Accounting and Society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Accounting and Society - Research Paper Example Each business has its own industry and it has its own operational style. And, in each industry, various and numerous products and their diversified versions are available for the purpose of sale or for the purpose of subsequent processing. With the passage of time, and due to the boom and increase of diversity in the business world, it becomes more relevant and practical to introduce and implement new accounting theories and accounting standards for the purpose of harmonizing the business structure in the most appropriate and relevant structure. Thanks to this sort of thinking and approach, today, we have different specializations in the field of accounting than ever before. On the one hand, financial accounting serves the purposes and objectives of the external shareholders and stakeholders; on the other hand, management accounting helps internally; providing the best possible combination of accounting information that can be used for the purpose of making most appropriate and relev ant budget, cost, and management-related decisions. Financial accounting users prefer to see the aggregate performance of a company; for instance, they prefer to see whether the company has performed well in comparison with the financial statements of the previous year. And to what extent, the company has been successful in ensuring the achievement of its financial corporate goals and objectives. On the basis of comparative analysis, the shareholders decide and take their financial decisions. The users of financial information can be creditors, suppliers, shareholders, regulatory and government bodies and so on. It is the role of regulatory bodies like, International Accounting Standards Board, and other government bodies to ensure that whether a particular company has applied and complied with all the basic and fundamental regulations and standards. This compliance is necessary for companies and society as well. The compliance of standards ensures that the company understands the n eeds of all the relevant stakeholders and shareholders. Compliance of relevant accounting standards and legal requirements ensures shareholders that their financial investment is not at stake; rather, it is being used according to the relevant and applicable standards. In order to ensure that a company has fully or partially applied standards while preparing its annual or bi-annual financial statements, the public limited companies are required to publish their annual financial and non-financial information for the purpose of informing the general public. This explains the concept of free market, where the accounting and relevant