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Exercise 1. Answer the questions. 1. When you hear the word 'accountant', what kind of work do you draw in your mind?
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1. When you hear the word 'accountant', what kind of work do you draw in your mind?
2. How old is accounting?
3. What century does it date back?
4. Who wrote the first description of double-entry bookkeeping?
5. When was it written?
6. Why has accounting been called 'the language of business'?
7. What do the terms ‘debet dare’ and ‘debet habere’ mean?
8. When did the pace of accounting development increase? Why?
9. Why did the growth of corporations spur the development of accounting?
10. When did the concept of "income" appear?
11. How can accounting standards be defined?
12. What is the role of accounting standards?
13. What are the important issues for the accounting profession?
Exercise 2. Translate the following sentences into Russian.
1. The money that a business spends in order to produce goods or services is its costs.
2. Fixed costs do not vary in relation to the output level of goods or services; variable costs do.
3. Direct costs are directly related to the things produced. In manufacturing, for example, direct costs include raw materials and wages and indirect costs may include things like social security charges on top of
the wages.
4. Overhead costs or overheads are used to mean different things, but usually cover all the regular non-production costs of running a business, such as salaries and telephone bills, and can be extended, for example, to include the cost of marketing and R&D activities.
5. A company's financial performance for a period is its results, which it reports in the form of a profit and loss account, indicating whether it has made a profit or a loss.
6. The equivalent document in the US is the income statement. A pre-tax profit or loss is one calculated before tax is taken into account.
7. The accuracy of accounts such as the balance sheet and the profit and loss account is checked and supposedly guaranteed by auditors, outside accountants who specialize in this.
8. When a company's accounts are presented in a way that makes performance look better than it really is, the company may be accused of window dressing or creative accounting.
9. The bottom line is an informal way of talking about the results of a company:
the so-called bottom line of the profit and loss account. The bottom line also
means the final result or the most important aspect of something.
10. Assets and liabilities are normally shown on a firm's balance sheet: a
"photograph" taken, normally once a year, of its financial situation at that
time. Firms in a good situation are said to have a strong balance sheet and
those that are not, a weak one.
11. Things that are not shown in the balance sheet but in a footnote, for example,
are off-balance sheet.
12.A company's balance sheet may include provisions for potential losses, such as
bad debts, debts that may never be paid.
13.If it looks almost certain that a debt will not be paid, it is considered a write-off
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and written off.
14. A company supplying goods or services to another company does not, of
course, usually expect to be paid immediately, but after an agreed period. This is trade credit.
15. Amounts that a business is waiting to be paid by its customers are accounts
receivable or receivables. Customers owing money in this way are debtors.
16. Моnеу that a business owes to its suppliers are accounts payable or payables.
Suppliers waiting to be paid are creditors.
17. The cash flow of a business is the actual movement of money into and out of it,
independently of how much it owes and is owed.
18. Cash flow is also used to refer exclusively to cash flowing into a company
from sales.
19. When sales reach a level where revenues match costs, a company or product
breaks even.
20. This is break even or the break even point, a crucial figure when calculating the
return on investment (ROI) for a given business or product.
Exercise 3. Match each word in column A with its definition in column B.
A. B.
1. on account a. unimportant
2. account for b. on one's behalf
3. by all accounts с serve as or provide an explanation for
4. call to account d. because of
5. of no account e. require an explanation from
6. of some account f. important
7. on one's account g. in everyone’s opinion
8. on account of h. consider
9. on no account i. under no circumstances
10. take into account j. use smth fully and profitably
11. put (take) smth to k. to be paid for later
good account
Exercise 4. Use the words from the ex. 3 from column A to fill in the blanks.
1. She told me not to run …… my illness.
2. …… she was a very clever young lady.
3. You can have it ……
4. If you buy something ……, you take it away with you and pay for it at a later date.
5. How do you …… losing such a large sum of money?
6. In this new job she can …… her talents.
7. Their reactions were …… to me.
8. …... must strangers be let in.
9. We'll certainly...... your feelings
10. I was …… for my conduct by the headmaster.
Exercise 5. Join the halves.
1. Before making a loan, potential lenders...
2. Both profit and non-profit organizations...
3. Public accountants are those who...
4. Several accounting organizations have formulated...
5. To do an audit, there must be information in a...
6. It is important to obtain a sufficient...
7. The final stage in the audit process is...
8. Very often the general public...
9. The function of accounting is to provide certain types of...
10. Auditing is the process of recording, classifying and summarizing economic...
a. serve the general public and collect professional fees for their work.
b. quality and volume of evidence to satisfy the audit objectives,
с. the audit report.
d. quantitative information that management can use to make decisions.
e. verifiable form and some standards by which the auditor can evaluate the information.
f. determine the borrower's ability to meet scheduled payment.
g. confuses auditing with accounting.
h. codes of ethics that govern the behaviour of their members.
i. events in logical manner for the purpose of providing financial information for decision-making.
j. deal with budgets, payrolls, rent payments, and the like.
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Exercise 6. What can we do with information? We can record it, store, buy, classify... Add us many verbs to this line as you can. Explain the action each verb names and the purpose of this action.
e.g. When we classify the information, we subdivide it into groups according to some criteria to use it purposely in different situations.
Exercise 7. Write down a synonym for each of the words on the left. Choose from the ones on the right.
| 1. responsible 2. public 3. earnings 4. purchase 5. impact 6. acquire 7. expenses 8. supply 9. hire 10. evidence | a. buy b. influence с. costs d. information e. provide with f. employ g. in charge of h. obtain i. state-owned j. income |
Using these words ask your partner as many questions as you can.
Exercise 8. Before you begin this exercise, be sure that you know the meaning of the words and word-combinations given below. From the list, choose a word or word combination that fits both grammatically and contextually in each blank. Use each word only once and add noun or verb endings if necessary.
direct costs, fixed costs, income statement, costs, indirect costs, assets and liabilities, earnings, balance sheet, timely information, revenue, entry, depreciation.
1. Substance should triumph over form in situations of window-dressing and off-... financing.
2. It is argued that... should be brought together on the balance sheet if this is necessary to give a true and fair view, whether or not the information involved is specifically required by legislation.
3. Firms locate their production and other operations internationally for reasons that are more complex then the simple minimization of …
4. Mainly because of higher..., a German manufacturing worker costs almost twice as much per hour as a British one.
5. 5.The... shows the amount that the company earned during the year.
6. After deducting the costs of goods sold and other expenses, the firm had total... before interest and taxes of $ l0mln.
7. Lufhansa's cost problem is illustrated in a comparison with British Airways, when personnel...amount to about 24 per cent of revenues against Lufhansa's 33 per cent.
8. Any gain in market share fattens profit, because... are high and variable costs are low.
9. There remains, of course, the risk of capital...
10. The purpose of adjusting... is to bring the accounts to their proper balances before the financial statements are prepared.
11. This matching of expenses and... is necessary for the income statement to present an accurate picture of the profitability of a business.
12. Since those interested in the activities of a business need..., financial statements must be prepared periodically.
Exercise 9. Complete the table.
| Noun | Adjective | Verb | Meaning |
| trace | |||
| account | |||
| payable | |||
| transfer | |||
| profit | |||
| comparable | |||
| finance | |||
| manage | |||
| accept | |||
| system | |||
| liable | |||
| require | |||
| dependence | |||
| quality | |||
| recognize | |||
| total | |||
| Estimate | |||
| Observe | |||
| Enter | |||
| explanation |
Exercise 10. Study the difference between the following synonyms. Only one meaning of the word is given here. Consult a good dictionary to find the meanings and some more synonyms to the given words. Then use them in the sentences that follow.
Evaluate. If you evaluate something you decide on its significance, value, or quality after carefully studying its good and bad features.
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Estimate. If you estimate an amount or quality you calculate it approximately, you make judgment about it based on the available evidence.
Appreciate. If you appreciate something, for example apiece of music or good food, you recognize and understand the good qualities or features that it has and like or admire it because of them.
1. They meet monthly to discuss policy and... the current political situation.
2. They really... the peace and quiet of rural Wales.
3. The hurricane caused damage... at 300 mln pounds.
4. How would you... our chances?
5. He is the kind of individual that's very hard to....
6. The lawyers... the property at 90 thousand pounds.
7. The builder... the cost of repairing of roof at 600 pounds.
8. It can explain why actual costs varied from cost....
9. I would... the size of the garden at 1000 square metres.
TEXT 13. CAREERS IN FINANCE
Careers in finance vary as widely as the scope of finance itself. Some of these career paths require extensive, highly specialized knowledge and advanced degrees. Others begin with entry level positions open to enthusiastic, hard-working individuals regardless of their undergraduate majors.
The scope of finance has increased so much over the past decade that the field is generally subdivided into three parts. Financial markets and institutions, financial management, and investments are commonly considered to be separate disciplines. The study of financial markets and institutions focuses on those public and private institutions engaged in granting loans, accepting deposits, facilitating securities transfers, raising corporate funds, and regulating both the economy (domestic and global) and its financial institutions.
Financial management is concerned with how firms acquire and allocate funds. It examines how firms obtain short-term and long-term funds and how these funds are spent to acquire selected assets. Decisions regarding dividend policies, merger and acquisition activities, and leasing, all fall within the realm of the capital budget. Financial management also emphasizes the cash budget and management of its components.
Investment analysis focuses on how individuals or portfolio managers select appropriate financial and real assets. It examines the markets within which fund raising and security trading take place. It explores the methodologies used by investors, providing insights into criteria for analyzing companies and industries, as well as generating norms of behavior. The study of the markets for stocks and bonds, stock and index options, warrants, and commodities and financial futures are all part of the investments area.
Careers in Institutions and Markets
Entry level positions in financial institutions and markets can include everything from bank teller to credit trainee. A person with a strong finance background would probably begin as an administrative assistant to a loan officer, or as a junior financial analyst in either the credit department or the research department of a depository institution. Positions such as customer service representative or mortgage servicing specialist in an insurance company or a mortgage banking company, respectively, are generally staffed by people with limited finance backgrounds. More experienced individuals would be eligible for loan officer, branch manager, or senior analyst positions.
Careers in Financial Management
Entry level positions for those with associate degrees and limited experience in finance include data processing clerks, investor relations specialists, and accounts payable staff positions. Finance majors find entry level positions as junior accountants in cost or Financial accounting departments, budget analysts, or financial planners. Promotion opportunities generally lead to managerial positions such as cash manager, credit manager, or financial accounting manager. Senior financial management positions include CFO, corporate comptroller, and treasurer.
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Careers in Investments
Generally it is the investment area that attracts people to finance. They see an appealing opportunity to control multimillion dollar investment portfolios, or to be part of an investment banking institution engaged in mergers and acquisitions. Most brokerage houses, however, provide entry level positions as registered representatives (for those who qualify by passing specific NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) examinations), or as investment or industry analysts. Clerical and assistant positions are always available with the major brokerage houses for those with limited experience, but excellent self-motivational skills. Senior employment opportunities include portfolio manager, senior investment analyst, and investment counselor.
EXERCISES
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