- What issues is the FASB working on now? Check it out at http://www.fasb.org.
- Two good sites to learn about the latest news in the accounting industry are Accounting Today, http://www.accountingtoday.com, and AccountingWEB, http://www.accountingweb.com.
- To become more familiar with annual reports and key financial statements, head for IBM’s Guide to Financial Statements. The material offers a good overview of financial reporting and shows you what to look for when you read these documents: https://www.ibm.com/investor/help/guide.
- To find free information about business statistics and financial ratios, go to the BizStats website at http://www.bizstats.com. There you will find industry financial ratios for corporations in more than 200 different industries.
- To find out more about the accounting profession and becoming a CPA, visit the American Institute of CPAs’ website at http://www.aicpa.org, and click on the Career tab to explore various career paths in the accounting industry.
- Forensic accountants combine their accounting knowledge with investigative skills in various legal and investigative settings, looking for fraud in various accounting transactions. To learn more about this accounting specialty, go to the website of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners at http://www.acfe.com.
- A comprehensive site with information about careers in accounting, certification programs, internships, and links to many related websites can be found at http://accountingmajors.com.
- At their websites, you can learn about the types of services the Big Four accounting firms are now offering their clients: http://www.deloitte.com, http://www.kpmg.com, http://www.ey.com, and https://www.pwc.com/us/en.html.
Chapter 14 End Page
Recap
Financial information is central to every organization. To operate effectively, businesses must have a way to track income, expenses, assets, and liabilities in an organized manner. Financial information is also essential for decision-making. Managers prepare financial reports using accounting, a set of procedures and guidelines for companies to follow when preparing financial reports. Unless you understand basic accounting concepts, you will not be able to “speak” the standard financial language of businesses. This module examined the role of accounting in business, how accounting contributes to a company’s overall success, the three primary financial statements, and careers in accounting.
Resources
Looking Ahead
Next week we will cover Understanding Money and Financial Institutions.