DISCUSSION 1

Financial statements are a product of the accounting cycle. Think about two different companies: a manufacturing company, and a retail company. Why would different companies have different accounting cycles? Would you expect the steps of the accounting cycle to be the same for each company? Why, or why not?

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Guided Response:

Review several of your peers' posts and identify what steps of the accounting cycle that you feel are the most critical. Respond to at least two of your peers and provide recommendations to extend their thinking. Challenge your peers by asking a question that may cause them to reevaluate their positions on the

Discussion 2

What is the purpose of a bank reconciliation? What are the reasons for differences between the cash reported in the accounting records, and the cash balance in the bank statements?

Analyze several of your peers' posts. Let at least two of your peers know what happens to the discrepancies between the book balance and the bank balance. Could these differences just be written off?

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Guided Response:

A bank reconciliation reconciles the bank account balance per the books to the actual bank balance. Outstanding checks, deposits in transit, and bank errors are reasons there are differences between the cash reported in the accounting records and the cash balance in the bank statements.