Accounting 101 basics: financial statements ?

Question

I am taking an acc 1 class and I am really struggling with what goes under which paper work. For example I know there’s income statements, balance sheets, statements of stockholders equity and financial position, but I don’t know which numbers to plug into which paperwork. Is there a list anywhere on the internet that shows like salaries and price of product goes under this paperwork, and net income goes under that one, and so on? That’s is my biggest issue.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I took 201 and 202. My only issue was grasping credit and debit and no intrinsic meaning and the professor had office hours posted. I showed up during office hours one day and he helped me.  That's what he is paid to do.  I made Bs without spending almost any time outside of class on it.

Anonymous · Answer

I have no idea what the answer is but don't feel bad.  I couldn't afford to purchase a $10,000 textbook either but I could've done so much better if money grew on trees.

? · Answer

This is exactly what you're supposed to be learning in Accounting 101. Either your instructor is incompetent, or you're not making the effort to learn.

The two primary accounting documents are the balance sheet and the income statement. The balance sheet shows the value of the business at a specific snapshot in time (Assets minus Liabilities equals Equity (also called Capital). For example, a balance sheet will say something like, "as of December 31, 2020."

An income statement shows activity for a specified period of time, such as, "for the period of January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020." An income statement shows revenue and expenses, and profit or loss is posted to the balance sheet periodically.

I learned this the first day of Accounting 101. If you didn't know this, something is very wrong with your learning process.

? · Answer

Go back to page 1 in your textbook.  There are 5 basic types of accounts.  Assets, Liabilities, and Equity which appear on the balance sheet. Income and Expenses appear on the Profit and Loss statement, sometimes called the income statement.  Decide which type each thing belongs to.  It's really not that hard.

A Hunch · Answer

Read your text book, that's why you bought it (unless you didn't bother to purchase it).

Net income is something that is "generated" by the calculations on the financial statements.  It's not something that "goes" anywhere (well, it can be transferred to different financial statements once you figure out what the amount is).

Salary is an expense = where do expenses go?

Price of product = is likely not on any of these documents

No one is going to do your homework for you. 
Learn what information is on each financial form.
Then consider what the item is and it will fall into place.

Accounting 101 basics: financial statements ?

5 Answers