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Financial Statements

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Submitted By Tina1981
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Financial Statements

ACC/280
July 23, 2011
Cary Schulz, Facilitator Financial Statements Accounting is a critical aspect of any organization; without accounting a business will not be successful. This paper will inform one of the purposes of accounting; the four basic financial statements; how the basic financial statements are interrelated; and why they are useful for managers, investors, creditors, and employees. Accounting is crucial for every business.
Purpose of Accounting
Accounting is the information system that records, identifies, and communicates an organization’s economic events to interested users (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2008). The definition of financial accounting is the field of accounting that treats money as a means of measuring an organization’s economic performance as opposed to a factor of production. This is comparable to cost accounting (Walden University, 2011).
Financial accounting involves the entire system of controlling and monitoring money as it comes in and out of the organization as liabilities and assets; as well as revenues and expenses (Walden University, 2011). Financial accounting pulls together and summarizes the financial data to produce financial reports, such as a balance sheet and income statement for an organization’s investors, lenders, management, tax authorities, suppliers, and other stakeholders (Walden University, 2011). Financial accounting provides financial and economic data for creditors, investors, and other external users (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2008). Taxing authorities want to know whether the company complies with tax laws (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2008). In addition, regulatory agencies want to know whether the company is operating within prescribed rules (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2008). Also, customers are interested in whether a company will continue to honor product

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