Accounting Job Description
External Business Affiliations
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is an industry-leading organization in the area of financial accounting. The AICPA is a leading source for research and alerts on topics of interest in the accounting profession. The AICPA is also responsible for developing and grading the Uniform CPA Exam. Financial accounting aims at presenting ‘true and fair’ view of transactions, profit and loss for a period and Statement of financial position (Balance Sheet) on a given date. It aims at computing ‘true and fair’ view of the cost of production/services offered by the firm.
With IFRS becoming more widespread on the international scene, consistency in financial reporting has become more prevalent between global organizations. Financial accounting (or financial accountancy) is the field of accounting concerned with the summary, analysis and reporting of financial transactions related to a business. This involves the preparation of financial statements available for public use. Stockholders, suppliers, banks, employees, government agencies, business owners, and other stakeholders are examples of people interested in receiving such information for decision making purposes. Become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)To become a licensed certified accountant, you must earn a CPA certification.
With a bachelor’s degree, you will have the foundation needed to pursue advanced-level areas of employment, from the government sector, business sector or even the nonprofit sector. You will also continue your education towards becoming a Certified Public Accountant or Certified Financial Planner. Courses in the BA accounting program include Business Communications, Auditing, Corporate Finance and more. With the right kind of networking connections, an entry-level accountant may increase his or her salary potential within a year.
AccountingTools
What is the main role of accountant?
The purpose of accounting. The purpose of accounting is to accumulate and report on financial information about the performance, financial position, and cash flows of a business. This information is then used to reach decisions about how to manage the business, or invest in it, or lend money to it.
The main purpose of financial accounting is to calculate the profit or loss of a business during a period and to provide an accurate picture of the financial position of the business as on a particular date. The Trial Balances, Profit & Loss Accounts and Balance Sheets of a company are based on an application of financial accounting. These are used by creditors, banks and financial institutions to assess the financial status of the company. Further, taxation authorities are able to calculate the tax based on these records only. The purpose of the balance sheet is to reveal the financial status of a business as of a specific point in time.
Financial Data Management
Since it is just a snapshot in time, it can only use the difference between this point in time and another single point in time in the past. Because it is static, many financial ratios draw on data included in both the balance sheet and the more dynamic income statement and statement of cash flows to paint a fuller picture of what’s going on with a company’s business. Financial Accounting is based on a systematic method of recording transactions of any business according to the accounting principles.
Learn more about a career in accounting and the CPA exam on the American Institute of CPAs website. Upon graduating from one of the associates in accounting programs, students have the option to continue their accounting education by earning their bachelor’s degree in accounting.
Additionally, the combination of accounting with other business skills will create an attractive resume that employers will certainly notice. These four financial statements are the final product of the accountant’s analysis of the transactions of a business. A large amount of effort goes into the preparation of the financial statements. The process begins with bookkeeping, which is just one step in the accounting process. Bookkeeping is the actual recording of the company’s transactions, without any analysis of the information.
- The trial balance, which is usually prepared using the double-entry accounting system, forms the basis for preparing the financial statements.
The balance sheet is one of the three (income statement and statement of cash flows being the other two) core financial statements used to evaluate a business. A balance sheet is a financial statement that reports a company’s assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity. A number of ratios can be derived from the balance sheet, helping investors get a sense of how healthy a company is. These include the debt-to-equity ratio and the acid-test ratio, along with many others. The income statement and statement of cash flows also provide valuable context for assessing a company’s finances, as do any notes or addenda in an earnings report that might refer back to the balance sheet.
Retained earnings come from the retained earnings statement, prepared prior to the balance sheet. On the other hand, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is a set of passionable accounting standards stating how particular types of transactions and other events should be reported in financial statements.
Accountants evaluate and analyze the information, making sense out of the numbers. The primary accounting professional association in the U.S. is the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
John Freedman’s articles specialize in management and financial responsibility. He is a certified public accountant, graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration and has been writing since 1998. His career includes public company auditing and work with the campus recruiting team for his alma mater. Auditing is a branch of accounting where an external certified public accountant known as Auditor inspects and certifies the accounts of a business for their accuracy and consistency. Sometimes internal auditing is also practiced where an employee of the same company audits the accounts on the regular basis and aids the management in keeping accurate records for audit purpose.
The three primary financial statements are the income statement, the balance sheet and the statement of cash flows. Accounting standards often set out a general format that companies are expected to follow when presenting their balance sheets. International Financial Reporting Standards normally require that companies report current assets and liabilities separately from non-current amounts. After years of studying the art of managing money, accountants gain the type of knowledge many people are happy to pay for. These skills are applicable to any job profession, and this means that employers would greatly benefit from job candidates who possess these skill sets.
The statement shows what an entity owns (assets) and how much it owes (liabilities), as well as the amount invested in the business (equity). This information is more valuable when the balance sheets for several consecutive periods are grouped together, so that trends in the different line items can be viewed. A balance sheet is a financial statement that reports a company’s assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity at a specific point in time, and provides a basis for computing rates of return and evaluating its capital structure.
Accounting skills can also be applied toward other professions such as financial planners, fund managers, banking specialists, and others. Financial statements are written records that convey the business activities and the financial performance of a company. Financial statements include the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The balance sheet is an invaluable piece of information for investors and analysts; however, it does have some drawbacks.
Owner’s equity, sometimes referred to as net assets, is represented differently depending on the type of business ownership. Business ownership can be in the form of a sole proprietorship, partnership, or a corporation. For a corporation, the owner’s equity portion usually shows common stock, and retained earnings (earnings kept in the company).
The trial balance, which is usually prepared using the double-entry accounting system, forms the basis for preparing the financial statements. All the figures in the trial balance are rearranged to prepare a profit & loss statement and balance sheet. Accounting standards determine the format for these accounts (SSAP, FRS, IFRS).
Financial statements display the income and expenditure for the company and a summary of the assets, liabilities, and shareholders’ or owners’ equity of the company on the date to which the accounts were prepared. Financial accounting is normally performed by those individuals who have studied the methods, concepts, history, and laws related to its practice. The SEC requires that public companies annually report their financial statements and that this reporting is done by an impartial third party, which is where CPAs come in to play. In a practical sense, the main objective of financial accounting is to accurately prepare an organization’s financial accounts for a specific period, otherwise known as financial statements.
Accountants who earn the title of CPA have met education and experience standards and they passed the CPA exam. Others gain experience as an accountant while working toward their education and experience requirements and then study to pass the CPA exam. Though the requirements to become a CPA vary by state, the CPA exam is the same for everyone.
It is a financial statement that provides a snapshot of what a company owns and owes, as well as the amount invested by shareholders. Financial accountants produce financial statements based on the accounting standards in a given jurisdiction. Financial accountancy is governed by both local and international accounting standards. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in any given jurisdiction. It includes the standards, conventions and rules that accountants follow in recording and summarizing and in the preparation of financial statements.