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Accounting has been defined as (by Professor of Accounting at the University of Michigan William) a pattern of having one basic function: "facilitating the administration of economic activity. This function has two closely related phases: 1) measuring and arraying economic data; and 2) communicating the results of this process to interested parties." GAAP is the gold standard for preparing financial statement. Not disclosing that it has used principles other than GAAP makes a company legally liable for any misleading or misunderstood data. These principles have been fine-tuned over decades and have effectively governed accounting methods and the financial reporting systems of businesses. Different principles have been established for different types of business entities, such for-profit and not-for-profit companies, governments and other enterprises. In what's called double-entry bookkeeping, the liabilities are summarized. And obviously a company wants to show a higher amount of assets to offset the liabilities and show a profit. The management of these two elements is the essence of accounting. There is a system for doing this; not every company or individual can devise their own systems for accounting; the result would be chaos! Personal accounting It might seem obvious, but in managing a business, it's important to understand how the business makes a profit. A company needs a good business model and a good profit model. A business sells products or services and earns a certain amount of margin on each unit sold. The number of units sold is the sales volume during the reporting period. The business subtracts the amount of fixed expenses for the period, which gives them the operating profit before interest and income tax. You need to discover if you've made any errors in your recordkeeping or if the bank has made any errors. Another form of accounting that we all dread is the filing of annual federal income tax returns. Many people use a CPA to do their returns; others do it themselves. Most forms include the following items: Standard deduction - some personal expenditures or business expenses can be deducted from your income to reduce the taxable amount of income. These expenses include items such as interest paid on your home mortgage, charitable contributions and property taxes.
By: Mary Maseko
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