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Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. [1] [2] Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys this information to a variety of stakeholders, including investors, creditors, management, and regulators. [3]
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) [a] is the accounting standard adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), [1] and is the default accounting standard used by companies based in the United States.
The general ledger should include the date, description and balance or total amount for each account. Because each bookkeeping entry debits one account and credits another account in an equal amount, the double-entry bookkeeping system helps ensure that the general ledger is always in balance, thus maintaining the accounting equation:
A chart of accounts provides a listing of all financial accounts used by particular business, organization, or government agency. The system of recording, verifying, and reporting such information is called accounting. Practitioners of accounting are called accountants. [1]
Each account in the chart of accounts is typically assigned a name. Accounts may also be assigned a unique account number by which the account can be identified. Account numbers may be structured to suit the needs of an organization, such as digit/s representing a division of the company, a department, the type of account, etc.
There are three types of accounts in accounting: Personal accounts are accounts which are related to a legal person. Real accounts are accounts which are related to assets. Intangible assets are also considered as Real Accounts. Profit and Loss accounts are related to expenses, losses, income and gains. There are also subtypes of personal account:
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A ledger [1] is a book or collection of accounts in which accounting transactions are recorded. Each account has: an opening or brought-forward balance; a list of transactions, each recorded as either a debit or credit in separate columns (usually with a counter-entry on another page) and an ending or closing, or carry-forward, balance.