Practice English 2

AN ACCOUNTING OVERVIEW

Accounting is frequently called the “language of business” because of its ability to communicate financial information abaout an organization. Various interested parties, such as managers, potential investors, creditors, and the government, depend on a company’s accounting system to help them make informed financial decisions. An affective accounting system, therefore, must include accurate collecting, recording, classifying, summarizing, interpreting, and reporting of information on the financial status of an irganization.

In order to achieve a standardized system, the accounting process follows accounting principles and rules. Regardless of the type of business or the amount of money involved, common procedures for handling and presenting financial information are used. Incoming money (revenues) and outgoing money (expenditures) are carefully monitored, and transaction are summarized in financial statements, which reflect the major financial activities of an organization.

Two common financial statements are the balance sheet and the income statement. The balance sheet shows the financial position of a company at one point in time, while the income statement shows financial performance of a company over a period of time. Financial statement allow interested parties to compare one organization to another and/or to compare accounting periods within one organization. For example, an investor may compare the most recent income statements of two corporations in order to find out which one would be a better investement.

People who specialize in the field of accounting are known as accountants. In the United States, accountants are usually classified as public, private, or governmental. Public accountants work independently and provide accounting services such as auditing and tax computation to companies and individuals. Public accountants may earn the title of CPA(Certified Public Accountant) by fulfilling rigorous requirements. Private accountants work solely for private companies or corporations that hire them to maintain financial records, and governmental accountants work for governmental agencies or bureaus. Both private and governmental accountants are paid on a salary basis, whereas public accountants receive fees for their services.

Through effective application of commonly accepted accounting systems private, public, and govermmental accountants provide accurate and timely financial information that is necessary for organization decision making.

Comprehension

1. Answer the following question about accounting. Question with asterisks cannot be answered directly from the text. Why is accounting called the “language of business”?
2. How is a standardized accounting system achieved?
3. What are revenues and expenditures?
4. What do the balance sheet and income statement have in common? How are they different?
5. *How might the information contained in financial statements be useful to managers? *How might creditors use this information?
6. How are accountans classified in the United States?
7. What kinds of services do public accountants provide?
8. What is a CPA? *Do you have a similar type of position in your country? *Explain.
9. *Which type of accounting-public, private, or governmental-appeals to you the most? *Why?
10. *What are some management decisions that might be based on accounting information?

Answer :

1. According is called the “language of business” because of its ability to communicate financial information about on organization.
2. In order to achive a standardized accounting system the accounting process follows accounting principles and rules.
3. Revenues are incoming money and expenditures are outgoing money.
4. The balance sheet and the income statement are two common financial statement. They are different, the first shows the financial position of a company of one point of time, while the second shows the financial performance of a company over a period of time.
5. The information contained in financial statements might be usefull to creditors in help them to find out whether the company will be able to repay the credit on time or not.
6. In United States, accountants are classified as public, private, and governmental.
7. Public accountant provide accounting services such as auditing and tax computation to companies and individuals.
8. A CPA is a Certified Public Accountant. Yes, we had. Formerly faculty of economic graduates of 5 elite universities got ‘Drs….AK’ degree.
9. Personal question
10. In some company financial decision making might be based on accounting information. For example the management want to expands its business to build a bigger factory to introduce new variety of goods.

* Circle the letter of the answer that best completes each of the sentences below.

1. Accounting information is used by ______to help them make financial decisions.

a. managers

b. potential investors

c. creditors

d. all of the above

2. Regardless of the type of business or the amount of money ivolved :

a. all companies use identical accounting systems

b. balance sheets are more important than income statements

c. common procedures are used in handling financial information

d. no standardized accounting system is employed

3. Business monetary transactions are summarized in :

a. bank books

b. financial statements

c. computers

d. cash registers

4. Public accountants may earn the title of CPA by :

a. becoming governmental accountans

b. paying a fee

c. fulfilling rigorous requirements

d. obtaining a Bachelor of arts degree in accounting

5. Private and governmental accountatnts are paid on a____basis.

a. salary

b. monthly

c. fee

d. weekly

Vacabulary Exercises

A. Subtitute appropriate terms for the italicized words or phrases in the sentences below.

status agencies monitored maintain independently

procedure fee hire rigorous solely

1. Many accounting departments have strict enterance requirements; only the most qualified applicants are allowed to enter these

programs. rigorous

2. The particular method used to process employee insurance claims may vary from company to company procedure

3. The stock market is closely watched every day. monitored

4. Rather than expand into foreign lines, the dress shop manager chose to deal only with domestic fashion designers. solely

5. Although the consultant’s charge for services was high, his guidance and advice were well worth the money. fee

6. The financial condition of a company is reflected in its financial statements. status

7. When the business began to expand, a second bookkeeper was brought in to help keep the books. maintain

8. In the United States there are numerous organizations that provide services at the local, state, and national levels. agencies

B. Complete the sentences with the noun, verb, and adjective forms provided.

1. Communication/to communicate/communicative

a. Supervisor should strive for two-way communication with their employees.

b. By using an overhead projector, the guest speaker was able to communicate his statistical information clearly.

c. Because of the clerk’s highly developed communicative skills, she was given a position that required her to deal directly with customers

2. Information/informed/informative

a. The owner informed his employees that they would all receive a 5 percent pay increase.

b. Getting Acquainted with Accounting, by John L. Carey, is very informative book.

c. Financial information is essential for organizational decision making.

3. Allowance/allowed/allowable

1. The supervisor lost control of his staff members after he allowed them to override his decisions.
2. When the factory was built 50 years ago, little allowance was made for remodeling and expansion.
3. Althought allowable, smoking was discouraged in the lunch room.

4. Fulfillment/fulfill/fulfilling

1. At times the assembly line worker felt a lack of profesiomal fulfillment
2. When he was promoted to production supervisor, however, his job became much more fulfilling.
3. Before the accountant could became a CPA, she had to fulfill a number of requirements.

5. Standars/has standardized/standard

1. The standard paper size in United States for business letters and memorands is 8,5 x 11 inches.
2. The computer department has standardized its procedures for storting and retrieving data.
3. Nowadays rigorous standards are enforced in the area of food processing and packaging.

C. Fill in the blanks below with the most appropriate terms the list.

parties financial statement reflected standardized allows

whereas interpretations informed communicates rigorous

An income statement is one example of a financial statement, it communicates financial information about a company over a period of time. A standardized format

Is used to present the financial information. This allows interested parties to compare one income statement to another in order to make informed financial decisions. But there is still a great deal of risk involved in financial decision making because the information reflected in an income statement is object to variety of interpretations.

Look at the reading to answer these questions.

What does each of the following refer to?

LINES WORDS REFERENTS

1 its accounting

4 them whereas parties

19 another corporation

21 one organization