, plant and equipment, intangible assets and other
noncurrent assets
Cash receipts from repayment of advances and loans made by other parties.
Financing activities: this shows the share of cash which the enterprises capital providers have
claimed during the period. Its an indication of the likely future interest and dividend payments.
Examples include;
a) Direct method which discloses the major classes of gross cash receipts and gross cash payments
b) indirect method where the net profit or loss is adjusted for the effects of transactions of a non
cash nature, any deferrals or accruals of past or future operating cash receipts or payments.
The direct method discloses information that is not else where in the financial statements which
could be of use in estimating future cash flows. However the indirect method is simpler and more
widely used.
The information needed can be extracted from accounting records and cashflow from operations
Shs
This is easier than the direct method. The net profit or loss for the period is adjusted for the
following.
Shs
Add: depreciation xx
Depreciation is not a cash expense but is deducted in arriving at the profit figure in the
An increase in inventories means less cash ie cash has been spent on buying inventory
An increase in receivables means the company ‘s receivables have not been paid as much
If we pay off payables causing the figure to decrease again we have less cash
The direct method should be used where the necessary information is not too costly to obtain but is
not demanded by IAS 7 . SO this method is rarely used
Cash flows from interest and dividends received and paid should be disclosed separately. Each
should be classified in a consistent manner from period to period as either operating, investing or
financing activities.
Dividends paid by an enterprise can be classified as a financing cash flow or as a component of cash
Taxes on income:
Cash flows arising from taxes on income should be separately disclosed and should be classified as
cash flow from operating activities unless they can be identified to fall in other categories.
These should be disclosed and reconciliation should be presented showing the amounts in the
statement of cash flows reconciled with the equivalent items reported in the statement of financial
position. Also the accounting policy used in deciding these items should be disclosed.
Other disclosures:’
All enterprises should disclose together with a commentary by management any other information
c) Cash flows which increased operating capacity compared to cash flows which maintained
operating activity.
Example:
RECO co’s income statement for the year ended 31 December 2009 and statements of financial
Reco co
Sales 720
Raw materials 70
Staff costs 94
Depreciation 118
420
Taxation (124)
2009 2008
Assets
Plant, property and equipment
Cost 1,596 1,560
Depreciation 318 1,278 224 1,336
Current Assets:
Inventory 24 20
Trade receivables 76 58
Bank 48 148 56 134
Total assets 1,426 1,470
Equity & liabilities
Capital and reserves
Share capital 360 340
Share premium 36 24
Retained earnings 716 1,112 514 878
Noncurrent liabilities
Noncurrent loans 200 500
Current liabilities
Trade payables 12 6
Taxation 102 114 86 92
1,426 1,470
During the year, the company paid shs 90,000 for a new piece of machinery
Required :
Prepare the statement of cash flows for Reco co for the year ended 31 December 2009 in
Solution:
Shs000 shs000
Net cashflow from operating activities:
Profit before tax 392
Depreciation charges 118
Loss on sale of property, plant & Equipment 18
Interest expense 28
Increase in inventories (4)
Increase in receivables (18)
Increase in payables 6
Cash generated from operations 540
Interest paid (28)
Dividends paid (66)
Tax paid(86+124-102) (108)
Net cash outflow from operating activities 338
b) Cash flow accounting is more comprehensive than profit which is dependent on accounting
c) Payables are more interested in the enterpise’s ability to repay them than in its profitability
d) Cash flow accounting provides a better means of comparing the results of different companies
g) The accruals concept is confusing and cash flows are more easily understood
Activity
1. Below are the financial statements of Shimuk Ltd. You are a financial controller faced with the
Shimuk Ltd
Shs 000
Revenue 2,553
350
Interest received 25
Taxation (140)
2010 2009
Shs Shs
Assets:
Investments - 25
Current assets:
Cash in hand 2 1
Equity
Loan 170 50
Current liabilities:
Bank overdraft 85 98
a) The proceeds from the sale of non current asset investments amounted to shs 30,000.
b) Fixtures and fittings, with original cost of shs 85,000 and a net book value of shs 45,000 were sold for
31.12.2010 31.12.2009
Required:
Prepare the statement of cash flows for the year to 31 December 2010 using the format laid down by
IAS7.
REFERENCES:
1. ACCA (2010) Financial Accounting International). BPP learning media ltd.
2. Frank Wood & Alan Singer (2002) Business Accounting 10th edition. Pearson Company. New York.
3. H. Johnsn & William (1998) A practical foundation of accounting. Tata McGraw Hill
6. Sserwanga A (2005) Introduction to financial accounting. 1st ed. Widelink services, Kampala.
Contents
PREFACE:.........................................................................................................................3
CHAPTER ONE.................................................................................................................4
1.0 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................4
CHAPTER TWO:.............................................................................................................33
PRINCIPLES OF DOUBLE ENTRY AND ACCOUNTING SYSTEM......................33
2.4 Accounts.................................................................................................................49
CHAPTER THREE..........................................................................................................59
3.3 JOURNALS...............................................................................................................63
CHAPTER FOUR............................................................................................................98
ADJUSTMENTS IN ACCOUNTS:................................................................................98
4.0 Depreciation of non-current assets..............................................................99
Fixed assets are those assets of monetary and material value bought for use in
business over their life span. When fixed assets are used in business they lose
value therefore the monetary costs in a fixed assets is termed as depreciation.
..........................................................................................................................................99
Example........................................................................................................................101
Solution.........................................................................................................................101
Example........................................................................................................................103
Example........................................................................................................................104
Solution.........................................................................................................................104
Example........................................................................................................................108
Solution.........................................................................................................................108
CHAPTER SIX...............................................................................................................138
BANK RECONCILIATIONS......................................................................................138
Example:........................................................................................................................149
Total...............................................................................................................................149
Additional Information................................................................................................150
Total...............................................................................................................................150
Additional Information................................................................................................151
Required: Prepare........................................................................................................151
Treatment of Bad Debts Provisions in Final Accounts............................................151
Total...............................................................................................................................151
Total...............................................................................................................................152
CHAPTER EIGHT.........................................................................................................155
CHAPTER NINE...........................................................................................................166
9.3.9...............................................................................................................................171
Salaries to partners.....................................................................................................171
Example........................................................................................................................172
Good will.......................................................................................................................176
Example :.......................................................................................................................176
Locke 3,500..................................................................................177
DR CR..................................................................................................................182
CHAPTER TEN.............................................................................................................184
Types of shares............................................................................................................186
10.3.3188
ABC Co188
2010 2009..............................................................................................................188
Required :Prepare relevant accounts for its internal and external use. ............193
Example........................................................................................................................201
Solution.........................................................................................................................202
Assets............................................................................................................................202
Income..........................................................................................................................205
Expenditure..................................................................................................................205
CHAPTER TWELVE...................................................................................................209
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................222