Chapter 3

The Statement of Financial Position
◦ The balance sheet, also called the statement of financial
position, is the expanded expression of the accounting
equation.

Remember that the basic accounting equation states
that assets equal the sum of liabilities and owners'
equity.
Assets = Liabilities + Owners’ Equity
 Another
way to state the equation:
Uses of resources =
Sources of resources



Liabilities and owners' equity are the sources from
which the firm has obtained its funds.
The listing of assets shows the way that the firm's
managers have put those funds to work.
The balance sheet is the cumulative result of the firm's
past activities.
 Assets
are probable future economic
benefits obtained or controlled by a
particular entity as a result of past
transactions or events.
 Liabilities
are probable future sacrifices
of economic benefits arising from present
obligations of a particular entity to
transfer assets or provide services to
other entities in the future as a result of
past transactions or events.

Owners' equity is the residual interest in the assets of
an entity after deducting liabilities.


Current assets are those assets which will typically
become cash or be consumed in one year or one
operating cycle, whichever is greater.
Noncurrent assets are assets used in the conduct of the
business and for which the replacement cycle is longer
than one year.



Current assets are listed on the balance sheet in order of
liquidity.
Current assets are listed in order of their maturity.
Liquidity reflects the ability of the firm to generate
sufficient cash to meet its operating cash needs and to
pay its obligations as they become due.
 Because
of the liquidity focus, current
assets are generally valued at the lower of
their acquisition costs or present resale
values.
 Current assets include cash and cash
equivalents,
accounts
receivable,
inventories, and prepaid expenses.
 Cash
and cash equivalents include
currency, bank deposits, and various
marketable securities that can be turned
into cash on short notice .
 Accounts
receivable represent credit
sales that have not yet been collected.
 A fast turnover period for accounts
receivable is desirable.
 The longer a debt remains unpaid, the
higher the chance that it will not ever be
paid.
 Accounts
receivable are listed on the
balance sheet at their net realizable value,
which is the amount management thinks
it will actually be able to collect.


Inventory represents items that have been purchased or
manufactured for resale to customers.
Some students feel that inventory should be reported as
a noncurrent asset, but ask yourself this question:
◦ Does a business, which earns money by selling goods, really
want its inventory to remain unsold for over one year?
 Regardless
of the type of asset, all assets
have a common characteristic in
representing probable future economic
benefits to the firm.

Some businesses have a very short operating cycle, a
week or two.
Others have operating cycles which take years.
Collections
Cash
Accounts
Receivable
Credit Sales
Purchases
Cash Sales

Inventory
 Noncurrent
assets are assets used in the
conduct of the business and for which the
replacement cycle is longer than one
year.
 While the focus for current assets is their
liquidity, the focus for noncurrent assets
is on the operating capacity of the firm.
 Property,
plant, and equipment comprises
the most common type of noncurrent
assets.
 Property usually represents the land
upon which the firm's offices, factories,
and other facilities are located.
 Property
is valued on the balance sheet at
its historical acquisition cost.
 Because of the age of the land, it is often
the most out of date in terms of current
market values.
 Buildings
or plant may include
buildings, warehouses, hospitals, and
other assets.


Equipment includes office furniture, tools, computers,
and so on.
Buildings and equipment are the primary productive
assets of any organization.


Depreciation is a rational and systematic allocation of
an asset's cost to expense over the asset's life.
Because property, plant, and equipment assets wear out
over time, they must be reported on the balance sheet at
their net book value.
◦ This reduction in the reported value during a period is called
depreciation expense.
 Intangible
assets
lack
physical
substance and yet are important
resources in the regular operations of a
business.
 Patents,
which protect invention,
copyrights, which protect artistic works,
and goodwill are examples of intangible
assets.
 Goodwill
denotes the economic value of
an acquired firm in excess of the value of
its identifiable net assets.
◦ Pooky Company has assets of $500,000 and
liabilities of $300,000.
◦ Therefore, its net assets are $200,000.
◦ If Case Company pays $250,000 to buy
Pooky Company, then there is goodwill of
$50,000 ($250,000 - $200,000).
 Goodwill
may only be recorded when
one business buys another business.
 Internally generated goodwill may not
be recorded in the accounting records.
 Very
often the most important asset of a
business is its personnel, or human
resources, but human resources does not
appear on the balance sheet as an asset
class.
 There
are also other assets which do not
appear on the balance sheet, such as
customers and suppliers.
 Externally acquired goodwill arises
when one business buys another business.
 Liabilities
include
any
probable
obligation that the firm has incurred as a
consequence of its past activities.
 While some liabilities involve a specific
dollar amount on a specific date, others
involve estimates.
 Liabilities
are either current or
noncurrent.
 Current
liabilities are short-term
obligations that are expected to utilize
cash or other current assets within a year
or an operating cycle, whichever is
longer.
 Noncurrent
liabilities
represent
obligations that generally require
payment over periods longer than a year.
 Current
liabilities include accounts
payable, notes payable, warranty
obligations and accrued expenses.
 Accounts
payable represent debts that
the firm incurs in purchasing inventories
and supplies for manufacturing or resale
purposes.
 Accounts payable also include anything
that a firm purchases on credit.
 Notes
payable are more formal
current liabilities than the accounts
payable.
 Notes are usually written documents
which involve payment of interest.
 Accrued
expenses represent liabilities
for services already consumed but not yet
paid for or included elsewhere in
liabilities.
 Taxes
payable represent unpaid
taxes owed to a governmental unit
and will be paid within one year.
 Noncurrent
liabilities represent
obligations that generally require
payment over periods longer than a year.
◦ They are contracts to repay debt at specified
future dates and often place some restrictions
on the activities of the firm until the debt is
fully repaid.
 Bonds
payable are a major source of
funds for larger companies.
 When it issues bonds, a company
obligates itself to make periodic
interest payments and to pay back the
entire principal at the maturity date.
A
company usually issues bonds
when the amount it is borrowing is
too large to borrow from one source.
 Owners’
equity represents the owners’
claims on the assets of the business.
◦ Arithmetically, it is the difference between
assets and liabilities.
Owner’s Equity = Assets – Liabilities
 A corporation’s
shareholders’ equity
consists of two items:
 Paid-in capital represents the direct
investments by the owners of the firm.
Retained earnings represent the earnings of
the firm that have been reinvested in the
business.
 An
important point to remember is that
retained earnings do not represent cash
available for the payment of dividends.
 The
retained earnings account is the
cumulative story of all the income the
firm has earned, all the losses it has
incurred, and all the dividends it has paid
out to shareholders.
1.
2.
3.
Historical costs reporting for most of
assets and liabilities.
Estimations involved in the value of
some assets and liabilities (i.e., the net
realizable value of accounts receivable).
The omission of some valuable items
such as goodwill of the company.
In what order are assets listed on a balance
sheet?
1.
From newest to oldest
2. From most liquid to least liquid
3. From highest value to lowest value
4. From lowest value to highest value