Англ / Introduction to Accountin1

Introduction to Accounting Accounting consists of the concepts and processes by which financial and economic data are gathered, processed and communicated. In every organization two flows occur simultaneously. First, a firm performs the activity for which it was organized. This is generally the production of a product or the delivery of a service or perhaps both. Second, as the product is completed or the service is delivered, data are generated about these activities. Accounting is the function that captures the flow of data concerning the product or service activity, The flow of data parallels the physical flows of merchandise and cash. The merchant uses a cash register to capture and record sales and cash receipts. Meat, produce, and canned goods are individually coded so each item sold can be identified. In addition, the prices paid, the currency tendered by customers, and the change they receive are coded as dollars and cents. This second flow of data results when the accounting system codes the transactions in letters and digits to represent the products-to-cash transfer from the first flow. All accounting systems perform this parallel function of processing data about the activities that the business organization is completing. In accounting terms, each event that generates data is called a "transaction". The accounting system must be ready to capture data promptly at the point of generation. Any delay in data collection increases the possibilities of inaccuracy and omission. At the time of data capture, the accounting system codes the transaction to permit accuracy in recording and processing the data. Generally, this means that the transaction is converted into an alphabetic or numeric form.	Odessa region Odessa region is situated in the south-east of Ukraine. It borders on Romania in the south, Moldova in the west, Vinnitsa and Kirovograd regions in the north and Nikolayev region in the east. The region is the largest in Ukraine by its area (33.3 ths.km^2). The following are the peculiar features of Odessa region economy: - powerful marine-based industry complex consists of 7 sea ports, dockyards and shipbuilding plants; - powerful economic and industrial potential;. - multi-industry agriculture; - well-developed tourist, recreational, and resort infrastructure; - encouraging investment climate: the region is included into the top five most investment attractive Ukraine's regions; - considerable scientific-educational potential: there are 21 higher educational establishments, about 80 research institutes of different levels; - rich cultural environment; - multinational population: people of 133 nationalities reside in the region. The main peculiarity of economic and geographical status of the region consists in its littoral and transboundary location. Exit to Azov and Black Sea basin and to the rivers Danube, Dniester, Dnieper, and Don determine advantages of the region in development of transport infrastructure. Transport plays a leading role in the economy of the region. Odessa, Ulyichevsk and Yuzhnyi ports are the largest Ukrainian ports at present. Two special economic zones - Porto-Franco and Reni - operate on the territory of the region. Special taxation and customs regime, facilitating development of entrepreneurship, is introduced there. The main types of the entrepreneurial activities in the both zones are connected with servicing of transit transportation operations. Odessa region is one of the most economically developed regions of Ukraine. Machine building, chemical and petrochemical industries, wood pulp and paper, food-processing and light industries are developed in the region.	Types of Business Organizations There are three major kinds of business organizations: the sole proprietorship, the partnership and the corporation. The sole proprietorship is a business owned and run by one person. The main advantage of a sole proprietorship is that it is the easiest form of business to start and run. The major disadvantage of a sole proprietorship is the unlimited liability that each proprietor faces. A second disadvantage of sole proprietorship is that it has limited financial resources. A partnership is a business that is jointly owned by two or more people who have combined their talents and resources for the purpose of earning a profit. Partnerships have more advantages than sole proprietorships. Like sole proprietorship they are easy to form and often get tax benefits from the government. Partnerships have certain disadvantages too. The major disadvantage is unlimited financial liability. It means that each partner is responsible for all debts and is legally responsible for the whole business A business corporation is an institution established for the purpose of making profit. It is operated by individuals. The major advantage is the ability to acquire greater financial resources than other forms of ownership. The next advantage is that the corporation attracts a large amount of capital and can invest it in plants, equipment and research. Corporations face some major disadvantages. It is difficult and expensive to organize a corporation.	My Future Specialty My future speciality is accounting at industrial enterprises. At any large industrial enterprise the book-keeping department is an independently functioning department, headed by a chief book-keeper. The chief book-keeper coordinates the work of separate sectors of accounting! (accounting of materials, of wages, of payments, etc.). The main function of the book-keeping department is accounting and control over all economic, financial and production operations of the enterprise, paying out wages to the personnel, transfer operations. The book-keeping department draws up monthly, quarterly and annual reports on how well the enterprise has fulfilled its plans and also issues monthly, quarterly and annual balance-sheets. This is done by means of initial and subsequent checks. The drawing up of initial and subsequent checks is based on single forms used for various branches of national economy and for different forms of property. The initial check is made by the chief book-keeper. Subsequent control is exercised by means of month-to-month surveys of the amount of work done, of the amount of money spent out on materials for production as compared to the fixed norms, of the amount of wages paid in comparison to the wages plan.
Branches of Accounting Financial Accounting. Its primary function is to provide financial information to investors, stockholders and creditors not directly involved in the management of the organization. The reports from the financial accounting process are general-purpose financial statements. These statements include the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows. Managerial Accounting. Management makes decisions about the acquisition and use of resources within the entity. Management must plan for and control a firm's activities to accomplish the goals of the organization. The managerial information comes from the same accounting system but is rearranged to provide detailed operating data and projections. This information would help management to order products and plan future purchases. Regulatory Accounting. On the basis of these reports regulatory agencies judge whether entities are meeting their legal obligations and conforming to various social and economic regulations issued by federal, state, and local governments. Regulatory authorities generally dictate exactly what information they desire and how it is to be arranged Tax accounting. Tax accounting covers the preparation of records and reports necessary for filing up specific tax returns. Tax regulations are a complex set of ever changing laws and rules and they call for different concepts and interpretations of data.	Financial Accounting Information. The general reporting objectives for the enterprise stress the predictive ability of cash flows and accountability for resources. Accounting or stewardship becomes important when owners and creditors do not actively manage the companies in which they have invested. Professional managers act as agents for the owners or principals. Financial accounting plays an important role in this principal-agent (owner-manager) relationship. The accounting reports become a way for owners to monitor the stewardship of the managers. The reporting function in financial accounting is centered on three primary financial statements. The balance sheet, or statement of financial position, presents the financial condition of the entity as of a moment in time. The income statement summarizes the major changes in the resources of the business as a result of the operating (earning) activities. The statement of cash flows discloses the major financing and investing transactions undertaken by the firm. Like the income statement, it covers a period of time. This statement shows the firm's sources of capital during the period and the major areas to which these financial resources were committed.	Finance and Accounting. Many people view the finance and accounting functions within a business as virtually the same. The accounting function is typically viewed as within the control of the financial vice-president. However, there are two key differences in viewpoint between finance and accounting - one related, to the treatment of funds and the other to decision making. The accountant, whose primary function is to develop and provide data for measuring the performance of the firm, assessing its financial position, and paying taxes, differs from the financial manager in the way he or she views the firm's funds The financial manager is more concerned with maintaining a firm's solvency by providing the cash flows necessary to satisfy its obligations and acquiring and financing the current and fixed assets needed to achieve the firm's goals. . Instead of recognizing revenues at the point of sale and expenses when incurred, the financial manager recognizes revenues and expenses only with respect to inflows or outflows of cash. The duties of the financial manager differ from those of the accountant in that the accountant devotes the majority of his or her attention to the collection arid presentation of financial data. The financial manager uses these data, either in raw form or after making certain adjustments and analyses, as an important input to the decision-making process. This does not mean that accountants never make decisions and financial managers never gather data; rather, the primary focuses of accounting and finance are different	We confirm our today’s telex[ a copy of which we enclose and we would be pleased if you insure our shipment against all risks upon the delivery from warehouse to warehouse to the value of $ 1000. We must receive the Insurance Policy note late than 30 March as it has to be presented with the others documents to the bank with which the Letter of Credit was opened. We are looking forward to your confirmation as soon as possible.

English is a key to professional success. First of all, it is necessary to note that English is a world business language; it's also one of the official languages of the UNO and the EU and one of the most common languages in the world. I am a second years student at OSEU and I am the future economist of our country. It doesn't matter in what sphere of economy I will work in banking or management, marketing or accounting, production or service, distribution or crediting, in any of them in our times of globalization and integration I will need English. New ideas in science and technology change so quickly that it's impossible to translate everything into different languages. So most things are published in English, and if you want to keep up with the latest ideas in any field of activity you need English. At OSEU we have a business course of English. It means that business English is a dynamic and flexible multi-level course with an integrated range of components to develop students' knowledge of the business world and the skills to work within it. The course of English at OSEU consists of three parts: 1. General business course, which will be universal and necessary in any field of economic activity. 2. Business correspondence course, which will help not to loose way in different types of documents and letters. 3. Tightly-oriented professional business course, for the third-year students and graduates, providing highly-focused training in the functional language and communication strategies needed for work such as closing deals, handling conflict, public speaking and cross-cultural approaches to doing business.	THE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN UKRAINE Present - day independent Ukraine has got a rather developed system of education. General secondary education is free and compulsory. Post -secondary education is provided by technical schools, colleges and institution of higher learning: universities, academies, institutes, conservatories. Almost all higher schools provide part-time, extra-mural and full time education. There are four higher educational levels of consequently four levels of accreditation of higher schools. Higher school of the first and second levels of accrediting have the right to train junior specialists. The institutions of the third and fourth levels of accrediting have the right to train both bachelors and masters of science. The education may be free of charge or for fee. Students who study at higher schools according to state order do not pay fee for their studying and get state scholarship. Other students who study according to contract have to pay fee and do not receive scholarship. I am a student of the Odessa State Economic University Odessa State Economic University is one of the largest higher schools in Ukraine. Nowadays more than six thousand students study at our University. They study either full time, by correspondence or in the evening department. There are five day - time departments, such as: the Department of Management and Economics of Production, the Department of International Economics, the Finance Economic Department, the Credit Economic Department, the Accounting Economic Department. There is a wide choice of specialties at the University departments. The students specialize in various fields of economics: Economic and Social Planning, Organization of Regional Entrepreneurship, Management of Natural Resources, Accounting, and Statistics, Management of Production, Credit and Currency Service, Marketing and Tourism Organization.	What is Economics about? Economics is a social science concerned chiefly with the way society employs its limited resources, which have alternative uses, to produce goods and services for present and future consumption. This definition of economics needs some amplification. First, why is economics a social science? Because it deals with the interactions of people (in particular, their interactions as they buy, sell, produce, and consume). Other social sciences, such as psychology and sociology, also deal with human interactions — sometimes even economic interactions.! Second, what are resources and what does it mean to say that they are limited? Resources comprise anything that can be used to produce goods and ser­vices. Resources are limited in the sense that, taken together, people want more goods and services than can be produced. Economics has some similarities to mathematics because logical reasoning and mathematical tools are used in it extensively. It also has some similarities to history because economics studies people as they interact in social groups. Like English grammar, economics has a few simple rules and principles, but from these principles economics can derive many conclusions. In fact economics is the study of the choice that people make and the actions that they take in order to make the best use of scarce resources in meeting their wants Economics is about the everyday life.	CAREER OF AN ECONOMIST. Economists are concerned with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services and are interested in helping society to get as much satisfaction as possible from its limited resources.. They study the ways, which individuals and society choose to use limited resources such as natural resources, labour, factories and machines in an effort to satisfy unlimited wants of individuals and the society. An economist has to play a vital role in modern life of any society. First, he has to make contribution in evaluating prospects in the economy generally and in particular industries. Economist collects, processes and analyzes data to determine the costs and benefits in using limited resources in various ways. The data he collects and the forecasts he makes will determine to large extent, which options are to be taken and which investment flows are to be made within the overall system. It is logical that the economist who is concerned with the allocation of scarce resources should play an. essential role in discussing both the range of options and the pros and cons of such option. EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT Two measures are used to determine the success people have in finding employment, or work. The first is unemployment rate and the second is the employment rate. The most popular measure of unemployment is the unemployment rate, which is determined by dividing the number of unemployed persons by the total number of persons in the civilian labor force. The employment rate is a measure of the people actually working as opposed to the number willing available to work. Unemployment is the state of being out of work. There are: frictional unemployment, seasonal unemployment, structural unemployment, technological unemployment Frictional unemployment is due in some friction (the imperfections of the labour market, such as the time lost between two jobs, lack of information). Suggested remedies are: more and better information, job-centers, placement agencies. "Seasonal unemployment" is due to the seasonal pattern of work in some industries. Careful planning of work in the building industry and the encouragement of a second season in tourism may help to mitigate the problem. 11."Structural unemployment" is not due to any lack of jobs, but to a mismatch between the type and/or location of jobs offered and the qualifications and/or location of the job seekers. 12."Technological unemployment" results from the replacement of workers by labour-saving machines, computers, microprocessors, etc., or to use the appropriate economic jargon, from an increase in the capital-labour ratio.
Economy of Ukraine. Present-day independent Ukraine has a considerable potential to quickly develop its economy. Ukraine can be divided into three economic areas: Southwestern, Donets-Dnieper and Southern. The Southwestern Economic Area has high population density, a dense network of roads and railways, the largest reserves of minerals and valuable wood in the Carpathian forests. The Donets-Dnieper Economic Area has rich mineral deposits. It has major industrial base with bias towards heavy industry. The area has the greatest concentration of thermal and hydroelectric power stations in Ukraine. The proximity of Southern Economic Area to the sea is reflected in its industry with shipbuilding as its key sector. The Crimea is the holiday playground. Nowadays great changes are taking place in the economy of Ukraine. Output of industrial production augmented gradually. The highest rates of growth were fixed in machine-building, repairing and assembling of machines and equipment, cellulose and paper industry, printing and publishing and output of non-metal mineral articles. Expansion of domestic and external demand has positive influence on business recovery. Money and its Functions Money is any commodity generally accepted in payments for goods, services and debts. The main functions of money are the medium of exchange, standard of value., unit of account, a store of value, standard of deferred payment. Money, the medium of exchange, is used in one-half of almost all exchange. Workers exchange labour services for money. People buy and sell goods in exchange for money. Money is the medium through which people exchange goods and services. Money can also serve as a standard of value. Society considers it convenient to use a monetary unit to determine relative costs of different goods and services. In this function money appears as the unit of account is the unit in which prices arc quoted and accounts are kept. Money is a store of value because it can be used to make purchases in the future. To be accepted in exchange, money has to be a store of value. Finally, money serves as a standard of deferred payment or a unit of account over time. When you borrow, the amount to be repaid next year is measured in pounds sterling or in some other hard currency.	Economic System in Britain. As in all European countries, the economic system in Britain is a mixture of private and public enterprises. All nation's industries can be divided into three sectors of activity. The primary sector is concerned with raw materials such as cereals and minerals. Processing these materials is the field of the manufacturing sector. The service sector provides services of various kinds such as transport or distribution, but does not manufacture goods. The construction industry can be thought of either as part of the manufacturing sector or as a separate fourth sector. Britain has the largest energy resources of any country in the European Union and is a major producer of oil, natural gas and coal. Other primary sources of energy are nuclear power and to a lesser extent, water power. England has some agricultural and mineral resources but must rely on imports of both. Approximately two-fifths of the land area is arable, with the richest soils found in the East. Substantial reserves of iron ore are concentrated in Cumbria, Staffordshire and Lancashire. Scotland like the rest of the island of Great Britain has significant reserves of coal. It also possesses large deposits of zinc. Northern Scotland has great hydroelectric power potential and contains Great Britain's largest hydroelectric generating stations. In Wales coal is the most valuable mineral resource; deposits are located mainly in the South. Inflation Inflation is generally defined as a persistent rise in the general .price level with no corresponding rise in output, which leads to a corresponding fall in the purchasing power of money. It leads to a redistribution of income and wealth, often hurting sections of society with little economic, power; affects balance of payments because exports, become relatively expensive and therefore less competitive as imports become relatively cheaper. There are different rates inflation: from gentle creeping inflation (perhaps 5% per annum), which may pose few difficulties to business, to galloping or hyperinflation (say 100% +), which create almost insurmountable problems for the government, business, consumers and workers. Demand-pull inflation occurs when demand for the nation's goods and services outstrips that nation's ability to supply these goods and services. This causes prices to rise generally as a means of limiting demand to the available supply. Alternatively, inflation can be of the cost-push variety. This takes place when firms face increasing costs.	"The USA economy." The USA is the world's greatest economic power in terms of both Gross National Product and per capita GNP, with its exports accounting for more than 10% of all world trade. The United State's economy is based on the free enterprise system. The industrial heart of the nation is the Midwest around the Great Lakes. The Northeast is also important; it's the home of the major computer manufactures. Service industries are very important in this region and New York is the country's banking and Insurance capital. The nation's fastest growing region is the Southeast, where the chemical industry and high-technology industries are now catching up with traditional textile industry as many firms exploit the warm climate and low labor costs. Agriculture is one of the biggest and the most basic productive enterprises. It feeds the Nation and supplies raw materials to most industries. The USA is rich in most metals and minerals needed to supply its basic industries. The nation produces more than 75 million tons of iron. a year for its steel mills. There are also such mineral resources as coal (used by steam plants to produce electricity and in chemical industries), oil (which makes up one of America's largest industries), natural gas, zinc, copper and silver. FINANCE AND FINANCIAL SYSTEM Finance is the provision of money at the time when it is needed. It is a system of monetary relations leading to formation, distribution and use of money in the process of its turnover between economic entities. The financial system is the network of institutions through which firms, households and units of government get the funds they need and put surplus funds to work. Finance in an economic system comprises two parts: public finance and finance of economic entities. Public finance is the provision of money through taxes to be spent by national and local government authorities on projects of national and local benefit. Public finance has the following four functions: a) the provision of essential services; b) the encouragement or control of particular sectors of the economy; c) the implementation of social policy in respect of social services, and d) the encouragement of the growth of economy as a whole.. The major instrument of any financial system is the budget. The budget is an estimate of national revenue and expenditure for the ensuing fiscal year.	The European Union and Ukraine The EU is a part of continental Europe with its different traditions and languages, but also with shared values. The EU desires to foster co-operation among the peoples of Europe, promoting unity while preserving diversity. The EU is composed of five main institutions, each playing a specific role: - European Parliament; - Council of the European Union; - European Commission; - Court of Justice; - Court of Auditors. These institutions are flanked by five other important bodies. The European Union has 27 Member States. And about prospects of Ukraine to move toward European integration. Ukraine has had a very consistent foreign policy and a very inconsistent domestic one. Unfortunately, this tradition still stands. Now everyone in Ukraine knows about the goals we have set ourselves but nobody really knows about the pluses and minuses of EU membership. Domestic policies have been practically thrown at the mercy of regional, rather than central, political forces. No matter what future Ukraine chooses for itself, the discussion of all problems must go on. Global economy The global economy flourished throughout much of the postwar peri­od. In the early 1960, many industrialized countries grew as fast as 5% per year, with Japan leading the way at 10%. In the early 1970 s, a combination of factors, including increased oil prices, contributed to slower growth in Japan and most of western Europe. Inflation reached unprecedented levels in many countries and their governments fought it by slowing economic growth. In the early 1980 s, high interest rates limited investment and increased unemployment in many countries. By 1986, many of these problems had receded. But increased competition among the advanced industrial countries made it seem tat one could grow rapidly only at the expense of the others. In the international horse race of economic growth, investment determines success. Slow growth, high interest rates, and increased competition in world trade make it difficult for many countries to repay those debts. And debts repaid at the expense of economic development could create even greater debts in the long run.