Part 2: Meredith Ward is the assistant chief accountant at Frazier Company, a manufacturer of computer chips and cellular phones. The company presently has total sales of $20 million. It is the end of the first quarter. Meredith is hurriedly trying to prepare a trial balance so that quarterly financial statements can be prepared and released to management and the regulatory agencies. The total credits on the trial balance exceed the debits by $1,000. In order to meet the 4 p.m. deadline, Meredith decides to force the debits and credits into balance by adding the amount of the difference to the Equipment account. She chooses Equipment because it is one of the larger account balances; percentage-wise, it will be the least misstated. Meredith "plugs" the difference! She believes that the difference will not affect anyone's decisions. She wishes that she had another few days to find the error but realizes that the financial statements are already late. Answer the following questions: Who are the stakeholders in this situation? What are the ethical issues involved in this case? What are Meridith's alternatives?
Reporting Cash Flows
Reporting of cash flows means a statement of cash flow which is a financial statement. A cash flow statement is prepared by gathering all the data regarding inflows and outflows of a company. The cash flow statement includes cash inflows and outflows from various activities such as operating, financing, and investment. Reporting this statement is important because it is the main financial statement of the company.
Balance Sheet
A balance sheet is an integral part of the set of financial statements of an organization that reports the assets, liabilities, equity (shareholding) capital, other short and long-term debts, along with other related items. A balance sheet is one of the most critical measures of the financial performance and position of the company, and as the name suggests, the statement must balance the assets against the liabilities and equity. The assets are what the company owns, and the liabilities represent what the company owes. Equity represents the amount invested in the business, either by the promoters of the company or by external shareholders. The total assets must match total liabilities plus equity.
Financial Statements
Financial statements are written records of an organization which provide a true and real picture of business activities. It shows the financial position and the operating performance of the company. It is prepared at the end of every financial cycle. It includes three main components that are balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement.
Owner's Capital
Before we begin to understand what Owner’s capital is and what Equity financing is to an organization, it is important to understand some basic accounting terminologies. A double-entry bookkeeping system Normal account balances are those which are expected to have either a debit balance or a credit balance, depending on the nature of the account. An asset account will have a debit balance as normal balance because an asset is a debit account. Similarly, a liability account will have the normal balance as a credit balance because it is amount owed, representing a credit account. Equity is also said to have a credit balance as its normal balance. However, sometimes the normal balances may be reversed, often due to incorrect journal or posting entries or other accounting/ clerical errors.
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