Introduction

Welcome to Accounting, Business and Society! Chapter 1 will provide an understanding of accounting in business and society. Many people have a misconception of what accounting is and what an accountant does. Some associate accounting as just a dull process of recording transactions in journals and ledgers, while others view the accountant as a boring bookkeeper with repetitive tasks such as data entry and balancing the books. However, accounting is a lot more than just recording and reporting transactions, it is also about what we do with the information created which has many uses in business and our everyday living.

Chapter outline

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Have an understanding of the role of in business and society
2. Describe how accounting systems play a role in providing information to enable informed decision making
3. Analyse the effect of accounting transactions on the accounting equation