Accounting Deskilled

I always face an unique query from CA Students and "Non CA Accountants" at Industry - What is Accounts and how can I learn it quickly.

I have to tell you the end result of accounting is just two Statement & Analysis.

Let's deal with the common sense aspects of the two.

1) Financial Statements

The financial statements are  Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss A/c, Cash Flow Statement and Funds Flow Statement. 

These follow a particular format. Follow the format; fillin the same with the data from the accounting system (or the question in the exam)

You would make wonderful Financial Statements

The artistic part is in understanding the disclosure requirements imposed by the IFRS or iGAAP.

It is up to the person's interest than regularity requirement to give the disclosures.

A well drafted Financial Statement (following the complete formats) would serve the purposes of the AS, IFRS or GAAP.

Hence, learning the disclosure norms is just a matter of personal interest.

2) Financial Statement Analysis

This is just a group of formulas. The computation is easy.

Based on the bench-mark of the Industry, which is generally given by the company management (The Text Books give the bench-marks adopted by Financial Institutions to evaluate a borrower), one can tell whether the company has performed well or bad.

In a simple manner, Accounting is a matter of filling the formats and calculating certain formulas based on the filled formats

Hence, more than any-thing; one needs to stick to the format and formulas and give the results in timely manner.

Thanks and Regards
Ever Yours
V. Narayanan,