BRANCHES OF ACCOUNTING.pptx

Fundamentals of Accounting

1. Financial Accounting Management Accounting Government Accounting Auditing Tax Accounting Cost Accounting Accounting Education Accounting Research

2. Financial accounting  is a specialized branch of accounting that keeps track of a company's financial transactions. Using standardized guidelines, the transactions are recorded, summarized, and presented in a financial report or financial statement such as an income statement or a balance sheet. Financial Accounting

3. Financial accounting is the process of recording, summarizing and reporting the myriad of transactions resulting from business operations over a period of time. These transactions are summarized in the preparation of financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement, that encapsulate the company's operating performance over a specified period.

4. Management Accounting Management or Managerial accounting is the process of identifying, measuring, analyzing, interpreting and communicating information for the pursuit of an organization's goals. This branch of accounting is also known as cost accounting. The key difference between managerial and financial accounting is managerial accounting information is aimed at helping managers within the organization make decisions, while financial accounting is aimed at providing information to parties outside the organization .

5. Government accounting is the process of recording, analyzing, classifying, summarizing communicating and interpreting financial information about government in aggregate and in detail reflecting transactions and other economic events involving the receipt, spending, transfer, usability and disposition of assets and liabilities. Government Accounting

6. Auditing is the process of reviewing and investigating any aspect of a business, whether financial or nonfinancial. Auditors are fully trained to spot areas of needed improvement, potential dangers and incidents of unethical conduct in their area of expertise. Audits can disrupt the normal flow of business in a company, but the ability to spot and address potential weaknesses can outweigh any temporary losses of productivity. Among the range of issues audits can review are human resources policies, operational procedures, quality or safety policies and, of course, accounting audits. Auditing

7. Accounting audits bring these two distinct concepts together and can convey significant benefits to small and large businesses alike. An accounting audit by definition is a systematic review and investigation of the policies, procedures and systems put in place to record, store and present financial data within a company. Accounting audits cover the full range of the accounting cycle, looking for inconsistencies, inefficiencies, errors and incidents of unethical conduct at all steps in the process. Audits begin by analyzing the systems put in place to ensure that the accounting department receives all transaction documents in a timely manner. Audits review the accounting system in depth to ensure that all necessary accounts are present and maintained accurately. Accounting audits also review financial statements and the processes used to prepare financial statements.

8. Tax Accounting Tax accounting consists of accounting methods that focus on taxes rather than the appearance of public financial statements. Tax accounting is governed by the Internal Revenue Code which dictates the specific rules that companies and individuals must follow when preparing their tax returns. Tax principles often differ from generally accepted accounting principles .

9. Cost Accounting Cost accounting is a type of accounting process that aims to capture a company's costs of production by assessing the input costs of each step of production as well as fixed costs such as depreciation of capital equipment. Cost accounting will first measure and record these costs individually, then compare input results to output or actual results to aid company management in measuring financial performance .

10. Accounting Education Accounting Education is the process of teaching and learning the recording and maintaining books of accounts on different business transactions and events and calculate business's result relating to those transactions and events in order to find reward or return on investment . Accounting education came into existence after mathematics and Economics science.

11. Accounting Research Accounting research is research  into the effects of economic events on the process of accounting such as summarizing, analyzing, verifying, and reporting standardized financial information, and on the effects of reported information on economic events. And it encompasses a broad range of research areas including financial accounting, management accounting, auditing and  taxation . Accounting research (is). . . - normative (i.e., arguing for the “correct” accounting treatment, or what should be).  -deals on the advances in finance such as the efficient market hypothesis, creation of large data sets and the statistical abilities to analyze them (i.e., computers). -a positive research (i.e., examining what is rather than what should be).

12. Accounting research is carried out both by academic researchers and practicing accountants. Methodologies in academic accounting research can be classified into: a) Archival research, which examines "objective data collected from  repositories“ b) Experimental research, which examines data "the researcher gathered by administering treatments to subjects"; and c) Analytical research, which is "based on the act of formally modelling  theories or substantiating ideas in mathematical terms ".