NCERT Class 11 Accountancy Theory Base of Accounting

Theory Base of Accounting

As discussed in the previous chapter, accounting is concerned with the recording, classifying and summarising of financial transactions and events and interpreting the results thereof. It aims at providing information about the financial performance of a firm to its various users such as owners, managers employees, investors, creditors, suppliers of goods and services and tax authorities and help them in taking important decisions. The investors, for example, may be interested in knowing the extent of profit or loss earned by the firm during a given period and compare it with the performance of other similar enterprises. The suppliers of credit, say a banker, may, in addition, be interested in liquidity position of the enterprise. All these people look forward to accounting for appropriate, useful and reliable information. For making the accounting information meaningful to its internal and external users, it is  important that such information is reliable as well as comparable. The comparability of information is required both to make inter-firm comparisons, i.e. to see how a firm has performed as compared to the other firms, as well as to make inter-period comparison, i.e. how it has performed as compared to the previous years. This becomes possible only if the information provided by the financial statements is based on consistent accounting policies, principles and practices. Such consistency is required throughout the process of identifying the events and transactions to be accounted for, measuring them, communicating them in the book of accounts, summarising the results thereof and reporting them to the interested parties. This calls for developing a proper theory base of accounting.

The importance of accounting theory need not be over-emphasised as no discipline can develop without a sound theoretical base. The theory base of accounting consists of principles, concepts, rules and guidelines developed over a period of time to bring uniformity and consistency to the process of accounting and enhance its utility to different users of accounting information. Apart from these, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, (ICAI), which is the regulatory body for standardisation of accounting policies in the country has issued Accounting Standards which are expected to be uniformly adhered to, in order to bring consistency in the accounting practices. These are discussed in the sections to follow.

2.1 Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

In order to maintain uniformity and consistency in accounting records, certain  rules or principles have been developed which are generally accepted by the accounting profession. These rules are called by different names such as principles, concepts, conventions, postulates, assumptions and modifying principles.

The term ‘principle’ has been defined by AICPA as ‘A general law or rule adopted or professed as a guide to action, a settled ground or basis of conduct or practice’. The word ‘generally’ means ‘in a general manner’, i.e. pertaining to many persons or cases or occasions. Thus, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) refers to the rules or guidelines adopted for recording and  reporting of business transactions, in order to bring uniformity in the preparation and the presentation of financial statements. For example, one of the important rule is to record all transactions on the basis of historical cost, which is verifiable from the documents such as cash receipt for the money paid. This brings in objectivity in the process of recording and makes the accounting statements more acceptable to various users. The Generally Accepted Accounting Principles have evolved over a long period of time on the basis of past experiences, usages or customs, statements by individuals and professional bodies and regulations by government agencies and have general acceptability among most accounting professionals. However, the principles of accounting are not static in nature. These are constantly influenced by changes in the legal, social and economic environment as well as the needs of the users.

Questions for Practice

Short Answers

1. Why is it necessary for accountants to assume that business entity will remain a going concern?

2. When should revenue be recognised? Are there exceptions to the general rule?

3. What is the basic accounting equation?

4. The realisation concept determines when goods sent on credit to customers are to be included in the sales figure for the purpose of computing the profit or loss for the accounting period. Which of the following tends to be used in practice to determine when to include a transaction in the sales figure for the period. When the goods have been:

a. dispatched b. invoiced

c. delivered d. paid for

Give reasons for your answer.

5. Complete the following work sheet:

(i) If a firm believes that some of its debtors may ‘default’, it should act on this by making sure that all possible losses are recorded in the books. This is an example of the ___________ concept.

(ii) The fact that a business is separate and distinguishable from its owner is best exemplified by the ___________ concept.

(iii) Everything a firm owns, it also owns out to somebody. This co-incidence is explained by the ___________ concept.

(iv) The ___________ concept states that if straight line method of depreciation is used in one year, then it should also be used in the next year.

(v) A firm may hold stock which is heavily in demand. Consequently, the market value of this stock may be increased. Normal accounting procedure is to ignore this because of the ___________.

(vi) If a firm receives an order for goods, it would not be included in the sales figure owing to the ___________.

(vii) The management of a firm is remarkably incompetent, but the firms accountants can not take this into account while preparing book of accounts because of ___________ concept.

Long Answers

1. ‘The accounting concepts and accounting standards are generally referred to as the essence of financial accounting’. Comment.

2. Why is it important to adopt a consistent basis for the preparation of financial statements? Explain.

3. Discuss the concept-based on the premise ‘do not anticipate profits but provide for all losses’.

4. What is matching concept? Why should a business concern follow this concept? Discuss.

5. What is the money measurement concept? Which one factor can make it difficult to compare the monetary values of one year with the monetary values of another year?

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