Accounting

Accounting, systematic development and analysis of information about the economic affairs of an organization. This information may be used in a number of ways: by a firm’s managers to help them plan and control ongoing operations; by owners and legislative or regulatory bodies to help them appraise the organization’s performance and make decisions as to its future; by owners, lenders, suppliers, employees, and others to help them decide how much time or money to devote to the company; by governmental bodies to determine what taxes a business must pay; and occasionally by customers to determine the price to be paid when contracts call for cost-based payments.

Accounting provides information for all these purposes through the maintenance of data, the analysis and interpretation of these data, and the preparation of various kinds of reports. Most accounting information is historical—that is, the accountant observes all activities that the organization undertakes, records their effects, and prepares reports summarizing what has been recorded; the rest consists of forecasts and plans for current and future periods.