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Accrual definition

Accounting Tools

Related Courses Accountants' Guidebook Bookkeeper Education Bundle Bookkeeping Guidebook What is an Accrual? An accrual allows a business to record expenses and revenues for which it expects to expend cash or receive cash, respectively, in a future period. It is an essential element of the accrual basis of accounting.

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Under accrual definition

Accounting Tools

Related Courses Bookkeeping Guidebook Closing the Books The Year-End Close What is an Under Accrual? An under accrual is a situation in which the estimated amount of an accrual journal entry is too low. This scenario can arise for an accrual of either revenue or expense.

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Sales commission definition

Accounting Tools

Accounting for Sales Commissions Sales commissions are normally included directly into the periodic payroll calculations, so they are accounted for within the periodic payroll journal entry. This is recorded as a debit to the commissions expense account and a credit to the accruals liability account.

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Cash basis of accounting definition

Accounting Tools

The cash basis is commonly used by individuals and small businesses (especially those with no inventory ), since it involves the simplest accounting. The accrual basis is most commonly used by larger businesses. Advantages of the Cash Basis of Accounting The cash basis of accounting has the following advantages: Taxation.

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Accrued expenses definition

Accounting Tools

The journal entry is normally created as an automatically reversing entry , so that the accounting software automatically creates an offsetting entry as of the beginning of the following month. Then, when the supplier eventually submits an invoice to the entity, it cancels out the reversed entry.

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Accounting adjustments definition

Accounting Tools

Such transactions are usually entered in a module of the accounting software that is specifically designed for it, and which generates an accounting entry on behalf of the user. The adjustments are primarily used under the accrual basis of accounting.

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Journal entry definition

Accounting Tools

Adjusting Journal Entry An adjusting entry is used at month-end to alter the financial statements to bring them into compliance with the relevant accounting framework , such as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or International Financial Reporting Standards. Thus, journal entries are not used to record high-volume activities.