Before we see these steps applied to the correction of an error
an adjustment a company makes due to an error made.
, one of the steps requires elaboration. As discussed in Chapter 4, the correction of errors is the situation that creates prior period adjustments. A prior period adjustment
addition to or reduction in the beginning retained earnings balance in a statement of shareholders' equity due to a correction of an error.
refers to an addition to or reduction in the beginning retained earnings balance in a statement of shareholders' equity (or statement of retained earnings if that's presented instead).
In an earlier chapter we saw that a statement of shareholders' equity is the most commonly used way to report the events that cause components of shareholders' equity to change during a particular reporting period. Some companies, though, choose to report the changes that occur in the balance of retained earnings separately in a statement of retained earnings. When it's discovered that the ending balance of retained earnings in the period prior to the discovery of an error was incorrect as a result of that error, the balance must be corrected when it appears as the beginning balance the following year. However, simply reporting a corrected amount might cause misunderstanding for someone familiar with the previously reported amount. Explicitly reporting a prior period adjustment on the statement itself avoids this confusion. Assume, for example, the following comparative statements of retained earnings