Writing Assignment #1 For this first writing assignment, we would like to hear what you have taken from the semester so far by having you explain some of the concepts in your own words. Imagine that you are an accounting analyst working for MedTech Corporation, a large medical equipment manufacturer in San Diego. You receive the following email from one of your co-workers. Please prepare a professional email reply, and do your best to answer your co-workers questions.

Your email will be graded on the following criteria: 1. Have you demonstrated an understanding of the accounting concept being discussed? 2. Have you explained yourself clearly and succinctly? (meaning, you answered the question without a lot of wasted words and repetition) 3. Have you used correct accounting terminology? 4. Is your email structured correctly and completely? 5. Have you used professional grammar, spelling and punctuation?

Good luck, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Mr. Sammon and Mr. DeSantis MedTech Corp Intracompany email (Date) To: (You) From: Will Myers, Junior Accountant Subject: Accounting Concepts

Hi: Since we started here at MedTech, Ive been really impressed with how much you seem to know about accounting I can only assume you really paid attention in your accounting classes at Cal State! Or youre just really smart, but somehow you really seem to understand this stuff.

Me, on the other hand Im really struggling with some things. I think Im pretty smart and organized, and I like accounting, but some of the rules and concepts are super confusing to me. Do you think you could just explain a few things that Im not understanding? We read about these concepts in class but now that we are working in the real world, they just dont make sense to me. Here are my questions:

Whenever we receive cash from a customer, I automatically want to debit cash and credit revenue, but most of the time thats wrong! And similarly, whenever we pay for things I usually want to credit cash and debit some type of expense account, but thats often wrong too. What am I missing? Why cant we just recognize revenue when cash comes in, and recognize expense when cash goes out? Life would be SO much easier that way!

As were going through all the steps in our work (I guess its called the accounting cycle), sometimes I lose track of where we are at, and what needs to be done next. For example, when were preparing the financial statements at the end of an accounting period, sometimes I think it would be easiest to prepare the balance sheet first, but then Im told No, we always do the income statement first. Really? Why?

I know that all of the accounts in the ledger have a normal balance, but OMG - how am I supposed to remember what normal is? I mean, for assets a debit is normal but for revenue a credit is normal. For liabilities its a credit, and for expenses its a debit. How am I supposed to keep it straight?

Thanks for your help I really appreciate it!