Cash Basis versus Accrual Basis Accounting
Virtually all big businesses use accrual accounting for their financial reporting. Accrual accounting is beneficial because of the “matching” principle. The use of accrual accounting allows revenues to be matched with corresponding expenses that are incurred in the same period (without regard for when the cash actually comes in or goes out the door.) This often allows financial statement analysis to be more meaningful (for both the company and outside analysts.)
Accrual accounting can be easily converted to cash basis accounting; in fact, most accounting programs allow you to choose to create either cash or accrual reports. But, conversely, cash accounting cannot be converted to accrual accounting without additional information.
This is very good information for people who are learning the basics of accounting. Many business professionals need these insights to be able to create a functional and manageable business model, and accounting is a key part of it. It can make it or break it for the business. Moving forward, in my personal accounts i like to deal with it Cash Basis but for business, Accrual based accounting is a very good option when you need to get an overview of what's going on. However, it cannot replace the importance of exactly how much you have in hand to play with.
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Nice overview of these differences between cash and accrual. One easy way to see corporate financial statements translated into "cash basis" is by looking at the statement of cash flows. It may not be exactly a cash basis financial statement but conceptually it helps you achieve your objectives.
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