Tutor profile: Farah S.

What is a STAR report and what is it used for?

A Smith Travel Accommodations Report (STAR) is a benchmark used to evaluate a hotel's performance against its competitors using measures such as: occupancy rate, average room rate and revenue per available room.

What's the difference between deferred revenue and accounts receivable?

Despite having the word "revenue" in the account title, deferred revenue is actually a liability account. The reason being is deferred revenue represents cash received from customers for services or goods that have not yet been provided. Therefore the company that collected the cash still has an obligation to fulfill, making it a liability. Accounts receivable works in a similar manner. The company has provided a good or service and the receivable represents the cash owed from customers for the goods and services already provided.

Which financial statement(s) would you use to determine a company's profitability and why?

I would use the income statement to determine a company's earnings performance. However I would also use the company's statement of cash flows to determine how cash is being utilized and to determine if the company is solvent. I.e. if the company has enough cash to pay off its debt