QUALITATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. COMPARABILITY: Comparison of financial statements is one of the most frequently used and effective tools of financial analysis. It helps the users of accounting information to compare, analyze and take decisions accordingly. CoRead more
QUALITATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. COMPARABILITY: Comparison of financial statements is one of the most frequently used and effective tools of financial analysis. It helps the users of accounting information to compare, analyze and take decisions accordingly. Comparability enables inter-firm and intra-firm comparisons. It helps to ascertain the growth and progress of the business over time and in comparison to other businesses.
For example, managers of ITC ltd want to know which business of his is performing well and which needs progress so they would compare the financial statement of its different businesses and make the decision accordingly.
2. RELEVANCE: It generally means that the essential information should be easily and readily available and any irrelevant information should be avoided. The user of accounting information needs relevant accounting information for a good decision-making process, planning, and predicting future circumstances.
For example, a firm is expected to provide the total amount owed by the debtors in the balance sheet, whereas the total number of debtors is not important.
3. UNDERSTANDIBILITY: The financial statement should be presented so that every user can interpret the information without any difficulty in a meaningful and appropriate manner. To be more precise it should be complete, concise, clear, and organized.
For example, mentioning note number in the financial statement for any items which needs disclosure. This helps the users of accounting to interpret the financial statement without any difficulty.
4. RELIABILITY: This means the accounting information must be free from material error and bias. All accounting information is verifiable and can be verified from the source documents basically, information should not be vague or false.
For example, any significant matters like amount due, damages, losses, etc. which impact the financial stability shall be mentioned as disclosure since it is useful for all the users of accounting to be aware of such facts and not to be misguided by incomplete information.













The terms outstanding expenses and accrued expenses are two accounting terms which are often used interchangeably. However, these two terms are not the same and have different meanings. The difference between these two terms is given below: What are Outstanding expenses? As the name suggests, outstaRead more
The terms outstanding expenses and accrued expenses are two accounting terms which are often used interchangeably. However, these two terms are not the same and have different meanings. The difference between these two terms is given below:
What are Outstanding expenses?
As the name suggests, outstanding expenses are the expenses that are due but have not been paid yet. It means that the business is supposed to pay the amount due but it has not paid the same at the end of the accounting period.
Outstanding expenses are recognized as a current liability because the business is liable to pay such expenses. These expenses are recorded in the books of accounts but the payment is still pending.
Some examples of outstanding expenses are:
What are Accrued expenses?
Accrued expenses are the expenses that a business has incurred during the accounting period but they have not yet been recorded in the books of accounts because the bill has not yet been received or the payment is not due yet.
The concept of Accrued expenses helps in complying with the accrual basis of accounting which says that the expense shall be recognised at the time it occurs regardless of the fact that payment is received or not.
Examples of accrued expenses are:
Key differences between outstanding expenses and accrued expenses
To summarise the above discussion, the key differences between outstanding expenses and accrued expenses are given in the table below:
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