What is the Objective of Financial Accounting? 10 Main Objective You Should Know

Business budget and forecasting define the goals and future plans of the business and the possible set of outcomes due to the actions performed which helps to prepare the business for any circumstances. On a tactical level, financial management procedures govern how you process daily transactions, perform the monthly financial close, compare actual spending to what’s budgeted and ensure you meet auditor and tax requirements. Internal audit is conducted by the business organization with the help of paid employee who has thorough accounting knowledge. All the relevant records are maintained under the management accounting system so that the internal audit is conducted in an effective manner.

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Accounting Concepts and Conventions

Accounting information must also satisfy the qualities of being accurate, reliable and timely. The information shareholders are most concerned with is presented in the financial statements in the Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement and the notes to the financial statements. Earlier limited to shareholders and a few selected entities, today it involves reporting to communities, employees, and the general public. It also helps prevent financial frauds and scams that shake the foundation of the economy.

• Accountants assume, unless there is evidence to the contrary, that a company is not going broke.
• It aims to achieve multiple objectives that include appropriate record-keeping, profit/loss measurement, financial statement preparation, cash flow management, business valuation, tax filing, financial analysis, etc.
• Earlier limited to shareholders and a few selected entities, today it involves reporting to communities, employees, and the general public.
• Management is unable to exercise the coordination and control out of the information supplied by financial accounting system.
• The main purpose of financial accounting is to allow third parties to assess the value of a company.

The periodicity or frequency with which this data is collected depends mainly on the requirements of the organization. These organisations record their transactions such as the donations received, subscription given by members and all the expenditures. To do so, statements such as receipt and payment account, income and expenditure account and balance sheet are prepared as per the rule of accounting.

Functions of Financial Accounting

The amount of such taxes is decided based on financial results reflected through financial records. An appropriate accounting system prevailing in the company facilitates the determination of precise amounts for each tax category. Data entry is about recording all financial transactions in the accounting system; the business needs to ensure no transactions remain unrecorded. Ratio analysis helps to deeply analyze the financial performance of the business. It’s an effective way of assessing performance by comparing different figures in the financial statement.

Financial accounting is also important in terms that it helps the management to operate effectively and to implement coordination among the business processes to execute business planning. Thus, it can state that extent of management accounting analyses business data and successfully interprets it for effective business planning and decision-making to maximize profit and fully utilize resources. On the other hand, forecasting is an essential function of management accounting because it provides a business view from the stakeholders’ perspective. Business budgeting and forecasting outline the company’s goals and plans and the expected outcomes of the activities carried out to help prepare the company in case of an emergency.

Financial Accounting Definition, Nature, Scope and Limitations

Failing to specify what constitutes a “piece of collateral” or “website performance analysis” can result in cost overruns and lengthier timelines. Scope planning is the practice of organizing and allocating all aspects of the work that will be required for a project in order to complete that project. The scope is important because it helps guide project managers, directors, and supervisors to understand what is, and is not, part of the project’s scope. Interim reporting deals with the submission of financial results by means of weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly or half yearly accounts or statements to the top management. External reporting is supplying information to outsiders i.e. shareholders, banks and financial institutions. Professionals like engineers, doctors, lawyers and sportspeople also maintain their accounts to keep a tab on their income and expenditure and determine their income tax liability.

Accounting is also considered to be a means of demonstrating the current financial position of an organisation. Accounting professionals must try to mirror the current economic reality in the financial statements of an organisation. ‘Science’ is all about obtaining knowledge about a systematic pattern through observation and investigation. Similarly, accounting is the science of recording and pre- sending the financial data of an economic entity by observing and investigating the economic events through established methods. Financial accounting is applied in the recording and classification of historical financial transactions. Financial accounting achieves its objectives via three different stages that include data entry, record keeping, and reporting.

Nature of Financial Accounting:

Financial statements comprise the company’s balance sheet and the overall profit or loss produced by the business or company in the current fiscal year. Financial accounting is critical for the organization’s financial forecasts because it provides the general financial information incurred throughout the current fiscal year. Reporting the performance of an organisation as well as the state of the organisation are the primary purposes. This can be seen through alternate names for the income statement and balance that were mooted for them namely the statement of financial performance and the statement of financial position. Reporting is not limited to direct stakeholders such as shareholders, there are many who are indirect or remote stakeholders of public and private companies who rely on the information provided by financial accounting. Therefore the scope of financial accounting has evolved over the years to accommodate these various user groups in the information published in the financial statements.

Preparation of financial statements is the prime purpose of the financial accounting process. Financial statements are summarized from data entered into the accounting system. As we have mentioned many times, it is a very important process in every business organization for many reasons.

The process of financial accounting includes the preparation of financial statements regularly at the end of each accounting year for knowing operating results for a definite period. The term financial statements includes profit and loss account and balance sheet. Thus, it is concerned with financial reporting and decision making aspects of the business. Financial accounting is the process of accounting regarding the financial transactions of business organizations. It involves analyzing, recording, summarizing, and reporting of every transaction made from business operations through financial statements. Because external financial statements are used by a variety of people in a variety of ways, financial accounting has common rules known as accounting standards and as generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

Our goal is to deliver the most understandable and comprehensive explanations of financial topics using simple writing complemented by helpful graphics and animation videos. This team of experts helps Finance Strategists maintain the highest level of accuracy and professionalism possible. Our team of reviewers are established professionals with decades of experience in areas of personal finance and hold many advanced degrees and certifications. Under the “historical cost convention”, therefore, no account is taken of changing prices in the economy.