RESUMO
Accounting is a specific discipline with its own technical definitions and terminology. Terms used in common parlance have very different and specific meanings when used in a accounting context. This presentation explains the business cycle and its terms, and explains and emphasizes the differences in meanings of terms used in the accounting contest from their use in the non-accounting context. Accounting is a system of keeping tract of who owns what in a business, and of the transactions of the business. An account is a structured list in a table form with a right hand side called credit and a left hand side called debit. A debit is not a reduction in the amount in an account and a credit is not an increase in the amount in an account. Both terms can be addition or reduction in the amount in an account depending on the type of account. Assets are properties of a business. The rights to these assets are caled Equities. If these rights belong to the owners of the business they are called Owner's Equity, if these belong to non-owners of the business they are called Liabilities. Owner's equity is often simply referred to as equity. The accounting equation is: Assets = Liabilities + Assets + (Revenue - Expenses). The terms trial balance, income statement of cash flows, the difference between a cash based accounting system and an accrual based accounting system, and the double entry system are explained. (AU)
