The practice of accounting has many roles in a modern business today. They allow a business to accurately determine the profit or loss from doing business for a given amount of time. This allows a business to accurately determine what state and federal income taxes are due annually. Accounting is information that is used by potential investors to decide whether or not to buy stocks and bonds in the firm.
Today accounting practices are standard to ensure compliance to all state and federal laws and to avoid fraud. The principles today are referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
Some of the basic accounting principles as taught today include the balance sheet equation of assets = liabilities + stockholder's equity. The source of information for the balance sheet is the income statement which has the formula revenues - expenses = net income or net loss. The next step in preparing financial statements is the statement of retained earnings. The formula for this is retained earnings from previous statements + net income - dividends = ending retained earnings.
Once these financial accounting reports have been done, state and federal taxes can be determined along with a number of other important ratios used by investors. The current ratio is determined by dividing current assets by current liabilities. The debt to total assets ratio is determined by dividing total assets by total liabilities.
All of these reports play a vital role in today's businesses whether they be multi-billion dollar corporations or a mom and pop corner store in a small town. Not only do they provide valuable information to potential investors, they give the owners of the business a snap-shot of the financial health of their business at any point in time the reports are generated. With today's accounting software, what was once a tedious task that could take days can now be done in a fraction of the time.
Today accounting practices are standard to ensure compliance to all state and federal laws and to avoid fraud. The principles today are referred to as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
Some of the basic accounting principles as taught today include the balance sheet equation of assets = liabilities + stockholder's equity. The source of information for the balance sheet is the income statement which has the formula revenues - expenses = net income or net loss. The next step in preparing financial statements is the statement of retained earnings. The formula for this is retained earnings from previous statements + net income - dividends = ending retained earnings.
Once these financial accounting reports have been done, state and federal taxes can be determined along with a number of other important ratios used by investors. The current ratio is determined by dividing current assets by current liabilities. The debt to total assets ratio is determined by dividing total assets by total liabilities.
All of these reports play a vital role in today's businesses whether they be multi-billion dollar corporations or a mom and pop corner store in a small town. Not only do they provide valuable information to potential investors, they give the owners of the business a snap-shot of the financial health of their business at any point in time the reports are generated. With today's accounting software, what was once a tedious task that could take days can now be done in a fraction of the time.