Audits
This is the primary reason an audit is performed: to provide "reasonable assurance" that these financial documents are free from material error.
What are Financial Statements?
Often called the first calculator, this ancient tool uses beads sliding on rods to perform addition and subtraction
What is the Abacus?
Often called the "building blocks of life," these are the smallest units of a living organism that can function on their own
What is a Cell?
This fundamental formula, which must always stay in balance, states that Assets = Liabilities + this third component
What is Owner's Equity?
Known as the "Red Planet" because of the iron oxide (rust) on its surface, it is the fourth planet from the Sun
What is Mars?
This term refers to the level of importance or significance of an amount, transaction, or discrepancy that could influence the economic decisions of users
What is Materiality?
Double-entry bookkeeping is often called the "Method of" this specific Italian city, where merchant traders popularized the system in the 1300s.
What is Venice
This is the process where liquid water turns into a gas (water vapor) and rises into the sky after being heated by the sun.
What is Evaporation?
This term covers the costs a business "incurs" or pays out to operate, such as rent, electricity, and employee wages.
What are Expenses?
This is the only food that never spoils; archaeologists have found pots of it in ancient Egyptian tombs that are still perfectly edible.
What is Honey?
Unlike internal auditors who work for the company, this type of auditor is an independent professional hired from the outside to provide an unbiased opinion.
What is an External Auditor
Named for the two U.S. Congressmen who drafted it, this 2002 federal act was passed in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals to improve corporate governance and financial disclosure.
What is SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act)
This ancient empire once covered most of Europe and left behind incredible structures like the Colosseum and stone aqueducts
What is the Roman Empire?
In the world of double-entry bookkeeping, this five-letter term refers to an entry made on the left-hand side of an account.
What is a Debit?
Located in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and China, this is the highest mountain above sea level on Earth.
What is Mount Everest?
These are the policies and procedures a company puts in place—like requiring two signatures on a check—to prevent or detect errors and fraud.
What are Internal Controls?
Created in 1934 following the stock market crash, this U.S. government agency was formed to restore investor confidence and oversee accounting standards.
What is the SEC
Flowing through ten different countries including Germany, Austria, and Hungary, this is the second-longest river in Europe.
What is the Danube?
This term refers to the total amount of money a company brings in from selling its goods or services before any expenses are taken out
What is Revenue?
This intelligent sea creature has eight arms, blue blood, and a total of three hearts.
What is an Octopus?
This intentional act involves using deception to result in a material misstatement in the financial statements, often for personal or corporate gain
What is Fraud?
This 15th-century Italian mathematician and friend of Leonardo da Vinci is known as the "Father of Accounting" for documenting the double-entry system
Found only in plant cells, these green organelles are where photosynthesis happens.
What are Chloroplasts
This specific term describes the money that customers owe to a business after they have received a product or service but haven't paid for it yet.
What is Accounts Receivable?
In a website address, "WWW" stands for this three-word phrase coined by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989
What is World Wide Web?