Question: 1: I just finished watching the video by Jim Stice, Review of the financial statements. Interesting refresher videos. A reminder of what we have learned in the last 4 weeks. "Accounts use the credits and debits recorded in ledgers or books prepared by bookkeepers to create a company's financial statements." According to the video, one the of the main results of bookkeeping is to provide information. The video explains that the three most common financial statements are the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows.
It goes on to explain that the balance sheet aka fundamental financial statements, embodies the accounting equation (assets, liability, and owners equity). The accounting always balances
2: Everyone in business, small or large business, must keep good records. It is very important because good record keeping will helps us monitor and prepare financial statements, identify the sources of the business income, keeping track of deductibles expenses, and prepare tax returns. As Lisa mentioned in one of her comments, we must keeps records of all accounting transactions for auditing purposes for at least 7 years. As Stice said in one of his videos, "the most difficult aspect of accounting is determining which events are to be reflected in the accounting records and which are not." It is important that the bookkeeper posts all journal entries to the appropriate accounts. Posting the chronological recording of transactions in a journal (showing dates of a transaction, amounts involved, and accounts affected by accounts) provides a company with a complete record of activities.
3: Wouldn't it be nice if all employers provided employees with the necessary tools to succeed? I have been at my current job for over 10 years and I have never been sent to any technology trainings to keep me updated with the new stuff, yet they expect me to familiarize myself with whats in with technology. And, after 10 years I decided that its time to do something for myself. I going back to school to get updated with the latest technology. In the three short weeks I have been in this class, I am applying what I have learned so far in Excel. Sadly, I am showing my fellow coworkers a few things I am learning here. You are right, my employer themselves are still using old school technology and even writing and keeping transaction in paper ledger/journal. Technology is not very in my job.
4: Automation has greatly changed the way accounting is accomplished. The Microsoft Excel program changed the game, so to speak, and greatly improved the results of a financial statement. If a person can understand when to use which formula in Excel, it makes life way easier. It also makes the entire process more efficient. It used to take double the time to do half the work. Now it takes half the time to do double the work.