Complete a 4-part assessment that requires you to categorize balance sheet accounts, prepare a balance sheet, prepare an income statement, and analyze items in a financial statement. Because the balance sheet reflects all journal entries affecting the business since incep

Complete a 4-part assessment that requires you to categorize balance sheet accounts, prepare a balance sheet, prepare an income statement, and analyze items in a financial statement.

Because the balance sheet reflects all journal entries affecting the business since inception, knowledge of the placement of each account is essential to preparing a financial statement. Likewise preparation of the balance sheet, or statement of financial position, is an essential skill and requires the accountant to take information from the accounting system and summarize it in a single location. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) require organizations to prepare both an income statement and a balance sheet. Before the balance sheet can be prepared, the organization’s net income must be determined. Finally, balance sheets do not always balance once they are prepared, and income statements do not always contain correct account data. This can cause havoc across the accounting department and requires the accountant to locate the missing or incorrect data.

Assessment 1 addressed internal and external users of accounting information. The characteristic that sets them apart is the type of data that they require. When an organization reports its financial results to the world, the external users look to see if the organization made any money during its most recent year and whether the assets the organization owns minus the debts it owes result in any profits that can be put back into the organization to make more money for the organization, or reward the shareholders for their investment in the organization.