Oxford Business English Dictionary for Learners of English

expected to explain your decisions or actions; responsible: procedures to make companies more accountable to shareholders о I am directly accountable to management for the work of my team. ► accountability /a.kaunta'bilati/ noun [U]: We need to improve the accountability of the board to shareholders.

-A-accountancy /a'kauntansi/ noun [U] (especially BrE)

see also: creative accountancy

the work or profession of an accountant: He works for a top accountancy firm in Paris.

the accountancy industry/profession ♦ an accountancy firm

the training you need in order to become an accountant: Applicants should have a professional qualification in accountancy.

(synl accounting

accountant /a'kauntant/ noun [c]

see also: certified management accountant, certified public chartered chartered certified ~

a person whose job is to keep or check the financial records of a person, a company or an organization and give financial advice: She's a qualified accountant, о He's the organization's chief accountant, о a firm of accountants -» auditor See note at profession

ac'count books = books (l) ac count e xecutive noun [c] an employee of a company, especially one working in advertising, who is responsible for dealing with one of the company's regular customers: She's an assistant account executive for Grey Advertising. account manager

accounting /a'kauntirj/ noun [u]

see also: accrual accounting, budgetary cash cost creative equity false etc.

the work of keeping and checking the financial records of a person, a company or an organization: Shareholders lost money as the result of accounting errors. bookkeeping

accounting errors/irregularities/scandals * accounting methods/practices/procedures

{especially AmE) the training you need in order to become an accountant: to study accounting

[synl accountancy

the accounting .cycle noun [sing ] [Accounting) the series of steps that are used to follow what has happened in a business and to report the financial effect of those things КШО The accounting cycle begins with a financial transaction and ends when the account books are closed at the end of each accounting period.

the accounting e quation [also the

'balance-sheet e.quation) noun [sing ] [Accounting) the basic principle used by accountants to make the totals of the amounts in both parts of a balance sheet equal each other ЕПШ The accounting equation can be written as 'assets = liabilities + capital'.

accounting .period [also trading .period)

noun [C]

[Accounting) the regular period of time over which a business prepares a set of financial records; the time between two balance sheets: preliminary results for the eight-month accounting period ending 31 December 2005 accounting year

accounting,principle noun [c, usually pi.] [Accounting) one of a group of rules or ideas that an accountant must follow when preparing a company's financial records, so that the records are an accurate and true description of the company's financial status СБШ An example of an accounting principle is that financial items must be recorded in the accounts in the same way from one period to another. These rules or ideas can also be called accounting concepts or accounting conventions. GAAP

accounting 'rate of re'turn noun [c] [plural

accounting rates of return) [abbr ARR) [Accounting) a percentage calculated by taking the amount of profit you expect to get from a particular investment each year and dividing it by the amount you have invested in it. It is used to help a company decide whether to invest a large amount of money in a particular project, business, etc. internal rate of return , payback, return on capital employed

ac'counting .ratio = financial ratio

accounting .standard [also ac counting .rule)

noun [C]

see also: International Accounting Standards

[Accounting) a law that describes the way in which amounts must be recorded in a company's financial records: Under accounting standard FRS17, companies must adjust their profits for changes in the value of their pension fund.