Finical Institutions

Financial institutions provide a market for savers and borrowers. Both increasing the opportunities and diversifying the risks

Commercial Banks

Commercial banks are the jack-of-all-trades for finance, serving a variety of savers and borrowers

Investment Banks

Investment banking houses underwrite and distribute new investment securities and arrange businesses financing

Financial Service Corporations

Financial services corporations are conglomerates that combine different financial institutions into one brand

Savings and Loan Associations

Savings and Loan associations (S&Ls) serve individual savers and residential and commercial mortgage borrowers.

Mutual Savings Banks

Are similar to Savings and Loans but operate primarily in the northeastern states

Credit Unions

Credit unions are cooperative associations whose members are supposed to have a common bond.

Pension Funds

Pension funds are retirement plans funded by businesses or government for their employees to provide for post work years income

Life Insurance Companies

Life insurance companies take savings in the form of premiums and investments; to make payments the beneficiaries of the insured parties

Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are corporations that accept money from savers and then use the funds to by stocks and bonds

Hedge Funds

Hedge funds are similar to mutual funds, but are mostly unregulated and have large minimum investments

the Blog

February 17/2014

An entities debts and obligation that are not due within one year or business cycle, whichever is longer. To learn more visit Long-Term Liabilities - Accounting Actualities

February 10,2014

Companies must use the percentage-of-completion methods when estimates of progress toward completion, revenue, and costs are reasonably and dependably; as well as the following conditions exist. Learn more at Revenue Recognition - Accounting Actualities

February 3, 2014

Transactions are initially recorded in a journal (also called the book of original entry). Journals are kept in chronological order and list transactions in terms of debits and credits to accounts. Besides a general journal businesses may have specialized journals: sales journal, purchases journal, cash receipts journal, cash payments journal… For more visit Accounting Cycle - Accounting Actualities

January 17, 2014

The Ledger is a book of accounts in which data from transactions recorded in journals are posted and thereby classified and summarized. A general ledger is a collection of all accounts. A subsidiary ledger contains the details related to a single general ledger account.

The accounting system is built from a collection of components referred to elements. Read about them on the elements page at Accounting Actualities.

January 10, 2014

The assumptions in the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting are:

Economic entity assumption- The economic activity of the entity is treated distinct and separate from its owners.

Going concern assumption- The absence of information that the entity is not able to continue indefinitely. That the entity has enough income and assets to cover foreseeable obligations.

Monetary unit assumption- The currency used to measure economic activity is going to remain relatively stable, permitting the disregard of inflation or deflation in the environment the entity operates in.

Periodicity assumption- The life of the entity can be divided into time periods for the providing financial reports, this period is usually a year, a quarter, or a month.

See more at about the Conceptual Framework at Accounting Actualities.

January 3, 2014

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) are the ruling accounting principles, standards and procedures that regulate financial accounting. For an understanding of the Codification and the history of GAAP, visit Account Actualities. You will find it time well spent.

Financial Actualities