ACCT1046 Lecture 1: week 1 accounting1046
Module 1 topic 1 Accounting
What is aounting?
• Sipl stated, aoutig a e defied as the proisio of iforatio aout
aspects of the performance of, and resources held or controlled by an entity to a
particular group of people with an interest, or stake in the organisation – we can call
these parties stakeholders.
• The stakeholders a e iteral or eteral.
• But hat aspets of perforae should aoutig address?
• Financial performance?
• Social performance?
• Environmental performance?
• What aouts are stakeholders entitled to?
• This all really depends upon judgements we make about the organisations
responsibilities and accountabilities.
• The broader perspective we take of organisational responsibilities and stakeholders,
the the roader our aouts ecome.
Relationship between accounting and accountability
• According to Gray et al. (1997, p. 334):
Accountability is concerned with the relationships between groups, individuals,
organisations and the rights to information that such relationships entail. Simply
stated, accountability is the duty to provide an account of the actions for which one
is held responsible. The nature of the relationships – and the attendant rights to
information – are contextually determined by the society in which the relationship
occurs.
The role of aounting
• Therefore, the road role of aoutig, ad of orgaisatioal reports ad orporate
reportig is to ifor releat stakeholders aout the etet to hih the atios for
which an organisation is deemed to be responsible (which in itself is a quite subjective
issue as people can have very different views about the responsibilities of organisations)
have actually been fulfilled.
• ‘eportig proides a ehile for a orgaisatio to fulfill its requirement to be
aoutale. Suh aouts do ot hae to all e prepared i fiaial ters.
What aounts should e prepare?
• Of course, different people will have different views about the responsibilities of
• organisations, and therefore ill hold differet ies aout hat aouts should
be produced by an organisation.
– As a consequence they will hold different views about what type of
perforae should be measured and reported.
• For example, should an organisation measure its carbon emissions;
use of water; employee accidents; oil spills; injuries within supply
chain?
• That is, people ill hae differet ies aout the etet of aoutig that should
be applied.
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Document Summary
Relationship between accounting and accountability: according to gray et al. (1997, p. 334): Accountability is concerned with the relationships between groups, individuals, organisations and the rights to information that such relationships entail. Simply stated, accountability is the duty to provide an account of the actions for which one is held responsible. The nature of the relationships and the attendant rights to information are contextually determined by the society in which the relationship occurs. Su(cid:272)h (cid:858)a(cid:272)(cid:272)ou(cid:374)ts(cid:859) do (cid:374)ot ha(cid:448)e to all (cid:271)e prepared i(cid:374) fi(cid:374)a(cid:374)(cid:272)ial ter(cid:373)s. What (cid:858)a(cid:272)(cid:272)ounts(cid:859) should (cid:449)e prepare: of course, different people will have different views about the responsibilities of, organisations, and therefore (cid:449)ill hold differe(cid:374)t (cid:448)ie(cid:449)s a(cid:271)out (cid:449)hat (cid:858)a(cid:272)(cid:272)ou(cid:374)ts(cid:859) should be produced by an organisation. An accountability model: we (cid:449)ill (cid:374)o(cid:449) tur(cid:374) our atte(cid:374)tio(cid:374) to (cid:448)arious assess(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts or de(cid:272)isio(cid:374)s that (cid:374)eed to (cid:271)e made as part of the process of reporting aspects of an organisations performance.
