what is accounting 
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 investopedia jiaqi zhouunderstanding accountingaccounting is one of the key functions of almost any business a bookkeeper or an accountant may handle it at a small firm at larger companies there might be sizable finance departments guided by a unified accounting manual with dozens of employees the reports generated by various streams of accounting such as cost accounting and managerial accounting are invaluable in helping management make informed business decisions the financial statements that summarize a large company s operations financial position and cash flows over a particular period are concise and consolidated reports based on thousands of individual financial transactions as a result all professional accounting designations are the culmination of years of study and rigorous examinations combined with a minimum number of years of practical accounting experience history of accountingthe history of accounting has been around almost as long as money itself accounting history dates back to ancient civilizations in mesopotamia egypt and babylon for example during the roman empire the government had detailed records of its finances however modern accounting as a profession has only been around since the early 19th century 1luca pacioli is considered the father of accounting and bookkeeping due to his contributions to the development of accounting as a profession an italian mathematician and friend of leonardo da vinci pacioli published a book on the double entry system of bookkeeping in 1494 2by 1880 the modern profession of accounting was fully formed and recognized by the institute of chartered accountants in england and wales 3this institute created many of the systems by which accountants practice today the formation of the institute occurred in large part due to the industrial revolution merchants not only needed to track their records but sought to avoid bankruptcy as well the alliance for responsible professional licensing arpl was formed in august 2019 in response to a series of state deregulatory proposals making the requirements to become a cpa more lenient the arpl is a coalition of various advanced professional groups including engineers accountants and architects 4