Accounting vs. accountancy

[Torsten]

Hi, what is the difference between accounting and accountancy. I mean, you can work in the accounting department of a company and you can also work in accountancy, can't you?

Thanks and a have good Friday,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, talks: President of cat association opens annual convention

[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

I'll have a go at this and draw an analogy with two other words - transfer and convey. Transfer becomes transferring and describes the activity of moving from one place to another and transference is the process followed. Likewise convey becomes conveying and can be used in a legal sense to suggest moving property from one person to another and conveyance or conveyancing is the actual process. I would then refer to accounting which is the activity of preparing financial matters and accountancy again is the process by which this is done.

That's the best I can do at this time in the morning.

Regards

Alan
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[Yankee]

Hi

My gut reaction is similar to, but also a little different from Alan's description.

My first reaction would be to think of "accountancy" more as a profession or even a company that does accounting (not just part of a company, i.e. a department).

And "accounting" would be the actual activity or process.

Amy
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[Leehaddin]

Accounting is the systematic recording, reporting, and analysis of financial transactions of a business. As bookkeeping involves making a financial record of business transactions, it is true to say that the role of bookkeeping is encompassed within the scope of accounting, and the bookkeeping system used by a business would form part of the accounting system.

Accounting also includes the preparation of statements concerning assets, liabilities and the operating results of a business.

Accountancy is the occupation related to accounting, and an accountant is the person who does, or at least is responsible for, the work. Accountants often specialize in a particular area of accounting such as taxes, auditing, or management.

[Weinerburg]

[Xuyenchi04]

Hi Torsten,

In my opinion, Accounting is a system of financial informations that were collected every day at a company. This processes provide information about a company's financial situation. This includes recording recording financail information and putting it into financial statements for the internal or external users. Internal users are people who manage the activities of the whole company such as general director, deputy general director, and managers. And external users are people who use this statement for their business purposes like investing or buying stockholders and so on.

And, accountancy is one of many kinds of careers in a society. It's the same with teaching, engineering, art, and so on. That's all.

[Pruthiraj]

Accounting is The art of recording, classifying, and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are, in part at least, of financial character, and interpreting the results thereof.

Today, accounting is called "the language of business" because it is the vehicle for reporting financial information about a business entity to many different groups of people. Accounting that concentrates on reporting to people inside the business entity is called management accounting and is used to provide information to employees, managers, owner-managers and auditors.

Accountancy is the art of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers.

Accountancy is a branch of mathematical science that is useful in discovering the causes of success and failure in business. The principles of accountancy are applied to business entities in three divisions of practical art, named accounting, bookkeeping, and auditing.

Pruthiraj Nayak