Forums › ACCA Forums › ACCA FA Financial Accounting Forums › Accruals and prepayments
- This topic has 3 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by John Moffat.
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- October 18, 2014 at 11:08 am #204818
Hi Sir
I got this question from Kaplan Exam kit..
Which of the following statement is not true?
a- Accrual decrease profit
b- Accrued income decrease profit
c- a prepayment is an asset
d- an accrual is a liabilityThe correct answer is B,
in my view though its an accrual it won’t have any effect on profit because of accrual concept. So I agree option B is a false statement.
my question is why option A is true
October 18, 2014 at 7:27 pm #204870If you accrue for an expense, then the total expense is higher and therefore the profit will be lower.
October 20, 2014 at 6:36 am #205062I’d call this a bad question, as the term “accrual” implies something that is still owing. Accrues expenses would actually mean that we have an expense which is unpaid, therefore increasing the expense, and rising a liability. On the other hand, accrued income would increase the income account (let’s say something like a non-operating income), as well as an asset (essentially a debtor), therefore increasing profit.
Therefore B is always FALSE, as it increases income. B might be true (if “accrual is read as accrued income) or false (if an expense)
(I find some question banks are far too ambiguous)
A & B are read as opposites, although they can be read as identical.
October 20, 2014 at 5:35 pm #205140I understand your point, David, but we always take the word ‘accrual’ on its own to mean ‘accrued expense’.
(Not just in exams, but in real life also. If we ever say ‘we need an accrual’ then we always mean that we need to accrue for an expense.)
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