INTRODUCING
ACCOUNTANCY
to the collection, accuracy, recording,
analysis and presentation of a business,
organization or company's financial
operations. The accountant usually has a
variety of administrative roles within a
company's operation.
REQUIRED SKILLS FOR
ACCOUNTANCY
A
4. Problem solving - the ability to discern
the true nature of a situation and evaluate
applicable principles and techniques – is
also important, as well as the ability to link
data, knowledge and insight together from
different sources and disciplines to make
informed decisions.
5. Interpersonal and effective
communication skills are essential as well
because you will be working in groups, so
being a team player helps.
ccountancy is the actual recording
and summarizing of financial transactions
is known as bookkeeping. When the data is
produced and abstracted on reports for the
use of persons outside the organization, the
process is called financial accounting.
Accountancy makes use of the information
provided by bookkeeping to classify
measure, explain and communicate
accounting information to those who need
to understand the financial positions of the
business. The use of this information also
makes it possible to forecast for the future,
analyze all areas of the business and
evaluate the business’ potential.
Accountancy is a profession. A graduate of
BS in Accountancy who passed the board
exam is called a CPA (Certified Public
Accountant), or in short an Accountant.
An accountant's job includes the
performance of financial functions related
3. Analytical skill is a must because it is
imperative to be able to review, interpret,
evaluate financial data and systems and
operational data/controls in order to form
conclusions.
6. A good grasp of the English language is
also required.
7. Commitment, patience, and hardwork
complete the necessary attitude that will
help you succeed in this course.
~A combination of knowledge, skills and
the right attitude are needed to succeed in
this course:
1. A student who is to take BS in
Accountancy must be intellectual enough
to carry out problems that need abstract
logical thinking.
2. Reasoning skill is important because this
will help in the discovery of underlying
principles between two or more objects and
use it to solve a problem.
CAREER
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN ACCOUNTANCY
GRADUATES
JOBS FOR LICENSED CPA’s
(board exam passers)
ENTRY LEVEL JOBS
1. Accounting Associate – support senior
level accountants and auditors with
administrative, bookkeeping, clerical,
accounts payable and accounts receivable
duties.
2. Audit/Tax staff – perform internal audits
and they are also hired by the IRS and
other governmental agencies to ensure that
the company is abiding by financial laws
and regulations.
3. Financial Accounting and Reporting
Staff – manage or give advice on finances
for clients or companies. Accounting staffs
handle duties such as making bills are paid
on time and taxes are deducted, and suggest
methods of cutting costs.
4. State Accounting Examiner/ State
Accountant/ LGU accountant – government
accountants help the federal government as
well as state and local agency record and
prepare financial reports in accordance
with government accounting principles and
professional standards.
an insurance company, an investment bank
or a mutual fund.
ADVANCED POSITIONS
1. Bank Teller – handles basic money
deposits, withdrawals and check-cashing
transactions.
5. Budget analyst – aids federal authorities
in evaluating budget data, estimating
revenue and expense levels, and adjusting
social programs.
2. Accounting Clerk – keeping financial
records and making computations
throughout the course of a typical workday.
6. Junior Accounting Instructor – a CPA
who teaches at a university or college
Mid-Level Positions.
7. Audit Manager – supervise the activities
of an audit department. This department
ensures that financial reports comply with
policies, laws and regulations.
8. Comptroller – comptroller supervises
income and expenditures, keeping track of
all ingoing and outgoing money
9. Senior Auditor – responsible for
analyzing and communicating financial
information; reviews the operations of a
company making sure that they comply
with corporate and government policies.
10. Senior Fraud Examiner – an expert in
fraud investigation as well as in its
prevention and deterrence.
11. Financial Services Manager – supervises
financial services sales representatives or
associates and ensures they meet business
performance requirements (sales quotas).
A financial services manager may work for
JOBS FOR NON BOARD
PASSERS
1. Senior Consultant – evaluates a
company's internal processes and
procedures, detects performance
(productivity) levels and provides
recommendations for improvement.
2. Financial Advisor – gain and retain
clients with excess money to invest.
3. Chief Financial Officer – responsible for
overseeing the financial activities of an
entire company.
4. Vice President For Finance – highest
level finance expert within a business.
3. Assistant Product Manager – works
under the leadership of a product manager,
assisting in the development of corporate
brand strategies in the short term and long
term.
4. Data Entry Operator/Clerk – responsible
for supplying accurate documentation that
may be part of a billing, patient, inventory
or customer service capacity
5. Financial Advisor
WHY IS ACCOUNTING
IMPORTANT?
Accounting is often called the“Language of
Business”, because it deals with the
interpretation of a companies’ operations
and finances. Accounting is also important
to any business force to sound management
decisions, example, Is your actual number
for sales in line with your budget? –A
review of your budget would help you
answer your question.
Accounting is extremely important because
it helps you move to the next level of your
plan for your business.
NOTE: A good accounting system
with the proper internal controls will help
you avoid areas of fraud in your business.
GUIDELINES FOR
ACCOUNTING
STUDENTS
1. Studying accounting is not like reading a
novel or even likestudying history,
sociology, or economics.
a. Each assignment in accounting
BUILDS on previous assignments. If you
do half-hearted work in Chapter 1 and 2,
youmay be confused by Chapter 3 and lost
by Chapter 4.
b. Accounting books are condensed.
Almost every sentence is
important. Scan reading just does not work!
2. Read to understand "WHY."
a. This is a technical subject, it is logical,
and itrequires reasoning.
b. Try to explain every new topic in your
own words. Putting the new ideas into your
own words is better that reciting the words
of the text a hundred times.
3. Work problems to understand
"HOW."
a. Even though you understand "why
they do that" inaccounting, you must be
able to do it yourself. This is ado-ityourself course.
4. Remember "why"and "how.
a. Go back to previous chapters and
notes to refresh your memory. Rework
problems that were difficult for you. Try
PREPARING FOR EXAMS
towork extra problems that are similar to
the assigned homework.
1.Be specific in your study; concentrate on
the things whichseem to be most important.
a. Note items that the instructor emphasizes
in class.
b. Note homework problems that are
assigned.
The REVIEW-AS-YOU-GO plan
produces better results, doesn'ttake as long,
and saves all that last minute worry and
sacrificeof other courses. The forgetting
curve is the mirror image of
the learning curve. You forget as fast as
you learn.
It is a scientific fact that information
that has beenforgotten requires that it be
relearned, requiring the same timeit took to
learn it the first time.
5. If there is something you do not
understand, preparespecific questions to ask
your instructor. Some students keep
anotebook of points with which they have
questions. PIN-POINT THE ITEMS THAT
YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. Don't make
vague comments toyour instructor such as
"I don't understand any of thismaterial."
Such statements are a strong indication to
theinstructor that you have made no
attempt to try to understand,and will
receive very little sympathy or help.
MAKE BEST USE OF
CLASS TIME
1. Classes are never interesting unless you
TAKE PART.
2. ALWAYS BE PREPARED before you
go to class.
3. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK
QUESTIONS. If you have a question,
at least ten other students probably have
the same question butare afraid to ask
because it might sound like a dumb
question.
4. Students who make FAILING GRADES
also fail to attendclasses, fail to pay
attention during class, fail to have
theirhomework,and fail to ask the
instructor for help until it is toolate.
****Remember, when you start your career
after graduation, excuseswon't be a
substitute for poor performance; nor will it
earn youa grade in this course.
2. Do not stop with just "getting the
idea." Be sure that youcan work problems
without the aid of the book. Practice by
teaching the material to someone else.
Study groups of two or
three students work well for this purpose.
3. Every exam has an element of speed.
Have your "hows" and "whys" at your
finger tips. If you are slow, you probably
needto study more.
4. The questions on exams approach the
material from a slightlydifferent angle to
test your ability to REASON AND
UNDERSTAND rather than your ability to
memorize.
5. When taking exams, many points are
lost and questions missedbecause the
student does not READ THE PROBLEM.
This isespecially true with multiple choice
questions. Read what thequestion is really
asking, not what you think or want it to
ask.AVOID CARELESS ERRORS. On each
exam, assume that you havemade several
careless errors and allow enough time at
the end ofthe exam to look for them.
6. An excellent strategy to use when taking
an exam is toquickly look through the
entire exam and answer all of thequestions
that are easy for you. Those are "sure"
points andhelp to relieve the pressure when
you go back to work on the moredifficult
and time-consuming problems.
7. The greatest weakness in a student's
ability to take an examis to keep up a good
STEADY PACE without the clock causing
the student to panic. Remember, when you
panic by constantlythinking about the time
factor, the mind closes up on you andthat
ends any chance you have to do well. It is
better toconcentrate on answering only
80% of the questions and gettingthem all
correct than to answer all of the question
and missinghalf of them. Of course it is best
to answer all of the questionsand get them
all correct, which is only possible if
youconcentrate, keep your composure, and
maintain a steady pace.
SOME OTHER ISSUES
ABOUT ACCOUNTING
1. Whether cultural and
economic differences
between the U.S. and Japan
will prevent U.S. firms from
successfully implementing
Japanese and Deming
management methods.
This deals with the ability of American
companies to compete with the Japanese, is
fairly comprehensive and extremely
thought provoking. This issue obviously
extends well beyond the field of accounting,
but relates to how the economic system
affects accounting and vice versa.
Researching this question reveals the
source of most of the other controversial
questions. Nearly every new controversy in
management accounting has been created
by the fact that American and Japanese
management and accounting practices are
based on two entirely different economic
models.
Critics of the American system contend that
successfully competing in today's global
economy requires a whole new set of
attitudes and assumptions about how to
optimize the benefits obtained from
economic activity. Becoming or remaining
globally competitive requires adopting the
lean production paradigm including the
concepts of JIT and continuous
improvement. However, the foundation for
these concepts is cooperation across the
company's value chain, and a long run
emphasis on investing in human resources
and technology. These ideas are
inconsistent with the assumptions
underlying the American system which
emphasize competition as the way to
optimize economic performance. As a
result, Americans are too individualistic,
too self-centered, too competitive, too
heavily oriented towards short term profit
and consumption, and too anti-government
to successfully implement these team
oriented concepts. On the other hand,
Japan's culture and economic system fit the
requirements perfectly. The Japanese
people identify with work groups and teams
which emphasize collective performance
rather than individual performance.
Cooperation between individuals, employees
and management, departments, companies,
industries, and government and business
are key ingredients in the Japanese system.
Defenders admit that Americans are
individualistic and competitive, but point
out that teamwork is certainly not a foreign
concept. Americans do work together in a
crisis and tend to be more creative than
their Japanese counterparts. Although
there have been some failed attempts to
implement JIT and related ideas, there are
a growing number of success stories and
some notable green field factories based on
these concepts (e.g., Saturn). Changing
from an individualistic system to a
networked or team oriented system must be
accomplished in stages, but there are no
insoluble problems to prevent American
companies from adapting to the new
competitive model. A system defines the
behavior of the individuals working within
the system and the theory of management
needed for systemic change is readily
available in the works of Deming and
others. Initiating the change merely
requires a commitment from the top of an
organization. "When the student is ready,
the teacher will come."
2. Whether constrained
optimization techniques
such cost/benefit analysis,
EOQ and the economic
conformance model for
quality costs, are useful
decision tools, rather than
incompatible with the TQM
continuous improvement
initiative.
Briefly, the controversy is based on the idea
that management by constrained
optimization techniques tends to view the
environment as static, while management
by continuous improvement views the
environment as dynamic. For example,
critics of the economic conformance model
for optimizing quality costs argue that the
technique is based on the belief that an
optimum quality level exists. Thus, the
model is inconsistent with the concept of
continuous improvement because it places
emphasis on finding the static optimum
rather than continuously eliminating
constraints. This controversy leads to the
thought provoking question of whether the
quality level for a company's products and
services can be too high, where quality is
defined as conformance to specifications.
Advocates of the various optimization
models contend that the techniques are not
intended to provide final, once and for all
answers to questions concerning order
quantities, product mix, production
quantities and quality levels. Instead, these
tools should be used to assist in the
continuous improvement process by testing
the sensitivity of optimum solutions as
constraints are relaxed or eliminated. Used
in this way, these quantitative models
promote dynamic, rather than static
optimization and are not at all inconsistent
with the continuous improvement
initiative.
3. ASIA-PACIFIC
COMPANIES LOSING
$300,000 TO FRAUD
The Asia-Pacific median loss was
"significantly higher" than the global
median loss of $160,000, according to the
report, entitled "Report to the Nations on
Occupational Fraud and Abuse Asia-Pacific
Edition."
Of the 338 fraud cases in the region, China
posted the most number of cases (62),
followed by India (37), Australia (29),
Indonesia (27) and the United Arab
Emirates (27).
For the Philippines, said Scott
Patterson,ACFE media relations specialist,
16 case studies showed organizations lost a
median of $100,000 per scheme.
He said in an e-mail response that expense
reimbursement in the form of claiming
personal travels and nonexistent meals was
the most prevalent irregularity with a total
of six cases; followed by fund
misappropriation stealing from the
company vault, with four incidents.
Other fraudulent acts committed by
Filipino employees include skimming or
pocketing of money from an unrecorded
sale (three cases); billing the employer for a
service not rendered and purchasing
personal items and submitting invoice to
employer for payment (three); bribery,
extortion and conflicts of interest (three);
voiding of a sale and stealing cash (two);
claiming overtime for hours not worked or
adding ghost employees to the payroll
(two); stealing of blank company checks or
outgoing checks to a vendor (two); stealing
cash and checks from daily receipts before
these are deposited (one); and intentional
misstatement of material information in
financial statements (one).
The report said respondent estimate that an
organization loses about 5% of annual
revenue to fraud, which usually lasted a
median of 12 months before discovery or
detection.
It added that asset misappropriation was
the most common type of occupational
fraud, occurring in 80% of all cases.
However, financial statement fraud was
found to be the most expensive category,
with a median loss of $4.3 million.
Forty-three percent of fraud cases were also
detected through a tip. It was the most
usual fraud detection practice compared to
a management review and internal audit
REFERENCES:
-www.finduniversity.ph/majors/bs-in-accountancy-philippines
-www.aat.org.uk/qualifications/what-is-accountancy
-washingtonconsultants.blogspot.com/…/3-reasons-why-accounting-is-important
-www.123rf.com/stock-photo/accounting.html
-www.csun.edu/~vcact00g/m1a.txt
-maaw.info/IssuesMain.htm
TRICIA MAE V. ADAWI
BSA-1G
October 18, 2014
MWF 1:10-2:35 PM