Limitations of Accounting Statements (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Accounting)

Revision Note

Dan Finlay

Expertise

Maths Lead

Limitations of Accounting Statements

What are the limitations of using accounting statements?

Limitation

Explanation

Historic cost

  • The historic cost accounting principle means that the actual cost is recorded on the statements for each transaction

  • It can be difficult to compare transactions if they did not happen at the same time

Time factor

  • There is a gap between the end of a financial year and the preparation of the financial statements

  • The current information might be different from the information stated on the financial statements

Difficulties of definition

  • Businesses might have different layouts of their financial statements

    • Some businesses might subtract the goods taken for the owner's use from purchases before stating it on the income statement

    • Some businesses might subtract sales returns from the sales before stating it on the income statement

    • Some businesses might not explicitly state the profit from operations whereas others might

  • It can be difficult to make comparisons if the items do not represent exactly the same thing

Non-financial aspects

  • The money measurement accounting principle means that only information involving money is recorded

  • There are a lot of other important aspects which are not included in the statements

    • Quality of the goods

    • Employee satisfaction

    • Reputation

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Dan Finlay

Author: Dan Finlay

Dan graduated from the University of Oxford with a First class degree in mathematics. As well as teaching maths for over 8 years, Dan has marked a range of exams for Edexcel, tutored students and taught A Level Accounting. Dan has a keen interest in statistics and probability and their real-life applications.