Similarly, a potential investor may look at a business’s past financial performance in order to assess whether or not to invest money in the company. In this scenario, the investor wants to know if the organization will provide a sufficient and consistent return on the investment. In these scenarios, the financial information provides value starting balance to the process of allocating scarce resources (money). General-purpose financial statements provide much of the information needed by external users of financial accounting. These financial statements are formal reports providing information on a company’s financial position, cash inflows and outflows, and the results of operations.

• If the company decided to eliminate the printers, then it would also lose the cartridge sales.
• A company’s management can have a wholesome industrial relationship through highly contended, committed, and motivated employees.
• An outcome of this examination can be a change in the amount of credit extended to a business.
• Employees are interested in accounting information because their salary appraisals, bonuses, and other monetary and non-monetary benefits are attached to the company’s financial position.
• So, that is a huge difference between financial accounting and managerial accounting.

The conventions also ensure that the information provided is both reliable and relevant to the user. External users of the financial statements will use information reported in the financial statements to determine whether engaging in business with the company would be beneficial. Internal users would use the financial statements to make decisions that impact the operations of the business. That is, users of accounting information may be grouped into two classes, viz., internal users and External users. Suppliers of goods or raw materials extend short-term credit to their customers to understand that the entire payment would be made within a stipulated timeframe.

Investors

When I say accounting information, I’m talking about really two types of accounting – financial and managerial accounting. So, let’s look at who the end users and the differences between the two. Entrepreneurs, trade associations, stock exchanges, media, political parties, etc., These are some of the other stakeholders keen on the well-being of a business entity and its growth, etc. They also undertake the study of the impact on the economic and social business environment. Analysis and interpretation of financial statements of a company by researchers may lead to some unexpected. It also gives surprising results and innovative ideas, which different entities may use differently.

Some of these users include individuals such as owners and directors or agencies such as government regulatory bodies and international standardized agencies, which are considered external users. This is because managerial accountants provide managerial accounting information that is intended to serve the needs of internal, rather than external, users. In fact, managerial accounting information is rarely shared with those outside of the organization. Since the information often includes strategic or competitive decisions, managerial accounting information is often closely protected. The business environment is constantly changing, and managers and decision makers within organizations need a variety of information in order to view or assess issues from multiple perspectives. Financial information has limitations, however, as a predictive tool.

External users of accounting information

Accountants use their knowledge and training to provide relevant, accurate, detailed, and timely accounting information that is useful for many types of decision-making. For example, an accountant can advise a business about the appropriate level of inventories to carry to avoid losses resulting from overstocking or under-stocking. The public is interested in accounting information because this informs them about the financial health of individual businesses. In turn, it is possible to determine the overall impact on the country’s economy. Accounting information also helps creditors to make decisions about whether to offer loans to a business in the future.

In this section we take a look at some examples of internal and external users of accounting information. Creditors include lenders who use accounting information to determine whether a company has the ability to repay a potential loan. They review the information to check income along with other potential liabilities of the company as a borrower. The accounting information is required by government agencies, like tax authorities, company law board, registrar of companies, securities and exchange board of India, ministry of trade and commerce, etc. Employees are interested in accounting information because their salary appraisals, bonuses, and other monetary and non-monetary benefits are attached to the company’s financial position. Managerial accounting identifies measures, analyzes, and communicates the financial information management needs to plan, control, and evaluate a company’s operations for internal users.

ACC Main users of accounting information

Common computerized accounting systems include QuickBooks, which is designed for small organizations, and SAP, which is designed for large and/or multinational organizations. Also, being familiar with a common software package such as QuickBooks helps provide employment mobility when workers wish to reenter the job market. If that’s so, then an internal user of accounting information would be someone inside the company. They are the individuals who are directly involved in the company’s day-to-day operations.

Three primary users of accounting information were previously identified, Internal users, External users, and Government/ IRS. Each group uses accounting information differently, and requires the information to be presented differently. Accountants must be adaptable and flexible in their ability to generate the necessary information for management decision-making.