Accounting Essay Example for Free

Accounting EssayAccounting is often referred to as the language of business, and rightly so, since it is the means by which nurture almost an entity is communicated (Meigs, 2000). Contrary to popular belief, accounting is more than just doing taxes, or keeping books. Doing taxes is just one of the many tasks an restrainer performs. Bookkeeping, the recording of transactions and day to day activities, is just the clerical aspect of accounting. Accounting is more concerned with the interpretation and map of the accounting information. As the forward-looking accountant of Claires Antiques, the fields of pic would be in financial and managerial accounting.Financial accounting is a field of accounting which provides information about the financial resources, obligations, and activities of an enterprise that is intended for use primarily by external decision makers (Meigs, 2000). Such external users are those who have a financial interest in the entity, but are non involved in its day-to-day operations. These external users include the following investors, creditors, labor unions, governmental agencies, suppliers, customers, trade associations and the general prevalent (Meigs, 2000).See morePerseverance proveFinancial accounting provides information about the companys liquidity and solvency, which is of particular importance to creditors and suppliers as they need to know the entitys capability to profit off its obligations. Investors would find financial information regarding the companys viability useful, since they need to know whether it would be a wise investment. Since providing information to fit the different of necessity of the various stakeholders is difficult, financial reporting of much(prenominal) information is usually geared towards the needs of creditors and investors, the two primary groups.Another field of accounting is managerial accounting, which involves the developing and interpretation of accounting information intended specific ally to aid management in running the business (Meigs, 2000). Information produced military services managers in carrying out their responsibilities, which include planning, guiding and motivating, and controlling (Garrison, 2000) it helps provide data necessary for developing strategies and managing the companys operations.Managerial accounting makes use of means such as cost-volume-profit analysis, financial record analysis and capital budgeting, to name a few, to produce such information. Managerial accounting will provide the information needed by the management of Claires Antiques to decide what is the optimum antique production mix and whether to implement the Just In Time inventory management system it will also help the company to reach its goal to grow the business to other regions, increase its profit margin and expand its product distribution centers.Included within managerial accounting is performance measurement. Performance measurement is the quantification of a comp anys or segments efficiency or effectiveness in conducting business operations for the accounting period (Answers. com, 2008). This involves establishing budgets and/or goals of a company, and comparing the actual turnout with that established by the management. The budget established must always be realigned with the companys goals, in sound out for the information to be truly useful.Performance measurement would prove useful to Claires Antiques in deciding their strategy on how the company can get through its above mentioned goals. Performance measurement draws the managements attention to areas in which the company has performed poorly, giving them a chance to find a solution to such inefficiency it also indicates which areas the company has been doing well in. These pieces of information, taken collectively, will help the company in deciding which actions it will take to bring itself closer to its goals.As the new accountant of Claires Antiques, one would be engaged in both ma nagerial and financial accounting, which means that one would be providing and interpreting financial information for both internal and external users, respectively. As an accountant in private practice, one can be a financial forecaster, a cost accountant or an internal auditor. These roles fall under the above mentioned fields. However, accountants in general are not limited to these fields. They may have career opportunities in public accounting, government accounting and accounting education as well.