Accounting definition

Pinyin: kuài jì

English: accounting

Dictionary definition: ① The work of supervising and managing finances, main content Fill in various [1] accounting vouchers, handle accounting, prepare various related reports, etc.

② Personnel who perform accounting work.

Professional definition: Accounting uses currency as the main unit of measurement and uses a series of specialized methods and procedures to conduct continuous, systematic and comprehensive accounting and supervision of economic transactions or events, provide economic information, and participate in forecasting A management activity of decision-making

Accounting is a management activity that confirms, measures and reports the economic activities of a unit, makes predictions, participates in decision-making and supervises, aiming to achieve the best economic benefits.

Accounting can be divided into two parts: financial accounting and management accounting.

Financial accounting: Prepare financial statements to provide information to internal and external users of the enterprise. Financial accounting information is available to a wide range of users. Its focus is on reporting financial and operating conditions.

Management accounting: mainly provides information to the management of the enterprise as a basis for decision-making by various departments within the enterprise. There is no standard model and it is not controlled by accounting standards.

The functions of accounting are mainly to reflect and control the process of economic activities, ensure the legality, authenticity, accuracy and completeness of accounting information, provide necessary financial information for managing the economy, and participate in decision-making to seek the best economic benefits. .

Accounting Schools

Accounting researchers have a hundred schools of thought contending and a hundred flowers blooming in accounting research. Under the guidance of their own world views and values, and based on different perspectives, they have formed different understandings of the nature of accounting. , formed a rich and colorful accounting school, greatly enriched accounting theory, and also reflected the value of individual independent thinking. As the saying goes, "Spring is full of purples and reds." Now I will give an introduction to the basic schools of accounting, in order to open the door to accounting research, unlock your wisdom, and further enrich accounting theory.

1. Management tool perspective

Management tool perspective is an understanding of the nature of accounting, which believes that accounting is a tool for managing the economy. This view was popular in my country from the 1950s to the 1980s. In the 1950s, some accounting principles textbooks pointed out that accounting is a type of economic accounting and a tool that reflects various economic facts or economic phenomena in the economic process.

2. Management activities perspective

The management activities perspective is an understanding of the nature of accounting. It believes that accounting is an activity that manages the production process, that is, accounting itself. It has the function of management and is a management activity. This school believes that accounting management is people's "control and concept summary of the production process", and the content of management is the "regulation of labor time and the distribution of social labor among various types of production."

At the founding conference of the Accounting Society of China in 1980, Professor Yan Dawu and Professor Yang Jiwan jointly published a paper entitled "Some Opinions on Carrying out Accounting Theoretical Research in my country - Also Discussing the Scientific Attributes of Accounting". This academic paper first proposed the concept of "accounting management" and regarded accounting as a management activity. Later, Professor Yan Dawu continued to conduct in-depth research and published two monographs, "Special Topics in Accounting Theory" and "Theory and Practice of Responsible Accounting" in 1985 and 1987 respectively, marking the initial formation of accounting management theory. Among them, "Special Topics in Accounting Theory" is a monograph devoted to "Management Activity Theory".

3. Information System Perspective

Information System Perspective is an essential view of accounting. It is believed that accounting is essentially an economic information system that mainly provides financial information.

The development of information systems theory began in the 1920s and 1930s. The reasons for its development were (1) the economic crisis of 1929-1933, which forced the accounting profession to re-understand its professional image and the role of accounting. Essential characteristics; (2) Before and after World War II, some new instrumental disciplines such as systems theory, information theory, and cybernetics were brewed and born in the United States; by the 1960s, systems theory and information theory were applied to almost all fields. (3) After the invention of electronic computers, they were quickly applied to all aspects of social life. In the mid-1950s, electronic computers began to be used in payroll management. After that, they quickly spread to the main fields of accounting. New ideas and new technologies brought by information science have opened up the minds of accountants. People began to re-explore and understand the nature and role of accounting.

In 1966, the American Accounting Association proposed in the document "On Basic Accounting Theory" that accounting is basically an information system. The so-called accounting information systems theory is nothing more than using the perspective of information systems theory to re-understand and define the essence of accounting.

In 1980, Professor Yu Xuying of Xiamen University first clearly stated that accounting is an information system, and later elaborated on it through the papers of Professor Ge Jiashu and others. Accounting is an economic information system that mainly provides financial information. It was gradually accepted by the academic community and was listed as the two mainstream views on the nature of accounting in my country in the 1980s along with the management activity theory.

The main viewpoints are based on information theory and system theory. System theory emphasizes that the goal is the prerequisite for the existence and operation of the system. Therefore, the accounting information system naturally has a goal.

Accounting objectives: Provide economic information based on financial systems. There is a debate over decision usefulness and fiduciary responsibility over what information should be provided and to whom. The former believes that accounting information systems6 should provide current and potential investors (debt investors) with the information they need to make investment decisions; the latter believes that accounting should provide current investors with a reflection of the management authority’s entrusted information on the performance of responsibilities. In terms of information quality characteristics, decision usefulness requires that the information provided should be directly relevant to decision-making: while the fiduciary responsibility concept believes that reflecting the authenticity of the economic activities of the reporting entity is the primary criterion.

Accounting function: providing information-based reflection is the most important function, while supervision is a secondary and derived function.

Accounting objects: Information systems theory distinguishes between objects that are reflected and controlled and objects that are directly processed. The former is an aspect of corporate operating activities that can be expressed in currency, that is, the movement of funds; the latter refers to the information sent during the movement of operating funds. Information system theory decomposes the entire accounting process into four links: confirmation, measurement, recording and reporting. It believes that confirmation is recording the data of various economic activities into the accounting system according to the essential characteristics of accounting elements. It includes initial confirmation and re-confirmation. Step 1: Quantify the impact of each specific economic business on each accounting element according to its monetary unit, which is measurement. When it comes to the specific value, there are different options such as historical cost and fair market value; recording uses the double-entry bookkeeping method to specifically reflect each economic activity. According to different operating methods, it is divided into manual operating system and computerized operating system; accounting system The final information output is the report. Current reporting consists mainly of general statements.

Information systems theory is an inevitable stage of social development. Information theory, system theory and other instrumental disciplines are widely used. At the same time, after electronic computers are also popularized, people's understanding of accounting is an inevitable result. It embodies the essential characteristics of accounting at a certain stage and in a specific environment. The theoretical and methodological system formed with information systematization as the core can adapt to the requirements of specific social environments. However, society is constantly changing and developing, and people's understanding is also constantly evolving. It is certain that in the future, people's understanding of the nature of accounting will develop based on information systems theory.

4. Accounting Art Perspective

Accounting Art Perspective is an understanding of the nature of accounting. It believes that accounting is a way to record, classify and summarize an enterprise's transactions and The art of reporting its results. The school's definition of accounting is: "Accounting is the art of recording, classifying, summarizing, and explaining transactions that have, or at least partly have, a financial character in a meaningful way and in monetary terms. the resultant result”. The connotation of the word "art": Art is partly science. But the art also includes the kind of creative skills that add emphasis to the ability of accountants to apply their knowledge to solve specific problems.

In fact, accounting is not an art, but a technology, but it shows a certain degree of "art" in calculating accounts, summarizing accounts, finding balances, and the combination of various subjects in accounting statements. Form skills or techniques; accounting judgments, accounting estimates, accounting reasoning, etc. performed by accountants in accounting work also reflect the artistic side of accounting.

5. Accounting Control Perspective

Accounting Control Perspective is an understanding of the nature of accounting. This school is based on the perspective of accounting’s active role in macro management. Accounting has developed accounting from "passive reflection" to "combination of passive reflection and active control", and has developed accounting information from "external attributes" to "combination of external attributes and intrinsic attributes". Its representative figure is Yang Shizhan Professor and Professor Guo Daoyang, among whom Professor Yang Shizhan believes: Modern accounting is a system that aims to identify fiduciary responsibilities and uses decision-making as a means to classify, record, summarize, and communicate an entity's economic matters based on monetary measurement and generally accepted principles and standards. control system. Professor Guo Daoyang believes that modern accounting is a socially significant control activity in which accounting managers achieve systematic control of property rights relations, value movement processes and their results in the market economy through the collaborative operation of accounting information systems and accounting control systems. .

In short, Professor Yang Shizhan and Professor Guo Daoyang jointly promoted the formation and development of accounting control system theory. According to the perspective of accounting control systems theory, 1. Modern accounting is a system that aims to determine fiduciary responsibilities and controls enterprises and institutions through information and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and standards. 2. Accounting control is a kind of comprehensive control, which means to combine the past, present and future, to combine before, during and after the event, and to combine micro, meso and macro; accounting control can be divided into central control layer There are three levels: computerized control layer and business cycle control layer; the accounting system can be divided into accounting information system and accounting control system. 3. The purpose of accounting is to identify and discharge fiduciary responsibilities. 4. The essence of accounting is fiduciary responsibility. 5. The object of accounting is fiduciary responsibility. 6. The basic functions of accounting are reflection and control, of which reflection is the foundation, control is the destination, and so on.

It can be seen that accounting control system theory has enriched my country's accounting theory and practice with its unique connotation. In particular, accounting control system theory has been accompanied by debates with accounting management activity theory and accounting information system theory since its emergence. These debates have enlivened the atmosphere of accounting theory research, and because it mainly draws on Western perspectives, it has made Chinese people more aware of Understanding the fiduciary responsibility theory and cybernetics that are intended to replace information systems theory not only enriches the Chinese people's vision, but also has very practical significance for strengthening accounting management and promoting accounting development.

6. Information System-Management Activity Theory

In the 1980s, two schools of thought on the nature of accounting emerged in my country: "information systems theory" and "management activity theory" , and launched a heated debate. "Information system theory" believes that: "Accounting is an information system; it mainly provides consulting services to management through objective and scientific information. The accounting department is a service department of the enterprise, and accountants occupy the position of consultants and consultants in the enterprise. They provide the data needed for the enterprise management department to correctly carry out optimal management, decision-making and effective operations, but they do not directly carry out management and decision-making. Accountants only have consulting and advisory functions and do not directly perform management functions." The function of accounting is to reflect and control, but the main emphasis is that reflection is basic and first. Accounting itself only provides the information required for economic activities. The "management activity theory" believes that accounting is not only a management method, but also management itself and an important part of economic management. "Accounting, a social phenomenon, belongs to the category of management and is a management activity of people."

The focus of the debate between the above two views is whether accounting itself is a management activity or a method of providing information for management. There is no absolute contradiction between the two views, they just look at the problem from different angles. Based on this, Professor Wu Shuipeng proposed a new perspective that combines the "two theories" into one, that is, "accounting is both an information system and a management activity." In order to fulfill the responsibilities given by the above accounting essence, modern accounting is composed of two branches: financial accounting and management accounting. Financial accounting focuses on providing information to the outside world, and management accounting focuses on serving the internal operation and management of enterprises. The formation and development of the two major accounting systems have greatly enriched the content of accounting science and expanded the traditional functions of accounting. The role of accounting is no longer limited to historical descriptions of corporate financial status and operating results, but to further utilize these Information to predict economic prospects, participate in decision-making, plan for the future and control the present to improve economic efficiency.

7. Accounting Contract Theory

As one of the most basic social systems that regulates various human transaction activities, contracts have a purpose in maintaining transaction security and contributing to economic growth. ***see. Accounting is a social contract arrangement that confirms, measures, records and reports the economic rights and responsibilities of all parties to a transaction. Its function is mainly reflected in accounting standards and other agreed accounting systems. It is these standards and systems that constitute the main body of the accounting contract and stipulate the behavioral constraints and benefit-sharing boundaries of the participants in the enterprise contract. Different accounting contract contents (accounting standards and accounting policy choices) will lead to different distribution of corporate property rights among various entities.

Contractual research in accounting originated from the development of contract theory. According to the perspective of contract theory, from the essence of accounting to the objects, purposes, processes and results of accounting, all reflect some degree of contract attributes. The contract theory believes that "an enterprise is a coupled body of several contracts" and a community of interests formed by mutual contracts between stakeholders, and accounting standards play an indispensable role in the ex-ante formulation, in-process supervision and post-event reflection of these contracts. Or lack of effect. As we all know, accounting, as the internal game rules of the corporate contract coupling, can determine the rights of agents within the corporate organization, detail the criteria for judging the agent's performance and the method of payment of remuneration, thus becoming the core content of the overall contract mechanism of the enterprise. At the same time, accounting also has many functions such as contribution measurement, interest determination, contract performance information provision, maintaining the liquidity of the contracting entity's market position, and providing common knowledge in negotiation games. In view of this, accounting contracts are not only an important component of the overall contract structure of the enterprise, but also the main body of the enterprise's capital structure and governance structure, occupying a central position in the coupling body of enterprise contracts.