DECA Accounting Career Pathway - Performance Indicators Study Guide

Explain financial disclosure regulations and policies.

SEC regulations require publicly owned companies to disclose certain types of business and financial data on a regular basis to the SEC and to the company's stockholders.

Discuss the nature of the accounting cycle.

The accounting cycle is the series of accounting activities involved in recording financial information within a fiscal period

Steps:

1. analyze transactions

2. journalize transactions

3. post into general ledger

4.Unadjusted trial balance

5. Adjusted entries

6. adjusted trial balance

7. create financial statements

8. post closing entries

Distinguish among types of business transactions.

External transactions - These involve the trading of goods and services with money.

Internal transactions - They don't involve any sales but rather other processes within the organization. This may include computing the salary of the employees and estimating the depreciation value of a certain asset.

Cash transactions - They are the most common forms of transactions, which refer to those that are dealt with cash. For example, if a company purchases office supplies and pays for them with cash, a debit card, or a check, then that is a cash transaction.

Non-cash transactions - They are unrelated to transactions that specify if cash's been paid or if it will be paid in the future. For example, if Company A purchases a machine from Company B and sees that it is defective, returning it will not entail any cash spent, so it falls under non-cash transactions. In other words, transactions that are not cash or credit are non-cash transactions.

Credit transactions - They are deferred cash transactions because payment is promised and completed at a future date. Companies often extend credit terms for payment, such as 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days, depending on the product or service being sold or industry norms.

Distinguish among types of business documentation.

Contracts

Documentation of bylaws

Non-disclosure agreement.

Employment agreement.

Business plan.

Financial documents

Transactional documents.

Compliance and regulatory documents.

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Demonstrate the effects of transactions on the accounting equation.

Prepare a chart of accounts.

• Assets (what the business owns)

• Liabilities (what it owes)

• Owner’s equity (owner’s investment)

• Revenue (income)

• Expenses (costs)

Explain the nature of special journals.

Special journals are created to help the process of journalizing posting transactions. They areused when a company has many similar transactions.

Sales journals - record transactions that involve sales on credit.

Cash receipt journals - record transactions that involve payments received using cash.

Purchase journals - record transactions that involve purchases using credit.

Cash payments journals - record transactions that involve expenditures used paid with cash.

Journalize business transactions.

Record each business transaction in the journal (the first accounting record) by listing the date, accounts affected, amounts, and debit/credit entries in chronological order.

Prepare a trial balance.

List all account balances from the ledger to make sure total debits equal total credits.

Journalize and post adjusting entries.

Journalize and post closing entries.

1. Closing the revenue accounts: transferring the credit balances in the revenue accounts to a clearing account called Income Summary.

2. Closing the expense accounts: transferring the debit balances in the expense accounts to a clearing account called Income Summary.

3. Closing the Income Summary account: transferring the balance of the Income Summary account to the owner's capital account or to retained earnings

4. Closing the withdrawal account: transferring the debit balance of the owner withdrawal account to the capital account.

Prepare a post-closing trial balance.

Identify and correct accounting errors.

Prepare worksheets.

Explain cash control procedures (e.g., signature cards, deposit slips, internal/external controls, cash clearing, etc.).

The cashier processes the deposit and matches the total processed to the total stated on the deposit slip to ensure that they match; thus, the deposit slip is a cash processing control for the bank.internal control procedures: segregation of duties, Immediate listing of cash receipts, payment by cheque, periodic audits

Account for petty cash.

Account for cash receipts (e.g., record cash, record income).

Account for cash payments (e.g., record cash, record expenses).

Reconcile cash.

A cash reconciliation is the process of verifying the amount of cash in a cash register as of the close of business. The verification can also take place whenever a different clerk takes over a cash register

Explain the nature of accounts payable.

Accounts payable refer to the money a company owes its suppliers for goods and services that have been provided and for which the supplier has submitted an invoice

Account for purchases (e.g., purchase requisitions, purchase orders, invoices, vouchers, etc.).

purchase requisition- an internal document used by an employee to purchase goods or services on behalf of their firm

purchase order- an official document issued by a buyer committing to pay the seller for the sale of specific products or services to be delivered in the future.

invoice- It includes the cost of the products purchased or services rendered to the buyer

voucher- Any written documentation supporting the entries reported in the account books, indicating the transaction's accounting accuracy, can be referred to as a voucher. For example, a bill, invoice, receipt

Process accounts payable (e.g., maintain vendor file, post to ledger, process invoices and checks).

Explain the nature of accounts receivable.

Accounts receivable refer to the money a company's customers owe for goods or services they have received but not yet paid for

Account for sales (e.g., invoices, sales slips, etc.).

Process accounts receivable (e.g., post to ledger, process payment, process uncollectible account, etc.).

Record inventory transactions.

Process inventory adjustments (e.g., shrinkage, obsolescence, returns, etc.).

Explain methods used to value inventory (e.g., FIFO, LIFO, average cost, etc.).

FIFO (first in first out)- assumes that goods purchased or produced first are sold first. In theory, this means the oldest inventory gets shipped out to customers before newer inventory.LIFO- records the most recently produced items as sold first.Under the 'average cost method', it is assumed that the cost of inventory is based on the average cost of the goods available for sale during the period.total cost of production/total units produced

Determine the cost/value of inventory.

inventory cost = [beginning inventory + inventory purchases] - ending inventory.I

inventory values can be calculated by multiplying the number of items on hand with the unit price of the items

Explain the nature of payroll expenses (e.g., Social Security tax, Medicare tax, FUTA, SUTA, workers' compensation, etc.).

The Social Security tax is a percentage of gross wages that most employees, employers and self-employed workers must pay to fund the federal program.

Maintain employee earnings records (e.g., timecards, time sheets, etc.).

A time card/time sheet is a method for recording and tracking the amount of an employee's time spent on each job.

Calculate employee earnings.

hours worked x hourly wage + overtime worked x overtime wage

Calculate employee deductions.

subtract deductions from gross pay= net pay

Calculate payroll taxes.

Account for payroll transactions (e.g., earnings, taxes, benefits, other deductions).

Process payroll payments and remittances (e.g., employees, benefits, taxes).

Prepare federal, state, and local payroll tax returns and reports.

Discuss the nature of long-term assets (e.g., tangible assets, intangible assets, natural resources,

etc.).

Describe the methods used to value long-term assets (e.g., tangible assets, intangible assets, natural resources, etc.).

Account for long-term assets (e.g., record acquisition, record depreciation/amortization, record disposal).

An asset acquisition is the purchase of a company by buying its assets instead of its stock

Amortization is an accounting method for spreading out the costs for the use of a long-term asset over the expected period the long-term asset will provide value

Account for long-term liabilities (e.g., bonds payable, notes payable, leases, etc.).

Bonds payable is a liability account that contains the amount owed to bond holders by the issuer

Notes payable are long-term liabilities that indicate the money a company owes its financiers—banks and other financial institutions as well as other sources of funds such as friends and family.

Account for provisions (e.g., restructurings, warranties, customer refunds, etc.).

Explain record keeping procedures for tax accounting.

Calculate taxes owed by clients (i.e., individual and business).

Account for taxes.

Prepare tax returns for clients (i.e., individuals and business).

Identify tax issues for clients.

Differentiate among management accounting responsibility centers (i.e., cost, profit, investment, revenue).

Discuss the use of cost-volume-profit analysis.

Discuss cost accounting systems (e.g., job order costing, process costing, activity-based costing [ABC], project costing, etc.).

Distinguish between variable costing and absorption costing.

Describe common management accounting performance measures (e.g., balanced scorecard, return on investment [ROI], customer profitability analysis, etc.).

Discuss the role of standard costing in the preparation and analysis of budgets.

Describe the nature of flexible budgets.

Explain the role of transfer pricing in managerial accounting.

Explain the impact of business operational practices (e.g., total quality management [TQM], lean production, just-in-time [JIT], etc.) on managerial accounting.

Discuss the nature of annual reports.

Analyze transactions and accounts (e.g., purchase, sales, sales returns and allowances, uncollectible accounts, depreciation, debt).

Explain the purpose of internal accounting controls.

Assess financial accounting fraud risk.

Determine the components of internal accounting control procedures for a business.

Maintain internal accounting controls.

Explain the nature of audits and assurance engagements.

Distinguish between internal and external audits.

Describe auditing techniques/procedures.

Conduct audit engagements.

Maintain job order cost sheets.

Calculate the cost of goods sold.

Apply cost accounting techniques (e.g., overhead calculation, job and process costing, activity-based

costing).

Explain types of budgeting systems (e.g., top-down, bottom-up, incremental, etc.).

Project future revenues and expenses.

Process preliminary budget detail.

Use accounting applications and systems.

Describe the nature of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

Integrate technology into accounting.

Preserve automated accounting records.

Select confidence levels.

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Test data for definitive relationships.

Test data for definitive associations.

Test data for meaningful differences.

Use statistical data inferences to draw preliminary conclusions.

Identify types of data analysis modeling techniques.

Apply mathematical data analysis modeling techniques.

Use data analysis software.

Explain the use of descriptive statistics in business decision making.

Interpret descriptive statistics for business decision making.

Interpret business data correlations.

Draw conclusions on the research question/issue.

Discuss the connection between business analysis and business process management.

Explain types of requirements (e.g., business, system, functional, nonfunctional).

Document business processes.

Identify the business process problem/issue.

Define data needs and limitations (e.g., data fields, constraints, assumptions, variations, expectations).

Identify data acquisition strategies.

Analyze business processes (e.g., measure efficiency, benchmark metrics).

Recommend improvements to business processes.

Identify career opportunities in accounting.

Career opportunities in accounting include work in public accounting, private accounting, and governmental and not-for-profit accounting. These different opportunities may also come with their own opportunities, for example, career opportunities in private accounting encompass such areas as financial accounting, cost accounting, tax accounting, budgeting, accounting information systems, and internal auditing.

Explain the roles and responsibilities of accounting professionals.

They help businesses make critical financial decisions by collecting, tracking, and correcting the company's finances. They are responsible for financial audits, reconciling bank statements, and ensuring financial records are accurate throughout the year.

Discuss professional designations for accountants (e.g., CPA, CMA, CIA, CFE, etc.).

-Certified Management Accountant (CMA) focuses on managerial accounting, advising companies

-Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)

-Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) (usually work for hedge or investment funds)

-Certified Fraud Examiner (investigates financial records to find fraudulent activities or other types of financial crimes)

-Certified Public Accountant (is a professional who has earned their CPA license through a combination of education, experience and examination.), all accountants filing reports under the SEC must be certified public accountants

Describe the services of professional organizations in accounting.

financial accounting (summary and analysis and reporting of financial information ), management accounting (helping management make better decisions related to their business performance), auditing, cost containment and auditing services, taxation and accounting information systems.