What is accounting?

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) defines accounting as: -the art of recording, classifying, and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are, in part at least of financial character, and interpreting the results thereof.

That's one way to look at accounting. Other ways would be both as an art and a science. Now, I'm not trying to make something out of nothing, I truely mean what I just wrote. Accounting, to me at least, is partially an art because that information is taken and then extrapilated upon. Bussinesses make critical decisions about strategy and planning based on this information and, lets face it, there's not exactly a rule book. On the other hand, accounting involes a lot of rules about how that information is to be organized, which is definitely more science than art.

Regardless of how you define accounting there's one simple fact that cannont be ignored: every owner (and, for many businesses, every supervisor) must have an appropriate clear picture and understanding of the company finances.

What to remember? make sure to aquire the services of a CPA that has your best interest in mind and to also have in-house software that keeps track of every transaction while organizing it in a way that makes sense to you.