ACCOUNTING ENTITY ASSUMPTION states that a business is a separate legal entity from the owner.

In the
accounts the business' monetary transactions are recorded only.

Now let us take a look at the three accounting assumptions as per the Accounting Standards of India.
1] Going Concern
This assumption is based on the principle that while making the financial statements of an entity we will
assume that the company has no plans of winding up in the near future. So the assumption is that the
company will continue to exist indefinitely (far into the future), i.e. it will keep on going.
This assumption is important as it allows for the appropriate accounting of fixed assets and depreciation.
Since traditionally we follow the historical cost method for valuation of assets, we have to assume that
the business is in no danger of being shut down in the future. If this is the case then such assets will have to
be valued at market value. But in the case of a going concern, we do not take into account the
increase/decrease in prices of assets.
Another case would be that of expenses written off over a number of years like Deferred Advertising
Expense. The benefit of such an expense is enjoyed over a number of years. So instead of charging the
expense in one year, we amortize it. This is also possible due to the going concern assumption.
2] Consistency
This assumption states that unless and until things are mentioned in the accounting policies, procedures,
standards, etc, Things that have been followed in accounting remains the same. This allows for uniformity
in the financial statements of a company over the years. It also becomes easier to compare financial
statements from the previous years, something that is important to potential investors and other
external stakeholders.
When the accounting treatments and methodologies remain the same over a period of several years the
management can properly draw conclusions about the performance of a company. It is an important aspect
of planning and decision-making functions of management.
However, this does not mean that an entity cannot change accounting policies to stay relevant with times.
This assumption does not completely prohibit change. Sometimes it is necessary to make changes under
the following conditions

 If it is a statutory requirement and the entity will have to change its accounting policy to abide by
the law

 Other times a change in policy will allow them to represent their accounts more fairly and
appropriately.

 Changes made so books of accounts can be in compliance with the Accounting Standards issued by
the ICAI
So when the entity changes their policies or methods for the above reason, the users of the financial
statements must be informed. Whether there is a material effect in the current year or upcoming years a
disclosure must be made. This disclosure is usually made in the notes at the end of the balance sheet.
3] Accrual
Under this assumption, accounting transactions are recorded in the books of accounts when they occur.
This is known as the Mercantile System. So as opposed to the cash system, in accrual concept, the revenue
or expenditure is recognized in the year they are realized.
According to this concept, the revenue will be recognized in the year it has been realized in. So say firm XYZ
and Co. made credit sales in January of 2108 of 10,000/-. And by 31st March they had received only 7,000/-
with 3,000/- still receivable. However, the entire 10,000/- will be recognized in the year 2017-2018,
irrespective of how much money was actually received.
Similarly in case of expenses also it is irrespective whether actual cash was paid or not. Expenses are to be
recognized in the year in which they facilitate the earnings of revenue. So if the annual electricity bill of XYZ
Co. of Rs 20,000/- is unpaid by 1st April, it will still be in the books as Outstanding Expense.
Solved Example for You
Q: Are there any limitations to the accounting assumptions? List them.
Ans: Yes there are certain limitations to accounting assumptions and principles. For example,

 Going Concern: It assumes that an entity will continue indefinitely. Practically though this is hardly
ever the case. And in some circumstances, the company winds up immediately after the release of
the financial statements. So this assumption can be misleading in such cases.

 Consistency: There are some cases, like valuation of inventory, where the business has to make
constant changes according to circumstances. The assumption will not apply then.

 Accrual: It can be a time consuming and confusing process. Not suitable for small organizations who
would prefer the cash system.

time period assumption definition

Also known as the periodicity assumption. The accounting guideline that allows the
accountant to divide up the complex, ongoing activities of a business into periods of a
year, quarter, month, week, etc. The precise time period covered is included in the
heading of the income statement, statement of cash flows, and the statement of
stockholders' equity.

Definition of Monetary Unit Assumption

The monetary unit assumption as it applies to a U.S. corporation is that the U.S.dollar
(USD) is stable in the long run. That is the USD does not lose its purchasing power. Note
that this is the assumption.
As a result of the monetary assumption, accountants at a U.S. corporation do not hesitate
to add the cost of a parcel of land purchased in 2019 to the cost of another parcel of land
that had been purchased in 1970. (See example below.)

Another part of the monetary unit assumption is that U.S. accountants report a
corporation's assets in dollar amounts (rather than reporting details of all of the assets). If
an asset cannot be expressed as a dollar amount, it cannot be entered in a general ledger
account. For example, the management team of a very successful corporation may be the
corporation's most valuable asset. However, the accountant is not able to objectively
convert those talented people into USDs. Hence, the management team will not be
included in the reported amounts on the balance sheet.
Example of Monetary Unit Assumption

Let's illustrate the monetary unit assumption with the following hypothetical example. A
U.S. corporation purchased a two-acre parcel of land at a cost of $40,000 in 1970. Then in
2019 the corporation purchased an adjacent (nearly identical) two-acre parcel at a cost of
$500,000. After the 2019 purchase is recorded, the balance in the corporation's general
ledger account Land is $540,000. Therefore, the corporation's balance sheet will report its
four acres of land at a cost of $540,000. There is no adjustment for the vast difference in
purchasing power between the 1970 dollar and the 2019 dollar.

The phrase "generally accepted accounting principles" (or "GAAP")

consists of three important sets of rules: (1) the basic accounting principles and
guidelines, (2) the detailed rules and standards issued by FASB and its predecessor the
Accounting Principles Board (APB), and (3) the generally accepted industry practices.

If a company distributes its financial statements to the public, it is required to follow

generally accepted accounting principles in the preparation of those statements. Further,
if a company's stock is publicly traded, federal law requires the company's financial
statements be audited by independent public accountants. Both the company's
management and the independent accountants must certify that the financial statements
and the related notes to the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with
GAAP.

GAAP is exceedingly useful because it attempts to standardize and regulate accounting

definitions, assumptions, and methods. Because of generally accepted accounting
principles we are able to assume that there is consistency from year to year in the
methods used to prepare a company's financial statements. And although variations may
exist, we can make reasonably confident conclusions when comparing one company to
another, or comparing one company's financial statistics to the statistics for its industry.
Over the years the generally accepted accounting principles have become more complex
because financial transactions have become more complex.

Basic Accounting Principles and Guidelines

Since GAAP is founded on the basic accounting principles and guidelines, we can better
understand GAAP if we understand those accounting principles. The following is a list of
the ten main accounting principles and guidelines together with a highly condensed
explanation of each.

1. Economic Entity Assumption

The accountant keeps all of the business transactions of a sole proprietorship separate
from the business owner's personal transactions. For legal purposes, a sole proprietorship
and its owner are considered to be one entity, but for accounting purposes they are
considered to be two separate entities.

2. Monetary Unit Assumption

Economic activity is measured in U.S. dollars, and only transactions that can be expressed
in U.S. dollars are recorded.

Because of this basic accounting principle, it is assumed that the dollar's purchasing
power has not changed over time. As a result accountants ignore the effect of inflation on
recorded amounts. For example, dollars from a 1960 transaction are combined (or shown)
with dollars from a 2018 transaction.
3. Time Period Assumption

This accounting principle assumes that it is possible to report the complex and ongoing
activities of a business in relatively short, distinct time intervals such as the five months
ended May 31, 2018, or the 5 weeks ended May 1, 2018. The shorter the time interval, the
more likely the need for the accountant to estimate amounts relevant to that period. For
example, the property tax bill is received on December 15 of each year. On the income
statement for the year ended December 31, 2017, the amount is known; but for the income
statement for the three months ended March 31, 2018, the amount was not known and an
estimate had to be used.

It is imperative that the time interval (or period of time) be shown in the heading of each
income statement, statement of stockholders' equity, and statement of cash flows.
Labeling one of these financial statements with "December 31" is not good enough–the
reader needs to know if the statement covers the one week ended December 31, 2018
the month ended December 31, 2018 the three months ended December 31, 2018 or the year
ended December 31, 2018.

4. Cost Principle

From an accountant's point of view, the term "cost" refers to the amount spent (cash or the cash equivalent)
when an item was originally obtained, whether that purchase happened last year or thirty years ago. For this
reason, the amounts shown on financial statements are referred to as historical cost amounts.
Because of this accounting principle asset amounts are not adjusted upward for inflation. In fact, as a general
rule, asset amounts are not adjusted to reflect any type of increase in value. Hence, an asset amount does not
reflect the amount of money a company would receive if it were to sell the asset at today's
market value. (An exception is certain investments in stocks and bonds that are actively
traded on a stock exchange.) If you want to know the current value of a company's long-
term assets, you will not get this information from a company's financial statements–you
need to look elsewhere, perhaps to a third-party appraiser.

5. Full Disclosure Principle

If certain information is important to an investor or lender using the financial statements,

that information should be disclosed within the statement or in the notes to the
statement. It is because of this basic accounting principle that numerous pages of
"footnotes" are often attached to financial statements.

As an example, let's say a company is named in a lawsuit that demands a significant

amount of money. When the financial statements are prepared it is not clear whether the
company will be able to defend itself or whether it might lose the lawsuit. As a result of
these conditions and because of the full disclosure principle the lawsuit will be described
in the notes to the financial statements.

A company usually lists its significant accounting policies as the first note to its financial
statements.

6. Going Concern Principle

This accounting principle assumes that a company will continue to exist long enough to
carry out its objectives and commitments and will not liquidate in the foreseeable future.
If the company's financial situation is such that the accountant believes the company
will not be able to continue on, the accountant is required to disclose this assessment.
The going concern principle allows the company to defer some of its prepaid expenses
until future accounting periods.
7. Matching Principle

This accounting principle requires companies to use the accrual basis of accounting. The
matching principle requires that expenses be matched with revenues. For example, sales
commissions expense should be reported in the period when the sales were made (and not
reported in the period when the commissions were paid). Wages to employees are reported
as an expense in the week when the employees worked and not in the week when the
employees are paid. If a company agrees to give its employees 1% of its 2018 revenues as
a bonus on January 15, 2019, the company should report the bonus as an expense in 2018
and the amount unpaid at December 31, 2018 as a liability. (The expense is occurring as
the sales are occurring.)
Because we cannot measure the future economic benefit of things such as
advertisements (and thereby we cannot match the ad expense with related future
revenues), the accountant charges the ad amount to expense in the period that the ad is
run.

8. Revenue Recognition Principle

Under the accrual basis of accounting (as opposed to the cash basis of
accounting), revenues are recognized as soon as a product has been sold or a service has
been performed, regardless of when the money is actually received. Under this basic
accounting principle, a company could earn and report $20,000 of revenue in its first
month of operation but receive $0 in actual cash in that month.

For example, if ABC Consulting completes its service at an agreed price of $1,000, ABC
should recognize $1,000 of revenue as soon as its work is done—it does not matter
whether the client pays the $1,000 immediately or in 30 days. Do not confuse revenue with
a cash receipt.

9. Materiality
Because of this basic accounting principle or guideline, an accountant might be allowed to
violate another accounting principle if an amount is insignificant. Professional judgement
is needed to decide whether an amount is insignificant or immaterial.

An example of an obviously immaterial item is the purchase of a $150 printer by a highly

profitable multi-million dollar company. Because the printer will be used for five years,
the matching principle directs the accountant to expense the cost over the five-year
period. The materiality guideline allows this company to violate the matching principle
and to expense the entire cost of $150 in the year it is purchased. The justification is that
no one would consider it misleading if $150 is expensed in the first year instead of $30
being expensed in each of the five years that it is used.
Because of materiality, financial statements usually show amounts rounded to the nearest
dollar, to the nearest thousand, or to the nearest million dollars depending on the size of
the company.

10. Conservatism
If a situation arises where there are two acceptable alternatives for reporting an item,
conservatism directs the accountant to choose the alternative that will result in less net
income and/or less asset amount. Conservatism helps the accountant to "break a tie." It
does not direct accountants to be conservative. Accountants are expected to be unbiased
and objective.

The basic accounting principle of conservatism leads accountants to anticipate or

disclose losses, but it does not allow a similar action for gains. For
example, potential losses from lawsuits will be reported on the financial statements or in
the notes, but potential gains will not be reported. Also, an accountant may write
inventory down to an amount that is lower than the original cost, but will not write
inventory up to an amount higher than the original cost.

The cash basis is a method of recording accounting transactions for revenue and expenses only when
the corresponding cash is received or payments are made. Thus, you record revenue only when a customer
pays for a billed product or service, and you record a payable only when it is paid by the company. Many
small business owners may be using the cash basis without even realizing it, if they are recording business
transactions primarily with a check book.
Cash basis accounting is allowed for tax purposes only for smaller entities, and is not acceptable under
generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards. The cash basis is
useful under the following circumstances:

 For simpler accounting systems with accounting personnel who are not familiar with the more
intricate accrual basis of accounting

 Where there is no inventory to be tracked or valued

 Where there is no need for an audit, as may be required by a lender

 When the company is in the services business (which implies that there is no inventory)
The cash basis can yield inaccurate results, because revenues may be recognized in a different period than
the period in which related expenses are recognized. The result can be incorrectly high or low reported
profits, leading to an impression that the profits of a business vary by large amounts from month to month
when that is not necessarily the case.
The cash basis is also known as the cash system of accounting.

The prudence concept, also known as the conservatism principle, is an accounting principle that
requires an accountant to record liabilities and expenses as soon as they occur, but revenues only when
they are assured or realized.
As per the prudence concept of accounting, Assets and income should not be overstated, and liabilities and
expenses should not be understated. Once a liability or expense has occured, provision should be provided
for even if the amount or time is uncertain. As regards income, it can be recognized only if the amount and
receipt is certain.
Prudence concept is a key accounting principle which may sure that assets and income are not overstated
and liabilities and expenses are not understated.

Use of estimates and judgments

The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires management to
make judgments, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of accounting policies and the
reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Actual results may differ from these
estimates.
Estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates
are recognized in the period in which the estimates are revised and in any future period affected.
Information about critical judgments in applying the accounting policies that have the most significant
effect on the amounts recognized in the consolidated financial statements is discussed below. Further
details of the nature of these judgments, estimates and assumptions may be found in the relevant notes to
the consolidated financial statements.

 A. RECOVERABILITY OF LONG-LIVED AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

Cameco assesses the carrying values of property, plant and equipment, and intangible assets annually or
more frequently if warranted by a change in circumstances. If it is determined that carrying values of assets
or goodwill cannot be recovered, the unrecoverable amounts are charged against current earnings.
Recoverability is dependent upon assumptions and judgments regarding market conditions, costs of
production, sustaining capital requirements and mineral reserves. Other assumptions used in the
calculation of recoverable amounts are discount rates, future cash flows and profit margins. A material
change in assumptions may significantly impact the potential impairment of these assets.

 B. CASH GENERATING UNITS

In performing impairment assessments of long-lived assets, assets that cannot be assessed individually are
grouped together into the smallest group of assets that generates cash inflows that are largely independent
of the cash inflows from other assets or groups of assets. Management is required to exercise judgment in
identifying these CGUs.

 C. PROVISIONS FOR DECOMMISSIONING AND RECLAMATION OF ASSETS

Significant decommissioning and reclamation activities are often not undertaken until near the end of the
useful lives of the productive assets. Regulatory requirements and alternatives with respect to these
activities are subject to change over time. A significant change to either the estimated costs or mineral
reserves may result in a material change in the amount charged to earnings.

 D. DEFERRED INCOME TAXES

Cameco operates in a number of tax jurisdictions and is, therefore, required to estimate its income taxes in
each of these tax jurisdictions in preparing its consolidated financial statements. In calculating income
taxes, consideration is given to factors such as tax rates in the different jurisdictions, non-deductible
expenses, valuation allowances, changes in tax law and management’s expectations of future operating
results. Cameco estimates deferred income taxes based on temporary differences between the income and
losses reported in its consolidated financial statements and its taxable income and losses as determined
under the applicable tax laws. The tax effect of these temporary differences is recorded as deferred tax
assets or liabilities in the consolidated financial statements. The calculation of income taxes requires the
use of judgment and estimates. If these judgments and estimates prove to be inaccurate, future earnings
may be materially impacted.

 E. MINERAL RESERVES
Depreciation on property, plant and equipment is primarily calculated using the unit-of-production method.
This method allocates the cost of an asset to each period based on current period production as a portion
of total lifetime production or a portion of estimated mineral reserves. Estimates of life-of-mine and
amounts of mineral reserves are updated annually and are subject to judgment and significant change over
time. If actual mineral reserves prove to be significantly different than the estimates, there could be a
material impact on the amounts of depreciation charged to earnings.

 F. PENSION, OTHER POST-RETIREMENT AND OTHER POST-EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

The carrying value of pensions, other post-retirement and other post-employment benefit obligations is
based on actuarial valuations that are sensitive to assumptions concerning discount rates, wage increase
rates, and other actuarial assumptions used. Changes in these assumptions could result in a material
impact to the consolidated financial statements.

 G. PURCHASE PRICE ALLOCATIONS

Purchase prices related to business combinations and asset acquisitions are allocated to the underlying
acquired assets and liabilities based on their estimated fair value at the time of acquisition. The
determination of fair value requires Cameco to make assumptions, estimates and judgments regarding
future events. The allocation process is inherently subjective and impacts the amounts assigned to
individually identifiable assets and liabilities. As a result, the purchase price allocation impacts Cameco’s
reported assets and liabilities, future net earnings due to the impact on future depreciation and
amortization expense and impairment tests.