Accounting and the science which designates the totality of numeric records carried out in order to determine and order, in a complete way, all movements, in value and in quantities, carried out within the scope of activity of a company or similar entity.
Accounting can be divided into financial and business accounting. Financial accounting comprises all payment transactions between the company and abroad (for example, purchases and sales, banking operations) and which allows the annual balance sheet to be drawn up for tax and commercial purposes. Business or cost accounting assumes the use of costing (with its corresponding cost elements, etc.).
A person whose professional field is accounting is known as an accountant. In Brazil, for an individual to receive the title of "Accountant", he must take the Sufficiency Examination of the Federal Accounting Council.
cost accounting
Cost accounting is an area of business accounting that, unlike financial accounting, encompasses accounting for all internal costs and benefits, including accounting for facilities, material and salary. Cost accounting is for:
- exclude influences outside the company in determining monthly or annual earnings;
- control the company's profitability, thanks to the inclusion of all types of costs and different productions, and sometimes also with the help of planned cost accounting;
- prepare production and investment planning;
- obtain the necessary data at the end of the business and fiscal year.
In the field of general accounting, cost accounting can or cannot be linked to financial accounting.
public accounting
Public accounting refers to the systematic recording of financial transactions carried out by all public sector bodies.
Management accounting
Management accounting is the area of accounting through which one seeks to establish and determine the future development of a company. It has a strong strategic planning aspect. Usually the starting point is the sales plan, from which the production (cost) plan, the supply plan and the financing plan are derived.
tax accounting
Also known as tax accounting, tax accounting is the area of application of accounting sciences that aim to ascertain and reconcile the generation of taxes for a given entity. Tax accounting provides important data for calculating taxes.
See also the Accounting Principles.