THE FIELD OF ACCOUNTING

Accounting frequently offers the qualified person an opportunity to move ahead quickly in today’s business world. Indeed, many of the heads of large corporations throughout the world have advanced to their positions from the accounting department. In industry, management, government, and business, accountants generally start near the top rather then near the bottom of the organization chart. Management relies on the expert knowledge and experience of accountants to cope with the increasingly complex problems of taxes and cash flow.

Accounting is a basic and vital element in every modern business. Careful analysis of these result and trends may suggest the ways in which the business may grow in the future. Expansion or reorganization should not be planned without the proper analysis of the accounting information; and new products and the campaigns to advertise and sell them should not be launched without the help of accounting expertise.

Accounting is one of the fastest-growing fields in the modern business world. Every new store, school, restaurant, or filling station – indeed, any new enterprise of any kind – increases the demand for accountants. Consequently, the demand for competent accountants is generally much greater than the supply. Government officials often have a legal background; similarly, the man and women in management often have a background in accounting. They are usually familiar with the methodology of finance and the fundamentals of fiscal and business administration.

Earlier accounting procedures were simple in comparison with modern methods. The simple bookkeeping procedures of a hundred years ago have been replaced in many cases by the data-processing computer. The control of the fiscal affairs of an organization must be as scientific as possible in order to be effective.

In the past, a bookkeeper kept the books of accounts for organization; the present day accountants job developed from the bookkeepers job. Today, a sharp distinction is made between the relatively unchanged work performed by a bookkeeper and the more sophisticated duties of the accountant. The bookkeeper simply enters data in financial record books; the accountant must understand the entire system of records so ‘that he or she can analyze and interpret business transaction. To explain the difference briefly, the accountant sets up a bookkeeping system and interprets the data in it, whereas the bookkeeper performs the routine work of recording figures in the books. Because interpretation of the figures is such an important part of this accountants function, accounting has often bin desorbed as an art.

The field of accounting is devised into three broad divisions: public, private and governmental. A certified public accountant, or CPA, as the term is usually abbreviated, must pass a series of examinations, after which he of she receives a certificate. In the United States, the certification examinations are prepared and administered by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The various states or other major governmental set additional qualifications for residence, experience, and so on. The British equivalent of a CPA is called a chartered accountant.

CPAs can offer their services to the public or individual consultant basis for which they receive fee. In this respect and many others, they are similar to doctors or lawyers. Like them, CPAs may be self-employed or partners in a firm, or they may be employed by an accounting firm. Some CPAs perform work for corporations or government offices and received a salary like other members of management. Nevertheless, they are still considered to by accountants. It is not necessary to have a certificate in order to practice accounting. Junior ampoules in large films, for example, are often acquiring sufficient experience to take the examinations.

Public accounting consists largely of auditing and tax services audit is a review of the financial records of a reanimation. It is usually performed at fixed intervals of time-perhaps quarterly, semiannually, or annually. And as the tax laws grown increasingly complex, not only corporation but also individuals have had to utilize the services of accountants in preparing their tax forms and calculating their tax stability.

Business enterprises, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations all employ public accountants either regularly or on a part-time basis.

Many accounting work in government offices or for nonprofit organizations. These two areas are often joined together under the term governmental and institutional accounting. The two are similar because of legal restrictions in the way in which they receive and spend funds. Therefore, a legal background is sometimes necessary for this type of accounting practice.

All branches of government employ accountants. In the United States, this includes federal, state, and local governments. In addition, government-owned corporations in the United States and in many other countries have accountants on their staffs. All of these accountants, like those in private industry, work on a salary basic. They tend to become specialists in limited fields like transportation or public utilities.

Nonprofit organizations are of course in business for some purpose other than making money. They include cultural organizations like symphony orchestras or opera societies, charitable organizations, religious groups, or corporate-owned research organizations. Although they are limited in the manner in which they can raise and append their funds, they usually benefit from special provisions in the tax lows.

Private accountants, also called executive or administrative accountants, handle the financial records of a business. Like those who work for the government or nonprofit organizations, they are salaried rather than paid a fee. Those who work for manufacturing concerns are sometimes called industrial accountants. Some large corporations employ hundreds of employees in their accounting offices.

The chief accounting officer of a company is the controller, or comptroller, as he or she is sometimes called. Controllers are responsible for maintaining the records of the company’s operations. On the basic of the data that have bin recorded, they measure the company’s performance; they interpret the result of the operations; and they plan and recommend future action. This position is very close to the top of management. Indeed, a controller is often just a step away from being the executive officer of a corporation.

One of the specialties within the private accounting field is cost accounting, which is chiefly concerned with determining the unit cost of the products the company manufactures and sells. For example, if a company manufactures radios, the unit coat of the product equals the cost of making each individual radio. The unit cost must include not only the price of the materials in the product, but also other expenses, including labor and overhead. Without unit coasts, manufacturing firms could not accurately determine the price they must sell their products for in order to bring an adequate return on investment.

Many private organizations also hire salaried accountants to perform audits. These people are sometimes called internal auditors. They are in charge of the protection of the firm’s assets-the things of value owned by the company, including cash, securities, property, and even goodwill. The internal auditor sees that current transactions are recorder promptly and completely. He or she also identifies inefficient procedures or detects fraudulent transactions. He or she is usually called upon to propose solutions for these problem.

Managerial accountants are other specialists within the broad area of private accounting. In particular they work with the kinds of financial reports necessary to management for the efficient operation of the company, including budgets and cash flow projections.

A small business may retain the services of a CPA to perform all or some of these functions. A medium-sized business may employ a staff accountant who does all of them. As companies grow, their accounting staffs become increasingly specialized. As we have noted, the big corporations employ hundreds of people in their headquarters and branch offices for the purpose of fiscal administration. Many of the people who move ahead most rapidly in private organizations are CPAs. The simple fact of heading passed the certifying examination gives them an advantage over those when haven’t. Teaching accountants have formal training and some practical experience in field money often prefer to teach the subject, honor, because of the security of a salaried position. They may work in a university or commercial school. Some teaching accountants also offer seminars in accounting procedures to different organizations.

Many people have chosen accounting as a profession because of its many advantages, many jobs are usually available, primarily because the education and training for accounting careers has not kept with the demand for accounting services. Once on the job, private or governmental accountants have security, and they are usually given the chance to move upward in the company-sometimes, as we have noted, to the top. Salaries for people with accounting training are usually good, even on the lower levels, and for those who rise to the top of profession, they are correspondingly high. Certified public accountants now enjoy professional status similar to that of doctors or lawyers.

Likely candidates for success in the field typically have an interest in business; they mast be able to understand the conditions that indicate business success or failure. Another prerequiatte is mathematical ability. Once they have completed their education in accounting, many paths are open to them.

A new CPA can begin a private practice or form a partnership with other accountants. If he or she goes into private or governmental accounting, he or she can specialize in one of the branches within the field, such as cost or tax accounting. Still another possibility is a teaching career, although prior practical experience is usually preferred. Salaried positions with business or government offer strong security, since accounting work is not usually subject to either short-term changes or long-term trends in the business cycle. Salaried accountants are not is likely to be affected by layoffs or seasonal changes in the work load as are industrial or clerical workers.

Ex. II. Answer the following questions:

1. What does accounting frequently offer the qualified person?

2. Explain how accounting is a basic and vital element in modern business.

3. Why is accounting one of the fastest-growing fields in the modern business world?

4. What are men and women in management usually familiar with?

5. How do modern accounting procedures compare with those used a hundred years ago?

6. How did the accountant’s job develop? How has it changed over the years?

7. How does the job of a bookkeeper differ from that of an accountant?

8. Why has accounting been described as an art?

9. What are the three broad divisions in the field of accounting?

10. What does CPA stand for? What do you think is the significance of the world certified?

11. In what respect is a CPA similar to a doctor or a lawyer?

12. What does public accounting largely consist of? Why do businesses an wall as individual citizens often need the services of a public accountant?

13. In that way are governmental and institutional accounting similar? What kind of background is sometimes necessary for this kind of work?

14. What government branches employ accountants? Do these accountants work on a fee or salary basis? What government offices in your country of area employ accountants?

15. What is a nonprofit organization? What are some specific examples? How are nonprofit organizations limited?

16. What are private accountants also called? How are they similar to governmental or institutional accountants?

17. By what title is the chief accounting officer of a company often called? What is he or she responsible for?

18. What does cost accounting differs from other areas of accounting? Why is it an important branch of the field?

19. What are internal auditors concerned with?

20. What is the name for an accountant who works particularly with the kinds of reports that are necessary to management? What reports do these include?

21. How does the of a company determinate the kinds of accounting services it employs?

22. Do CPAs have any advantages when they work in private accounting?

23. What kind of background do teaching accountants probably have? Where might they be employed?

24. What are some of the advantages of accounting a field of employment?

25. What qualifications are necessary for success in the field of accounting?

26. What paths are open to someone who has completed an education in accounting?

27. Why do salaried accounting jobs offer security?

Ex. III. Fill in the spaces in the following sentences with the appropriates word or phrase:

1. The ____ __________ sets up a complete system for recording and analyzing the financial affairs or an organization, there are the ____________ enters figures for financial transaction in the company’s records.

2. CPA is an abbreviation for ______________________. In England, the term for CPA is ______________________.

3. Another term for “financial” is __________________________________.

4. A CPA is considered a professional nowadays, like a _______________________ or a ____________________________.

5. A graphic layout that shows the rank and order of positions in a company is its ______________________________.

6. ____________________________ establishes policies and directs the operations of an organization.

7. A review of the financial records of an organization by an accountant is called an __________________________________________.

8. A ____________________ organization is not in business to make money.

9. _____________________ accountants specialize in determining the price for each item that is manufactured or sold by a business.

10. __________________ are thing of value that are owned by a company.

11. The chief accounting officer of an organization is usually called the __________ or the ________________.

12. Private and government accountants usually work on a ________________ basic, whereas public accountants usually work on a ____________________ basic.

13. ________________ accountants specialize in the preparation of reports, such as budgets or cash-flow projections, that are particularly necessary for the management of a company.

Ex. IV. List some specific jobs that evolve bookkeeping skills. What are those skills? What duties are involved in such jobs?

Ex. V. What are some of the qualifications, doth technical and personal, that you believe an accountant must have in order to achieve success in his or here field? How do these relate to the duties that are involved in accounting?

Ex. VI. What do you consider to be the advantages and disadvantages of a career in accounting?

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 2655