What Is Accounting?
Accounting is the process of recording financial transactions pertaining to a business. The accounting process includes summarizing, analyzing, and reporting these transactions to oversight agencies, regulators, and tax collection entities. The financial statements used in accounting are a concise summary of financial transactions over an accounting period, summarizing a company's operations, financial position, and cash flows.
Key Takeaways
- Regardless of the size of a business, accounting is a necessary function for decision making, cost planning, and measurement of economic performance.
- A bookkeeper can handle basic accounting needs, but a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) should be utilized for larger or more advanced accounting tasks.
- Two important types of accounting for businesses are managerial accounting and cost accounting. Managerial accounting helps management teams make business decisions, while cost accounting helps business owners decide how much a product should cost.
- Professional accountants follow a set of standards known as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when preparing financial statements.
- Accounting is an important function of strategic planning, external compliance, fundraising, and operations management.
What Is the Purpose of Accounting?
Accounting is one of the key functions of almost any business. It may be handled by a bookkeeper or an accountant at a small firm, or by sizable finance departments with dozens of employees at larger companies. The reports generated by various streams of accounting, such as cost accounting and managerial accounting, are invaluable in helping management make informed business decisions.
The financial statements that summarize a large company's operations, financial position, and cash flows over a particular period are concise and consolidated reports based on thousands of individual financial transactions. As a result, all professional accounting designations are the culmination of years of study and rigorous examinations combined with a minimum number of years of practical accounting experience.
会计是记录与企业有关的财务交易的过程。会计过程包括总结、分析和向监管机构、监管机构以及税收征收实体报告这些交易。会计中使用的财务报表是一个关于会计期间内财务交易的简明摘要，总结了公司的经营、财务状况和现金流。
主要要点
- 无论企业的规模大小如何，会计都是决策、成本规划和经济绩效衡量的必要功能。
- 簿记员可以处理基本的会计需求，但在处理更大或更高级的会计任务时应该使用注册会计师（CPA）。
- 企业会计的两个重要类型是管理会计和成本会计。管理会计帮助管理团队做出业务决策，而成本会计帮助企业所有者决定产品的成本。
- 专业会计师在编制财务报表时遵循一套称为普遍公认会计原则（GAAP）的标准。
- 会计是战略规划、外部合规、筹款和运营管理的重要功能。
会计的目的是什么？
会计是几乎任何企业的关键职能之一。在小公司，可以由簿记员或会计师处理；而在大公司，可能由庞大的财务部门的数十名员工处理。诸如成本会计和管理会计之类的各种会计流程生成的报告在帮助管理层做出明智的业务决策方面是非常宝贵的。
总结大公司经营、财务状况和现金流的财务报表是基于数千笔个别财务交易的简明汇总报告。因此，所有专业会计资格都是多年的学习和严格考试，加上最少年限的实际会计经验的结晶。
pertaining
英 /pəˈteɪnɪŋ/ 美 /pərˈteɪnɪŋ/
v. 适用;存在
n. 附属(物)
adj. 与…有关系的
oversight agencies
监督机构
regulators
英/ˈrɛgjʊleɪtəz/ 美/ˈrɛgjəˌleɪtərz/
n.(某行业等的)监管者，监管机构；(速度、温度、压力的)自动调节器
regulator的复数
tax collection entities
税收征收主体
financial statements
英/faɪˈnænʃl ˈsteɪtmənts/ 美/faɪˈnænʃl ˈsteɪtmənts/
财务报表;财务报告;编制财务报表;财政报表
company's operations
公司运营
financial position
财务状况
takeaways
英 /ˈteɪkəweɪz/
n.外卖餐馆;外卖食物;外卖的饭菜
bookkeeper
英/ˈbʊkkiːpə(r)/ 美/ˈbʊkkiːpər/
n.簿记员、记账员、会计
strategic planning
战略计划
compliance
英/kəmˈplaɪəns/ 美/kəmˈplaɪəns/
n.遵从;服从;顺从; 合规
external compliance
外部合规性;外部遵从
fundraising
英/ˈfʌndreɪzɪŋ/ 美/ˈfʌndreɪzɪŋ/
n.筹款;募捐
operations management
运营管理
invaluable
英/ɪnˈvæljuəbl/ 美/ɪnˈvæljuəbl/
adj.极宝贵的;极有用的
informed
英/ɪnˈfɔːmd/ 美/ɪnˈfɔːrmd/
adj. 见多识广的;有见识的;有学问的
v. 通知;了解;通告;熟悉;知会;对…有影响
concise
英/kənˈsaɪs/ 美/kənˈsaɪs/
adj.简洁的;简明的;简练的;简略的;简缩的
consolidated
英/kənˈsɒlɪdeɪtɪd/ 美/kənˈsɑːlɪdeɪtɪd/
v. (使)结成一体，合并; 使巩固; 使加强
adj. 加固的；统一的
consolidate的过去分词和过去式
designations
英 /ˌdɛzɪgˈneɪʃənz/ 美 /ˌdɛzəgˈneɪʃənz/
n.指定;名称;选定;委任;称号;称呼
culmination
英/ˌkʌlmɪˈneɪʃn/ 美/ˌkʌlmɪˈneɪʃn/
n.高潮;顶点;巅峰;终点