Bookkeeping and Accounting (1945)

[Music] your life [Music] work in order to manage a home efficiently many a housewife keeps track of the family's money by keeping a household budget book she writes down the amount of money earned and the amount spent for shelter food clothing the family car and so forth at the end of the month she adds all the expenses together and subtracts them from the family's income by means of this simple form of bookkeeping the household world knows exactly how it stands financially and can plan its spending and saving fundamentally the same plan is followed by all business organizations large and small but of course keeping their books is much more complicated and requires trained bookkeepers and accountants a bookkeeper's job is to keep records of all transactions and to prepare financial statements which are a summary of the records the account job is to analyze a bookkeeper's financial statement and interpret them so that the company will know its true Financial condition the results of its operations and be able to plan accordingly although an accountant must know bookkeeping from A to Z his true work begins where the bookkeepers ends in a small business where one person does all the bookkeeping the duties include a variety of work in in addition to keeping records the bookkeeper checks all orders and bills for possible errors he counts the cash receipts he makes out deposit slips for all Money Paid into the company and sees that it is put into the bank against These funds he prepares checks which when Ed by the proper Authority are used for paying the company's bills and salaries in some firms he is responsible for granting credit to compan customers so he must find out what each one's credit rating is and keep the information on hand at the end of the month bills are sent to All customers and after balancing the books the bookkeeper prepares a financial statement so his company will have a clear picture of its condition at that time and the results of its operations for the period the bookkeeper in a small business may have other duties but the ones mentioned are a fair sample of a one-man job a large business has an accounting department where the bookkeeping is divided among many employees under department heads one man will handle accounts payable another accounts receivable and so on Down the Line each one of these men is responsible for seeing that the specialized work of his department is done efficiently and accurately most of it is accomplished with the of calculating and bookkeeping machines all of the employees including the department heads are supervised by a chief accountant sometimes called an auditor or controller he coordinates All Phases of the bookkeeping and prepares an interpret statements and reports needed by the company such men are called private accountants because they work only for one organization public accountants do similar work but for many different different companies for instance it is standard practice for certified public accountants commonly called CPAs to be called in to audit a private accountant's records the accounting firm assigns a senior accountant with one or more Junior assistance depending on the size of the job the senior has outlined in advance the portions of the audit he wishes each assistant to perform a suitable place where the books may be examined is provided the senior supervises the work make sure that all facts are collected correctly but because a good deal of this field work is routine in nature and takes considerable time he may have his assistant start while he goes on to other duties however he must keep in touch with the assistants to handle any problems which may arise usually innocent has neither the necessary experience nor authority to discuss important aspects of the audit with the client his chance of promotion depend depends a great deal on how well he fits into the teamwork which is essential in making an audit a public accountants work requires that he be acquainted with many types of business he may be working on the books of a large corporation and those of a bookkeeper in a small business at the same time because his job takes him from place to place where he meets all kinds of people he must have a pleasing personality to be successful he must also keep all confidential information to himself never divulging it in any manner to others a strong moral character is absolutely essential auditing books is just one type of service offered by an accountant public or private another type is devising new or improved bookkeeping systems companies often outgrow their old record forms so they have an account and study the problem devise a new system and supervise its operation until the company employs can carry on a loan another type of service is cost accounting for manufacturers time and motion studies are made and new techniques worked out which will lower the cost of production accountants doing this work must be thoroughly familiar with the manufacturing processes involved they must be able to devise record systems which will give complete and accurate information concerning the costs of even the smallest item in the product it is not easy to determine the cost of making a certain product especially if the factory is also turning out many other articles yet if the business is to be conducted efficiently and profitably the company must have such information this highly specialized field sometimes calls for an engineering background in fact cost accountants sometimes operate under the name of efficiency Engineers perhaps the most colorful accounting work is that of making special investigations the Federal Bureau of Investigation has on its staff a large number of operatives trained as accountants their job is to Aid in tracking down and incriminating dishonest people by examining their bank accounts and other records not all special investigations are criminal in nature however as often such accountants are called in to arrive at the facts when records are incomplete or lost investigations are also undertaken in connection with the sale of a business that is when the prospective buyer wants to find out its true Financial condition there are many other reasons for conducting special investigations all of which call for research and services requiring a topnotch accountant many accountants specialize in aiding individuals and businesses in the preparation of tax returns the demands of federal state and local governments for great revenues the complexity of the requirements and constantly changing laws have made it difficult for people to determine their correct tax liability the accountant is well equipped to meet this problem because of his understanding of what constitutes income and expense to be offset against such income to determine profit a good deal of a public accountant's time is spent in his own offices where he prepares reports on audits he and his assistants have made for various clients making a report calls for a broad knowledge of business principles and lots of good judgment because the client depends on it as an accurate analysis of the state of his business bookkeeping and the various fields in accounting offer excellent opportunities with a good income for young men and women who are really suited to the work perhaps the first question you should ask yourself is do I really enjoy doing figures if you have a dist taste for mathematics it is not the work for you to be a bookkeeper besides being good at figures you should have aible handwriting and an average command of English you should take a bookkeeping course in high school or commercial college and learn how to record business transactions in their proper form you should be able to operate the various adding calculating and bookkeeping machines which are found in the offices of all up-to-date business organizations to be an accountant you must know bookkeeping thoroughly and have taken a specialized accounting course you must be able to analyze a business by examining its records and keep such material confidential open-mindedness and a willingness to undergo intensive study and hard work are necessary if you expect to pass the state examinations for certified public accountants if you have the aptitudes and personal qualities for either bookkeeping or accounting it would be well for you to investigate the possibilities now each of us is suited to a certain type of work perhaps your future is in bookkeeping and [Music] accounting