Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Accounting terms and what they mean

"OVERSTATED"


When an accountant states that a reported amount is overstated, it means two things:


1. The reported amount is incorrect, and
2. The reported amount is more than the true or correct amount.


For example, a company reports that its prepaid insurance is $8,000. However, the true or correct amount of prepaid insurance is only $7,000. The accountant will say that the reported amount for prepaid insurance is overstated by $1,000.


Because of double-entry accounting or bookkeeping, another general ledger account will also have a reporting error. In our example, if Prepaid Insurance is overstated (too much being reported) it is likely that Insurance Expense will be understated (too little is being reported).



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