The objective of this guide is to help you understand a specific study area and to introduce how a research on financial accounting should be done.
The main objective of a research proposal is to show that the topic you want to investigate is significant enough to carry out research, the methods and strategies you’d be using are suitable and feasible, and the results are likely to be fruitful. This is a complete guide that holds all the keys and factors that you will need to prepare a research proposal.
Welcome to our initial guide that focuses on facts for a research proposal on Financial Accounting. Our second guide is all about financial accounting topics which will help you decide on a specific idea to ground your paper on. To make things easier we will be providing you with a sample essay on one of the topics out of 20 so that you can get a clear picture and know how to write an interesting and detailed essay. Our final guide covers tips and tricks that make a research propose to look legit.
Valid Facts for a Paper on Financial Accounting:
- Financial Accounting is a particular branch of accounting that tracks a company’s money exchange transactions. It works towards the planning and handling of financial statements used to judge a company’s financial standing.
- Finance and accounting help run finances by controlling assets including liquid assets (cash). Finance covers important data such as expenditure and earning, which tells if a business is in profit or loss. All this information is critical to assess a business.
- Accounting works on the objective of providing relevant and decision-making information that represents an organization’s economic activities. The guidelines and standards required to do that are called GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). However, countries like United States, Japan, Columbia, Malaysia, India, and Russia are also taking IFRS into consideration.
- Financial statements tend to display a formal record of the economic activities of an entity. These are composed reports that measure the financial strength, execution, and liquidity of an organization. Financial statements also reflect the financial exchanges and the events of an entity
- There are three types of fnancial statements:
A) Statement of Financial Position: This represents the financial position of entities on specific dates. Also known as balance sheet, it consists of three parts. Namely, Assets (Capital etc), Liabilities (Credit, loan etc) and Equity (Assets minus Liabilities).
B) Income Statement: It represents an organization’s performance i.e Profit and Loss over a specified time. Comprised of two parts namely, Income (Sales, Revenue etc) and Expense (Salaries, rents etc).
C) Cash Flow Statement: A statement that shows how cash flows over some specified time. It is segmented into three parts: Operating Activities (Cash flowing from primary activities), Investing Activities (Involves purchasing but excluding inventories), Financing Activities (income spent or created on raising and paying debts with interest). - The very first book on accounting that got published was in 1494. Divided into five parts, it provided useful information on Arithmetic, Geometry, and Proportions. The person who contributed to this was none other than the “Father Of Accounting”, Luca Pacioli. However, Luca didn’t invent the system, he just explained the methods in his book which were already being used by merchants in Venice.
- Auditing involves verification of financial transactions and determines the financial position of a company. While conducting an audit, the auditor examines the accounting mechanism, records, financial exchanging transactions according to auditing standards. The inspector then puts forward an opinion concerning the fairness of the money handling according to standard accounting rules. There is a possibility of four standard opinions, which are:
Unqualified Opinion: This statement implies that all materials were made accessible, observed to be fair, and met all auditing prerequisites. This proves to be a favorable opinion that can be given by an auditor about an organization’s operations and records.
Qualified Opinion: This type of statement is issued when an organization’s materials are in order but they do not abide by GAAP principles and their financial records are not sufficient.
Adverse Opinion: Such an opinion isn’t good for an organization’s repo. It means that it lacks accuracy when it comes to financial statements of materials and transactions.
Disclaimer of Opinion: This opinion is a red light for the company. It states that they didn’t provide sufficient information on their records and transactions. In this case, the auditor refuses to give an opinion which is termed as Disclaimer of Opinion. - Financial reporting, for the most part, includes reporting financial data to administration, investors and government about how an organization is performing over a particular span of time.
- Deceptive Financial Reporting may be deliberate or done mistakenly. It includes reporting false numbers or hiding important details.
- Accounting is now done using computer tools that offer great productivity and less margin for errors.
These were the facts we put up for you. We hope they turn out to be beneficial for you and help you in your end goal which is writing a good research proposal.
References:
Barry Elliott and Jamie Elliott, (2011), Financial Accounting and Reporting http://www.koledza.lv/best/download/biblioteka/Financial_Accounting.pdf
Geoff Black, (2005), Introduction to Accounting and Finance.
homas P. Edmonds University of Alabama, Birmingham Frances M. McNair Mississippi State University, Philip R. Olds Virginia Commonwealth University, Edward E. Milam Mississippi State University,(1995), Fundamental Financial Accounting Concepts (8th edition).
Jerry J. Weygandt, Donald E. Kieso, Paul D. Kimmel, (2013), Financial Accounting.
Alexander, D., Britton, A., Jorissen, A., (2005), “International Financial Reporting and Analysis”, Second Edition.
Taylor, Peter, (2002), Book-Keeping & Accounting for Small Business. Business & Economics
Hey-Cunningham, David, (2002), Financial Statements Demystified. Allen & Unwin