Week 1: What is accountability and accounting?

What is the accountability model?

- why they should collect and disclose info - who are the stakeholders to whom it will be directed - what types of info the stakeholders need or expect - who should the info be disclosed to meet stakeholders needs

What are the three areas of performance?

Financial - managing money and profit from sales changing hands Social - inclusive employment practices, WHS, staff satisfaction Environmental - accounting for/eliminating emissions, managing waste

What is accounting?

The process of collecting, summarising, analysing and communicating information to enable users of that info to make informed decisions

What is a stakeholder of an organisation?

a group or individual who can affect, or is affected by the achievement of an organisation's objectives

What does reliable info have?

no errors, complete, balanced aka free from bias

What is the role of accounting?

informing stakeholders about the extent of their actions for which an organisation is deemed to be responsible have actually been fulfilled

What does relevant info have?

predictive value or confirmatory value

What are the comparative info characteristics?

selective, compiled and reported in a similar way, period to period

What is accountability?

the duty to provide an account or reckoning of those actions for which one is held responsible

When is info verifiable?

when different people are provided with the same underlying data, they will derive all measures shown in the info being presented by the organisation

When is info relevant?

when it is capable of changing the decisions of those people receiving the information relevance is affected by the location of the organisation, as well as by time