List of 12 Basic Accounting Principles
1. Accounting Entity – is the business unit for which the financial statements are
being prepared
2. Going Concern – Accounts assume that the life of the business entity
is infinitely long and will never dissipate.
3. Measurement – Accounting only deals with things that can be
measured, quantifiable.
4. Units of Measure – The US Dollar (USD) is the standard value used in
financial statements
5. Historical Cost – The transactions that results in what a business owns
and owes are recorded at their original cost. This may cause the
company’s books to be understated. For example, a company can own
a manufacturing facility that is valued at $25,000,000 but carry it on the
books for their purchase price of $7,000,000
6. Materiality – The concept of materiality allows you to violate another
accounting principle if the value is so tiny that the financial reports will
not have an impact
7. Estimates and Judgments – Often times, it is okay to guess due to the
nature that businesses are complex. It is legal, if the accounting is the
best you can do, the expected error would not affect the financial
reports and the “guesses” are consistent for each period.
8. Consistency – Each individual enterprise must choose a single method
of accounting and reporting consistently over time.
9. Conservatism – Accountants must agree more with an
understatement than an overvaluation. This accounting guideline states
that if doubt exists between two alternatives, the accountant should
choose the result with a lesser asset amount and/or a lesser profit.
10. Periodicity – Is the activity within the scope of an accounting period
that must be recorded within the time period on a financial statement.
11. Substance Over Form – This is a concept where the entity is
accounting for items according to their substance and economic reality
and not just its form.
12. Accrual Basis of Presentation – In accrual accounting, if a
business transaction makes money in a period then all of its associated
costs and business expenses should also be reported in that particular
period.