What is Accrual Accounting?
Accrual accounting is the recording of a financial transaction by a firm at the time a sale takes place, not when the money reaches the bank account. This method allows the firm to account for all sales, cash and credit, in that month’s figures, giving a clearer picture of the financial health of the business.
Reporting Sales with Accrual Accounting
By using accrual accounting for reporting sales, the firm has a strong indicator of where it stands in the market. A clothing store, for example, sells 100 pairs of jeans in a month and maybe 35 sales are cash, 65 on credit card. If the cash sales are the only ones included in the end of month accounts, the storeowner will not have an accurate long-term picture of the store’s health. Though the store sold the stock purchased at the beginning of the month, the money is not yet fully in the bank and raising the fear of a cash flow problem. By using accrual accounting, all sales, both cash and credit, are included. To manage this, the store runs an ‘accounts receivable’ ledger, recording all transactions as revenue on the day of sale. The accrual accounting method makes the store’s revenue streams obvious from the time the buyer makes the purchase.
Accrual accounting allows the store to increase revenues by highlighting the income that is not yet in the bank but will be over the next few weeks. The store’s financial health will look rosy, more so than if they were to account only for cash sales. It may raise capital for purchasing stock, the lifeblood of any store, by showing an accurate future from current sales. By not using the accrual accounting method the store’s bank balance may look bare and not very attractive to investors and bankers.
Accrual Accounting is Vital
Many firms sell on credit only and waiting for a credit card sale to reach a store’s bank account may take a few days, so the need for accrual accounting is vital. By recording all sales at the point of transaction, the revenue streams will begin when selling the product, not when the money arrives in the bank account. To see the financial profitability of a firm you need to look at all sales and accrual accounting is the only proven method of achieving this picture.