An accounting cycle is a complete sequence of accounting process, that begins with the recording of business transactions and ends with the preparation of final accounts

It is the amount of cash or value of goods, assets, etc., withdrawn from the business by the proprietor for his personal use

There are three bases of accounting in common usage, namely
(i) Cash Basis
(ii) Accrual or mercantile basis
(iii) Mixed or hybrid basis

The Steps involved in accounting are :
(i) Identifying the transactions and Journalising.
(ii) Posting and Balancing.
(iii) Preparation of Trial Balance.
(iv) Preparation of Trading Account.
(v) Preparation of Profit and Loss Account.
(vi) Preparation of Balance Sheet.

American Accounting Association has defined accounting as "the process of identifying, measuring and communicating economic information to permit informed judgments and decisions by users of the information".

External users are the persons who are outside the organisation but make use of accounting information for their own purposes. They are:
(i) Creditors and Financial institutions:
1. Suppliers of goods and services, commercial banks, public deposit holders, debenture holders etc; are included in this category.
2. They are interested in the liquidity position and repaying capacity of the business to know the safety of getting the interest and get back the principal amount.
(ii) Investors:
1. Persons who are interested in investing their surplus funds should know about the financial condition of a business unit while making their investment decisions.
2. They are more interested in future earning and risk.
(iii) Customers :
1. Those who use the products and services of a firm are interested in knowing the justification for the prices charged to them.
2. They examine the expenses, sales and profits to see if they are paying fair prices for the products and services.
(iv) Tax authorities:
1. Accounting information helps them in computing goods and services Tax, Income tax etc., to be collected from business units.
2. They scrutinise the revenues and expenses of business firms to determine their accuracy. "
(v) Government:
1. Government also administers prices of certain trades.
2. In such cases, government agencies have to ensure that the guidelines for pricing are followed.
vi) Researchers:
Researchers to carry out their research can make use of the published financial statements in their analysis and evaluation.

There are three bases of accounting in common usage, namely
(i) Cash basis
(ii) Accrual or mercantile basis
(iii) Mixed or hybrid basis
(i) Accounting on cash basis:
1. Under cash basis of accounting, actual cash receipts and actual cash payments are recorded.
2. Credit transactions are not recorded till the cash is actually received or paid.
3. Under the basis,
a) Any income received  
b) Any expenditure paid  
c) Any asset purchased for which cash is paid.
d) Any liability paid during the accounting period. Whether related to the past, present or future is taken into account.
(ii) Accrual or mercantile basis :
1) Under accrual basis of accounting, the income whether received or not but has been earned or accrued during the period and expenses incurred whether paid or not are recorded.
2) Under this basis,
a) Any income earned whether received or not
b) Any expenditure incurred whether paid or not
c) Any asset purchased whether cash is paid or not
d) Any liability incurred whether paid or not during the accounting period is recorded.
(iii) Hybrid or mixed basis :
1. Under mixed basis of accounting both cash basis and accrual basis are followed.
2. Incomes are generally recorded on cash basis whereas expenses are generally taken on accrual basis.

Accounting cycle is the sequence of steps involved in the accounting process. Accounting cycle starts with the identification and recording of financial transactions of an organisation and ends with the preparation of final accounts for the accounting year. The steps involved are:
(i) Identifying the transactions and journalising :
(1) The first step in the accounting process is identifying the financial transactions of a business.
(2) All the monetary transactions are recorded in the books of original entry called journals.  
(ii) Posting and balancing:
(1) Transferring the entries from the journal. to the ledger is called posting.
(2) In the ledger, entries are made in each account after classifying them under common heads. Finding the difference between the total of the debit column and credit column of all the ledger accounts is called balancing.
(iii) Preparation of trial balance:
(1) The list of ledger balances namely trial balance is prepared as the next step.
(2) On the basis of ledger balances the financial statements are prepared.
(iv) Preparation of trading account:
(1) Next step is preparation of trading account for a particular accounting period.
(2) All the direct revenues and direct expenses are transferred to trading account.
(3) The balance in the trading account is the gross profit or gross loss.
(v) Preparation of profit and loss account:
(1) Profit and loss account is prepared next for a particular accounting period.
(2) All the indirect revenues and indirect expenses along with gross profit or gross loss are transferred to profit and loss account.
(3) The balance in the profit and loss account is the net profit or net loss.
(vi) Preparation of balance sheet:
(1) A statement showing the balances of assets and liabilities namely balance sheet is prepared as the final step in the accounting process.
(2) It is prepared on a particular date, normally, on the last day of the accounting period.

(i) In the earliest days of civilisation, accounting was done by stewards who managed the properties of wealthy people. They rendered accounts periodically to the owners of property.
(ii) The stewardship accounting is said to be the root of accounting. Records of debit and credit were found in the 12^th century itself.
(iii) In 1494, Luca Pacioli an Italian developed double-entry book-keeping system.
(iv) Due to the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19^th centuries, large scale operations were carried on and joint stock companies emerged as an important form of organisation which required separation of ownership from management.
(v) Hence, to safeguard the interest of owners and investors, the business establishments required detailed information about business which paved the way for development of comprehensive financial accounting information system.
(vi) In the 20^th century, the need for analysis of financial information for managerial decision making caused emergence of Management Accounting as a separate branch of accounting.
(vii) Though accounting was individual centric in the initial stage of evolution of accounting, it has gradually developed into Social Responsibility Accounting in the 21^st century, due to the vast growth in business activities as a result of development in various fields.

Importance of accounting is enumerated as below :
(i) Systematic records :
1. All the business transactions are recorded in the books of accounts.
2. Any event or happening which has financial effects is included in the accounting records.
(ii) Preparation of financial statements :
Results of business operations and the financial position of the concern are provided by accounting periodically through the preparation of financial statements namely profit and loss account and balance sheet.
(iii) Assessment of progress :
Analysis and interpretation of financial statements can be done to assess the progress made in different areas and it also identify the areas of weaknesses.
(iv) Information to interested groups :
Accounting supplies appropriate information to different interested groups 'like owners, creditors, management, employees, financiers, tax authorities, and government.
(v) Taxation :
Accounting records are the basis source for computation and settlement of sales tax, income tax, and other local taxes.

The various branches of accounting are

(i) Financial Accounting :
1. It involves recording of financial transactions and events.
2. It provides financial information to the users for taking decisions.
3. It ends up with the preparation of trading and profit and loss account and balance sheet,
(ii) Cost Accounting :  
It involves the collection, recording, classification and appropriate allocation of expenditure for the determination of the costs of products or services and for the presentation of data for the purposes of cost control and managerial decision making.
(iii) Management Accounting :
It is concerned with the presentation of accounting information in such a way as to assist management in decision making and in the day - to - day operations of an enterprise.
(iv) Social Responsibility Accounting :
It is concerned with presentation of accounting information from the view point of the society by showing the social costs and social benefits.
(v) Human Resource Accounting :
It is concerned with identification, quantification, and reporting of investments made in human resources of an enterprise.

The various steps involved in accounting process are:
(i) Identifying the transactions and journaiising: The first step in the accounting process is identifying the financial transactions of a business. All the monetary transactions are recorded in the books of original entry called journals. Recording the transactions in the journal is called journalising. Entries are made journals.
(ii) Posting and balancing: Transferring the entries from the journal to the ledger is called posting. In ledger, entries are made in each account after classifying them under common heads. Finding out the difference between the total of the debit column and credit column of all the ledger accounts is called balancing.
(iii) Preparation of trial balance: The list of ledger balances namely trial balance is prepared as the next step. On the basis of ledger balances the financial statements are prepared.
(iv) Preparation of trading account: Next step is preparation of trading account for a particular accounting period. All the direct revenues and direct expenses are transferred to trading account. The balance in the trading account is the gross profit or gross loss.
(v) Preparation of profit and loss account: Profit and loss account is prepared next for a particular accounting period. All the indirect revenues. and indirect expenses along with gross profit or gross loss are transferred to profit and loss account. The balance in the profit and loss account is the net profit or net loss.
(vi) Preparation of balance sheet: A statement showing the balances of assets and liabilities namely balance sheet is prepared as the final step in the accounting process. It is prepared on a particular date, normally, on the last day of the accounting period.

Accounting is both an art as well as Science.
(i) Art:
1. Art is the technique of achieving some pre-determined objectives.
2. And accounting is also an art of recording, classifying and summarising financial transactions
(ii) Science:
1. Science is an organised knowledge based on certain basic principles.
2. Therefore, Accounting is also a Science as it is an organised knowledge based on certain principles.

Following are the objectives of accounting:
(i) To keep a systematic record of financial transactions and events
(ii) To ascertain the profit or loss of the business enterprise
(iii) To ascertain the financial position or status of the enterprise
(iv) To provide information to various stakeholders for their requirements
(v) To protect the properties of an enterprise and
(vi) To ascertain the solvency and liquidity position of an enterprise