Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the processing of information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. 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. Practitioners of accounting are known as accountants. The terms "accounting" and "financial reporting" are often used as synonyms.
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certified Accountant or Certified Public Accountant, or Registered Public Accountant. Such professionals are granted certain responsibilities by statute, such as the ability to certify an organization's financial statements, and may be held liable for professional misconduct. Non-qualified accountants may be employed by a qualified accountant, or may work independently without statutory privileges and obligations.
A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether "financial statements" are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are international accounting standards, although auditors may conduct audits of financial statements prepared using the cash basis or some other basis of accounting appropriate for the organization. In providing an opinion whether financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with accounting standards, the auditor gathers evidence to determine whether the statements contain material errors or other misstatements.
Chartered accountants were the first accountants to form a professional accounting body, initially established in Scotland in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants (1854), the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries (1854) and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants (1867) were each granted a royal charter almost from their inception. The title is an internationally recognised professional designation; the certified public accountant designation is generally equivalent to it. Women were able to become chartered accountants only following the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 after which, in 1920, Mary Harris Smith was recognised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and became the first woman chartered accountant in the world.
Accounting scholarship is an academic discipline oriented towards the profession of accounting, usually taught at a business school.
Founded in 1904, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants(ACCA) is the global professional accounting body offering the Chartered Certified Accountant qualification (ACCA). It has 240,952 members and 541,930 future members worldwide. ACCA's headquarters are in London with principal administrative office in Glasgow. ACCA works through a network of over 110 offices and centres in 51 countries - with 346 Approved Learning Partners (ALP) and more than 7,600 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide employee development.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) is a professional accountancy body in Nigeria. It is one of the two professional accountancy associations with regulatory authority in Nigeria, the other being the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN). The relationship between the two organizations has been tense. In 2007 ICAN attempted to have a bill declaring ANAN void.
Ruth Dianne Hines also "Ruth Diana Hines" was an Australian Accounting academic at Macquarie University from 1978 to 1994, part of the Alternative or Critical Perspectives on Accounting movement. She is best known for her 1988 paper, "Financial Accounting: in Communicating Reality, We Construct Reality". Google Scholar in August-2018 shows this cited 1214 times, comparing well to the 8160 of the 1968 "Ball and Brown" paper, winner of the inaugural "Seminal Paper" in Economics award.
Dr. Vivian Carpenter is an accounting academic and business executive. She focuses her academic research on institutional theory, public sector accounting, and the political effects of adoption of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) by the public sector.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) is an association of accounting organizations in the Caribbean region that promotes professionalism and standards of best practice in the region.
Accounting, Organizations and Society is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier. Its editors-in-chief are Marcia Annisette, Mark E. Peecher, and Keith Robson. The journal focuses on the relationships between accounting and both human behaviour and organizations' structures, processes, social, and political environments: that is, relationships among accounting, organizations, and society.
Joni J Young is an American accounting academic.
Yves Gendron is a Canadian accounting academic at Laval University in Quebec. He is a qualitative researcher, largely known for his studies in corporate governance, social accountability of auditors, and professional legitimacy. He is co-editor-in-chief of Critical Perspectives on Accounting.
Cheryl Lehman, also professionally known as Cheryl R. Lehman, is a professor at Hofstra University and an accounting academic.
Bridgid Annisette-George is a Trinidad and Tobago lawyer and politician. She has been the Speaker of House of Representatives of Trinidad and Tobago since 2015, the second female to hold the position and currently the world's second longest female incumbent to consecutively hold the office of Speaker. She previously served as a Senator and the third female Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago for the PNM before resigning to return to her private law practice.
The Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka, is a professional body offering qualification in management accountancy in Sri Lanka.
Prem Nath Sikka, Baron Sikka is a British-Indian accountant and academic. He holds the position of Professor of Accounting at the University of Sheffield, and is Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex.
Christine Cooper is a British accounting academic. She holds a Chair in Accounting at the University of Edinburgh Business School and is co-editor-in-chief of Critical Perspectives on Accounting. Her research examines the economic, political and social impact of accounting.
Jane Andrew is an Australian academic who is an associate professor of accounting at the University of Sydney Business School and co-editor-in-chief of Critical Perspectives on Accounting. Andrew's research focuses on environmental accounting and on accountability in public policy. Andrew has also been a prominent critic of prison privatization in Australia.
