Assistant Account Manager

After I recuperated from the shock both times, it made me feel stronger. It's true that I was fired twice, but I managed to bounce back both times and land jobs that gave me more responsibility, paid me more money, and were at better firms.

The morale here is very high. I've been exposed to the "seamy underbelly" of this business, but I'm still passionate about working in it.

The stated interest rate of a bond payable is the annual interest rate that is printed on the face of the bond. The stated interest rate multiplied by the bond's face amount (or par amount) results in the annual amount of interest that must be paid by the issuer of the bond. For example, if a corporation issues $10,000,000 of bonds having a stated interest rate of 6%, it is promising to pay interest of $600,000 each year (usually $300,000 semiannually).

The stated interest rate of a bond payable is also known as the face interest rate, the nominal interest rate, the contractual interest rate, and the coupon interest rate.

Net usually refers to the combination of positive and negative amounts. For example, the amount of net sales is the combination of the amount of gross sales (a positive amount) and some negative amounts such as sales returns, sales allowances, and sales discounts. Hence, if gross sales are 990 and sales returns are 10, sales allowances are 5, and sales discounts 20, the net sales are 955.

The amount to be received in the ordinary course of business minus the costs of completion and disposal.

An accounting loss on the sale of a business segment minus the income taxes that were saved (avoided, sheltered) because the loss was also deductible on the company's income tax return.

Revenues and gains minus expenses and losses.

The recorded costs of the tangible non-current assets used in the business minus the related accumulated depreciation.

The combination of the cash inflows and the cash outflows from a company's operations (activities outside of its investing and financing activities).

The recorded amount of accounts receivable minus the allowance for doubtful accounts.

An accounting period is a period of time such as the 12 months of January 1 through December 31, or the month of June, or the three months of July 1 through September 30. It is the period for which financial statements are prepared. For example, the income statement and the cash flow statement report the amounts occurring during the accounting period, and the balance sheet reports the amounts of assets and liabilties as of the final moment of the accounting period.

Gross profit is net sales minus the cost of goods sold. (Some people use the term gross margin and gross profit interchangeably. Others use gross margin to mean the gross profit ratio or the gross profit as a percentage of net sales.)

Gross profit is presented on a multiple-step income statement prior to deducting selling, general and administrative expenses and prior to non-operating revenues, non-operating expenses, gains and losses.

The income statement is a key financial statement which reports on a company's profitability during a relatively short period of time such as the past year, month, 13 weeks, etc. The heading of the income statement informs the reader of the period covered.

The main components of the income statement are:

★ Revenues

★ Expenses

★ Certain gains and losses

Sales refers to the revenues earned when a company sells its goods, products, merchandise, etc. (If a company sells one of its non-current assets that was used in its business, the amount received is not recorded in its Sales account.)

The amounts recorded at the time of the sales transaction is also known as gross sales since there may be subsequent subtractions for sales returns, sales allowances, and early payment discounts. (Gross sales minus these subtractions results in the amount of net sales.)

These include the cost of goods sold, SG&A expenses, and interest expense.

These are the amounts earned through the sale of goods and the providing of services.

A fiscal year usually refers to an accounting year that does not end on December 31. (The accounting year of January 1 through December 31 is usually referred to as a calendar year.) Some examples of the fiscal years used by U.S. corporations include:

★ The 12 months of February 1 through January 31

★ The 12 months of October 1 through September 30

★ The 12 months of June 1 through May 31

★ The 52 weeks (four 13-week quarters) ending on the Saturday closest to January 31 (This will require an occasional fiscal year of 53 weeks since 52 weeks X 7 days = 364 days vs. 365 days per year.)

A noncurrent asset is an asset that is not likely to turn to unrestricted cash within one year of the balance sheet date. (This assumes that the company has an operating cycle of less than one year.)

A non-current asset is also referred to as a long-term asset.

Non-current assets are reported under the following balance sheet headings:

★ Investments (long-term)

★ Property, plant and equipment

★ Intangible assets

★ Other assets

This financial statement is often presented as the statement of shareholders' equity, statement of equity, statement of changes in stockholders' equity, etc. It reports all of the changes in stockholders' equity which occurred during the accounting period.