GISI Intermediate - independent subject foundations key terms
GISI Intermediate - independent subject foundations · Get comfortable with the vocabulary.
- Provision for doubtful debts
- Related: Bad debt written off, Prudence concept
Estimated amount of receivables expected to be irrecoverable, charged to profit or loss and deducted from trade receivables in the statement of financial position.
- Bad debt written off
- Related: Provision for doubtful debts, Prudence concept
A receivable removed as irrecoverable under the applicable model. The entry may use an existing allowance or an expense, so do not automatically charge an amount a second time.
- Drawings
- Related: Business entity concept, Capital
Cash, goods or other assets taken from the business by the owner for personal use, deducted from capital rather than treated as an expense of the business.
- Debenture
- Related: Share premium, Interest cover
A debt instrument issued by an entity, creating borrowing rather than ordinary equity. Maturity, security, interest terms and measurement depend on the instrument and applicable accounting model.
- Share premium
- Related: Debenture, Bonus issue
In a supplied par-value share model, the amount received above nominal share value, credited separately within equity. It is not customer sales revenue; legal distribution restrictions require local verification.
- Bonus issue
- Related: Share premium, Rights issue
Free shares issued to existing shareholders by capitalising reserves such as share premium or retained earnings, increasing share capital without raising new cash.
- Manufacturing account
- Related: Work in progress, Prime cost
Account calculating cost of goods produced: direct materials consumed, direct labour, direct expenses and production overheads, adjusted for work in progress, with the result transferred to the trading account.
- Work in progress
- Related: Manufacturing account, Absorption costing
Partly completed units or unfinished production at the period end, valued at cost and deducted from total manufacturing cost so only finished output is transferred to the trading account.
- Depreciation
- Related: Reducing balance method, Disposal account
Systematic allocation of the depreciable cost of a non-current asset over its useful life, reflecting consumption of economic benefit rather than a fall in market value.
- Reducing balance method
- Related: Depreciation, Net book value
Depreciation method charging a fixed percentage on the asset's net book value each year, giving higher charges early in the asset's life and a declining charge thereafter.
- Disposal account
- Related: Depreciation, Net book value
Temporary account used when a non-current asset is sold, receiving the asset's cost and accumulated depreciation and the sale proceeds, with the balance transferred to profit or loss.
- Cash flow statement
- Related: Return on capital employed, Working capital cycle
Statement classifying cash movements into operating, investing and financing activities to explain the change in cash and cash equivalents over the period.
- Return on capital employed
- Related: Interest cover, Liquidity ratio
Profit before interest and tax divided by capital employed, showing how efficiently long-term funds have been used to generate operating profit.
- Interest cover
- Related: Return on capital employed, Debenture
Operating profit divided by interest payable, indicating how many times the business could pay its finance costs from current profit; a low figure signals financial risk.
- Absorption costing
- Related: Marginal costing, Work in progress
Costing method that assigns both variable and fixed production overheads to units produced, usually through predetermined overhead absorption rates, so inventory includes a share of fixed cost.
- Marginal costing
- Related: Absorption costing, Contribution per unit
Costing method charging only variable costs to units, treating fixed costs as period costs, and using contribution to judge profitability and short-term decisions.
- Contribution per unit
- Related: Marginal costing, Break-even point
Selling price less variable cost per unit, the amount each unit contributes towards covering fixed costs and then generating profit; used in break-even and limiting-factor decisions.
- Break-even point
- Related: Contribution per unit, Margin of safety
Level of sales at which total contribution equals fixed costs, so the business makes neither profit nor loss, expressed in units or in revenue.
- Relevant cost
A future cash flow that differs between the alternatives under consideration, including opportunity costs but excluding already unavoidable sunk expenditure.
- Contribution
Sales revenue less variable costs within the stated decision model; it first covers fixed costs before producing an operating profit.
- Limiting factor
A scarce resource that restricts feasible activity, requiring comparison of contribution per unit of that resource when the assumptions justify it.
- Flexible budget
A budget recalculated for a specified activity level using the applicable cost behavior assumptions, allowing more meaningful performance comparisons.
- Activity-based costing
An approach assigning resource costs to activities and then to products using drivers reflecting their consumption of those activities.
- Target cost
The allowable cost derived from a market-based price less the desired profit, used to investigate design and process alternatives.
- Residual income
A profit measure less a specified capital charge, requiring consistent definitions of profit, invested capital and the relevant required return.
- Budget slack
Deliberate understatement of expected revenues or overstatement of resource needs to make a negotiated performance target easier to achieve.
- Material usage variance
The cost effect of actual material consumption differing from the standard quantity allowed for actual output, using the stated standard price.
- Working capital
Resources and obligations associated with the short operating cycle; any calculation must specify whether it uses net current assets or operating items.
- Net present value
Present value of incremental project cash flows less the initial outlay, calculated using consistent timing and an appropriate discount rate.
- Internal rate of return
A discount rate that makes the specified net present value zero; nonconventional cash flows may produce multiple solutions or none.