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Time: 4 hours
Level: Advanced
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 Introduction Resource- Through a series of activities and practical examples, this unit provides a broad overview of the field of accounting, including: its origins and objectives, the nature of accounting information and accounting...
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| | 1 What is accounting about?
- 1 What is accounting about? Resource
- Let's start with a question – we shall call questions ‘Activities’. For many of these activities you will need a pen and paper, or you can use the unit Forum, to note down your own ideas. Once you have...
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| | 2 Accounting information systems
- 2 Accounting information systems Resource
- A system can be defined as a group of elements that are formed and interact to achieve goals or objectives. You spend all your life with systems – your home, your work, your family, the school you attended....
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- 3 What is an accountant? Resource
- To return to basics, let’s take a few minutes to think about the role of an accountant, and the basic abilities and skills he/she needs to have.
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- 4.1 What's the difference? Resource
- The distinction between data and information is very important in accounting. New accounting students often ask, ‘what is data?’ ‘How does it differ from information?’ ‘Are they the same thing?’
- 4.2 Qualitative v. quantitative data Resource
- Accountants do not, traditionally, deal with qualitative data, such as whether a customer was happy or sad, or whether it looked like it would rain when a customer bought an umbrella.
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| | 5 The characteristics of ‘good’ information
- 5 The characteristics of ‘good’ information Resource
- Have you ever seen a set of published accounts for a company? If you haven’t or, even if you have, take a look at some now. (They are often called the annual report.)
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| | 6 Accounting and the objectives of the firm
- 6.1 Variety of business objectives Resource
- Most people would agree that the primary objective of a business is to survive and, in order to survive, its revenue must be greater than its expenditure.
- 6.2 Conflicting objectives Resource
- You have just seen how an objective to maximise market share may not be compatible with an objective to maximise profits. Businesses may have multiple objectives, many of which conflict. Think, for example,...
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- 7 Summary Resource
- You should now have a clearer idea of the context in which accounting is set. You should also be aware that accounting is the recording and processing of data into information, of the characteristics of...
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| | References and Acknowledgements | |
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