Is accounting necessary? Fascinating accounting for programmers: why do you need accounting

Accountant, my dear accountant
How do you imagine the average accountant? This is either a woman, well over 50, menacingly clicking her knuckles like a female praying mantis with her mandibles during the mating period, or a frail man of the same age in gray oversleeves, huge bifocal glasses, carefully covering his bald spot with the remnants of hair from his temples. And these people sit in a dark, windowless room, illuminated only by a table lamp, shifting endless folders of documents from one pile to another, marking something in huge ledgers. But the reality is much more prosaic and perhaps more positive.

Who is this?
We have the pedantic Romans to thank for the accounting profession. Accounting originated in the Holy Roman Empire, which needed to count honestly stolen and excessively acquired wealth. And since the territories were large, a separate and highly specialized specialist was needed who could be responsible for everything related to documents, taxes, income, expenses and other important points that form the very concept of accounting. By the way, translated from German “” means “holding a book.”
Accordingly, today an accountant is considered to be a specialist who manages the affairs of an organization using an accounting system that complies with current legislation.

Why is it needed?
An accountant is certainly a necessary and useful person. It is he who is responsible for the timely preparation of annual tax reporting, as well as the preparation of reports to company employees, clients and owners. An accountant monitors the financial condition of the organization, keeps records of all financial transactions, including payroll, payments under concluded contracts, etc.
The International Organization of Accountants has even introduced standards according to which “professional accountants” include a tax consultant, financial director, auditor and chief accountant. At large enterprises, the responsibilities of an accountant include responsibility for the warehouse, issuing wages, conducting settlement transactions, storing and managing fixed assets and cash. As a rule, the specialist responsible for maintaining all accounting is called. At the same time, he must ensure that all work carried out by the accounting department, on the one hand, clearly complies with the civil, tax and administrative codes of the Russian Federation, regulations and decrees of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties and the Ministry of Finance, and on the other, with the instructions of the head of the organization.
Add here all paper reporting, including invoices, log books, books of purchases and sales for value added tax, their reconciliation with accounting... The profession of an accountant requires a rather specific character.

Who can become an accountant
It would seem that accounting departments of all ages and genders are submissive. And this is partly true. But if you decide that you need to change your specialty and dive headfirst into accounting and organizing data, keep in mind that you will still need some things. Firstly, working with so many numbers requires high concentration and attentiveness. Secondly, a certain type of character, which includes, if not perfectionism, then a certain degree of meticulousness and the ability to sit in one place for a long time. Thirdly, a good person is a person who knows how to organize his time and the time of those around him, and also has an analytical mind and knows how to plan ahead. Computer literacy and abstract thinking are probably not worth mentioning. Fourthly, of course, special education.

Is it needed at all?
Despite the fact that professional accountants are quite in-demand specialists with high salaries, analysts predict the imminent disappearance of this profession from the labor market. It’s all about the widespread modern technologies and software, which are already capable of offering electronic document management systems, the use of which will allow a person who has not received a special education to keep financial records. And competition in this segment of the labor market is incredibly high. Thus, in Russia there are more than 1.1 million specialists responsible for financial paperwork. And if we assume that in the near future there will be a complete abandonment of paperwork, then the situation is extremely deplorable. Many of today's graduates will receive a “dead” profession that will not be useful to them in their career. After all, it is much easier and more convenient for an employer to install the necessary software than to hire a special person who will only deal with maintaining financial records. Automatic reporting via email will fundamentally change the process of office work and tax payments. Although the so-called “personal accountants” - financial advisers who manage the affairs of individual individuals - may well survive in the age of developing technology.

Fascinating accounting for programmers: why do you need accounting

If you haven't read the introduction to the lessons, please read it: .

So, accounting!

You will be curious to know what the word " accounting" comes from the German word Buch- book.

The tasks of this type of accounting include collection and processing complete and reliable information about the activities of the enterprise.

Who does the accounting service work for?

It turns out that there are a number of people interested in the organization having complete and reliable accounting information. Such persons are called users of accounting information:

• Management, owners and employees of the enterprise (internal users)
• Potential lenders, investors, law enforcement, government agencies (external users)

How do you think the director of the company treats external users?

They answered correctly.

You are mistaken.

The director is part of the company, and therefore belongs to the internal users of accounting information.

Does the tax service treat external users?

They answered correctly.

You are mistaken.

The tax service refers to external users, because it is a government body that is located outside the company.

Why do they need this information?

Accounting information is used by users to decision making And control .

So the company management, having analyzed the accounting information for the year, will make decisions related to the further management of the organization.

The bank, having studied the accounting information, decides: To give or not to give credit to an organization.

Tax service will control- does the organization calculate correctly and
pays taxes to the budget.

By the way, the accounting information provided to users is called reporting. That's what they say - financial statements.

It turns out that the organization’s accounting service should:

• gather complete and reliable information about the activities of the enterprise
• process collected information
• periodically introduce the results of its processing for users in the form of financial statements

And all this happens continuously from the moment the organization began its activities.

Accounting at an enterprise must be maintained continuously in order to compile reliable information about economic and financial activities and its property status. All financial transactions, property, economic activities, debts and obligations of the company are subject to accounting. Business transactions include all activities of the enterprise, which determine the property status of the enterprise, obligations expressed in monetary form. Property means all cash, securities, finished products, raw materials and everything related to working capital.

A qualified accountant must make a realistic assessment of the financial assets of the enterprise, systematize all processes that affect the cost of products manufactured by the enterprise and provide management with a reliable balance sheet of the enterprise.

The balance sheet consists of two main parts: Asset and Liability; an indicator of the stable operation of the enterprise will be the equality of assets and liabilities. A timely inventory will help compare actual data with the data in the documentation. Inventory allows you to make adjustments necessary to balance the enterprise.

The responsibilities of an accountant include the correct maintenance of financial records and control over the company’s funds. An accountant is obliged to reflect in the documentation any financial transactions of the enterprise, keep records of obligations, and monitor the timely payment of taxes and debts of the enterprise.

Constant study and implementation of new accounting methods allows us to increase the efficiency and professionalism of the company's accountants. An accountant is obliged to monitor all changes in legislation on tax and financial activities of enterprises and organizations. Participate in seminars on innovations and changes in accounting.

I came across the article “Why do we need accounting?.php
I could only understand the title question. Then it’s just a set of words and letters. From the comments it became clear that not only those who ask such questions are in trouble, but also the majority of those trying to answer them. And yet we have half the country of lawyers and economists.

When considering accounting issues, myths that are far from reality often arise. I'll try to dispel some of them. But first, you need to define the terms in order to communicate in one language that everyone understands. And the first word we will get acquainted with will be the word “ACCOUNTING”.

Accounting is needed to keep records of an enterprise. At a minimum, accounting and tax accounting. Strange as it may seem, these are different types of accounting with their own goals and objectives.

According to the Federal Law of December 6, 2011 N 402-FZ “On Accounting”, any economic entity MUST keep accounting records. Those. This is not a wish or a request. This is a law that must be executed by any economic entity.

The purpose is buh. accounting is BUILDING AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM, which provides RELIABLE information about the current state of affairs of the company for owners, managers, creditors, and government agencies. As we can see, boom. accounting has nothing to do with paying taxes. This is why tax accounting exists.

The regulatory act for tax accounting is the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. It specifies federal, regional and local taxes, which are legal. a person MUST independently calculate and pay to budgets of different levels. How to count, what to count and what not to count is spelled out in this document. Thus, the purpose of tax accounting is to BUILD AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM, which leads to the correct calculation of the tax base and tax.

As you can see, accounting and tax accounting are in no way legally related to each other. These are two completely different accounting systems that are built for specific goals and objectives. This is a very important idea that does not get through the first time.

In addition to accounting and tax accounting, the enterprise has management accounting. Its goal is to BUILD AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM, which allows you to quickly manage the organization. Management accounting is regulated by internal documents of the company.

Summarizing. If the business structure is a little more complex than an individual entrepreneur who makes several transactions a month in cash, then you will have to create several accounting systems. Who will create them does not matter. But the director is responsible for organizing accounting. A smart manager hires a professional who organizes accounting systems at the enterprise. A stupid person asks the question: “Why do we need accounting?”

Drawing up an annual accounting report is the final stage of the entire accounting process for an organization in a calendar year. To ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information included in the reporting forms, preliminary work is necessary, consisting of a thorough reconciliation of synthetic and analytical accounting data. In addition, at the end of the annual accounting cycle, it is necessary to make final annual entries, as well as calculate totals and account balances.

The balance sheet is one of the forms of financial statements, the procedure for preparation and presentation of which is approved by regulatory documents. It is a summary in tabular form of data on the value of property, as well as the obligations of the organization.

Using the balance sheet, you can assess the financial condition of the organization, find out what property it has, as well as how much debt it has.

Balance Sheet Structure

The balance sheet reflects the property, capital and liabilities of the organization in monetary terms as of a certain date.

The components of this document are:

• asset (reflects property by type and group);
• liability (reflects the organization's equity and liabilities).

Assets and liabilities must always be equal, which is why this form of reporting is called a balance sheet.

Assets

Includes 2 sections:

• non-current assets (these are assets used for more than one year: equipment, buildings, long-term investments, etc.);
• current assets (these are assets used for less than one year: raw materials, supplies, cash, etc.).

It is believed that current assets are more liquid than non-current assets. In other words, they can be converted into money faster.

Passive

Unlike the balance sheet asset, which shows what property the organization owns, the liability reveals the sources of formation of this property.

Includes 3 sections:

• capital and reserves (these are the own funds of the organization’s owners);
• long-term liabilities (these are loans, credits and other debt with a maturity of more than one year);
• short-term liabilities (this is current debt to suppliers, employees, etc. - debts that are payable within one year).

Why and who needs a balance sheet?

The balance sheet is the financial face of an organization. Thanks to it, those individuals who already have a relationship with the organization or are planning cooperation with it can assess the financial position of this organization.

The balance sheet is studied by banks to assess the borrower's creditworthiness, and is also submitted to tax and statistical authorities. In addition, the document is presented to shareholders as a financial indicator of the work done by management.

Typically, the balance sheet is analyzed in conjunction with another form of financial reporting - the profit and loss statement. Thus, all the main ratios that characterize the financial “health” of the organization are identified.

Three possible states of the organization:

• neutral (no profit, but no loss);
• there is profit (accumulations within the organization);
• there is a loss (there are no funds to pay off the obligations of the organization).

Types of balances

There are different criteria by which balance sheets are divided, for example by: time (introductory, initial, interim, final, liquidation); completeness of information (general, specific).
Opening. Such a document is drawn up in the event of the establishment of an organization, approval of a company, joint stock company, etc.
Elementary. This document is drawn up every year in order to clarify the property status of the organization after its annual work, as well as to determine the qualitative composition of the property. The opening balance drawn up at the end of the reporting year is final in relation to the past year and initial – in relation to the coming year.
Intermediate. This type of balance, also called a test balance, is compiled quarterly, and at the end of the financial year it can be adjusted.
Final. Such a document, also called a liquidation document, is drawn up in the event of termination of the organization’s activities. It is compiled by a special liquidation commission.
General. Contains information about the property, rights, and obligations of the entire organization.
Private. It includes information about the property, rights, and obligations of a separate part of the organization.