What do you know by the assets in any financial statement?

Financial statements of any firm consist of liabilities and assets. Liabilities are the details of items which the firms owe to others and similarly the assets are the details of items which the firms own from others.

The liabilities can be classified into two types namely; long term liabilities and short term liabilities. The long term liabilities can also be called as long term sources. Similarly, the short term liabilities are called as current liabilities. In the case of assets, they are classified into long term assets and short term assets.

When it comes to liabilities, they are the sources of finance for any firm and in the cases of assets, they are the uses of finance.

What do you know by Long term assets ?: Normally the following are termed as long term assets in any balance sheet namely; land, building, machinery and other infrastructure. On account of the facts that these assets exist with the firm till its life, they are called as long term assets. Among the above mentioned assets except land, all other assets lose their value day by day on account of their uses. As such on account of depreciation the following assets namely; building, machinery and furnitures get depreciated.

What do you know by Intangible assets ?: While perusing the financial statements submitted by many firms, it can be seen that they furnish the details of intangible assets namely; goodwill, patents, copyrights, miscellaneous expenditure and preliminary expenses. Tangible assets are assets which are available in physical form and intangible assets are assets which have no physical existence. The firms furnish the information about such intangible assets for any specific purpose.

What do you know by current assets? When the assets are available for a short period they are treated as current assets. For example, cash, balance kept in banks, stock of goods, sundry debtors and advance payment made to the suppliers are called as current assets. Current assets are those assets which remain with the firm for a short period;  normally for a period up to twelve months.

What is the role played by long term assets?

The long term assets are employed for generating income for the business. In the case of manufacturing industries, the machineries are utilized for manufacturing various products and the land and building are utilized for storing the goods apart from conducting office administration.  

What is the role played by current assets?

Cash available with the firm and the balance available with the bankers are utilized towards current payments namely; wages payable to the workers;  salaries payable to the employees and executives; electricity and telephone charges; rent payable to the premises, if any and much more.

Apart from the above, the amount is utilized towards purchasing raw materials required for the business in the case of manufacturing industries and towards the purchase of goods required for retail sales. They are termed as stock of goods. Similarly the amount available in the bank is also utilized as advance payments to be made to the suppliers for supply of goods and services and others for many other reasons.

10 tips for safe keeping of CDs

When it comes to recording the information on devices and safekeeping of the same, of course people are using CDs, external hard disks and pen drives of which CDs are found to be quite convenient. The  pen drives are easily corrupted by virus attacks and they often get corrupted unlike CDs. Nowadays many information is available through CDs  and CDs are used for recording songs, academic writings, books, novels, drawings, photographs, films and much more.

There are simple ways by which the CDs can be preserved without getting damaged or corrupted and these techniques mostly depend upon the care and caution exercised by the user.

It can be well imagined about losing the important data stored on CD on account of carelessness. The CDs get corrupted on account of scratches, dust formation and many more.

In case, the individual understands the technique of handling and preserving the CDs properly and securely, CDs and DVDs are found to last for even up to 50 to 100 years.

While the music CDs and DVDs are estimated to have a shelf life for more than 50 years, in the case of CDs, it is found to be around 10 to 15 years. The following are some tips as to how CDs can be preserved properly and securely:

1.    At the time of handling the CDs, it should be ensured that the fingers do not touch the playable portion. All CDs have a small hole at the center exclusively for the purpose of handling smoothly and securely.

2.    As and when CDs are out of use, they should be kept in a jewel case or a thin paper cover or plastic folder so that the playable portion is not at all affected.

3.    Under no circumstances CDs should be exposed to sunlight. CDs should not be kept in a hot place and care should be taken that CDs are not affected by snow, water or moisture.

4.    No heavy objects should be placed over CDs at any point of time. The continued stress can definitely damage CDs.

5.    In case the jewel case, paper cover and plastic cover holding the CDs are found to be corrupted or damaged, CDs should be removed and they should be kept in a new one.

6.    The accidental fingerprints and minor scratches can be very well removed by using the following technique: CDs should be wiped out using a clean, dry and microfiber cloth smoothly and not roughly.

7.    In case of necessity, clean water can also be used for cleaning the CDs. Immediately after washing the CDs with distilled water, the moisture should be removed using a fine quality cloth. Under no circumstances, boiled water, chilled water, detergents, soap water or phenol should be utilized even though the surface of the CD is found to be corrupted.

8.    While wiping out the CD, the following simple techniques should be followed. The CD should be cleaned in a straight line format and not like cleaning a kitchen vessel. The wiping should commence from the center up to the edge moving outwards and not inwards or sideways. Under no circumstances circular motion wiping should be conducted on account of the facts, that the recordings on the disc can be spoiled and damaged due to such process.

9.    A proper CD cleaning kit can be procured for removing stubborn stains and dust.

    In order to fix the scratches, initially the fingerprints and dust available on the surface of the CD should be removed using a fine cloth. A small quantity of  toothpaste can be applied to the surface using a soft cloth and the CD should be gently rubbed along the length  of the scratch so that the scratch fades away. The procedure should be repeated till the scratch gets disappeared. Once the scratch is removed, using distilled water the CD should be cleaned thoroughly and using a fine quality cloth the moisture should be removed entirely.

No extra or technical expertise is required for safe keeping of CDs; however, adoption of a systematic and structured method is found to be sufficient at all times.

Tips to take home a motorcycle

Tips to take home a motorcycle

Of course people like to dream and when it comes to dreaming, many youngsters dream to own motorbikes which can run as fast as they can on the roads.

In fact it is a thrilling experience to drive the motorbike in hilly regions, terrains, small lanes, deserts, seashore and valleys.

The young son aged ten years starts imagining about  riding a motorcycle while he sees his dad proceeding  towards his office riding on a motorcycle.

He never misses a single opportunity to go along with his dad by sitting on the motorcycle and he starts dreaming a lot in his heart about driving the vehicle in  deserts, roads and streets.

When it comes to buying one motorcycle, the buyer has to follow certain basic principles. He should finalize his purchase decision depending upon the various factors namely; the affordability; features available in the vehicle; the mileage potential and  availability of spare parts in the case of old and second hand vehicles etc.

At the first phase, the intending buyer should visit more than three to four showrooms and he should never hesitate in spending some time with the receptionists in ascertaining the details of different vehicles on sale. The counter clerks are happy to provide the required  details in respect of each vehicle. The intending buyer should note the  salient points in a small booklet.

During the second phase, he should meet one reliable service mechanic and during such meeting, he can get much information about the quality of the vehicles which he intends to buy.

Apart from the detailed discussion with the service mechanic, he can have discussions with one or two friends who have in depth knowledge about various motorcycles which are available as at present. Of course the youngsters who are crazy behind motorcycles  are eager to provide much information about different models of motorcycles as well as the manufacturers  to any intending buyer.

Once the affordability has been determined depending upon the availability of own funds and funds that can be generated  from friends or through a loan that can  be availed from the bankers and financial institutions he can proceed towards purchasing the vehicle.

Having decided to purchase one specific model, now it is his turn to make a visit to the showroom and at this stage, it is better for him go to the showroom  along with some of his friends.

The vehicle should be inspected thoroughly and the buyer should not have any reservations in clarifying his doubts, if any,  with the dealer. During the course of an inspection of the vehicle, his friends may be in a position to point out to him the  missing features which he might have forgotten to notice.

Before making payment, he should ensure about the details about important parts that have been fitted in the vehicle and in case of need, he can suggest for replacement of the parts with parts manufactured by  reputed manufacturers.

Many times, the dealers offer exaggerated opinions about the vehicle and it is quite normal on their part because it is one among several promotional strategies.

However, it is the responsibility of the individual in making the final decision towards purchasing the vehicle and once the vehicle is sold, the dealer is not having any hold over the vehicle and the buyer is left with a limited warranty.

A vehicle should be kept at least for a period of six months and an individual is able to learn the intricacies of any vehicle only after a month or two.