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Question

Discuss the concept of accounting reports? Explain the three steps involved in creating such reports.

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Solution

The accounting reports are the physical form of accounting information. They act as a summary of all the relevant facts and information related to a particular event. The accounting reports are basically the end (or final) reports depicting the performance of an organisation during an accounting period. They show the information that is acquired from processing and transforming the data in an organised manner. The accounting reports display the information content in such a manner that the users can understand them without any ambiguity. These reports form the basis of the decision making process as they minimise the risks associated with uncertainty. Ledgers, Trial Balance, Cash/Bank Book, Financial Statements etc. are some of the examples of accounting reports. An accounting report can be useful, if it has five basic characteristics, namely, Relevance, Timeliness, Accuracy, Completeness and Summarisation.

The accounting reports can be classified into two following broad categories.

1. Programmed Reports- These are those reports that contain information, which can be utilised by the users in the situations that they expect to occur in the near future.

a) Scheduled Reports- These are the reports that are prepared for a specific period of time. These reports can be prepared regularly on daily, weekly, quarterly, monthly or yearly basis. Trial Balance, Ledgers, Statements of Cash Transactions, etc. are some of the examples of Scheduled Reports.

b) On-Demand Reports- These are the reports that are prepared as and when required or on the happening of some particular event. Customer's Statement of Accounts, Inventory Re-order Report, Stock Purchased Report, etc. are some of the examples of On-Demand Reports.

2. Casual Reports- These are the reports that contain information which may be useful but are only casually required. The users do not anticipate their need. These are also known as ad hoc reports and can be generated randomly without much professional assistance.

Process of Creating Accounting Reports

In Access, the generation of accounting reports involves the following three steps.

Step 1: Designing the Report

A report must be designed in a manner, so as to meet certain objectives of reporting. It should not be either too long as not to be read or too short so as to conceal certain important information that is expected to help in the decision making process.

Step 2: Identification of Accounting Information Queries

Many SQL statements are written in such a manner that each successive SQL depends on the results of the preceding SQL statement. It then, refines its results by using fresh data from the existing data tables.

Step 3: Using the Record Set of Final SQL

The record set of final SQL is a collection of report-oriented information. It relies upon the preceding SQL statement. This record set must be included in the report being produced.


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