Core Concepts:
* The Accounting Equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity; understanding the fundamental relationship between a company's resources, obligations, and owners' investments.
* Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): A grounding in the rules and guidelines that govern financial reporting. This often includes discussions of the conceptual framework underlying these standards.
* Double-Entry Bookkeeping: The fundamental system of recording financial transactions, ensuring the accounting equation always balances.
* Chart of Accounts: Understanding how businesses organize their accounts to track different types of transactions.
* Journal Entries: The process of recording transactions in a journal.
* Ledger Accounts: The process of posting journal entries to individual accounts in the general ledger.
* Trial Balance: A summary of all general ledger accounts to ensure that debits and credits are equal.
* Adjusting Entries: Entries made at the end of an accounting period to update accounts for items not yet recorded (e.g., accruals, deferrals).
* Closing Entries: Entries made at the end of an accounting period to transfer the balances of temporary accounts (revenue, expense, dividend) to retained earnings.
* Preparation of Financial Statements: This is a central component, encompassing:
* Income Statement: Showing revenues, expenses, and net income or loss for a period.
* Balance Sheet: Showing assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time.
* Statement of Cash Flows: Showing the inflows and outflows of cash during a period.
* Statement of Changes in Equity: Shows how equity changed during the period.
Possibly Included (depending on curriculum):
* Inventory Accounting: Methods for valuing inventory (FIFO, LIFO, weighted-average cost).
* Depreciation: Methods for allocating the cost of long-term assets over their useful lives.
* Basic Ratio Analysis: Simple analysis of financial statements using ratios to assess financial health (liquidity, profitability, solvency).
* Accounting for Special Transactions: Introduction to topics like payroll accounting, accounting for receivables and payables, and simple capital budgeting.
What it usually *doesn't* cover at this introductory level:
* Advanced accounting topics like consolidations, partnerships, corporations, advanced cost accounting, auditing, or managerial accounting. Those are generally covered in later semesters or specialized courses.
In summary, a BBA 2nd semester Financial Accounting course aims to provide a solid foundation in the basic principles and processes of recording, summarizing, and interpreting financial information for business decision-making. It prepares students for more advanced accounting courses and lays the groundwork for understanding financial statements used in various business contexts.