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.

　　會計是一個相當復雜的現代企業所必須的信息系統。會計一個最重要的功能就是合計和報告財務信息，這些信息向有利害關系的使用者顯示一個組織的經濟地位和他的運營成果。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濟信息，銀行和其他貸款人在貸款之前必須考慮其經濟實力。潛在的投資人需要財務數據來比較預期投資。許多法律規定的財務信息必須上報到政府的各級機構。企業至少一次公布這樣的財務報告。為了滿足拓展用戶的需求，一個包含會計標準，原則和程序會計標準框架（為人們所熟知為“公認會計原則”）已經發展成為用于評價包含這些拓展財務數據的會計信息的中肯性和可靠性。拓展這些會計信息的分支就是所指的財務會計。

　　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.

　　會計的另外一個重要功能是提供給利用會計信息進內部決策的公司管理者，這些決策涉及計劃、控制和公司評價。例如：預算由每年公司管理者制定，用于表達公司管理愿望和目標。一個執行報告用于幫助管理者關注于那些不被注意的問題和機會。而且為了維護市場份額成本效益數據被管理者用于決策到底是降低價格或者增加廣告支出或者兩者兼用。產生和分析這樣用于做內部決定的財務信息的過程就是所說的管理會計和準備相關信息的報告被稱為內部管理報告。區別于財務會計的是管理會計信息系統提供歷史數據和不同系統指定的預計信息。管理會計不受公認會計準則的約束。

　　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世紀公司的成長性、科技的變化、政府的管 制和經濟的全球化促使的會計的發展。結果除了 財務會計和管理會計外的大量的特殊領域的會計 得到了發展，他們包括審計、成本會計、稅收會 計、預算會計、政府和非營利性會計、人力資源 會計、環境會計、社會會計、國際會計等等。例 如：稅收會計包含了退稅和對目標經營操作的稅 收環節的考慮或者二者擇其一。政府和非營利性 會計是專門記錄和報告各種類型的政府組織和其 他非營利性組織的運作情況。國際會計是關于跨 國公司的國際貿易的特殊問題。歸根到底，所有 這些形式的會計是提供信息給相關人員并幫助他 們做決定。