Q. What do you mean by account?

An account is a division of the accounting system used to classify and summarize the decreases, increases and balances of each liability, asset, stockholders' equity item, revenue, dividend and expense. Firms set up accounts for every different business element such like accounts receivable, cash and accounts payable. Each business has a Cash account in its accounting system because knowledge of the amount of cash on hand is useful information.

Accountants may perhaps differ on the account title or name they give the same item. For illustration one accountant might name an account Notes Payable and another might call it Loans Payable. Both account titles demote to the amounts borrowed by the company. The account title must be logical to help the accountant group similar transactions into the same account. Once you provide an account a title you must use that same title throughout the accounting records.

The amount of accounts in a company's accounting system depends on the information requires of those interested in the business. The major requirement is that each account provides information useful in making decisions. Therefore one account may be set up for all cash rather than having a separate account for each form of cash like currency on hand, coins on hand and deposits in banks. The sum of cash is useful information the form of cash often isn't.