Chapter 3

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics
Getting a snapshot of Smart Sports
Learning Objectives
At the end of this topic, you should be able to:

appreciate the purpose of a statement of financial position recognize the assets and liabilities in a business understand what an accrual and a prepayment are and how to account for them prepare a statement of financial position for a simple business.
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Introduction
There are three main financial statements that make up a set of accounts. These are the income statement, which reveals the profit or loss for the year, the statement of financial position, and the statement of cash flows. The statement of financial position shows the assets and liabilities of a business on a particular date and how the business has been financed.
Oxford University Press 2011. Mary Carey, Cathy Knowles and Jane Towers-Clark. Accounting A Smart Approach.
Case Study The bank wants more information

Sam Smart has been trading for one year as a supplier of printed team kits to local sports clubs. He is in the process of drawing up accounts for his first year of trading and understands the basics of measuring the profit for the year. Until now, Sam has not needed a bank overdraft, but he has plans to expand the business and is aware that he will need an overdraft facility in the near future. To be considered for one, the bank has asked to see the income statement and the statement of financial position for the business. Sam does not understand why the bank needs to see more than just the income statement, and he decides to ask Kim to explain exactly what a statement of financial position is and what information it contains. Kim explains that the statement of financial position has until recently been known as the balance sheet and that it is often described as giving a snapshot of a business. It shows the assets and liabilities that a business has at one particular date and how the business has been financed.
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Assets and liabilities

Terminology
An asset is something that the business owns that will bring nancial benets to the business in the future. A liability is an amount owed by the business where the business has an obligation to make a payment.
Ponder Point
Can you think of any assets that a typical student might have?
Demonstration Exercise 3.1

Danni runs a business selling soft drinks from a van that trades outside sporting events and concerts. Which of the following would be assets of Dannis Drinks business?
Part One Financial Accounting

a) The fridges bought by Danni that are used to keep the drinks cold. b) Bottles and cans of drinks held for sale. c) Two boxes of crisps that are out of date and could not be sold. d) The van that Danni bought from Veni Vans. e) The till used to record the takings and store the cash taken. f) The amount owed by a customer who buys drinks on credit. g) The businesss bank overdraft.
Demonstration Exercise 3.1solution

Items (a), (b), (d), (e), and (f) are assets of the business. Items (a), (d), and (e) are assets as they will be used by the business to enable it to trade. Item (b) is an asset as the cans and bottles will result is sales for the business.
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Item (c) is not an asset, because the crisps will not bring any future income to the business, as they cannot be sold. Item (f) is an asset, as the amount owed will result in cash being received by the business in the future. Item (g) is a liability of the business as an overdraft is an amount owed to the bank.
The statement of financial position

This primary nancial statement shows the assets and liabilities which a business has at a given date and how these net assets have been nanced.
Layout of the statement of financial position

There is more than one possible way to prepare a statement of nancial position; an example of a common format is given in Table 3.1. There are certain points to note: The statement of nancial position always has a heading to show the name of the business and the date for which it is being prepared.

Table 3. 1 The Business Name Statement of nancial position as at the end of the reporting period ASSETS Non-current assets Long-term assets (for example, a car) Current assets Short-term assets (for example, inventory) Total assets xxx xxx xxx
CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES Capital at the beginning of the period Prot for the year Less: drawings Capital at the end of the period Non-current liabilities Long-term liabilities (for example, a loan) Current liabilities Short-term liabilities (for example, trade payables) Total capital and liabilities xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
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The statement of nancial position can be thought of as having two halves: the top half, which lists all the assets; the bottom half, which shows the capital (the owners investment in the business), and all the liabilities. Assets are divided between those that are long-term, known as non-current assets, and those that are short-term, known as current assets. Non-current assets are also known as xed assets. Assets are listed in the statement in order of decreasing liquidity. For example, this means that for current assets the inventory is listed rst because it will take the longest to turn into cash. It will be followed by trade receivables and then the bank balance.

Liabilities are divided between those that are long-term, known as non-current liabilities, and those that are short-term, known as current liabilities. Prot is created by the efforts of the owner and hence is added to the capital account, increasing the owners investment in the business. The total assets of the business will equal the closing capital balance plus the liabilities of the business. That is, the total of the top half should equal the total of the bottom half of the statement of nancial position. This is why this statement was, and often still is, known as the balance sheet. Hence, Assets = Capital + Liabilities. This is known as the accounting equation and always holds true for any business.
Terminology
Non-current assets are assets intended for long-term use in the business. Current assets are assets that will be held by the business for less than one year, including inventory held for resale and cash balances. Current liabilities are amounts that are due to be paid within a year, including amounts owed to suppliers. Non-current liabilities are amounts that are due to be paid after a year, including long-term loans.
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Sam has prepared his income statement for the year ended 31 December 2011, and the balances shown in Table 3.2 remain on his trial balance. Note that, because the trial balance in Table 3.2 has been prepared after the income statement has been produced, all of the accounts used in preparing the income statement are no longer included on the trial balance. Instead, you will see that the prot for the year is shown. (This prot is the same as the one calculated in Chapter 2.) In addition, the closing inventory gure is shown on this trial balance because it has been adjusted for in preparing the income statement.

Table 3.2 Smart Sports Trial balance as at 31 December 2011 (after the income statement has been prepared) Debit Capital Loan Drawings Printing machine Computer Bank balance Trade receivables Inventory at 31 December 2011 Trade payables Draft prot for the year 34,080 7,200 5,500 3,500 11,080 4,100 2,700 2,400 9,680 34,080 Credit 10,000 12,000
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Using Smart Sports trial balance given above: a) Identify the businesss non-current assets. b) Identify the businesss current assets and current liabilities. c) Determine whether the business has any non-current liabilities. d) Prepare the statement of nancial position as at 31 December 2011, using the pro-forma given in Table 3.3.

Table 3.3 Smart Sports Statement of nancial position as at 31 December 2011 ( rst draft without any adjusting entries) ASSETS Non-current assets -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Current assets ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Total assets CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES Capital at the beginning of the year Add: --------------------------------------------Less: --------------------------------------------Capital at the end of the year Non-current liabilities --------------------------------------------Current liabilities --------------------------------------------Total capital and liabilities ----------------------------
----------
----------
Ponder Point
Can you explain why the accounting equation will always work? Assets = Capital + Liabilities
Case Study What to do about the electricity bill?

Sam is pleased that he has nearly completed his accounts for his first year of trading, and so far everything balances! When Kim happens to meet Sam at a football game, they spend time chatting about the accounts as they stand on the touchline. Sam noticed recently that there are amounts the business owed at the year-end that have so far been left out of the financial statements. In particular, he received an electricity bill that covered the last two months of the financial year. It did not seem right to him to just ignore it. Kim explains to Sam that he will need to adjust for this electricity bill and that he should review all his expense accounts to ensure that they cover the whole financial year. The business may have had the benefit of certain services but not yet paid for them, or it could have paid for some services in advance of receiving the benefit.
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Accruals and prepayments

The expenses actually paid by a business will be recorded on the trial balance, but sometimes expenses will have been incurred but not paid for during the nancial year. Where this has occurred, the amount owing is known as an accrual and needs to be adjusted for in preparing the accounts.
Terminology
An accrual arises where an expense has been incurred but not paid for by the date when the statement of nancial position is prepared. A prepayment arises where an expense has been paid before the statement of nancial position date but the benet of that expense will be obtained in the following nancial year.

Smart Sports has paid electricity bills totalling 1,920 during its rst year of trading, which is the amount on the trial balance. However, this amount covers only electricity used up to 31 October 2011. Sam estimates that the cost of electricity used during November and December 2011 will amount to 240 per month. a) What is the amount of the accrual? b) What is the full cost of electricity consumed by Smart Sports during the year ended 31 December 2011? c) If this gure (from (b) above) for electricity consumed is used in the income statement, what effect will this have on the prot for the year?
Demonstration Exercise 3.3 solution

a) The accrual would be for the two months electricity that had not been paid for. This will amount to 480. b) The full cost of electricity consumed by Smart Sports during the year ended 31 December 2011 will be 1,920 + 480 = 2,400. c) By adjusting for this accrual, the prot for the year will be reduced. In order to account for an accrual, it is necessary to: calculate the expense to be included in the income statement by taking the trial balance gure for the expense concerned and adding on the amount of the accrual include the accrual as a current liability on the statement of nancial position.
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Ponder Point
In adjusting for accruals, which accounting concept is being applied? Just as a business may have accruals where the benet of an expense has been enjoyed but not yet paid for, so too can a business have prepaid expenses. This will occur where a business has paid for an expense for which it has not yet received the benet.

Smart Sports has paid insurance premiums totalling 1,750 during its rst year of trading, which is the amount on the trial balance at the year-end, 31 December 2011. However, this amount provides insurance cover up to 31 March 2012. Sam has calculated that the cost of insurance is 117 per month. a) How much of the 1,750 trial balance gure represents insurance cover that the business has not yet had the benet of? (In other words, what is the amount of the insurance prepayment?) b) What is the true cost of insurance cover provided for Smart Sports during the year ended 31 December 2011? c) What effect will using this gure, instead of the 1,750 trial balance gure, have on the prot for the year? In order to account for a prepayment, it is necessary to: calculate the expense to be included in the income statement by taking the trial balance gure for the expense concerned and deducting the amount of the prepayment include the prepayment as a current asset on the statement of nancial position. Sam is now in a position to draw up an adjusted income statement and statement of nancial position for Smart Sports, taking the known accruals and prepayment into account.
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The trial balance for Smart Sports is given in Table 3.4: Table 3.4 Smart Sports Trial balance as at 31 December 2011 Debit Capital Loan
1
Credit 10,000 12,000 51,000
Sales Purchases
2 3
34,500 1,920 1,750 1,500 1,650 7,200 1,500 1,200 5,500 3,500 11,080 4,100 2,400 75,400 75,400
Electricity
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Insurance4 Telephone Sundry expenses Drawings Accountants fees Delivery costs Printing machine Computer Bank balance Trade receivables Trade payables
1. Bettys loan to the business was interest-free for the rst six months of the year, after which time interest was to be paid at the rate of 6% per annum. No interest had been paid during the year. 2. Purchases remaining unsold in inventory at the year-end amounted to 2,700. 3. Electricity used but not yet paid for as at the year-end amounted to 480. 4. Insurance had been prepaid by 351 at the year-end but not yet accounted for.

Using the partially completed nancial statements to guide you, prepare the income statement for Smart Sports as at 31 December 2011 (Table 3.5) and the statement of nancial position (Table 3.6) as at that date. Table 3.5 Smart Sports Income statement for the year ended 31 December 2011 (after adjusting for accruals and prepayments) Sales Less: Cost of sales Purchases Less: ........................... ----------Gross prot Less: Expenses Electricity Insurance Telephone ........................................ ........................................ ........................................ ........................................ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----------
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Net prot

Table 3.6 Smart Sports Statement of nancial position as at 31 December 2011 (after adjusting for accruals and prepayments) ASSETS Non-current assets ................................................... Computer Current assets Inventory ................................................... Prepayment ................................................... ----------------------------------------
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Total assets CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES Capital at the beginning of the year Add: .............................................. Less: .............................................. Capital at the end of the year Non-current liabilities ................................................... Current liabilities Trade payables ................................................... Total capital and liabilities -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ponder Point
Why do you think a statement of nancial position is referred to as a snapshot?
The historic cost concept

The accounts that have been prepared up to now have been applying both the historic cost and the going concern concepts.
Terminology
The cost of sales is the cost of goods sold in a period, taking into account movements in inventories. The historic cost concept requires transactions to be recorded at their original cost to the business, and as a result, the assets of a business are included at their historic cost on the statement of nancial position. The main advantage of the historic cost concept is that historic cost is a known amount that is indisputable.
Ponder Point
Is the historic cost of an asset likely to always be the most meaningful measure of an assets value? Can you think of other ways that an asset could be valued? Recent developments in accounting have led to a gradual move away from the use of historic cost and the inclusion instead of assets at fair value, which is a measure of their current market value.
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The going concern concept

Terminology
The going concern concept means that, when producing accounts, there is an assumption that the business will continue to operate for the foreseeable future unless there is any evidence to suggest that it will not. If a business is not a going concern, then a statement of nancial position should include assets at the amount they could be sold for. These amounts may be very different from the amounts at which they had originally been shown. For example, if Smart Sports had to sell its inventory very quickly, Sam would probably have to accept a much lower price for the goods in order to dispose of them quickly.
Ponder Point
How long do you think the foreseeable future is, and can you think of any signs that might indicate that a business is not a going concern?
Summary of Key Points

A statement of financial position is a snapshot of the businesss assets and liabilities at one point in time. The statement of financial position also shows the amount the owner has invested in the business, known as the owners capital. Non-current assets are assets intended for long-term use in the business, such as plant, equipment, and motor vehicles. They are also known as fixed assets. Current assets and current liabilities are the short-term assets and liabilities of the business. An accrual is an amount owing at the end of the accounting period for an expense incurred but not yet paid for. A prepayment is an amount that has been paid by the end of the accounting period but the business has not yet had the benefit of that expense.
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Smart Questions: a wider perspective

1. In addition to the statement of financial position, what other documents might a bank ask to see to determine whether to lend money to a business? 2. How might someone preparing accounts know whether the business has accruals and prepayments at the year-end? 3. Will the amount of an accrual always be an exact known amount, or could it be an estimate? 4. If a statement of financial position balances, does this confirm that it is correct?
Wider Reading
Perks, R., and Leiwy, D. (2010) Financial Accounting, Understanding and Practice, 3rd edition, McGraw Hill. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to statements of financial position (balance sheets), including their content and particularly their limitations.
Practice Questions
3.1 Nicks Office Supplies The trial balance in Table 3.7 was extracted from the records of Nicks Office Supplies as at 31 December 2011. Table 3.7 Debit Capital Loan1 Inventories at 1 January 2011 Sales Purchases2 Wages Advertising Electricity3 Insurance Premises Ofce equipment Bank balance Trade payables Trade receivables Drawings 51,880 27,000 757,480 757,480 322,400 83,630 4,400 5,050 16,080 154,000 27,900 37,700 61,720 27,440 477,600 Credit 208,160 10,000
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Additional information as at 31 December 2011: 1. The loan carries interest at 10%, and no interest has been paid during the year. 2. Inventories held were valued at 38,600. 3. Electricity owing amounted to 1,200.
REQUIRED: a) Explain what is meant by a prepayment and how it is accounted for. b) Explain what is meant by an accrual and how it is accounted for.

c) Prepare the income statement for Nicks Office Supplies for the year ended 31 December 2011. d) Prepare the statement of financial position for the business as at that date. 3.2 Ming Ming has been running a market stall in Beijing for some years. The stall sells hats and fans to holidaymakers. Ming works on the stall for three days a week and employs her younger sister to run the stall for the remaining three days a week that the market is open. Her trial balance as at 31 March 2013 is shown in Table 3.8. Table 3.8 Debit Yuan Motor vehicle Trade receivables Bank overdraft
1
Credit Yuan
75,000 5,270 540 59,830 446,660 239,190 18,500 173,850 23,230 252,800 105,130 700,000 700,000
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Inventories as at 1 April 2012 Sales Purchases2 Rent3 Wages

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Other expenses Capital account as at 1 April 2012 Drawings
1. Trade receivables arose from sales made on credit to a nearby hotel. 2. Closing inventories at 31 March 2013 were valued at 63,000 yuan. 3. Two months stall rental had been paid in advance at the year-end. Rent is currently paid at the rate of 1,740 yuan per month. 4. Wages owing at 31 March 2013 amounted to 5,750 yuan.
REQUIRED: a) Prepare Mings income statement for the year ended 31 March 2013. b) Comment on the profitability of the business and suggest how it might be improved. c) Prepare the statement of financial position as at 31 March 2013.

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Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Getting a snapshot of Smart Sports

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Case Study The bank wants more information

Assets and liabilities

Demonstration Exercise 3.1

Part One Financial Accounting

Demonstration Exercise 3.1solution

The statement of financial position

Layout of the statement of financial position

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Part One Financial Accounting

Demonstration Exercise 3.2

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Part One Financial Accounting

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Case Study What to do about the electricity bill?

Accruals and prepayments

Part One Financial Accounting

Demonstration Exercise 3.3

Demonstration Exercise 3.3 solution

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Demonstration Exercise 3.4

Part One Financial Accounting

Demonstration Exercise 3.5

Credit 10,000 12,000 51,000

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Part One Financial Accounting

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

The historic cost concept

The going concern concept

Part One Financial Accounting

Summary of Key Points

Smart Questions: a wider perspective

Chapter Three Balancing the Basics

Part One Financial Accounting

Inventories as at 1 April 2012 Sales Purchases2 Rent3 Wages

Other expenses Capital account as at 1 April 2012 Drawings

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