UGC NET MBA Unit-4

Accounting and Financial Management

1. Accounting Principles and Standards

Meaning of Accounting:

Accounting is the process of recording, classifying, summarizing, and interpreting financial transactions to provide useful information for decision-making.


Basic Accounting Principles (GAAP):

  1. Business Entity Concept: Business and owner are separate entities.

  2. Going Concern Concept: Business will continue for the foreseeable future.

  3. Money Measurement Concept: Only monetary transactions are recorded.

  4. Accounting Period Concept: Results are reported for a fixed period (usually one year).

  5. Cost Concept: Assets are recorded at their purchase price.

  6. Dual Aspect Concept: Every transaction affects two accounts (Debit = Credit).

  7. Accrual Concept: Record income and expenses when they occur, not when cash is received or paid.

  8. Matching Concept: Match revenues with related expenses in the same period.

  9. Conservatism: Recognize expected losses, not profits.

  10. Materiality: Only significant information should be disclosed.


Accounting Standards (AS) and IFRS

  • Issued in India by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

  • Ensure uniformity, transparency, and comparability in financial reporting.

  • International Standards: IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).

  • Ind AS: Indian convergence with IFRS.


🔹 2. Preparation of Financial Statements

Financial Statements show the financial performance and position of a business.

Major Statements:

  1. Income Statement (Profit & Loss Account) – shows profitability.

  2. Balance Sheet – shows financial position at a point in time.

  3. Cash Flow Statement – shows movement of cash.

  4. Statement of Changes in Equity (for companies).


Format of Balance Sheet (Condensed):

Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity

Liabilities Amount (₹) Assets Amount (₹)
Capital Fixed Assets
Long-term Loans Current Assets
Current Liabilities

🔹 3. Financial Statement Analysis

Used to evaluate financial health and assist managerial decision-making.

Techniques of Analysis:

  1. Comparative Statement Analysis – compares financial data across years.

  2. Common Size Analysis – expresses items as % of total.

  3. Ratio Analysis – most common tool.

  4. Cash Flow & Funds Flow Analysis.

  5. Trend Analysis.


A. Ratio Analysis

1️⃣ Liquidity Ratios

  • Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities
    → Ideal = 2:1

  • Quick Ratio (Acid-Test) = (Current Assets − Inventory) / Current Liabilities
    → Ideal = 1:1

2️⃣ Solvency Ratios

  • Debt-Equity Ratio = Total Debt / Shareholders’ Equity

  • Interest Coverage Ratio = EBIT / Interest Expense

3️⃣ Profitability Ratios

  • Gross Profit Ratio = (Gross Profit / Sales) × 100

  • Net Profit Ratio = (Net Profit / Sales) × 100

  • Return on Assets (ROA) = Net Profit / Total Assets

  • Return on Equity (ROE) = Net Profit / Shareholders’ Equity

4️⃣ Activity Ratios

  • Inventory Turnover = Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory

  • Debtors Turnover = Credit Sales / Average Debtors


B. Funds Flow Analysis

Shows changes in working capital between two balance sheets.

Key Terms:

  • Fund: Working Capital (Current Assets − Current Liabilities)

  • Sources of Fund: Issue of shares, long-term loans, sale of assets.

  • Uses of Fund: Purchase of assets, repayment of debt, dividend payment.


C. Cash Flow Analysis

Prepared as per AS-3, it shows inflows and outflows of cash.

Activities:

  1. Operating Activities: Day-to-day operations.

  2. Investing Activities: Purchase/sale of assets or investments.

  3. Financing Activities: Issue/repayment of capital and loans.


D. DuPont Analysis

DuPont model breaks Return on Equity (ROE) into three components:

ROE=Net Profit Margin×Asset Turnover×Equity Multiplier

Helps in understanding how profit, efficiency, and leverage affect ROE.


🔹 4. Cost Accounting and Cost Sheet

Cost Accounting:
Identifies, measures, and controls costs for cost efficiency.

Cost Sheet:
A statement showing the total cost of production and selling a product.

Format:

Particulars Amount (₹)
Prime Cost = Direct Material + Direct Labour + Direct Expenses

+ Factory Overheads = Works Cost

+ Office & Admin Overheads = Cost of Production

+ Selling & Distribution Overheads = Cost of Sales
+ Profit = Sales

🔹 5. Marginal Costing and CVP Analysis

Marginal Costing:
Costs are divided into Fixed and Variable; fixed costs are not charged to individual products.

Contribution (C):

C=Sales−Variable Cost

Profit = Contribution − Fixed Cost


Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) Analysis

Used to study the relationship between cost, volume, and profit.

Key Equations:

  • Break-Even Point (BEP):

    BEP (units)=Fixed CostSelling Price per Unit – Variable Cost per Unit

  • BEP (Sales ₹):

    BEP (₹)=Fixed CostP/V Ratio

P/V Ratio (Profit-Volume Ratio):

P/V Ratio=ContributionSales×100

Margin of Safety (MOS):

MOS=Actual Sales−BEP Sales


🔹 6. Standard Costing and Variance Analysis

Standard Costing:
Predetermined cost used as a benchmark for comparison.

Variance:
Difference between standard and actual performance.

Types:

  1. Material Variance:

    • Material Cost Variance = (Standard Cost − Actual Cost)

    • Material Price Variance = (SP − AP) × AQ

    • Material Usage Variance = (SQ − AQ) × SP

  2. Labour Variance:

    • Labour Cost Variance = (SR × SH) − (AR × AH)

    • Labour Efficiency Variance = (SH − AH) × SR

  3. Overhead Variance:

    • Overhead Cost Variance = Standard OH − Actual OH

Purpose:
Control and performance evaluation.


🔹 7. Financial Management – Concept and Functions

Definition:

Financial Management involves planning, organizing, and controlling financial resources to achieve organizational objectives.

Main Functions:

  1. Investment Decision – Capital budgeting.

  2. Financing Decision – Sources of funds and capital structure.

  3. Dividend Decision – Distribution of profits.

  4. Liquidity Decision – Managing working capital.

Objectives:

  • Maximize shareholders’ wealth.

  • Ensure profitability, liquidity, and solvency.


🔹 8. Capital Structure and Cost of Capital

Capital Structure:

Combination of debt and equity used for financing business operations.

Capital Structure Theories:

  1. Net Income (NI) Theory: More debt → higher firm value (due to low cost).

  2. Net Operating Income (NOI) Theory: Value independent of capital structure.

  3. Traditional Theory: Moderate debt optimizes value.

  4. Modigliani–Miller (M–M) Theory: In perfect market, structure is irrelevant.


Cost of Capital:

Minimum rate of return expected by investors.

Overall Cost of Capital (WACC)=EVKe+DVKd(1−T)

Where:
E = Equity, D = Debt, V = Total Capital, Ke = Cost of Equity, Kd = Cost of Debt, T = Tax rate.


Sources of Finance:

  • Long-term: Shares, debentures, loans, retained earnings.

  • Short-term: Trade credit, bank loans, commercial paper.


🔹 9. Budgeting and Budgetary Control

Meaning:

Budgeting = Preparing future financial plans.
Budgetary Control = Comparing actual with budgeted performance to take corrective action.

Types of Budgets:

  1. Fixed Budget – For one level of activity.

  2. Flexible Budget – For multiple activity levels.

  3. Cash Budget – Forecast of cash inflow/outflow.

  4. Capital Budget – Long-term investment planning.

  5. Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB):
    Every activity must be justified from zero base (no automatic carry-forward).

Budgetary Process:

  1. Define objectives.

  2. Prepare budgets.

  3. Implement.

  4. Compare actual vs. budget.

  5. Take corrective actions.


🔹 10. Leverages and EBIT–EPS Analysis

Leverage:

Leverage measures how changes in sales or EBIT affect profits.

A. Operating Leverage (OL):

OL=ContributionEBIT

→ Measures effect of sales change on operating income.

B. Financial Leverage (FL):

FL=EBITEBT

→ Measures effect of EBIT change on EPS.

C. Combined Leverage (CL):

CL=OL×FL

Financial Breakeven Point:

BEP (financial)=Fixed Financial Charges (Interest, Preference Dividend)

Indifference Point:
Level of EBIT where EPS remains same for two financial plans (debt vs. equity).


✅ Quick Summary Keywords:

GAAP, Financial Statements, Ratio Analysis, Cash Flow, DuPont, Cost Sheet, Marginal Costing, Variance, Capital Structure, Budgeting, Leverage, EBIT–EPS, ZBB.

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