Commission of N5,000 to a sales representative is debited to salaries account. This is an error of
Answer Details
The error of debiting the salaries account with the commission of N5,000 to a sales representative is an example of a "principle" error in accounting.
Accounting principles are the fundamental concepts and assumptions that guide the preparation of financial statements. One of these principles is the principle of "matching." This principle requires that expenses should be recognized in the same accounting period as the revenues to which they relate. In other words, expenses should be matched with the revenues they helped to generate.
In the given scenario, the commission of N5,000 is an expense that should be recognized in the period in which the sales representative earned it. Therefore, it should have been debited to the commission expense account rather than the salaries account. By debiting the salaries account, the principle of matching has been violated, as the expense is not being matched with the revenue it helped to generate.
Hence, the error is an example of a "principle" error, as it violates the fundamental accounting principle of matching expenses with revenues.