V. Write a brief description of the qualities needed for the accountant's job so that they are mentioned in order of importance, using the following word-combinations:

«as well as», «above all», «apart from», «in addition to», «in the first place», «last but not least», etc.

What is the difference bitween bookkeeping and accounting?

I. Practice in reading these words:

Journalizing, trial, stature, gradually, to disappear, title, clerk, confusion, supervision.

II. Read the text to find out the differences between the terms “accountant” and “bookkeeper”.

Some people confuse a bookkeeper with an accountant and bookkeeping with accounting. Meanwhile the distinction between them is significant enough. Bookkeeping is that part of accounting that deals with the recording of business transactions in a journal (journalizing), classifying money result of business transactions under meaningful headings (posting to ledger accounts), and proving the arithmetical accuracy of the "book" records (preparing a trial balance).

Traditionally, nearly everyone who worked with financial records was called a bookkeeper. (Records were actually maintained in book form for many years.) Even those who had complete charge of a firm's financial record-keeping system bore the title of bookkeeper. As financial record-keeping grew in importance and stature, the term accountant came into popular usage.

The title "accountant" is usually reserved for those who have the responsibility to establish and maintain an accounting system, to interpret the results of recorded data to management, and to assist in making management decisions. The title "bookkeeper'' is used for those who work under an accountant usually recording transactions, posting to the ledger, and providing mathematical checks of documents, journals, account balances, and of the ledger.

In larger organizations, "bookkeeper" is gradually disappearing and "accounting clerk" is taking its place. In smaller businesses the person in charge of financial records is still usually called a bookkeeper, even though he or she may be performing the duties of an accounting clerk. In other words, a person in a large organization doing the work of a book-keeper may be given the title of accounting clerk, while the person doing the work of an accounting clerk in a small enterprise may be called a bookkeeper.

Thus there is still some confusion between the two terms. In general, the following simplified distinction can be made: the accountant organizes, interprets, and reports; the bookkeeper records, computes, checks, and performs other duties under the supervision of an accountant.

Comments

meanwhile – тим часом

to be significant enough – бути досить значним

a journal – журнал

heading – заголовок

a ledger – головна бухгалтерська книга

ledger accounts – рахунки головної бухгалтерської книги

a trial balance – пробний баланс

stature [stæ] – зріст, стан, статура

gradually – поступово

to disappear – зникати

under the supervision – під наглядом