'''Accounting''' is the process of keeping track of recording and summarizing [[business]] transactions, both internal to a company, and external transactions with customers and suppliers, and also to create any reports required by management, creditors, shareholders and government agencies, such as the [[IRS]] or [[SEC]].
People who perform this task are called accountantsGenerally accounting can be split into two major categories - Management and Financial, who although different terms are usually [[CPA|certified]]used for both. As the name implies, Management accounting is used by the management of an organization. It includes everything from highly summarized reports, and frequently employ [[bookkeeper|bookkeepers]] to perform detailed cost analyses. Financial Accounting usually refers to external reporting process, which is primarily for the more mundane tasks benefit of [[data entry]]the shareholders, although creditors, and sometimes customers, require financial reports.
For millennia, accounting has employed what is People who perform this task are called "double entry bookkeeping", in which every transaction accountants. This term is entered very broad in two ledgers, increasing one and decreasing that will include a part time bookkeeping clerk or the otherChief Financial Officer of a large public company. This allows for "balancing" the accountsAccountants may obtain a professional designation, Certified Public Accountant, or CPA, which helps reduce errorsconfers certain rights and obligations.
For centuries, accounting has employed what is called "double entry bookkeeping", in which every transaction is entered as both a debit and credit. This is fundamental to the Accounting Equasion which is Assets - Liabilities = Equity. While accounting used to be done by hand, on paper, it is almost always much more frequently done using computer programs today.
