Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Accounting
The act or a system of establishing or settling financial accounts; esp., the process of recording transactions in the financial records of a business and periodically extracting, sorting, and summarizing the recorded transactions to produce a set of financial records. - Also termed financial accounting. 2. A rendition of an account, either voluntarily or by court order. 0 The term frequently refers to the report of all items of property, income, and expenses prepared by a personal representative, trustee, or guardian and given to heirs, beneficiaries, and the probate court. 3. A legal action to compel a defendant to account for and pay over money owed to the plaintiff but held by the defendant (often the plaintiff's agent); ACCOUNTING FOR PROFITS. - Also termed account render; account. 4. More broadly, an action for the recovery of money for services performed, property sold and delivered, money loaned, or damages for the nonperformance of simple contracts. 9 Such an action is available when the rights of parties will be adequately protected by the payment of money. - Also termed action on account; account; action of book debt. 5. Commercial law. An equitable proceeding for a complete settlement of all partnership affairs, usu. in connection with partner misconduct or with a winding up. See WINDING UP. 6. Secured transactions. A record that (1) is authenticated by a secured party, (2) indicates the aggregate unpaid secured obligation as of a date no more than 35 days before or after the date of the record, and (3) identifies the components of the obligations in reasonable detail. UCC § 9-102(a)(2).
Accounting Research Bulletin.
A publication containing accounting practices recommended by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. - Abbr. ARB.
Accounting Series Release
A bulletin providing the Securities and Exchange Commission's requirements for accounting and auditing procedures to be followed in reports filed with that gency. - Abbr. ASR.
Financial Accounting Standards Board
The independent body of accountants responsible for establishing, interpreting, and improving standards for financial accounting and reporting. - Abbr. FASB.
General Accounting Office
The federal agency that provides legal and accounting assistance to Congress, audits and investigates federal programs, and settles certain contract claims against the United States. - Abbr. GAO.
accounting for profits
An action for equitable relief against a person in a fiduciary relationship to recover profits taken in a breach of the relationship. - Often shortened to accounting. The term accounting, or accounting for profits, is used in several ways. In its most important meaning, it is a restitutionary remedy based upon avoiding unjust enrichment. In this sense it reaches monies owed by a fiduciary or other wrongdoer, including profits produced by property which in equity and good conscience belonged to the plaintiff. It resembles a constructive trust in that tracing may be used to reach profits. But even if tracing fails, the plaintiff may recover a judgment for the profits due from use of his property." Dan B. Dobbs, Law of Remedies § 4.3(5), at 408 (2d ed. 1993).
accounting method
A system for determining income and expenses for tax purposes.
accounting period.
A regular span of time used for accounting purposes; esp., a period used by a taxpayer in determining income and related tax liability.
accrual accounting method
An accounting method that records entries of debits and credits when the liability arises, rather than when the income or expense is received or disbursed.
accrual accounting method.
See ACCOUNTING METHOD.
american accounting association
an organization of accounting practitioners, educators, and students. ( the association, founded in 1916, promotes accounting as an academic discipline by sponsoring research projects and continuing-education seminars. - abbr. aaa.
capitalization accounting method
See ACCOUNTING METHOD.
capitalization accounting method.
A method of determining an asset's present value by discounting its stream of expected future benefits at an appropriate rate.
cash-basis accounting method
An accounting method that considers only cash actually received as income and cash actually paid out as an expense.
completed-contract accounting method
See ACCOUNTING METHOD.
cost accounting
See cost accounting method under ACCOUNTING METHOD.
cost accounting method
The practice of recording the value of assets in terms of their cost. - Also termed cost accounting
credit balance. Accounting
The status of an account when the sum of the credit entries exceeds the sum of the debit entries.
current-cost accounting
A method of measuring assets in terms of replacement cost. ( This approach accounts for inflation by recognizing price changes in a company's assets and restating the assets in terms of their current cost.
direct charge-off accounting method
See ACCOUNTING METHOD.
equity accounting method
A method of accounting for long-term investment in common stock based on acquisition cost, investor income, net losses, and dividends.
fair-value accounting method
See ACCOUNT. ING METHOD.
fair-value accounting method.
The valuation of assets at present actual or market value.
financial accounting
See ACCOUNTING (1
generally accepted accounting principles.
The conventions, rules, and procedures that define approved accounting practices at a particular time. ( These principles are issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board for use by accountants in preparing financial statements. The principles include not only broad guidelines of general application but also detailed practices and procedures. - Abbr. GAAP. - Also termed generally accepted accountancy principles.
installment accounting method
See Ac COUNTING METHOD.
installment accounting method.
A method by which a taxpayer can spread the recognition of gains from a sale of property over the payment period by computing the gross-profit percentage from the sale and applying it to each payment.
physical-inventory accounting method
See ACCOUNTING METHOD.
purchase accounting method
See ACCOUNTING METHOD.
purchase accounting method.
A method of accounting for mergers whereby the total value paid or exchanged for the acquired firm's assets is recorded on the acquiring firm's books, and any difference between the fair market value of the assets acquired and the purchase price is recorded as goodwill.
tax accounting
The accounting rules and methods used in determining a taxpayer's liability.