Accounting is the measuring, and disclosure or provision of
assurance about information that helps managers and other
decision makers make resource allocation decisions. How to
become an Accountant.
Accountants in the US are called Certified Public Accountants
and in the UK and Canada are called Chartered Accountants.
Chartered Accountants in Canada are expected to know all US CPA
knowledge as well as a Canadian Accounting body of knowledge. In
order to become an Accountant an undergraduate degree is
required and then a period of articling is required which can
take as long as 5 years with gruelling exams and an exhausting
series of finals.
In her notes compiled in 1979, Professor Linda Plunkett of the
College of Charleston S.C., calls accounting the "oldest
profession"; in fact, since prehistoric times families had to
account for food and clothing to face the cold seasons.
Later, as man began to trade, they established the concept of
value and developed a monetary system. Evidence of accounting
records can be found in the Babylonian Empire (4500 B.C.), in
pharaohs' Egypt and in the Code of Hammurabi (2250 B.C.).
Eventually, with the advent of taxation, record keeping became a
necessity for governments to sustain social orders. Perhaps the
most significant benefits to contemporary accounting has been
the introduction of computer programs to assist in the
accounting function.
Computer programs were introduced in business and government
organizations in the 1950s, and the most important applications
of computers have been in the areas of record keeping, balancing
, and transaction recording.
Accounting uses various bases of measurement, mainly the cash
basis, the accrual basis (or historical cost) and variations of
these; all of these functions are greatly assisted by the use of
various accounting software programs.
Accounting is tied to the invention and dissemination of the
double entry bookkeeping process.
Different Accounting Software Solutions available today:
ACCPAC web-based accounting, launched the ACCPAC Online web site
in 1999 which allows end users to run ACCPAC from a simple
browser for a small monthly rental fee.
Intuit's QuickBooks for the Web represents a new product from
scratch. Microsoft Small Business Manager is a new player on the
block which is a scaled down version of Great Plains Accounting
Software.
Netledger centralized net computing renamed Oracle Small
Business Manager Peachtree. This product was the older Peachtree
Office Accounting product and is also a web-based solution. In
2000, Peachtree added a web-based module to its' flagship
Peachtree Complete Accounting product called Peachtree Web
Accounting.
SAP mySAP - web-based accounting featuring a limited number of
SAP modules.
So it appears that there are 2 different types of Accounting
Software:
Web Based Accounting: which is one application on a Web Server
running everybody's application. There are of course advantages
and disadvantages to this type of application, immediately
coming to mind is confidentiality and the security of the
Servers being used as well as possible breakdowns. Advantages
are of course in being able to use unlimited Server Resources.
And then there is PC Based accounting which everybody has tried
and is Bill Gates favorite.
Advantages;
In-house control of everything but subject to limited resources.
About the author:
Frank Hague is very interested in Accounting Software. You can
find more Accounting Software information at;
http://www.accounting-software-now.info
