Sunday, September 8, 2013

Asset and liability basics

Knowledge of accounts can make life much easy. If you are to invest in a new business or joining your forefather’s business, planning to take some loan, looking for job in any marketing company, desire to be the manager of a multinational company or have the onus to manage your own assets and liabilities, knowing some basics of accounts becomes mandatory.


Broadly, accounting is bifurcated into two categories-

Cash Bases Accounting

Accrual Accounting


The Cash Based accounting pertains to the management of an individual’s personal monetary transactions. In this case, he keeps a track of the money he withdrew, deposited, gave or received from someone etc. This accounting comes to life when actual cash transactions take place.

The Accrual Accounting requires an accountant who notes the transactions even if no money has been actually exchanged. This method works on the principle of comparing or seeing the ratio of the expenses to expenditure. If the expenditure is more, you need to cut down your luxuries, if not then it’s always good to have some savings for future. This type of accounting tells you the amount that you owed; this might not match with the figure of your bank balance.


In the language of accounting there are several key terms that one needs to be familiar with. Some of the crucial ones are discussed below-

The Assets- the assets are generally those possessions of an individual that have a good market value or are quite valuable. Assets are mainly classified into three types-
Current Asset- the cash is the most basic asset of any individual. The money that is being held in accounts like the checking and savings accounts is also included in the cash. Also inclusive are the marketable securities in the form of bonds, stocks, shares etc. The money lent or payments due from clients, even form a part of it.

Fixed Asset- comprises of all the tangible valuable things like property, machines, equipments, land and the like that are not meant to be sold.


Intangible Asset- incorporates all the untouchable things like copyrights, patents, trademarks etc. that have tremendous monetary significance.


The law of opposites governs the nature; where there are assets, there will be liabilities. These are the debts that you have to pay back to your creditors. This can be done through giving cash or any other asset like jewelry, some other goods etc. Liabilities again are of two kinds-

1.    The Current Liabilities- the liabilities that are to be paid back within a certain time limit and most often through your current assets. These include the accounts payable i.e. type of bill that you have to monthly, the Notes Payable-loans taken from banks meant to be repaid within 30 days and the Accrued Expenses- the compulsory expenses like taxes, wages, interests etc. where the bills are not received but the balances of each must be repaid.

2.    Long Term Liabilities- those debts that can be repaid at ease for the tenure is more then a month.



The Financial Capital- is the economic capital. It is any liquid medium or merchandise that stands for wealth or other styles or capital. There are four ways to manage and display the financial capital. First, this capital is needed when a contract is made with any sort of capital asset. The financial instruments work in the form of currency in case of sale, purchase or trade of goods i.e. the medium exchanges. Second, it works as a settled medium or mode like gold for the
Standard of Deferred Payment. Third, The Unit of Account has a market value attached to it which in turn varies with the economy of the country. Fourth, The Source of Value is concerned with financial capital that needs to be saved and recovered. It is a collection of things like gold, real estate, collectibles etc.


Petty Cash is an important factor in business. It is the smallest account within a business setting or the cash in bills and coinage required to pay little expenses.

Types of Business- there are several kinds of business one should be aware of like


Sole proprietorship- where a single individual who starts the business owns it too.

Partnerships- the companies or businesses started by two or more persons where they conjointly own it.


Corporations- involve lot many shareholders or investors who are responsible in taking decisions for the company.

Limited Liability Companies- can be said to be sisters of corporations. Here the business members are not under a legal obligation to pay the debts if the business fails.



Payrolls- the term payroll designates the manner in which you will be paying   the employees of your company and even yourself. Many multinational companies cater to payroll service provider companies that do the work quite efficiently.


These are some of the broad guidelines that will help you grasp the basics of accounting. It is essential to have some such wisdom for accounts as it is fruitful in all walks of life.


Guide to life insurance

Life is precious to every creature (big or small) on earth. From a tiny ant to big rational agents every living being loves life and wants to protect it. For a human being the most prudent way to shield his life from all the forthcoming perils is to get life insurance. Life insurance not just guard the life of the policyholder but it is also a great help to other family members.

Life insurance pays for almost all the major misshapenness in an individual’s life. If the person is suffering from a chronic illness, it bears the medical expense. Life insurance money can be used in cases of a severe accident. After the death of the policyholder, the insurance pays for his funeral and other related ceremonies. Thus life insurance is a big financial assistance not only when a person is alive but also even after it.

However the extent to which a policy will be active or beneficial depends on the kind of life insurance policy taken by an individual. For instance, the term life insurance policy is all about protecting a person for a term before he dies. But if the individual dies during the policy term, the beneficiaries receive the benefits. Term life insurance is ideal for those who want that specific needs such college tuition; mortgage payments and car payments should be cared for at their death. This insurance is also favorable for the families who cannot afford to pay large monthly premiums. It is also good for senior citizens who know that they will kick the bucket soon. Many companies associate different terms and conditions with the term life insurance policy and so offer several types of it. The term life insurance an also be converted to any other form of insurance such as whole life insurance.

The people who seek to insure their entire life and are ready to pay big premiums throughout should go for a Whole Life insurance policy. This policy is good for young but not meant for the old. The whole life insurance has a distinguished “cash surrender value” feature. The cash value (composed of cash value and dividends) keeps on incrementing annually according to a specific schedule in your whole life insurance policy. Many whole life policies reward the policyholders with dividends that can augment the entire cash value.

Besides these kinds of life insurance policies are also health insurance policies. These policies are devised for those suffering with chronic illnesses particularly cancer. Such policies are difficult to acquire (for very few agencies offer them) and are usually offered at high premiums. The health insurance may pay for some of the patient’s treatments but it does not pay for everything. 

Prior to purchasing a life insurance policy, a person should make a prudent assessment of his current situation and needs. Accordingly he should look up Internet, consult friends and relatives to find either a reliable insurance company or an agent. Choosing from where (insurance company and agent) and what kind of policy to adopt is a challenging task that requires lot of consideration and discussion.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...