Managing An Accounting System For A Business

As money is spent statements are updated to reflect the accounts affected by the spending. Managers use these financial statements, such as an income statement or balance sheet, to check the progress of plans and programs. Management uses the information provided by financial statements to monitor financial resources and activities. The income statement shows the results of the organization's operations over a specific period, such as revenues, expenses, and profit or loss. The balance sheet shows what the organization is worth (assets) at a particular point and the extent to which those assets were financed through debt (liabilities) or owner's investment (equity) (Bank of America, 2007).

A balance sheet gives an overall picture of a company's financial situation by showing the total assets of a business, including liabilities plus equity. Current assets can include cash, accounts receivable, inventory and prepayments for insurance. The balance sheet is used by investors to get an idea of what the shareholders have invested, including

Accounting is commonly described as the language of business. It is very important for all business owners to have very good understanding of their finances. Having the knowledge of your business finance, you will know where the money is going. Every business owner should have a good understanding of finance. To have a good understanding business owners needs to understand basic accounting steeps, how does accounting play a role in their business, how to define a financial statement and how the omission of any of these steps would affect the success of a business. Once you have an understanding of accounting/finance and the how it plays

The accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Owner’s Equity. Assets are the resources of the company. Examples include cash, land, buildings, and equipment. Liabilities are “outsider claims”, the company’s obligations to creditors. Examples include accounts payable, notes payable, and income taxes payable. Owner’s Equity represents “insider claims” of the company or the owner’s share of the assets. If a business is keeping accurate records this equation should always be in balance.

Items of value to a company such as equipment or supplies needed for running an efficient business are called an asset. A liability is when a company owes for a service or pay for employees. After a liability is subtracted from an asset this becomes the owners interest in the company or owners’ equity. Regardless of the standards followed by accountants, they will always classify accounts into these three categories resulting in the Accounting Equation: (Editorial Board, 2012, p. 9- 10)

One great problem that has been realized to have entered into the accounting industry is that a lot of accounting firms only give help to their clients whenever they feel so. Unfortunately, this has far much bigger negative results to businesses. A lot of the businesses go through a stressful experience and sometimes it is adverse. We have a great understanding that our clients choose us because of our great effort to ensure that we help them most when in need.

The accounting equation is, Assets are equal to Liabilities plus Stockholders’ Equity. Assets are resources owned by a business. Liabilities are the debts and obligations of the business. Liabilities represent claims of creditors on the assets of a business. Stockholders’ equity represents the claims of owners on the assets of the business. This equity is divided into two parts: common stock and retained earnings. The balance sheet reports assets and claims to assets at one specific point in time. Claims to assets are subdivided into two categories: claims of creditors and claims of owners. The accounting equation must always balance. Each transaction has a dual effect on the equation. As an example if an individual asset is increased,

These liabilities are described as what the business or organization owes such as accounts payable, payroll taxes due, notes payable, and mortgages payable are all liabilities. Assets are economic resources that have expected future benefits to the business (Baker & Baker, 2000). It is described as what the business or organization owns or controls. This can include cash, accounts receivable, notes receivable, and inventory.

Assets are the resources that the organization has and the money generated. Liabilities are resources that are owed for services, supplies and other things that the organization has acquired. The ideal goal of any business is for the assets to be greater than the liabilities (Cleverly et. al.).

What draws me into the field of accountancy? Why do I want to launch a career as a certified public accountant (CPA)? What is there about numbers, spreadsheets, profit and loss statements, audits, inventory and fiduciary responsibility that appeal me? In this paper I will describe in detail the reasons why I am attracted to this field. Also, what are the duties and responsibilities of a CPA? How available are job openings for a person with the education and experience to work as a CPA? How well to companies compensate those hired as CPAs? These questions and issues will be thoroughly reviewed in this paper.

To help to understand the changes in assets and asset sources which are not readily evident in the income statement or financial statement.

Assets in the financial statement are always required and show useful information to investors and understand where the information comes from. For instance, accounts receivable net which the organization does not expect to collect all of the money it is due from all patients and insurers, (Finkler, S.A., Ward, D.M. & Calabrese, I.D., 2013). The bad debts become about of the money due. Furthermore, accounts receivables, net represents gross charges less an allowance for poor debts, and many contractual allowances established with those third party payers. Typically, an example of a bad debt would show charges of a large sum of money delivered from a hospital. Then, the contractual allowances from

The main disadvantage of accountants focusing only on financial information is that accountants would ignore much relevant information about the organization’s activities. To the extent that such non-financial information (e.g., market share, customer satisfaction, measures of quality, etc.) is important to management, the value of the accounting function would decline. Moreover, accountants have been trained in how to design systems to maximize the reliability of the information produced. If relevant information is not produced by the AIS, there is danger that the information may be unreliable because the people responsible for its production have not been trained in, or adequately aware of, the potential threats to reliability and the best measures for dealing with those threats.

The methods to summarize, procedures to establish, controls and plans to gather along with presenting the most accurate and error free financial data for making management decisions all of these organized computerized methods falls under the head of Accounting System.

The informational interview was conducted by Adrianna Ion, the Accounting Systems Manager and consultant at Hilltop Advisors. As an Accounting Systems Manager, she prepares financial statements and compiles balance sheets, works with auditors in managing the auditing. She also monitors the company’s finance reports to ensure that they are accurate. Adrianna is also in charge of the company systems, ensuring their efficiency. The work environment is full of stressful, tense moments, strict deadlines and sometimes very long working hours. The work requires attention to detail and excellent reporting skills beside the technical know-how. Ms. Ion holds a business degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She has also attained her MBA and is a registered member of the accounting professional bodies. The challenges that come with the job are the peak times for auditing which have so many deliverables and limited time. She advises that students in this field should aim at going for further studies and taking examinations to be registered as members of accounting