What is accounting? UNEB/Campus XIX Inglês Técnico

People around the world consider it quite important. Whether you are going to invest in McDonald's stock, buy new equipment, forecast future sales or expenditures, you almost always use accounting information. Why? The answer is because accounting provides information for decision-making in the business world.

Accounting is a service-based profession that provides reliable and relevant financial information useful in making decisions. Financial information may include sales, expenses, taxes and other figures. So, how exactly is this information prepared? There are several steps involved. These steps are identification, recording and communication.

First, economic events are identified. A sale at a gas station, payment of taxes by a commercial enterprise, or purchase of insurance are all examples of economic events.

Second, all economic events are recorded. Recording is done to provide a history of a company's financial activities. In this step economic events are also classified and summarized.

Third, information about classified and summarized economic events is communicated to interested parties. Such communication may take several forms. One of them is financial statements

Users of accounting information Interested parties are also called accounting information users. There are two broad categories of accounting information users: External users Internal users

External users are parties outside the reporting entity (company) who are interested in the accounting information. Investors (owners) use accounting information to make buy, sell or keep decisions related to shares, bonds, etc. Creditors (suppliers, banks) utilize accounting information to make lending decisions. Taxing authorities (Internal Revenue Service/IRS) need accounting information to determine a company's tax liabilities. Customers may need accounting information to decide which products and from which company to buy.

Internal users are parties inside the reporting entity (company) who are interested in the accounting information. A company's senior and middle management uses accounting information to run business. Employees utilize accounting information to determine a company's profitability and profit sharing.

Stakeholder: parte interessada Shareholder: acionista

Teoria do stakeholder 1) descrever quais são as pessoas e grupos de pessoas que estão servindo de “stakeholders” de uma empresa ou organização e 2) propor métodos que os administradores devem usar para dar a devida consideração aos interesses dessas pessoas ou grupos de pessoas.(wikipédia)