Accounting Concepts Overview

Study Notes

Accounting involves identifying, measuring, and communicating financial information about an organization to aid in informed decision-making.

Financial Accounting: Focuses on providing information to external stakeholders, such as investors, creditors, and regulatory bodies.
Management Accounting: Provides information to internal stakeholders, like managers, for operational decisions and performance analysis.

The conceptual framework serves as the foundation for accounting standards, ensuring consistency and reliability in financial reporting.
Key elements:
- Objective of financial reporting - Provide useful information for economic decision-making.
- Qualitative characteristics of financial information - Relevance, reliability, comparability, and understandability.
- Definition, recognition, and measurement of elements of financial statements - Assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses.

Provides systematic approaches to recording, summarizing, and interpreting financial data.
Supports decision-making by providing insights into financial performance and position.
Facilitates communication of financial information to stakeholders.
Helps in planning, controlling, and evaluating business operations.

Accounting standards are guidelines that govern the preparation and presentation of financial statements.
Key bodies:
- Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) - Sets accounting standards in Australia, following International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) - Oversees the corporate sector and enforces compliance with accounting standards.
- Taxation (ATO) - Plays a role in influencing accounting practices through its tax requirements.

Legal structure: Not a separate legal entity; the business owner is personally liable for all debts and obligations.
Registration: Requires an Australian Business Number (ABN).
Advantages:
- Easy and inexpensive to establish and wind down.
- No company regulations.
- Owner has full control of business decisions.
- Owner keeps all profits and gains from selling the business.
Disadvantages:
- Unlimited liability.
- Limited by the owner's skills, time, and investment.
- Restrictive structure due to non-legal status.
- Business ceases to exist if the owner leaves, retires, or dies.
- Tax disadvantage.

A business structure where two or more individuals operate a business together for a profit.
Legal structure: Not a separate legal entity; partners are personally liable for debts and obligations.
Advantages:
- Sharing of ideas, skills, and resources.
- Easy and inexpensive to establish.
- No separate taxation; income tax is filed with the ATO.
- Partnerships can be formed with or without written agreements.
Disadvantages:
- Unlimited liability for all partners.
- Limited life: dissolution upon partner death or withdrawal.
- Mutual agency: each partner is bound by partnership contracts.
- Potential disputes over profit sharing and decision-making.

A separate legal entity from its shareholders, enjoying distinct liability and being taxed separately.
Advantages:
- Limited liability for shareholders.
- Lower tax rate compared to personal tax rates.
- Ease of business expansion through legal structure.
- Ability to raise equity through public share offerings.
- Perpetual existence of the entity.
Disadvantages:
- More time-consuming and expensive to set up.
- Compliance with complex company rules and regulations.
- Taxed from the first dollar of profit.
- Limited liability may hinder access to financing: banks often prefer personal guarantees from directors.
- Separation of ownership and control.

A legal structure where one or more persons (trustees) hold property for the benefit of others (beneficiaries).
Advantages:
- Minimises tax payments: the trust itself does not pay tax, beneficiaries pay tax on distributed income.
- Limited liability.
- Simple to form.
- Relatively little government regulation (unless listed on the ASX).
Disadvantages:
- Complex trust laws.
- Requires administration by a qualified accountant.
- Potential for exploitation for tax minimisation purposes.