Accounting is an information system necessitated by the great complexity of modern business.One of the most important functions of accounting is to accumulate and report financial information that shows an organization‘s financial position and the results of its operations to its interested users. These users include managers， stockholders， banks and other creditors， government agencies， investment advisors，and general public.For example，stock holders must have an organization’s financial information in order to holdings. Banks and other creditors must consider the financial strength of a business before permitting it to borrow funds. Potential investors need financial data in order to compare prospective investments. Also，many laws require that extensive financial information be reported to the various evels of government.Businesses usually publish such reports at least annually. To meet the needs of the external users， a framework of accounting standards， principles and procedures known as “generally accepted principles” have been developed to insure the relevance and reliability of the accounting information contained in these external financial reports. The subdivision of the accounting process that produces these external reports is referred to as financial accounting.

　　會(huì)計(jì)是一個(gè)相當(dāng)復(fù)雜的現(xiàn)代企業(yè)所必須的信息系統(tǒng)。會(huì)計(jì)一個(gè)最重要的功能就是合計(jì)和報(bào)告財(cái)務(wù)信息，這些信息向有利害關(guān)系的使用者顯示一個(gè)組織的經(jīng)濟(jì)地位和他的運(yùn)營(yíng)成果。這些使用者包括管理者，股東，銀行和其他貸款人、政府代表、投資顧問人和公眾。例如：股東持有股票必須有該組織的經(jīng)濟(jì)信息，銀行和其他貸款人在貸款之前必須考慮其經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)力。潛在的投資人需要財(cái)務(wù)數(shù)據(jù)來比較預(yù)期投資。許多法律規(guī)定的財(cái)務(wù)信息必須上報(bào)到政府的各級(jí)機(jī)構(gòu)。企業(yè)至少一次公布這樣的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)告。為了滿足拓展用戶的需求，一個(gè)包含會(huì)計(jì)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，原則和程序會(huì)計(jì)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)框架（為人們所熟知為“公認(rèn)會(huì)計(jì)原則”）已經(jīng)發(fā)展成為用于評(píng)價(jià)包含這些拓展財(cái)務(wù)數(shù)據(jù)的會(huì)計(jì)信息的中肯性和可靠性。拓展這些會(huì)計(jì)信息的分支就是所指的財(cái)務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)。

　　Another important function of，accounting is to provide the management inside an organization with the accounting information needed in the organization‘ s internal decision-making， which relates to planning， control， and evaluation within an organization. For example， budgets are prepared under the directions of a company’s controller on an annual basis and express the desires and goals of the company‘s management. A performance report is supplied to help a manager focus his attention on problems or opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed. Furthermore， cost-benefit data will be needed by a company’s management in deciding among the alternatives of reducing prices， increasing advertising， or doing both in attempt to maintain its market shares. The process of generating and analyzing such accounting information for internal decision-making is often referred to as managerial accounting and the related information reports being prepared are called internal management reports. As contrasted with financial accounting， a managerial accounting information system provides both historical and estimated information that is relevant to the specific plans on more frequent basis. And managerial accounting is not governed by generally accepted accounting principles.

　　會(huì)計(jì)的另外一個(gè)重要功能是提供給利用會(huì)計(jì)信息進(jìn)內(nèi)部決策的公司管理者，這些決策涉及計(jì)劃、控制和公司評(píng)價(jià)。例如：預(yù)算由每年公司管理者制定，用于表達(dá)公司管理愿望和目標(biāo)。一個(gè)執(zhí)行報(bào)告用于幫助管理者關(guān)注于那些不被注意的問題和機(jī)會(huì)。而且為了維護(hù)市場(chǎng)份額成本效益數(shù)據(jù)被管理者用于決策到底是降低價(jià)格或者增加廣告支出或者兩者兼用。產(chǎn)生和分析這樣用于做內(nèi)部決定的財(cái)務(wù)信息的過程就是所說的管理會(huì)計(jì)和準(zhǔn)備相關(guān)信息的報(bào)告被稱為內(nèi)部管理報(bào)告。區(qū)別于財(cái)務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)的是管理會(huì)計(jì)信息系統(tǒng)提供歷史數(shù)據(jù)和不同系統(tǒng)指定的預(yù)計(jì)信息。管理會(huì)計(jì)不受公認(rèn)會(huì)計(jì)準(zhǔn)則的約束。

　　The growth of organizations， changes in technology， government regulation， and the globalization of economy during；the twentieth century have spurred the development of accounting. As a result， a number of specialized fields of accounting have evolved in addition to financial accounting and managerial accounting， which include auditing， cost accounting， tax accounting， budgetary accounting， governmental and not-for- profit accounting， human resources accounting， environmental accounting， social accounting， international accounting， etc. For example， tax accounting encompasses the preparation of tax returns and the consideration of the tax consequences of proposed business transactions or alternative courses of action. Governmental and not -for-profit accounting specializes in recording and reporting the transactions of various governmental units and other not-for-profit organizations. international accounting is concerned with the special problems associated with the international trade of multinational business organizations. All forms of accounting， in the end， provide information to the related users and help them make decisions.

　　在20世紀(jì)公司的成長(zhǎng)性、科技的變化、政府的管 制和經(jīng)濟(jì)的全球化促使的會(huì)計(jì)的發(fā)展。結(jié)果除了 財(cái)務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)和管理會(huì)計(jì)外的大量的特殊領(lǐng)域的會(huì)計(jì) 得到了發(fā)展，他們包括審計(jì)、成本會(huì)計(jì)、稅收會(huì) 計(jì)、預(yù)算會(huì)計(jì)、政府和非營(yíng)利性會(huì)計(jì)、人力資源 會(huì)計(jì)、環(huán)境會(huì)計(jì)、社會(huì)會(huì)計(jì)、國(guó)際會(huì)計(jì)等等。例 如：稅收會(huì)計(jì)包含了退稅和對(duì)目標(biāo)經(jīng)營(yíng)操作的稅 收環(huán)節(jié)的考慮或者二者擇其一。政府和非營(yíng)利性 會(huì)計(jì)是專門記錄和報(bào)告各種類型的政府組織和其 他非營(yíng)利性組織的運(yùn)作情況。國(guó)際會(huì)計(jì)是關(guān)于跨 國(guó)公司的國(guó)際貿(mào)易的特殊問題。歸根到底，所有 這些形式的會(huì)計(jì)是提供信息給相關(guān)人員并幫助他 們做決定。