Accountancy (profession) or accounting (methodology) is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about information that helps managers and other decision makers make resource allocation decisions. Financial accounting is one branch of accounting and historically has involved processes by which financial information about a business is recorded, classified, summarized, interpreted, and communicated. Auditing, a related but separate discipline, is the process whereby an independent auditor examines an organization's financial statements and accounting records in order to express an opinion—that conveys reasonable but not absolute assurance—as to the truth and fairness of the statements and the accountant's adherence to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, in all material respects. At the heart of accounting is the measurement of financial transactions which are transfers of legal property rights made under contractual relationships. Non-financial transactions are specifically excluded due to conservatism and materiality principles.

Practitioners of accountancy are known as accountants. There are many professional bodies for accountants throughout the work. Many allow their members to use titles indicating their membership. Examples are Chartered Accountant and Certified Public Accountant.

Accountancy attempts to create accurate financial reports that are useful to managers, regulators, and other stakeholders such as shareholders, creditors, or owners. The day-to-day record-keeping involved in this process is known as bookkeeping.

More on [ Accountancy ]

NPR Topics: Technology

New Solar Cell Easy As Pizza To Make
Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:16:00 -0400
The iJET is a new type of solar cell that's cheap and easy to make, requiring not much more than a pizza oven, some nail polish remover, and a common inkjet printer. Australian scientist Nicole Kuepper describes her invention.
SpaceX Celebrates First Successful Rocket Launch
Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:53:00 -0400
SpaceX's flagship Falcon1 rocket has successfully launched from an island in the central Pacific, becoming the first privately-developed rocket to orbit the planet. NASA has already contracted SpaceX to begin private space flight missions to the International Space Station beginning in 2010.
Northeast States Trade Carbon Emission Credits
Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:46:00 -0400
A consortium of Northeast states has completed the first cap-and-trade greenhouse gas auction in the U.S. Under cap-and-trade, limits are set on emissions. Companies that do not use up their quota of emissions are able to sell their excess emission capacity to other companies.
Windshield Wipers Invented In 'Flash Of Genius'
Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:38:00 -0400
In 1967, Robert Kearns received patents for inventing intermittent car windshield wipers. He offered his idea to automakers but was turned away. When Ford and Chrysler started manufacturing cars with wipers without crediting Kearns, he took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. A new film called Flash of Genius tells his story.
Computer Malfunction Delays Hubble Mission
Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:31:00 -0400
NASA has postponed a planned repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope after a new problem developed with the orbiting observatory. Ed Weiler, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, explains why repairs won't take place until Feb. 2009 — at the earliest.
Google's G1 Takes Aim at the iPhone
Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:21:00 -0400
NPR's Cheryl Corley talks to News & Notes' tech contributor Mario Armstrong about Google's smart phone, the recently launched NPR Community social network, and how both presidential campaigns are developing high-tech ways to connect their voters.

Subscribe to Consultants RSS feed