The term accounting describes the comprehensive recording, storage and analysis or evaluation of all measurable business transactions/processes in a company. For this purpose, profit and balance sheet ratios from the general accounting are set in relation to the ratios from the different departments (sales, production, personnel).
The aim of accounting is the systematic recording and evaluation of all quantifiable relationships (key figures) and processes within a company. It generally serves as the basis for future-oriented planning, control and monitoring of business activities and their success. From a business point of view, accounting is a separate and independent system consisting of the following four subsystems.
- Planning calculation
- Period calculation
- Object and Project calculation
- Operating statistics
The accounting system focuses on the main cost centers that arise in the mentioned subsystems and are commonplace. The most common major cost centers include.:
- Materials: procurement, materials planning, goods receipt, warehousing
- Manufacturing; production, assembly, quality assurance, work preparation, development
- Administration: management, accounting, finance, human resources, business organization, controlling
- Sales: marketing, (warehouse) sales, shipping, invoicing (billing), order management/order processing
- Trade: factory sales, direct sales, intermediary/consignment (owner of the inventory).
Accounting, bookkeeping in the Commercial Code
Without an accounting system implemented in the company, a company cannot be managed for legal reasons. Section 238 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) can be cited as an example. The paragraph describes the accounting obligation and states, among other things, that every entrepreneur is obliged to keep business books. In this context, accounting documents the business transactions occurring in the company, such as income from services, material purchases, labor costs and the reduction in the value of assets due to wear and tear. All business activities as well as the company’s assets, in some cases also private capital (seizure), flow into the accounting and thus into the resulting balance sheets (profit and loss cross-section of a company).
From the point of view of the legislator, the accounting system must be such that it provides an expert third party with an overview of the business transactions and the situation of the company within a reasonable period of time. In this way, it is possible to prevent the threat of insolvency or the like, or even to delay it, which could possibly put jobs at risk.
In addition, the accounting system also serves as a template for the mandatory and annually recurring statement of accounts. It is presented to the tax office and defended by means of a tax advisor.
Further business aspects of intralogistics can be found in the article Inventory Costs.
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