Contra Market: Meaning, Pros and Cons, Example

The contra broker is the mirror image of the broker who is initiating a transaction on behalf of a given investor. The contra broker will do everything possible to ensure that the purchase goes smoothly and without any delays. When the contra broker is on the buy side of a sell order, they have an obligation to perform all duties related with the transaction with efficiency and professionalism. To accommodate this request, Luke turns to his network of longstanding relationships among other brokerage firms. He discreetly inquires about their clients’ interests in the sector and learns that some of the brokerage firms in his network have clients wishing to sell their shares in the stock.

• Gold started rising while stocks were falling, trading relatively flat and then picking up steam to the upside in mid-2001.
• A contra account is an account with a balance opposite the normal accounts in its category.
• As musicians and callers moved to other locations, they founded contra dances in Michigan, Washington, Oregon, California, Texas, and elsewhere.
• By keeping the original dollar amount intact in the original account and reducing the figure in a separate account, the financial information is more transparent for financial reporting purposes.
• For this reason, contra accounts are primarily seen as having negative balances because they are used to reduce the balance of another account.

Debit and credit aspects of a single transaction are entered in the same account but in different columns. During bull markets, cyclical sectors such as technology and financials perform well and get more expensive in terms of price, while contra market sectors such as consumer staples and utilities underperform. This provides investors with an opportunity to accumulate contra market stocks at lower prices and more attractive valuations. In this way, the historical cost, the amount of write-off, and the book value of an asset can always be seen on the balance sheet. Contra[a] is a video game series produced by Konami composed primarily of run and gun-style shooting games.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

Up to two people can play simultaneously, with one player as Bill (the blond-haired commando wearing a white tank top and blue bandana), and the other player as Lance (the shirtless dark-haired commando with a red bandana). The controls consists of an eight-way joystick and two action buttons for shooting (left) and jumping (right). When one of the protagonists jumps, he curls into a somersault instead of doing a conventional jump like in other games. The joystick controls not only the player’s movement while running and jumping, but also his aiming.

• The arcade game was a commercial success worldwide, becoming one of the top four highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1987 in the United States.
• Like market makers, contra brokers are an important contributor to overall market liquidity and fall under the regulatory oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as any exchanges of which they are a member.
• In the above example, both entries, debit, and credit, are a contra entry of each other, they both offset each other.
• Whether reported as separate lines on the financial report or as a cumulative value, the net amount of the pair of accounts is called the “net book value” of the individual asset.
• For example, if the balance of accumulated depreciation increases from $20,000 to $50,000, this means that the depreciation expense amounts to $30,000, which will be listed in the income statement.

Many investors like to hold gold as it is viewed as an outperformer during tough times for the stock market. Possibly an investor believes the broader market will decline, and so they wish to gain some protection, or possibly profit, by moving some or all of their funds into contra markets. Or possibly the investor is a contrarian, meaning they prefer to buy or sell assets that go against the flow of the broader market or economy. The investor may also simply want to diversify and not hold only assets that tend to move in the same direction. An event which consists primarily (or solely) of dances in this style is sometimes referred to as a “modern urban contra dance”.

British Dictionary definitions for contra-

The player loses a life if their character (Bill or Lance) comes into contact with enemies or their missiles, fails to complete a base stage before the time limit, or falls into a bottomless pit. When that happens, the character will revert to his default weapon on his next life. After losing all lives, the player can continue by inserting more coins (if necessary) and pressing Start, but only up to three times. A second player can join in anytime, but if one player loses all of their lives, they must wait until the other player loses their lives as well to continue together. The arcade game was a commercial success worldwide, becoming one of the top four highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1987 in the United States. The NES version was also a critical and commercial success, with Electronic Gaming Monthly awarding it for being the Best Action Game of 1988.

The NES version introduces a seventh item that clears the screen of all on-screen enemies when obtained. It’s usual business practice to maintain an account known as ‘Petty Cash’ with a small amount of cash to meet tiny expense such as courier, refreshments, stationeries etc. Whenever such small expenses are to be paid, the petty cash vouchers are used and paid from petty cash. One of his clients wishes to make a large investment in a company with a relatively small market capitalization.

If accounts receivable is $40,000 and allowance for doubtful accounts is $4,000, the net book value reported on the balance sheet will be $36,000. Accounts receivable is rarely reported on the balance sheet at its net amount. Instead, it is reported at its full amount with an allowance for bad debts listed below it. Maybe more importantly, it shows investors and creditors what percentage of receivables the company is writing off.

More from Merriam-Webster on contra

If the asset account had a credit balance or the contra asset account had a debit balance, this would indicate an error in the journal entries. The account Allowance for Doubtful Account is credited when the account Bad Debts Expense is debited under the allowance method. The use of Allowance for Doubtful Accounts allows us to see in Accounts Receivable the total amount that the company has a right to collect from its credit customers. The accounting for consigned goods accounting guide credit balance in the account Allowance for Doubtful Accounts tells us how much of the debit balance in Accounts Receivable is unlikely to be collected. To oppose the revenue made by a company, contra revenue accounts must have a debit balance. Whenever the balance of a contra asset account increases (credit to the contra asset account), the increased amount is written off as an expense and is reported in the company’s income statement.

Therefore, a contra asset can be regarded as a negative asset account. Offsetting the asset account with its respective contra asset account shows the net balance of that asset. Key examples of contra asset accounts include allowance for doubtful accounts and accumulated depreciation. Accumulated depreciation reflects the reduction in value of a fixed asset. They are also helpful for keeping the books balanced and creating a clear trail of financial breadcrumbs for historical review and reporting. For instance, it is common to keep the purchase price of a piece of equipment as a historical cost in the debit asset account when it comes to fixed assets.

Techno contras

The auditors aim to keep the balances at their adequate levels, but the controller might want to keep them as low as possible to reduce expenses and maximize profit levels. Contra Accounts serve as a reduction to the balance of their corresponding accounts to find their net values. Osman started his career as an investment banking analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners where he spent just over two years before moving into a growth equity investing role at Scale Venture Partners, focused on technology. He’s currently a VP at KCK Group, the private equity arm of a middle eastern family office.

Both the asset and the corresponding contra asset accounts must be stated clearly in the balance sheet. Usually, the asset account is listed first, and its contra asset counterpart is listed underneath, with the asset’s net value or book value. In the books, the account of the asset would have a debit value of $100,000, and the contra asset account would have a credit value of $30,000.

Still, the dollar amounts are separately broken out in the supplementary sections most of the time for greater transparency in financial reporting. Contra dances take place in more than 200 cities and towns across the U.S. (as of 2020[update]),[25] as well as other countries.