Intermediate Statistician (China) cheat sheet

Integrated quantitative and business foundations

• Define the population, variable, period and denominator.

• Separate sampling variability from systematic bias.

• Interpret confidence intervals and p-values within their models.

• Distinguish descriptive association, causal claims, stocks and flows.

• Separate business activity and owner transactions while recording capital and drawings appropriately.

• Apply the supplied earning and expense-allocation model rather than cash timing alone.

• Prudence requires caution without deliberate bias.

• Identify the applicable framework and version before applying detailed recognition rules.

• Distinguish changes in estimates, policies and genuine errors.

• Debit assets and expenses; credit liabilities, income and capital

• Trade discount is deducted before recording; cash discount is recorded on payment

• Credit notes issued go to sales returns; credit notes received go to purchases returns

• A trial balance proves arithmetical equality, not accuracy

• Errors of principle, commission, omission and reversal do not affect trial balance agreement

• One-sided postings and addition errors do affect the difference

• Corrections are made by journal, not by changing source documents

• Distinguish a budget flow, a debt stock and the financing transactions.

• A bank loan can create a corresponding deposit; a 1/r multiplier is a deliberately simplified model.

• Policy rates influence, but do not equal, every retail borrowing rate.

• Real and nominal measures need the relevant price index and base normalization.

• Spending and tax multipliers require their model and sign conventions.

• An index-point change is not automatically an equal percentage change.

• State the initial-base, midpoint or point elasticity convention.

• A sample standard error differs from individual-observation dispersion.