Why Society Needs Accountants Essay

623 words - 3 pages

“Why society needs accountants” – Trust, the key of our economy

Nowadays we live in a society which is more complex than ever. The improved information systems of the last decades made the world more integrated, intertwined and interdependent than before. Due to the high speed of information sharing, the perspective of the world can literally change in a day. Perhaps most illustrative for this is the financial capital market. Millions of profits are being made by traders, taking advantage of a split second of arbitrage. Bad news from China can affect the stock markets in the world for weeks. Misunderstood US mortgages could initiate of a global economic crisis of which is affecting our society still nowadays. But the question is: why are accountants needed in this complex society? What is the role of an accountant in our society ? First I will discuss the role of accounting in the current accounting and ...view middle of the document...

And even cash is an interesting phenomenon. We all know that the real value of the paper is not a fraction of the perceived value which is noted on top of the paper. We all agreed on the fact that a €50 note has a value of €50. We all trust in the fact is resembles the value of €50. But what if this trust disappears? What if nobody wants to accept your cash? If the bank will not provide you your own money? Exactly , without this trust the economy will not work.

Here is where an accountant is needed . An accountant plays a vital role in safeguarding the trust of the markets. By controlling the financial statements of a company accountants provide society a guarantee that the information is (to a certain extent) trustworthy. With trustworthy information the markets will (as can be seen in the example) work more efficient and it increases the financial stability of the economy. By controlling the financial statements of a company, an accountant checks whether the information provided by a company reflects the reality. This will enables the society to control and hold a company responsible for their captured behaviour.

I believe that this last part will become more and more important in the future. The role of a financial accountant or management accountant is generally well-known. A more unknown field of accounting is the role of Social Accounting. In short it aims to capture and articulate a firm’s financial and non-financial impact on society by which they will be judged and held accountable for. With the goal in creating a more sustainable world, society requires more information of companies about their impact on the society. Sustainability needs to be measured, reported and assured. In my opinion accountants have the required skills to take the lead in creating more accurate and reliable non-financial data measures and set up information system to provide companies feedback and held them responsible for their behaviour. All in all I believe that next to the vital role an accountant plays in the creating an efficient and trustworthy economy, it could also make a significant contribution towards a more social and sustainable world.

Accounting Processes' And Financial Statements Essay

1362 words - 6 pages financial and company growth, net income versus cash flow. Defining the aforementioned terms and examining our three companies will demonstrate some core foundational accounting principles and terminology. The term ‘generally accepted accounting principles’ (i.e. GAAP) has a very specific meaning for accountants and auditors. A code of professional conduct prohibits accountants from making statements that would imply or assert financial statements or

Document Essay

4071 words - 17 pages need information to tax and regulate. Analysts use accounting data to form opinions on which they base investment recommendations. Employees want to work for successful companies to further their individual careers, and they often have bonuses or options tied to enterprise performance. Accounting information about specific entities helps satisfy the needs of all these interested parties. The diversity of interested parties leads to a logical

Due Professional Care And Due Diligence

516 words - 3 pages SHORT PAPER – DUE PROFESSIONAL CARE AND DUE DILIGENCE ALEX KARAHALIOS The legal risks faced by the CPA profession are ever so present today in our capitalist society. When CPAs and CPA firms execute an engagement for an auditing client, they know well that risk they exposed themselves to significant liability should their report conclusion and recommendations cause monetary damages. This liability does not only extend to direct customers

File

4128 words - 17 pages Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting. It includes the standards, conventions, and rules accountants follow in recording and summarizing transactions, and in the preparation of financial statements. Contents * 1 Overview * 1.1 Principle of regularity * 1.2 Principle of sincerity * 1.3 Principle of

Accounting System

4830 words - 20 pages likely be great resistance to such a radical change. Thus, students choosing this option need to present reasons why they think such a radical change would succeed. * The use of a schema for accountants seems quite plausible. It does eliminate the redundancy of double entry from the database system, yet it still provides a framework familiar and useful to accountants and financial analysts. * There

Accounting Perspectives

5799 words - 24 pages -shattering drastically needs transformation! As we discussed in class and read in the reading of Arnold P.J. there is also an immediate link to accounting, organisations and society. It was found that the general equilibrium models that are extensively used in academic and central bank inquiry are prone to ‘Type II errors’ of false negatives while eradicating the probability of crisis when in reality it was on our head. Moreover, if balance sheets

Reliance Fruits

9427 words - 38 pages ' stores offer wide assortment of products including private label products which are highly trusted, catering to the needs of the entire family. The Company has incurred a loss of Rs. 13,516.41 lakh for the financial year ended March 31, 2010. With the optimisation of resources and further scaling up of retail store operations, the Company is confident of posting better results in the future. The Company had applied to the Central Government

Dfgdfgdfg

9549 words - 39 pages CHAPTER 1 Accounting in Action ASSIGNMENT CLASSIFICATION TABLE Brief Exercises A Problems B Problems Study Objectives 1. Explain what accounting is. Identify the users and uses of accounting. Understand why ethics is a fundamental business concept. Explain accounting standards and the measurement principles. Explain the monetary unit assumption and the economic entity assumption. State the accounting equation, and define its components

Claytons Paint

991 words - 4 pages Page 1 of 3 CASE STUDY – CLAYTON’S PAINTS Three years ago a new, North American CEO was appointed at Clayton’s Paints. He promptly set about changing the way the longstanding Australian company produced paint, his aim being to make Clayton’s Paints more responsive to the needs of its customers and to gain a competitive edge over its rivals in terms of both price and quality. The new CEO decided that Clayton’s Paints needed to establish

Creating, Financing, And Marketing A Business

1301 words - 6 pages competition. This allows the firm to flourish. A good example is Apple. With today’s fast paced society, Apple is forever conducting research to stay abreast of consumer needs. From computers to phones and everything in between such as iPads and iPods, Apple is sure to reach every aspect of the marketing components and has something for just about every target audience out there. In reviewing a blog on Apple’s marketing, Nathan Hangan, co-founder of

Gaap Vs Ifrs

2268 words - 10 pages opportunities will open up to the younger generations as the older accountants retire with the implementation of IFRS. In another words, those who do not have a good understanding of IFRS will be useless in a few years. This is why it is so critical that accounting students in the U.S. study the principles of IFRS and understand its significance as early on as possible. Work Cited Bloom, Robert, and William J. Cenker. "The Death of

Code Of Ethics Essay

1474 words - 6 pages of the NZICA’s Code of Ethics and what responsibilities they have to follow under such code. This awareness of the Code of Ethics will benefit the society as a whole, obtaining such awareness is not an easy task to perform and a simple change of the current Code of Ethics will not ensure that ethical responsibilities are met by all accountants. However there are other factor that affect the successfulness of the proposed new look Code of Ethics

Testbank Essay

2621 words - 11 pages and stock exchanges monitor the financial statements to ensure that they provide full and plain disclosure of material information and to ensure that the companies may continue to list shares on the stock exchanges. Securities commissions oversee and monitor the capital marketplace. Ex. 1-32—User Needs. Explain why providing information to users is a challenging task. Solution 1-32 First, users have very different knowledge

Green Light Accounting Essay

4688 words - 19 pages of the $2.3 billion in tax credits for clean energy technology projects (North Dakota Accountants, 2013). In regards to market size, Greenlight Accounting is the only firm that caters to small businesses and individual needs and has a focus on green accounting in the state of North Dakota. While there is one competitor in the state, their niche is large corporations even though they do offer their services to both small firms and individuals and

Kieso Essay

7986 words - 32 pages gap to close. The accounting profession recognizes it must play an important role in narrowing this gap. To meet the needs of society, the profession is continuing its efforts in developing accounting standards, such as numerous pronouncements issued by the IASB, to serve as guidelines for recording and processing business transactions in the changing economic environment. 26. Accountants must perceive the moral dimensions of some situations