Answer
Problems arise both from the revenue side and from the expense side. There sometimes may be doubt as to the amount of revenue under our common rules of revenue recognition. However, the more difficult problem is the determination of costs expired in the production of revenue. During a single fiscal period it often is difficult to determine the expiration of certain costs which may benefit several periods. Business is continuous and estimates have to be made of the future if we are to systematically apportion costs to fiscal periods. Examples of items which present serious obstacles include such items as institutional advertising costs.
Accountants have established certain rules for handling revenues and costs which are applied consistently and in a systematic manner. From period to period, application of these rules generally results in a satisfactory matching of costs and revenues unless there are large changes from one period to another. These rules, influenced by conservatism in the face of the uncertainties involved, tend to charge costs to expense earlier than might be ideally desirable if we had more knowledge of the future.
Work Step by Step
Costs or expenses of the types mentioned above, by their very nature, defy any attempt to relate them to revenues of a specific period or periods. Although it is known that institutional advertising will yield benefits beyond the present, both the amount of such benefits and when they will be enjoyed are shrouded in uncertainty.
