Accounting Standards & Bookkeeping — Guides, Updates & Practical Insights
Indian Accounting Standards (AS 1-29), bookkeeping principles, GST accounting entries, and valuation rules
“Audit” in Accounting Standards & Bookkeeping
Accounting Entries under GST: Complete Journal Entry Guide with Examples
Learn how to record GST transactions in your books of accounts. This guide covers journal entries for intra-state and inter-state purchases and sales, input tax credit set-off, reverse charge mechanism, advances received, and GST payment to government — with practical examples and ledger formats.
Consolidation procedure under Ind AS 110: combining line by line, eliminating the investment against equity, goodwill, non-controlling interests, intra-group balances and unrealised profit, with a worked example
Under Ind AS 110, paragraph B86, a parent combines like items line by line, eliminates its investment against its share of the subsidiary's equity (with goodwill under Ind AS 103), and eliminates in full intra-group balances, income, expenses and unrealised profits. Non-controlling interests are...
SRS 4410 (Revised), Compilation Engagements: when the standard applies, what the practitioner does and does not do, misleading information, documentation and the compilation report
In a compilation the accountant helps prepare financial information from what management provides, and reports in a way that makes the limited role clear. The accountant is not required to verify the accuracy or completeness of the information (paragraph 6) and the report cannot carry an opinion or...
SRS 4400, Engagements to Perform Agreed-upon Procedures regarding Financial Information: objective, terms of the engagement, procedures and evidence, and the report of factual findings
In an agreed-upon procedures engagement the accountant performs specified procedures on specified financial information and issues a report of factual findings. No assurance is expressed (paragraph 5): the reader decides what the findings mean. The report is restricted to the parties who agreed the...
AS 15 Employee Benefits: Defined Contribution, Defined Benefit and Disclosure
AS 15 (Accounting Standard 15) prescribes accounting and disclosure for employee benefits. This guide covers short-term benefits, post-employment benefits (defined contribution and defined benefit plans), other long-term benefits, termination benefits, actuarial assumptions, and disclosure requirements.
Audit of revenue and trade receivables: the presumed fraud risk in revenue recognition, cut-off tests, external confirmations, alternative procedures, ageing and the allowance for doubtful debts
SA 240 (paragraph 26) tells the auditor to presume that there are fraud risks in revenue recognition and to evaluate which revenue types or transactions give rise to them. The auditor then tests cut-off, confirms balances directly with customers under SA 505, uses alternative procedures where there...
Accounting Compliance Calendar 2026–27 — Monthly, Quarterly and Year-End
A month-by-month accounting calendar for FY 2026–27 — what to close each month, what to reconcile each quarter, and the statutory dates for GST, TDS, advance tax and the annual audit that the books have to support.
Borrowing costs under Ind AS 23: qualifying assets, specific and general borrowings, the capitalisation rate, and when capitalisation starts, pauses and stops, with a worked example
Capitalise borrowing costs that would have been avoided if the expenditure on a qualifying asset had not been made (paragraphs 8 and 10). For a specific loan, take actual cost less income on temporary investment (paragraph 12). For general borrowings, apply a weighted-average capitalisation rate to...
SA 230, Audit Documentation: timely preparation, form, content and extent of working papers, departures from requirements, matters after the report date, assembly of the final audit file and retention
The auditor must prepare documentation on a timely basis that lets an experienced auditor with no previous connection to the audit understand the procedures, results, evidence, significant matters and judgments. The file is assembled soon after the report (ordinarily within 60 days), nothing is...
Audit of inventories: attending the physical count, cut-off, roll-forward procedures, valuation at cost or net realisable value and stock held by third parties
When inventory is material, the auditor must attend the physical count unless that is impracticable (SA 501, paragraph 4). If the count is on another date, the auditor tests movements between the count date and year end (paragraph 5). If attendance is impracticable, the auditor performs alternative...
Audit of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets: the assertions, what the auditor verifies for additions, disposals, depreciation, title and impairment, and the documents to keep ready
The auditor ties each class of asset to the assertions: existence, rights and obligations, completeness, valuation and allocation, and presentation and disclosure. For PPE the usual tests are vouching additions, examining disposals, recomputing depreciation, inspecting title documents and...
Net asset value (NAV) method of business valuation: book value, adjusted net assets and value per share, and when the asset approach fits, with a worked example for a property-holding company
NAV = value of all assets − all liabilities, including claims ranking ahead of equity such as preference capital. Book NAV uses the figures in the balance sheet; adjusted NAV restates assets to realisable or replacement value, brings in liabilities that are not on the books, and allows for tax on...
From enterprise value to equity value per share: net debt, surplus assets, preference shares, control premium and the discount for lack of marketability, with a worked example for a private company
Equity value = enterprise value − debt and debt-like items + cash and surplus assets − preference capital. Value per share = equity value ÷ fully diluted equity shares. A control premium may be added for a block that carries control, and a discount for lack of marketability may be taken off a block...
SAE 3400, The Examination of Prospective Financial Information: forecasts and projections, the assurance the auditor can give, acceptance, examining the assumptions and the report
Under SAE 3400 the accountant examines the assumptions behind prospective financial information and whether the figures are properly prepared from them. Because the evidence is about the future, the accountant gives only moderate assurance on the assumptions (paragraph 9) and cannot say the results...
SA 210, Agreeing the Terms of Audit Engagements: the preconditions for an audit, management's responsibilities, what the engagement letter must contain, recurring audits and a request to change the terms
Before accepting an audit, the auditor must establish two preconditions: management is using an acceptable financial reporting framework, and management acknowledges its responsibilities for the statements, internal control and access to information and people. The terms are then recorded in an...
UDIN: What It Is and How to Generate
UDIN (Unique Document Identification Number) authenticates documents certified by chartered accountants. Here is what it is and how to generate it.
SRE 2410, Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity: the engagement, review procedures, evaluating misstatements, management representations and the review report
SRE 2410 applies to the independent auditor of the entity reviewing interim financial information (paragraph 1). The aim is a conclusion on whether anything has come to attention suggesting the information is not prepared in all material respects under the framework, with the risk of an...
MSMED Disclosures Under Section 22: Five Items and the Appointed Day
Five disclosures under section 22 of the MSMED Act, carried into Schedule III — principal and interest unpaid, interest paid with the late payments, interest due for the delay, interest accrued and unpaid, and interest remaining payable in succeeding years.
Stock Audit Process and Checklist
A stock audit verifies the physical existence, quantity and valuation of inventory. Here is the process and a checklist.
Discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation of an unlisted company: forecasting the cash flows, choosing the discount rate, the terminal value and the equity value, with a worked example for a small manufacturer
DCF = forecast cash flow available to the firm (FCFF) for each year, discount each at the cost of capital, add a terminal value for the years after the forecast, and deduct net debt to reach equity value. Terminal value by constant growth = FCFF in the last year × (1 + g) ÷ (discount rate − g)...
Internal audit of sales and receivables: the order-to-cash cycle, pricing and discount approvals, credit limits, dispatch and invoicing controls, collections and revenue leakage tests
Plan from a risk assessment, map the order-to-cash steps, test the design and operation of the key controls and use analytics to find leakage before testing items. The usual control points are customer master, price and discount approval, credit limit, dispatch-to-invoice matching, collection and...
Audit of charitable trusts, societies and NGOs: understanding the entity, grants and donations, restricted funds, foreign contribution, programme expenses and the auditor's report
The auditor of a non-profit begins by understanding the entity: its legal form, objects, funders, regulators and how money moves (SA 315, paragraph 11). The key risks are incomplete recording of donations, funds spent against the purpose they were given for and unsupported programme expenses...
How to build a financial model: the input sheet, revenue and cost drivers, the three linked statements, balance checks and scenarios, with a worked example for a start-up restaurant
A sound model has four layers: inputs (every assumption, labelled, on one sheet), workings (revenue, cost, asset and debt schedules driven by the inputs), outputs (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, linked) and checks (the balance sheet balances, cash agrees, no typed-in numbers in the...
Capital structure decisions: EBIT-EPS analysis, the financial break-even point and the debt-equity indifference point, with a worked example for a growing private company
Capital structure is the mix of debt and equity behind a business. EBIT-EPS analysis computes earnings per share (EPS) under each financing plan at several levels of EBIT. EPS = (EBIT - interest) x (1 - tax rate) / number of shares. The indifference point is the EBIT at which two plans give the...