Accountancy is the art of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the financial´s form statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in selecting the information that is relevant to the user and is reliable.
Accountancy is a branch of mathematical science that is useful in discovering the causes of success and failure in business. The principles of accountancy are applied to business entities in three divisions of practical art, named accounting, bookkeeping, and auditing.
Accountancy profession in Bangladesh:
ACCOUNTANCY is a critical component of a market economy's infrastructure and economically sound activity would be impossible without it. Accountancy not only provides information on the financial position of operations but is also the foundation of a country's fiscal system playing a vital role in corporate governance. It enforces prudential requirements for banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, and other market participants. As a result, the accounting sector is among the most regulated in the world's advanced economies in terms of its liabilities towards the society.
In Bangladesh the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAB) was founded in 1972 with only 80 members. As of 2010, the number has grown to 1,200, out of which 270 are in practice and the remainder are either serving for the Government, public enterprises, NGOs and donor organizations and different corporate houses.
The first initiative of developing a Professional Accountancy body came from Scotland. A group of accountants obtained recognition of the Royal Charter for their body in 1854. Following this, the English Institute obtained theirs in 1880. Gradually professional bodies for accountants started forming across countries. Kettle (1958) reported that from the late 19th century British accounting firms