Professional accountants play an important role within an organization. There may be computers within an organization that can record transactions and produce accounts; there is still a need for accountants. Before preparing accounts, a firm and their systems, will need to determine the type of accounting policies that will be used. For any set of accounts there may be different choices which can be made regarding the way costs and revenues will be measured and recorded. For example, there are different ways that stock on hand may be assessed, such as first in first out (FIFO) and weighted average cost. Likewise, there may be choices on the way investment costs are handled, either capitalized into the investment, or counted as an immediate cost. The choices have the potential to impact the overall results. Firms may choose their accounting policies in a strategic manner, for example to minimize tax. There are...
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