# Currency Amount (US Accounting)

Key: `finance.currency.amount_accounting`

US accounting format where negative values are enclosed in parentheses rather than using a minus sign. Standard in 10-K filings, ledgers, SAP, Smartsheet, and Dataiku exports. Comma thousands, period decimal.

Page: <https://meridian.online/docs/projects/finetype/types/finance/currency/amount_accounting>

Samples: `$1,234.56`, `($1,234.56)`, `$0.50`, `($999.99)`, `$10,000.00`

## Background

### Origin

In bookkeeping, amounts owed are often represented by red numbers, or by a number in parentheses, as an alternative notation for negative numbers.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_number) Financial statements can show a negative balance either with a minus sign or by enclosing the balance in parentheses.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_number) In contemporary printing in banking, accounting and commerce, red numbers denote negative values and black numbers denote positive ones.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_number)

The SEC's Regulation S-X, at 17 CFR 210.4-01(c), requires that negative amounts, which it calls red figures, be shown in a manner which clearly distinguishes the negative attribute.[[2]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/17/210.4-01) Regulation S-X adds that consideration should be given to the limitations of reproduction and microfilming processes when determining methods of display.[[2]](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/17/210.4-01)

Unicode's Locale Data Markup Language specification, Part 3: Numbers, allows locales to provide an accounting currency form in addition to the standard currency form.[[3]](https://unicode.org/reports/tr35/tr35-numbers.html) The Unicode specification gives the example of a negative amount shown as -$3.27 in the standard form, which for en\_US would appear as ($3.27) in the accounting form.[[3]](https://unicode.org/reports/tr35/tr35-numbers.html) In the Unicode number pattern syntax, a semicolon separates the positive and negative subpatterns.[[3]](https://unicode.org/reports/tr35/tr35-numbers.html) CLDR's English locale data defines the accounting currency pattern as ¤\#,\#\#0.00;(¤\#,\#\#0.00).[[4]](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicode-org/cldr/main/common/main/en.xml) The Unicode specification says the locale keyword cf can be used to select the standard or accounting form.[[3]](https://unicode.org/reports/tr35/tr35-numbers.html)

### Use

Microsoft Excel's Accounting format displays zeros as dashes and negative numbers in parentheses.[[5]](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/format-numbers-as-currency-in-excel) In Excel, the Negative numbers box is not available for the Accounting number format.[[5]](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/format-numbers-as-currency-in-excel) JavaScript's Intl.NumberFormat constructor takes a currencySign option whose possible values are standard and accounting, with standard as the default.[[6]](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Intl/NumberFormat/NumberFormat) MDN's reference for Intl.NumberFormat says that in many locales the accounting format wraps the number with parentheses instead of appending a minus sign.[[6]](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Intl/NumberFormat/NumberFormat)

AccountingTools describes a number in parentheses on a cash flow statement as a cash outflow.[[7]](https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/when-to-put-parentheses-around-a-number) AccountingTools lists further uses of parentheses in accounting, including the credit side of a journal entry and an unfavourable budget variance.[[7]](https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/when-to-put-parentheses-around-a-number)

SEC staff observed that most XBRL-tagged numbers are positive even if the value is presented with brackets on the printed financial statements.[[8]](https://www.sec.gov/structureddata/osd_staffobs_12-13-11) If you reconcile a filing's printed tables against its XBRL data, do not assume that a value in parentheses on the page carries a minus sign in the tagged data. (Meridian's view)

To parse the format, strip the currency symbol and thousands separators, turn a value wrapped in parentheses into a minus sign, and cast to a fixed-point decimal rather than a float. (Meridian's view) Watch for dashes standing in for zero in spreadsheet exports, and decide how to treat them before a strict numeric parse rejects them. (Meridian's view) Keep the raw text beside the parsed number until you have confirmed the sign convention of the source. (Meridian's view)

## Sources

1. [Negative number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_number) — secondary source
2. [17 CFR § 210.4-01 - Form, order, and terminology.](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/17/210.4-01) — standard
3. [Unicode Locale Data Markup Language (LDML) Part 3: Numbers](https://unicode.org/reports/tr35/tr35-numbers.html) — standard
4. [en.xml](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicode-org/cldr/main/common/main/en.xml) — documentation
5. [Format numbers as currency in Excel](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/format-numbers-as-currency-in-excel) — documentation
6. [Intl.NumberFormat() constructor - JavaScript \| MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Intl/NumberFormat/NumberFormat) — documentation
7. [When to put parentheses around a number](https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/when-to-put-parentheses-around-a-number) — secondary source
8. [Staff Observations from the Review of Interactive Data Financial Statements (from December 13, 2011)](https://www.sec.gov/structureddata/osd_staffobs_12-13-11) — organisation