Accounting is the process of recording financial transactions pertaining to a business. The accounting process includes summarizing, analyzing and reporting these transactions to oversight agencies, regulators and tax collection entities. The financial statements used in accounting are a concise summary of financial transactions over an accounting period, summarizing a company's operations, financial position and cash flows. Accounting is one of the key functions for almost any business. It may be handled by a bookkeeper or an accountant at a small firm, or by sizable finance departments with dozens of employees at larger companies. The reports generated by various streams of accounting, such as cost accounting and managerial accounting, are invaluable in helping management make informed business decisions.

"Accounting or accountancy is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities Accounting can be divided into several fields including financial accounting, management accounting, external auditing, tax accounting and cost accounting.Accounting information systems are designed to support accounting functions and related activities. Financial accounting focuses on the reporting of an organization's financial information, including the preparation of financial statements, to the external users of the information, such as investors, regulators and suppliers;and management accounting focuses on the measurement, analysis and reporting of information for internal use by management.The recording of financial transactions, so that summaries of the financials may be presented in financial reports, is known as bookkeeping, of which double-entry bookkeeping is the most common system.such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the ""language of business"", measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys this information to a variety of users, including investors, creditors, management, and regulators.Practitioners of accounting are known as accountants. The terms ""accounting"" and ""financial reporting"" are often used as synonyms."