Accounting - Three Major Areas

There are three major functional areas in accounting, which need to be considered in modern day accounting for any business. The three are financial, cost and management accounting.

The first area, namely financial accounting, is primarily useful for ascertaining the results of the business on a periodical basis; for example, one year. This will help to determine the future course of action in the long term. In economical terms, financial accounting treats money as a factor of production.

Cost and management accounting are tools to enable management to take decisions on a day-to-day basis. Cost and management accounting are not useful for their own sake. These two functions assist management in the conduct of the business along with other key factors involved in running of the business. Key factors could be demand, supply, competition, availability of raw material, logistics etc.

The Types Of Accounting

Accounting is the art of analyzing and interpreting data. It may not be apparent to some but every business and every individual uses accounting in some form. An individual may knowingly or unknowingly use accounting when he evaluates his financial information and relays the results to others. Accounting is an indispensable tool in any business, may it be small or multi-national.

The term "accounting" covers many different types of accounting on the basis of the group or groups served. The following are the types of accounting.

1. Private or Industrial Accounting: This type of accounting refers to accounting activity that is limited only to a single firm. A private accountant provides his skills and services to a single employer and receives salary on an employer-employee basis. The term private is applied to the accountant and the accounting service he renders. The term is used when an employer-employee type of relationship exists even though the employer is some case is a public corporation.

Top Accounting School Rankings

When thinking about starting school for accounting, you want to research which schools there are along with the accounting school rankings. You would not want to attend a school that is not set up totally to full fill your needs.

There are so many colleges and universities that say they offer the best traditional, long distance, or online education but it is better to research for your self how they stand in the accounting school rankings.

There are several entities that rank schools and among them are BUSINESS WEEK, US NEWS, WORLD REPORT and NEWSWEEK. These companies research through all the business schools on their curriculum, graduation rate, academic resources, student activity, faculty resources, grade output, university connections, and on the financial status of the school.

Its important to know everything you can about the accounting school. Rankings will help you to make a good decision on what school is going to help you get your career started.