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People who perform this task are called accountants.  This term is very broad in that will include a part time bookkeeping clerk or the Chief Financial Officer of a large public company.  Accountants may obtain a professional designation, Certified Public Accountant, or CPA, which confers certain rights and obligations.

People who perform this task are called accountants.  This term is very broad in that will include a part time bookkeeping clerk or the Chief Financial Officer of a large public company.  Accountants may obtain a professional designation, Certified Public Accountant, or CPA, which confers certain rights and obligations.

For millennia, accounting has employed what is called "double entry bookkeeping", in which every transaction is entered as both a debit and credit.  Double entry bookkeeping accurately accounts for the relationship expressed in the basic accounting equation; Assets = Liabilities + Equity. This basic equation describes a "balance" between the owner and the creditor.  The fundamental financial report is a "balance sheet". The word debit means "left" and the word credit means "right".  In general Assets (what you possess) have a debit balance and are listed on the left side of a balance sheet.  Liabilities (what you owe) and equity (what you own free of debt) have a credit balance and are listed on the right side of a balance sheet.

Accounting employes what is called "double entry bookkeeping", in which every transaction is entered as both a debit and credit.  Double entry bookkeeping accurately accounts for the relationship expressed in the basic accounting equation; Assets = Liabilities + Equity. This basic equation describes a "balance" between the owner and the creditor.  The fundamental financial report is a "balance sheet". The word debit means "left" and the word credit means "right".  In general Assets (what you possess) have a debit balance and are listed on the left side of a balance sheet.  Liabilities (what you owe) and equity (what you own free of debt) have a credit balance and are listed on the right side of a balance sheet.  The first known description if this system was published in 1494 by a Franciscan monk named Luca Pacioli.

While accounting used to be done by hand, on paper, it is much more frequently done using computer programs today.

While accounting used to be done by hand, on paper, it is much more frequently done using computer programs today.