Accounting Principles

  

Be conservative.

No, this is not a Red State mantra. It's all about the beans. When you count them, you adhere to the basic tenet of accounting, which runs something like, "When there is the possibility of being reasonably conservative, present the numbers in such a way so that they err on the side of caution, conservation, and, well, modesty."

This notion is very different from that of Accounting Principals, who roam the hallways at Accounting U, asking whether or not you have a hall pass to use the facilities.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is AICPA?6 Views

00:00

Finance a la shmoop what is the AICPA alright people when you think wild and [People dancing in a club]

00:08

crazy parties rock stars jumping into swimming pools from the seventh floor [Man jumps off rooftop into swimming pool]

00:12

teenagers in skimpy swimsuits running down the halls of hotels you don't think

00:18

of the AICPA why because it stands for the American Institute of Certified

00:24

Public Accountants and their parties are just different [Group of people sipping cocktails]

00:28

yeah the AICPA is responsible for setting US accounting standards it

00:32

sets ethical standards so there isn't a CPA somewhere writing off weekly [Roosters preparing to fight]

00:37

trips to a cockfighting arena as, you know travel expense it sets all kinds of

00:42

professional standards as well like common tax practices, financial statement

00:47

auditing practices and quality control for accounting firms so that no matter

00:52

which accounting office you visit the coffee in the lobby can't be cold [Man drinking coffee]

00:57

come on AICPA you can do better than that all right well the AICPA also puts

01:01

together and grades the exam you have to take if you want to become one of those [Boy studying for exam]

01:06

accountant people the uniform CPA exam ...Fail to pass that

01:11

baby and you may only be able to get a job counting actual beans not the [Man counting beans on conveyor belt]

01:16

financial ones so yeah the AICPA is the wizard behind

01:19

the curtain of the world of CPA-ing certified public accounting yeah they're

01:24

they're just concerned with a different kind of green like AC/DC green [Man singing AC/DC into microphone]

Up Next

Finance: What is an Income Statement?
51 Views

What is an income statement? Income statements are important financial documents that all companies keep to track profitability. It shows figures t...

Finance: What is GAAP?
21 Views

GAAP is an acronym for Generally Accepted Accounting Practices. In order to remove as much subjectivity as possible, accounting policy bodies, such...

Finance: What are Aging Receivables/an Allowance for Doubtful Accounts?
70 Views

What are Aging Receivables/an Allowance for Doubtful Accounts? The allowance for doubtful accounts subtracts those receivables that are not going t...

Finance: What is Backdating?
5 Views

What is Backdating? Backdating just means that someone put a date on something that is before the actual date of the document. This is a pretty com...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)