A lively accountant’s website…
Have a look at this post from Accountancy Age. There is a link within to the website of a firm called Wood & Disney. It’s a well designed website, but with a touch of humour.
The costs we don’t capture
Image from wikipedia
I recently attended the 11th ACMAR conference in WHU, Vallendar, Germany. A presenter was reminding us of how we often forget about opportunity costs. This made me think of a recent hotel reservation I made, and how many costs go unrecorded.
I had booked a hotel in Montreal for a few days in April. The hotel emailed me to say that a due to a refurbishment programme, they would not open until May – a delay of 4 weeks. The Canadian winter delayed the refurbishment work it seemed. I was offered alternative accommodation, which was fine.
There is of course a loss of revenue to the hotel use to the delay. I would guess that the cost of lost revenue was included as part of the refurbishment, but I wonder will the revenue lost due to the delay ever be recorded or noted. Somehow I doubt it. Either way, such “costs” never make it to the accounting records.
Overhead accounting error
Image from wikipedia
As I have written in a previous post, when error are discovered in financial statements, these errors should be corrected at the next available opportunity. This can mean re-stating published accounts. What to do is governed by IAS 8 — Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors.
Finding examples of errors in published accounts for example or teaching purposes is not always that easy. In March 2014, Bloomberg reported an error in the financial statements of SolarCity, a large US solar energy company. The company made an error in how overhead costs were allocated between cost of sales and other expenses it seems. While overall profits/costs were not affected, the cost of sales figure increased by about $20m per annum for 2012 and 2013. You can read the full article here.
Doctor Decade – a musical twist on academic life, and for a good cause.
Okay, a first for this blog but it’s a good cause. Doctor Decade is serious and friendly academic whose advise, research and music has inspired me over the last 6/7 years. His music is quite good, and offers a bit of a tongue in cheek view of some academic things. And it’s all for a good cause too. Just subscribe to his YouTube channel and help him get ads there to make money for charity. It only takes a few clicks.
Promotions on price
As a management accountant, when price is dropped we probably want to be sure that we still make a profit- or at least cover cost. An article I found on inc.com gives some very useful hints to ensure that price promotion is effective in the longer term. Your can read is at this link.
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