Modern Accounting Research

- Overview

Many of the most important decisions a company makes depend on the state of its accounts. Organizations can struggle to make important decisions without understanding their current and past financial health. Through accounting and accounting research, companies can gain a clearer picture of where they stand and how to shape their future. 

Accountants can plan for the future by analyzing an organization's financial data, performance, and cash flow. Their program is based on a careful and thorough study of accounting standards and tax laws to discover the most efficient method for each financial transaction, as well as alternative ways of structuring the transaction.

Research conducted by certified public accountants aims to determine the appropriate way for organisations to report transactions in their financial statements and tax returns. Accounting research is part of the process of reviewing and auditing a company's financial information to turn data into insights into complex financial issues that help companies choose the best course of action. 

The growth or recovery of a business often relies on information obtained from accounting research. The research forms the basis for the work of accountants to support clients' financial planning by studying their current financial situation and suggesting ways to improve it.

- Automatic Accounting Tools and Technologies

The advent of automated accounting tools and technologies has transformed accounting research. Accountants must now be proficient with accounting applications such as Sage Intacct, Xero, and FreeAgent. More and more accounting firms are adopting cloud-based systems to help them streamline their accounting workflows. 

An accountant conducts research at his desk using a laptop, smartphone and paperwork. Automation has also made data analysis skills even more important for accounting research, especially in maximizing the value of financial information in client organizations. Analytics provide new insights into companies' financial and other processes, helping them streamline operations and improve profitability. Business managers use the data to reduce risk at a time when uncertainty about the future of markets and industries is rising. 

- Modern Accounting Drives Business Success

The technology that may have the most profound impact on accounting research methods is artificial intelligence, which promises to increase the productivity of accountants while improving the accuracy of financial analysis. However, instead of replacing human accountants, AI supports human financial decisions by conducting deeper and more timely analysis. 

Weighing options and choosing the best course of action may require a policy shift. In addition to theoretical planning, accountants must ensure that they remain aware of tax law and the accounting policies and standards of the IRS, FASB and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This ensures that any financial decisions are not just practical, but are completely legal and stand up to financial reporting and auditing.

-  Accounting Research and Topics

Accounting research examines how individuals, organizations and governments use accounting and the consequences of these practices. Starting from the assumption that accounting both measures and makes visible certain economic events, accounting research studies the role of accounting in organizations and societies and the impact of these practices on individuals, organizations, governments, and capital markets. It covers a wide range of topics including financial accounting research, management accounting research, auditing research, capital market research, accountability research, social responsibility research and taxation research. 

Academic accounting research uses the scientific method to "address all aspects of the accounting profession," while practicing accountants' research focuses on problem-solving for clients or groups of clients. Academic accounting research can make significant contributions to accounting practice, although changes in accounting education and accounting academia in recent decades have led to a gap between academia and accounting practice.

- Cost Accounting

Cost accounting is defined as "a systematic set of procedures for recording and reporting the overall and detailed measurement of the costs of manufacturing goods and performing services. It includes methods for identifying, classifying, allocating, summarizing and reporting these costs and comparing them to standard costs .” 

Cost accounting provides the detailed cost information that management needs to control current operations and plan for the future. Cost accounting information is also commonly used in financial accounting, but its primary function is for managers to use to facilitate their decision-making. 

• Accountant’s Role in the Organization 
• Introduction to Cost Terms and Purposes 
• Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis 
• Job Costing 
• Activity-Based Costing 
• Master Budgeting 
• Flexible Budgets, Direct-Cost Variances 
• Flexible Budgets, Overhead Cost Variances  
• Inventory Costing and Capacity Analysis  
• Determining How Costs Behave 
• Decision Making and Relevant Information  
• Pricing Decisions and Cost Management  
• Strategy, Balanced Scorecard 
• Cost Allocation, Customer Profitability Analysis 
• Allocation of Support Department Costs 
• Cost Allocation: Joint Products and Byproducts 
• Process Costing 
• Spoilage, Rework, and Scrap 
• Quality, Time, and the Theory of Constraints  
• Inventory Management, Just-in-Time 
• Capital Budgeting and Cost Analysis 
• Management-Control Systems, Transfer Pricing 
• Performance Measurement, Compensation

- Financial Accounting

Financial accounting is a specific branch of accounting that involves the process of recording, summarizing, and reporting countless transactions that arise from business operations over a period of time. These transactions are summarized in the preparation of financial statements, including balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and cash flow statements, which record the company's operating performance for a specific period.

• Financial Accounting Theory
• Accounting Under Ideal Conditions
• Approach to Financial Reporting
• Efficient Securities Markets
• Information Approach to Decision
• Measurement Approach to Decision
• Measurement Applications
• Economic Consequences, Accounting Theory
• An Analysis of Conflict
• Executive Compensation
• Earnings Management
• Standard Setting: Economic Issues
• Standard Setting: Political Issues

- Management Accounting

Managerial accounting provides an organization's internal management, employees, managers, and executives with financial information to inform decision-making and improve performance. In other words, management accountants are strategic partners. They ensure future success by identifying ways to create value for their organization and its products or services. They help leadership make informed decisions by using numbers, data and research to minimize risk and maximize profits on behalf of the business. Management accountants analyze and explain the "why" behind reported numbers. 

Managerial accounting differs from financial accounting in that it focuses on the way in which information is provided to internal decision makers. Financial accounts record information and prepare reports for external government agencies and other stakeholders, less focused on making future forecasts.

• Managerial Cost Accounting
• Organization and Accounting
• Measuring and Analyzing Activity Costs
• Measuring and Analyzing Product Costs
• Managing Activities
• Short Term Decisions and Constraints
• Managing Organization
• Decentralized Organizations
• Budgeting
• Cost Allocation
• Absorption Costing Systems
• Variable Costing and Capacity Costing
• Standard Cost & Variable Analysis
• Investment Decisions
• Accounting in Dynamic Environment

- Advanced Accounting

Advanced accounting covers accounting operations, models, consolidation of public holding companies, foreign currency operations, changes to financial statements prepared in foreign and local currencies. Advanced accounting also covers a variety of advanced financial accounting issues such as lease contracts, pension funds, termination of service severance payments, etc.

• Business Combinations
• Stock Investments
• Consolidated Financial Statements
• Consolidation Techniques and Procedures
• Intercompany Profit Transactions
• Profit Transactions – Plant Assets
• Intercompany Profits on Bonds
• Changes in Ownership Interests
• Indirect and Mutual Holdings
• Preferred Stock, EPS, and Taxes
• Push-Down Accounting,  Joint Ventures
• Derivative & Foreign Currency Transactions
• Foreign Currency Financial Statements
• Segment and Interim Reporting
• Partnerships – Formation, Operations
• Partnership Liquidation
• Corporate Liquidations & Reorganizations
• Accounting for State & Local Government
• Governmental Funds
• Proprietary and Fiduciary Funds
• Not-for-Profit Organizations Accounting
• Estates and Trusts

[More to come ...]