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11.3 Accounting
Authors: A J BarnesPublication: NZIF Forestry Handbook, Volume Section 11 – Forestry business and investment, pp 3, Dec 2023
Publisher: New Zealand Institute of Forestry
Abstract: Forest accounting can serve the short-term needs of a business, those of paying the bills, gathering in the money for goods provided and ensuring that the business is able to pay its way. This "cash book" accounting can proceed on an arithmetic base aided perhaps by a double entry system to ensure that individual records are consistent with each other. If more sophisticated and long term information dealing with non cash items and value allocations through time and categories of assets is required, further conceptual underpinning is required. Many of the postulates and concepts of cash book accounting and the accounting treatments are empirically obvious. However, some knowledge of the concepts as developed by accountants is desirable for longer term accounts, as it easy to violate a core concept and arrive at inconsistent, uncontrolled and therefore ultimately useless, accounting. The following is a short listing of some major accounting postulates and concepts with further comment on their application to forestry accounts.