1. Accounting
Thursday September 29th, 2016

2. What is Accounting?
The process of keeping financial records for an individual or business.
Two main financial statements used in business are:
The Balance Sheet “snapshot”- shows what the business owns and what it owes. What it’s worth
The Income Statement “video”- shows revenue and expenses over a period of time. Profit? Loss?

3. Business prepares financial statements for four main groups:

4. 1. Business Managers & Owners
Used to calculate the value of the business that they are operating
Tells them whether or not the business is growing
Used to compare profits earned in one year with other years
Used to help make decisions like:
should we make any changes to the business?
Should we expand or reduce production?
What are our expenses? How can we reduce them?

5. 2. Investors
Present and future investors can rely on financial statements to give them accurate information for investment decisions.

6. 3. Government
Government tax officials carefully check business financial statements to make sure that the correct amount of tax is paid.
Government pays out grants to certain businesses. The financial statements of a business help the government decide who will get the grants.

7. 4. Banks
To decide whether to loan the company money or not.