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Overview of Accounting
Introduction
One of the most significant tools, or pieces of information, available to managers today is
business data such as financial statements and managerial reports. If there is any decision
worth making in business, it is worth making it with the appropriate data to back it up and
base it on. Oliver Wendell once said, *ƒ¿*ƒ‘"€"*ƒ"€¦The significance of facts is more
important than the facts themselves, and if accountants know the significance, people may
even forget the facts*ƒ¿*ƒ‘"€"*ƒ"€¦ (Coleman, 1949, 1). One of the most valuable services
that accounting can give to management is to help accomplish their objectives by
preparing and interpreting essential data. Financial statements and managerial reports are
most often used by accountants to share pertinent facts that may be useful when the time to
make important decisions arrives (Coleman, 1949, 1).
Audiences, Purposes, and Natures of Financial Statements
Managers, CEO*ƒ¿*ƒ‘"€"*ƒ"€¦s, business owners, and other high end officials who make
major decisions for their companies, investors, potential investors, creditors, anyone with a
stake in the company, or anyone who whishes to put a stake in the company are the chief
audience for financial statements and managerial reports. These reports provide
information that is useful to present to these groups so they may make informed decisions
regarding the company. The principal qualities that make this information useful are
relevance, reliability, comparability, and consistency. The aim of this information is to
introduce the aggregated results of a company*ƒ¿*ƒ‘"€"*ƒ"€¦s transactions as they truly
are, as opposed to how someone would want them to be (Beresford, 1990). Fudging the
