following are the functions of accounting
1.Wages control and accounting
A paramount feature of all business enterprises is the necessity to employ and remunerate a workforce. The workforce usually comprises people with a wide of skills – manual, technical and managerial – all of whom must be paid. It is necessary to maintain a record for each employee containing full and absolutely accurate details of pay items. This record must be kept up-to-date in terms of amendments as well as the updating of totals-to-date.
2.Sales control and accounting
Customer order control entails procedures for ensuring that orders from customers/clients are received, recorded and acknowledged in an efficient organised manner. At a later stage, order control is necessary to ensure that orders are actually fulfilled, i.e. customers receive the correct goods on time and at the right destination. The purpose of sales analysis is to forecast future sales demands and to plan marketing activities.
3.Purchases control and accounting
Purchasing involves the procedures for ensuring that all the materials, components, tools, equipment and other items needed by the company are made available at the right time, right place and right price. The precise nature of the purchasing function depends upon the type of items purchased. It is beneficial to analyse the company's purchases in various ways – for example, in order to measure the effectiveness of suppliers, to ascertain the efficiency of the company in handling materials and reducing waste, etc.
4.Stock control
Stock control involves the maintenance of records relating to stock levels, issues, outstanding orders, reorder levels, and so on. From the accounting information viewpoint, an important requirement is stock valuation – i.e. the book value of all stock- in-hand at a certain time. These figures should be accurate, and allow for stock losses, deterioration and enhanced value since these contribute to the firm's balance sheet.
6.Production control
Production planning covers what to make and how many to make, whilst production control ensures that the plans are achieved. The information required for production control purposes includes material requirements for each time period, quantities of components and subassemblies to be made by each period, the amounts of equipment and machines, etc. needed for each stage, the amount of each labour category needed during each period, and the progress of each job and reasons for delays.
7.Marketing function
The marketing function is concerned with researching the business potential of the market and for developing the right products and services to satisfy the needs of customers. Accounting records are a vital source of information concerning customers – they show buying patterns, types of products bought, etc.
8.Customer services function
Generating new customers is very important for any successful business. However, customer retention is also vital if a company is going to continue to grow and develop. Therefore, the customer services function is responsible for liasing with the customer and providing added valued services, such as where a garage would provide a courtesy car, etc.
9.Human resources function
This function is responsible for satisfying the personnel needs of the organisation. This involves recruiting and training the right type of people. The HR function also deals with staff appraisal, disciplinary procedures, grievances and the legal aspects of employing staff.
10.Information systems function
In a large organisation the information technology and accounting functions must work in close harmony to produce systems capable of providing the financial information needed by the different business functions. The information required will not only vary between functions, it will also vary between different levels within an organisation. For example, what is perceived as information at the operational levels will invariably be viewed as raw data by middle and senior managers. The systems must, therefore, be capable of converting data into a variety of information forms in order to allow managers at different levels to make effective business decisions.
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