Test Bank for Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making, Fifth Edition
FOR INSTRUCTOR USE ONLY
CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the sections of a classified balance sheet. In a classified balance sheet,
companies classify assets as current assets; long-term investments; property, plant, and
equipment; and intangibles. They classify liabilities as either current or long-term. A
stockholders’ equity section shows common stock and retained earnings.
2. Identify tools for analyzing financial statements and ratios for computing a company’s
profitability. Ratio analysis expresses the relationship among selected items of
financial statements data. Profitability ratios, such as earnings per share (EPS), measure
aspects of the operating success of a company for a given period of time.
3. Explain the relationship between a retained earnings statement and a statement of
stockholders’ equity. The retained earnings statement presents the factors that changed the
retained earnings balance during the period. A statement of stockholders’ equity presents the
factors that changed stockholders’ equity during the period, including those that changed
retained earnings. Thus, a statement of stockholders’ equity is more inclusive.
4. Identify and compute ratios for analyzing a company’s liquidity and solvency using a
balance sheet. Liquidity ratios, such as the current ratio, measure the short-term ability of a
company to pay its maturing obligations and to meet unexpected needs for cash. Solvency
ratios, such as the debt to assets ratio, measure the ability of a company to survive over a
long period.
5. Use the statement of cash flows to evaluate solvency. Free cash flow indicates a
company’s ability to generate cash from operations that is sufficient to pay debts, acquire
assets, and distribute dividends.
6. Explain the meaning of generally accepted accounting principles. Generally accepted
accounting principles are a set of rules and practices recognized as a general guide for
financial reporting purposes. The basic objective of financial reporting is to provide
information that is useful for decision making.
7. Discuss financial reporting concepts. To be judged useful, information should have the
primary characteristics of relevance and faithful representation. In addition, useful information
is comparable, consistency, verifiable, timely, and understandable.
The monetary unit assumption requires that companies include in the accounting records only
transaction data that can be expressed in terms of money. The economic entity assumption
states that economic events can be identified with a particular unit of accountability. The
periodicity assumption states that the economic life of a business can be divided into artificial
time periods and that meaningful accounting reports can be prepared for each period. The
going concern assumption states that the company will continue in operation long enough to
carry out its existing objectives and commitments.
The historical cost principle states that the companies should record assets at their cost. The
fair value principle indicates that assets and liabilities should be reported at fair value. The full
disclosure principle requires that companies disclose circumstances and events that matter to
financial statement users.
The cost constraint weighs the cost that companies incur to provide a type of information
against its benefit to financial statement users.