Accountancy

Modern accountancy is the analysis of economic information and so that a customer or user of the information can make informed financial and economic decisions.

A key method that is used in Accountancy is the 'double entry' bookkeeping method. This means that for a given transaction there must be at least two corresponding entries - one for debits and one for credits. The sum of the debit must equal the sum of the credit and this gives Accountants a key way to check for mistakes. This system has been around a very long time and can be seen to have been used in medieval times in Europe. However, it is thought that it could originate from as early as ancient roman and Greek times. This method is has not changed greatly over the years either.

The practice of accounting actually dates back to ancient civilization when it was used to keep track of agriculture records and make sure that everything was in order. A very early form of accounting is even mentioned in the bible!

Nowadays there are many accounting firms but there are four in particular which are generally considered to be amongst some of the largest. PricewaterhouseCooper, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Deloitte Touche Tomatsu. These companies are multinational firms.

There are a few organisations and boards that are responsible for auditing and monitoring accounting procedures. Internationally these are the international federation of accountants and the international accounting standards boards. In the UK this responsibility lies with the accounting standards board. A survey in 2005 found that the income of the top 50 biggest firms in the UK has risen for the first time in two successive years. Sales of the consultancy parts of some of the larger firms meant that profits had fallen in the two years previous to this.