Ethical Issues Of Financial Accounting

 Financial Accounting is concerned with the past, while Managerial Accounting is concerned with the future.

managerial accounting deals with internal reporting and financial deals with internal reporting (Yes.  Managerial accounting deals with internal reporting and financial accounting deals with external entities)

Financial accounting is the branch of accounting that organizes accounting information for presentation to interested parties outside of the organization. The primary financial

Managerial accounting is essential for decision making. Making the best choice depends on the manager's goals, the anticipated results from each alternative, and the information available when the decision is made (Schneider, 2012). The different techniques associated with managerial accounting are very helpful in the decisions that need to be made. In order to truly understand decision making with managerial accounting one must first discern exactly what managerial accounting means and some of the techniques associated with it. The definition of managerial accounting will be discussed along with the techniques of cost management techniques, budgeting, and quality control.

Management accounting is for commercial finance, analyzing past performance and projecting future results aiding in the commercial decision-making. This department defines and measures key targets needed to achieve for McDonald’s business strategy to be successful (McDonald’s Corporation, 2008).

“The accounting system generates the information that satisfies two reporting needs that coexist within an organization: financial accounting and managerial accounting” (Schneider, 2012, ch 1.1, para 1). Managerial accounting is the process of preparing reports and accounts required by management to make business decisions for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly projects. Financial accounting is the branch of accounting that organizes accounting information for presentation to interested parties outside of the organization. Financial accountants produce annual reports for external

The structure of an organization will affect its financial management. Generally financial accounting is for outside use so they emphasize external reporting; which means they report to third parties such as; Medicare, Medicaid and other government entities and health plan payers. Managerial accounting is considered to be prospective as well as retrospective. It is of the upmost importance that the accountant must follow the guidelines principles and ethical standards of planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making if they want to be successful at their job.

Financial management is important to the organization because it provides pertinent finance and accounting information to help managers accomplish the purpose of the organization. Financial accounting provides accounting information to external users. On the other hand, managerial accounting is more for managers (internal users) to use for things like planning, budgeting, etc. The definition of finance has changed over the years, but it’s used to ultimately evaluate previous decisions and make assessments for future decisions of the organization.

Businesses, investors, creditors rely on accounting ethics. The accounting profession requires honesty, consistency with industry standards, and compliance with laws and regulations. The ethics increase the responsibility and integrity of accounting professionals, and public trust. The ethical requirements influence the management behavior and decision-making. The financial scandal of Enron and Arthur Anderson demonstrates the failure of fundamental ethical framework, such as off-balance sheet transactions, misrepresentation of financial statements, inaccurate disclosure, manipulations with earnings, etc. The confronted accounting profession and concern for ethics in businesses forced regulators to revise the conceptual framework of accounting processes.

The main purpose of financial accounting is to prepare financial reports that provide information about a firm’s performance to external parties such as investors, creditors, and tax authorities. Must be performed according to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) guidelines.

3. Managerial Accounting deals with procuring of data for the organisation's management i.e. to serve the internal users with necessary accounting information to carry out the management tasks of planning, organising, actualising and controlling. " Management Accounting is the presentation of accounting Information in such a way as to assist management in creation of policy and in the day to day operations of an undertaking". 4. Financial Management deals with the process adopted by an organisation for taking financial decisions through analysing and interpretation of financial data for meeting the organisations objectives.

The primary difference between financial and managerial accounting is that financial accounting is used for external members of the company; they do not control or run the businesses’ operations. An example of external members would be customers and shareholders of the business. On the other hand, managerial accounting is used for internal members in the company such as managers and officers. The internal members use managerial accounting to increase efficiency and effectiveness within their company. According to accounting4management.com, financial accounting and managerial accounting have several differences, but they both depend on the same data.

According to Will S, Ray H, & Eric E.N. (2009), management accounting is a branch of accounting that is concerned with providing information to managers who direct and control the firm’s operations. Management directing function seeks to effectively use both the human and raw material wealth of a firm to achieve organizational set objectives on routine basis. Controlling function is the art of tele-guarding the activities of the organization to consistently fall in line with set objectives. Management accounting achieves this function through effective budgeting.

According to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Management Accounting is "the process of identification, measurement, accumulation, analysis, preparation, interpretation and communication of information used by management to plan, evaluate and control within an entity and to assure appropriate use of and accountability for its resources. Management accounting also comprises the preparation of financial reports for non management groups such as shareholders, cr->ors, regulatory agencies and tax authorities" (CIMA Official Terminology)

Management accounting is used to provide managers with information, so they can make informed business decisions. The next category is open-book accounting; this is defined as an accounting principle that aims to improve accounting in organizations. Tax-accounting is defined as the accounting needed to comply with jurisdictional tax regulations. In other words, tax-accounting is used to put tax on goods and services. Accounting has revolved into what every company uses today which is the equation of; Assets=Liabilties+Owners Equity. The meaning of this equation is to show companies what they own and what they owe to there creditors and everybody else.