End-Of-Year date?

David Harrison DavidHarrisonCGA at gmail.com
Thu Sep 30 18:33:39 EDT 2004


On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 18:00:16 -0400, David Brock <dmbrock at nm.cbc.ca> wrote:
> In my accounting understanding (NB:IANAA) at year-end, the difference
> between Revenues and Expenses for the year is transferred into Retained
> Earnings.  If it isn't, then I'm not sure of the role of the RE account.
> (Assets & Liab accumulate, as they should)
> 
That is exactly the role of the Retained Earnings account. It shows
the accumulated earning (deficits) of the entity since it's inception
less any dividends declared/paid. (for the record IAAA)

> What made me ask (or comment) in the first place is the account list,
> which has a cumulative total for all accounts.  For the Balance Sheet
> accounts, it makes sense, but IMHO, not so for Income Statement
> accounts.  Specifically, what is the significance of my cumulative
> expenses and revenues?  The longer I use the program (without effecting
> year-end changes) the larger it grows.  At least, if the YE is rolled,
> it will tell me the exepenses or revenues YTD.
> 

If the revenues and expenses were zeroed (sp?) out at the end of the
year, you wouldn't be able to produce comparative statements.  If
that's not important, then go ahead and prepare a manual entry to
clear the balances.

Dave


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