accounting
Tracking money professionally
Accounting is the practice of recording, organizing, and reporting financial transactions.
Businesses use accounting to track income and expenses, prepare tax returns, and assess financial health.
The field divides into specialties: tax accounting, forensic accounting, managerial accounting.
To give an accounting of something is to provide a detailed explanation or reckoning: She demanded an accounting of where the money went.
Financial record book
- journalRecord of daily events
- debitsRecorded account reductions
- creditsUnits toward graduation
- entriesItems logged or submitted
double-entry · trial balance · general ledger · reconciliation · accruals · amortization · depreciation · posting
Proving something accurate
- assuranceFirm promise or certainty
- internal controlsOrganizational oversight procedures
- fraud detectionUncovering deceptive schemes
- materialityState of being consequential
risk assessment · attestation · due diligence · independence · CPA · sampling · vouching · audit trail
Financial reporting conventions
- Sarbanes-OxleyCorporate governance reform law
- SECStock market regulator
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- complianceAdhering to requirements
corporate governance · fiduciary responsibility · transparency · standards · internal controls · restatement · whistleblower · audit committee
Allocating funds systematically
- cost controlManaging expenses systematically
- job costingExpense allocation by assignment
- contribution marginRevenue exceeding variable expenses
- direct costsCosts traceable to production
Conclusions from reasoning
- IRSFederal tax collector
- bracketsMarks setting off text
- exemptionsReleases from obligation
- filingsParticles from abrasion
returns · liabilities · withholding · credits · tax planning · evasion · avoidance · income tax
Assets-liabilities-equity report
- income statementPeriodic profit-loss report
- cash flow statementReport of money entering, leaving
- financial statementsFormal records of transactions
- disclosuresActs of revealing information
footnotes · annual report · 10-K · quarterly report · retained earnings · shareholder equity
Spread around the mean
- ratioComparative numerical relation
- forecastingEstimating future conditions
- profitabilityCapacity to generate gain
- liquidityConvertibility to cash
solvency · leverage · benchmarking · valuation · metrics · performance · break-even · capital expenditure
ledger
Financial record book
entries · double-entry · trial balance · general ledger · reconciliation · accruals · amortization · depreciation · posting · subledger
verification
Proving something accurate
- assuranceFirm promise or certainty
- internal controlsOrganizational oversight procedures
- fraud detectionUncovering deceptive schemes
materiality · risk assessment · attestation · due diligence · independence · CPA · sampling · vouching · audit trail · Big Four
GAAP
Financial reporting conventions
- Sarbanes-OxleyCorporate governance reform law
- SECStock market regulator
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
compliance · corporate governance · fiduciary responsibility · transparency · standards · internal controls · restatement · whistleblower · audit committee · public company
budgeting
Allocating funds systematically
- cost controlManaging expenses systematically
- job costingExpense allocation by assignment
- contribution marginRevenue exceeding variable expenses
direct costs · indirect costs · fixed costs · variable costs
deductions
Conclusions from reasoning
- IRSFederal tax collector
- bracketsMarks setting off text
- exemptionsReleases from obligation
filings · returns · liabilities · withholding · credits · tax planning · evasion · avoidance · income tax · corporate tax
balance sheet
Assets-liabilities-equity report
- income statementPeriodic profit-loss report
- cash flow statementReport of money entering, leaving
- financial statementsFormal records of transactions
disclosures · footnotes · annual report · 10-K · quarterly report · retained earnings · shareholder equity
variance
Spread around the mean
- ratioComparative numerical relation
- forecastingEstimating future conditions
- profitabilityCapacity to generate gain
liquidity · solvency · leverage · benchmarking · valuation · metrics · performance · break-even · capital expenditure · trend analysis
- resourcesresources, money, natural resources, human resources, financial resources
- academic fieldsmathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history
- financebank, CFO, banks, controller, finance
- business activitiesmeetings, meeting, hiring, firing, training
- career fieldsnursing, medicine, engineering, business, finance
- college coursesbiology, calculus, chemistry, physics, quantum physics
accountingguesswork
Conclusions drawn without proof
chaos · disorganization · mismanagement · estimation · approximation
accountingspending
Outlaying of funds
expenditure · operations · production · sales · marketing
accountingcreative arts
Disciplines of aesthetic expression
artistry · improvisation · intuition · imagination · free expression
- accounting forGiving reasons for something
- accounting standardsRules for financial reporting
- creative accountingMisleading financial reporting
- accounting mistake
- accounting firmBusiness providing financial services
- accounting fraudIntentional financial record deception
accountings, cost accounting, forensic accounting, financial accounting