accounting
...obtain money from sources such as payments from customers, loans from banks, and new investments from owners. In preparing plans, the finance department identifies and evaluates alternative sources of funds. In addition, finance analyzes alternative investment opportunities to identify which to take and which to reject. With this information, the finance department uses the accounting information about actual cash flows and evaluating past decisions to function. Human Resource Department All organizations require efforts from people. As a result. employees must be located, screened, hired, trained, compensated, promoted, and counseled. The human resource department function is responsible for handling all these tasks of the organizations. The accounting aspect that helps the human resource department function is the payroll and its costs. Employees need to be paid in order to work for the company and their wages or salaries are expenses to the company in which an organization must report for profits/losses and taxes. Research and Development Department As economics tells us, the law of supply and demand, companies need to find new ways to meet the needs of their customers and others. Thus, research and development into new technologies and products or services is essential. This may be as simple as testing a new recipe for pizza or as complex as creating a more powerful computer. Research and development managers need information about the costs they already incurred so they can decided whether to continue their projects. Production Division Many companies produce and then sell goods to their customers. Producing these goods requires planning and coordinating many specific activities. These activities include designing the production process, acquiring materials used in production, and selecting the workers' skills to be applied are all ran by the production manager. The production division of the company depends heavily on accounting information to determine whether its operating costs are occurring as expected. In carrying out its work, the production department operates within a set of internal controls designed by the accounting information. Internal controls dictate procedures that are necessary to ensure that accounting reports about production activities are dependable and useful. Marketing Department Companies can sell goods and services only if customers are willing to buy them. The marketing department provides customers information about goods and services and encourages their purchase. This includes sales efforts that involve contacting customers directly. The marketing department also includes advertising that provides information to large numbers of potential customers. The marketing managers use accounting information on reports about the company's sales and its marketing costs. Executive Management Department All organizations must have leadership, vision, and coordination. Long-term strategies need to be established and employees must be motivated to do their best. These tasks are made the duty of the company's executive managers, who also represent the company in dealing with the public. Because executive management has overall responsibility for the organization, it depends heavily on accounting information to understand what is happening. Executive managers do not have the time to visit each branch of their company to get a progress report on operations. This is why management gets a simplified statement of performance numbers, that are a valid representation, in which helps managers to understand what was done well and to identify where improvements might be made. Executive managers also receives and uses budget reports that describe future plans for the company. The preceding information about accounting shows how important accounting is for most organizations. Regardless of your career goals, you will surely use accounting information and work with accountants. Whether you want to be an accountant, plan to hold some other position in an organization, or expect to be an investor or creditor, you will benefit by understanding how accounting i...