Free Essays on Accounting

A college student decides she wants to become an accountant. General accounting and bookkeeping classes can be taken in high school. In college, the student needs to decide on a more specific field of accounting. An accountant has many choices as to what particular field of accounting to specialize in depending on the financial information she wants to analyze and how it is done. Financial accountants, tax accountants and internal auditors are all accountants in general, but require different training and work methods. A financial accountant records economic data and periodically prepares reports that show profit and other financial information of a company using the generally accepted accounting principles. The reports prepared by the accountant are useful for managers, and also for owners, creditors and the public. Based on information in the reports the public can use the reports to choose a company to invest in. Because a financial accountant is employed by an individual company, she is considered a private accountant. Another type of accountant is a tax accountant. A tax accountant prepares yearly tax returns for individual clients. The accountants have to use constant data such as rates of pay and other information to determine the proper amount of taxes to be paid. These accountants have to take a class once a year to catch up on yearly changes in tax laws and regulations. If a tax accountant has met state experience requirements, she may want to take exams to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). A third type of accountant is an internal auditor. Auditors are sponsored by the Institute of Internal Auditors and work within an individual firm. The auditor reviews accounting and operating procedures used by a firm to make sure everything is being run properly. If things aren't being run properly, it is the auditor's job to find the problem and to try to rectify it. An auditor is considered a private accountant because h... Free Essays on Accounting Free Essays on Accounting Great Input results in Great Output. While GIGO sounds like a Greek verb or an Italian food, it's typically used as an abbreviation for Garbage In, Garbage Out. This familiar computer axiom means that if invalid, inaccurate or inappropriate data is entered into a system, the resulting output will be just like the input †¦. invalid. Originally applied to computer software, GIGO holds true for all systems, including Activity Based Management (ABM) decision-making systems. Most ABM/ABC implementers pay little or no attention to input. Activity analysis interviews tend to focus on activities, output measures (drivers), classifications (value) and cost. One of the most valuable attributes of the activity is frequently overlooked †¦ its input. For example, a common activity is Issue Purchase Order. Number of P.O.'s or Number of Lines are common output measures for this value-added activity. What is its input? An activity will typically have more than one input. The inputs for Issue Purchase Order commonly include requisitions, inventory reports, cycle counts, policies, procedures, and bills of material. Because inputs come before output, they often define and direct an activity's performance. Input influences activity performance in five distinct ways: Inputs are the root cause of an activity. A requisition "causes" the purchasing department to initiate the activity of Issue Purchase Order. To identify and eliminate the root cause of an activity, you rarely need to look further than its input. Inputs trigger the quantity of an activity. More inputs mean more work. If more and more requisitions are received by Purchasing, the workload of specific activities, such as Issue Purchase Order, will increase proportionally. If you need to reduce workers, reduce input that triggers their workload. Inputs trigger quality. The quality, or lack thereof, will determine the quality of activity output. It is difficult to make a "good" ... Free Essays on Accounting Reed Accounting is a respected job through out the community. There cannot be a single business without accounting, it is used in every day life, at home doing your taxes or just finding where you spent your twenty dollar bill. Accounting has a wide range of aspects and job opportunities. There is a high demand for accountants, because there needs to be at least one accountant for every company. Public and certified management accountants should have the easiest time finding a new job. Accountants work in offices, or cubicles. Some work close with the manager of the store so they will always be updated with the latest information about the business. Accountants primarily track the whereabouts of the company’s money. Accountants relay information to the manager of the company, then manager’s check the report to see how well there company is doing, and what needs to be cut back and where there money is going. Governments also check the report to see how much tax the company has to pay, also other company’s use the report to verify if they want to do business with them or if they want to lend money to that company. There are a wide variety of accountants, some more important to a companies welfare then others. Mainly there are endless types of accountants but the four primary accounting jobs are: Public Accountants who work for companies, work for other people or even own there own business. Management Accountants who keep track of money and assets to tell where money is being spent and made by the companies in which they work. Internal Auditors mainly check to see if the accounts are correct and that noone wastes or loses any money, and even sometimes to see if any one is stealing from the company. Government Accountants check to see if the government records are right and they also check other companies to see how much they should be taxed, and who is doing business with the government. These elite fina... Free Essays on Accounting Accounting is the study of how businesses track their income and assets over time. Accountants engage in a wide variety of activities besides preparing financial statements and recording business transactions including computing costs and efficiency gains from new technologies, participating in strategies for mergers and acquisitions, quality management, developing and using information systems to track financial performance, tax strategy, and health care benefits management. There's a lot to get out of a career in accounting. Perhaps most important: You will learn how business works. The field of accounting offers stimulating and challenging work that is constantly evolving. Because accountants spend a lot of time looking under the hoods of businesses they really learn how business works. It's no surprise that many successful players in business began their careers as accountants. It's also no surprise that most Chief Financial Officers of large corporations have a background in accounting. An accountant is perfectly positioned to become a CFO because he or she probably has the best understanding of what drives business and profits in a company.... Free Essays on Accounting A college student decides she wants to become an accountant. General accounting and bookkeeping classes can be taken in high school. In college, the student needs to decide on a more specific field of accounting. An accountant has many choices as to what particular field of accounting to specialize in depending on the financial information she wants to analyze and how it is done. Financial accountants, tax accountants and internal auditors are all accountants in general, but require different training and work methods. A financial accountant records economic data and periodically prepares reports that show profit and other financial information of a company using the generally accepted accounting principles. The reports prepared by the accountant are useful for managers, and also for owners, creditors and the public. Based on information in the reports the public can use the reports to choose a company to invest in. Because a financial accountant is employed by an individual company, she is considered a private accountant. Another type of accountant is a tax accountant. A tax accountant prepares yearly tax returns for individual clients. The accountants have to use constant data such as rates of pay and other information to determine the proper amount of taxes to be paid. These accountants have to take a class once a year to catch up on yearly changes in tax laws and regulations. If a tax accountant has met state experience requirements, she may want to take exams to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). A third type of accountant is an internal auditor. Auditors are sponsored by the Institute of Internal Auditors and work within an individual firm. The auditor reviews accounting and operating procedures used by a firm to make sure everything is being run properly. If things aren't being run properly, it is the auditor's job to find the problem and to try to rectify it. An auditor is considered a private accountant because h... Free Essays on Accounting The Master Budget for a profit oriented organization seeks to build a set of interrelated budgets which provide a complete "picture" of the operations of the business over some future period, usually twelve months. The elements of the master budget address both operating and financial concerns. (Blocher, 2002) It is not difficult to devise a master or overall budget. It is simply your realistic, long-term aspirations translated into total costs. So often, families consider only the cost for the item, when the item in question comes with accompanying repair or installation costs. For example, an air conditioner may require electrical, plumbing and installation expense. (www.debtfreebenefits.com) Those "other" costs should be considered in establishing the financial impact on the family budget. Sometimes the incidental costs may be as great at the time as the major purchase itself. Good planning or budgeting usually avoids these mistakes. (www.debtfreebenefits.com) After the long term objectives are established, each objectives must be put into annual terms. There are many questions to answer: When can you buy it, how much will it cost, do you pay it all now or can you spread the total costs over more than one year? (www.debtfreebenefits.com) A master budget is simply the compilation of these major considerations put on the same page (s) so that the total picture for a lifetime, year, month, week or day can be properly reviewed and then adjusted when necessary. (www.debtfreebenefits.com) A master budget does not have to be complex, but it ought to be complete. The path to success for the successful is almost always supported by a plan, a specific, written charting of the steps needed to accomplish the intended success. Success is not achieved by accident. Success is a planned event. (www.debtfreebenefits.com) A firm’s strategic plan describes how the firm matches its own strengths and weaknesses wi... Free Essays on Accounting When examining the effect of open marketing on the profession of accounting it is important to view it from three perspectives: the client's, the profession's, and society's. Additionally, two key areas that are affected by marketing must be addressed, these are concerning competition, and ethical implications. Marketing in public accounting is here to stay therefore making an argument against its existence would be fruitless; however, in order to achieve maximum benefit to the firm, the client, and s ociety more stringent guidelines must be implemented at the firm level. The first, and most obvious, of the effected areas is competition. Within competition several points are discussed. First, the implications advertising has on public accounting the model of perfect competition versus the model of monopolistic compet ition. Secondly, the relationship between firm size and advertising expenditures. Thirdly, the effect of advertising on firm specialization, the implications of client turnover on public accounting practice. Before making the comparison, a brief explanation why the two models are chosen is in order. Monopolistic competition has been chosen for the pre-advertising era because it most closely resembles the market structure in an extreme sense. The elements o f monopolistic competition are as follows: product differentiation, the presence of large numbers of sellers, and nonprice competition. Although accounting services between firms offer very little service differentiation, the absence of advertising serve s as a replacement because clients are not necessarily aware that other options are easily attainable. The post-advertising era is explained through the model of perfect competition for which the qualifications are as follows: very little or no service d ifferentiation, many sellers, and price as the only means of distinguishing one firms ... Free Essays on Accounting Accounting „h The main purpose of accounting is to provide useful, reliable, and timely information to people who make rational investments, credit, and similar decisions. Because accountants serve decisions makers by providing them with financial information that helps them make better decisions, accounting is often decried as a service activity. „h Accountants also provide information about nonprofit organizations such as churches, hospitals, museums, schools, and various government agencies. The people who use accounting information about nonprofit organizations include their managers and people who denote to or pay taxes to them, who use their services, or who otherwise work with them „h The internal role of accounting is to serve the organization's various functions by providing information that helps them complete their tasks. By providing this information, accounting helps departments such as Finance, Human Resources, Research and Development, Production, Marketing, and Executive Management reach their overall goals. „h After my undergraduate work I plan on going into M.S in accounting „h The Master of Science in Accounting Program is designed for accounting students and professionals who have completed an undergraduate accounting degree and who seek to enhance their technical and professional skills through completion of an advanced degree in accounting. Prospective students who have not earned a baccalaureate degree in accounting from a U.S. institution may apply but will be required to complete additional coursework in order to earn the degree. „h The one-year full-time curriculum, together with most undergraduate accounting programs, should satisfy the 150-hour educational requirement for certification and licensure as a certified public accountant (CPA). This is the educational standard advocated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that is required in most states....