Accountancy[1] or accounting is the system of recording, verifying, and reporting of the value of assets, liabilities, income, and expenses in the books of account (ledger) to which debit and credit entries (recognizing transactions) are chronologically posted to record changes in value (see bookkeeping). Such financial information is primarily used by lenders, managers, investors, tax authorities and other decision makers to make resource allocation decisions between and within companies, organizations, and public agencies. Accounting has been defined by the AICPA as " The art of recording, classifying, and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are, in part at least, of financial character, and interpreting the results thereof." [2]

The word Accountant is derived from the French "Compter' which took its origin from the Latin "Computare". As a proof of its derivation the word was formerly written in English "Accomptant", but in process of time the word which was always pronounced by dropping the "p" became gradually changed both in pronunciation and in orthography to its present form. From the word Accountant the term Accountancy is derived.