accounting

[ uh-koun-ting ]

/ əˈkaʊn tɪŋ /

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See synonyms for accounting on Thesaurus.com

noun

the theory and system of setting up, maintaining, and auditing the books of a firm; art of analyzing the financial position and operating results of a business house from a study of its sales, purchases, overhead, etc. (distinguished from bookkeeping).

a detailed report of the financial state or transactions of a person or entity: an accounting of the estate.

the rendering or submission of such a report.

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Origin of accounting

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at account, -ing¹

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH accounting

accounting , bookkeeping, finance(s)

Words nearby accounting

account book, account current, account day, account executive, account for, accounting, accounting machine, accounting period, account payable, account receivable, accouplement

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use accounting in a sentence

Instead, The Post has tried to create an accounting of these payments, one receipt at a time, using public-records requests and lawsuits.
Trump’s businesses charged Secret Service more than $1.1 million, including for rooms in club shuttered for pandemic|David Fahrenthold, Josh Dawsey|September 17, 2020|Washington Post
Another layer of complexity is added by recent adoption of the “current expected credit losses” accounting standard, under which banks must estimate losses for the whole life of a loan.
A Loan Crisis Looms for Commercial Property|Daniel Malloy|September 8, 2020|Ozy
Yet the state’s justice courts are excluded from this requirement, making a complete accounting of debt lawsuits impossible unless the state’s 803 justice courts choose to make their records public.
How We Found Out How Many Debt Collection Lawsuits Oportun Inc. Filed During the Pandemic|by Ren Larson and Kiah Collier|August 31, 2020|ProPublica
A full accounting, implying a perfect prediction, would demand an infinite number of diagrams.
The Mathematical Structure of Particle Collisions Comes Into View|Charlie Wood|August 20, 2020|Quanta Magazine

That means people who specialize in civil rights law, auditing and accounting, and encryption security.
Years Into Smart Streetlights Program, Council Will Write Surveillance Rules|Jesse Marx|July 9, 2020|Voice of San Diego
He had studied accounting in college, but he had become a cop for the same reason as Ramos.
In The Shadow of Murdered Cops|Michael Daly|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hopefully there will be a transparent accounting of what was introduced.
First Mike Brown, Then Eric Garner: Prosecutors Can’t Be Trusted to Try Cops|Sally Kohn|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The answers include poor planning, budgetary procedures that defied economic logic, and at least one bone-headed accounting error.
America’s 60 Year-Old Nuclear Bomber Might Finally Get a New Engine|Bill Sweetman|October 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But a full accounting of the activities of politicians before Maidan is not in the cards for now, says Rondin.
Ukraine’s Wild and Wooly Elections|Anna Nemtsova|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“The substance of the report is the most comprehensive accounting of what happened,” said Gude.
You're About to See What Obama Calls 'Torture'|Josh Rogin, Eli Lake|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Such accounting would have to appear on her record of cash telegrams accepted.
Warren Commission (10 of 26): Hearings Vol. X (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
So popular and so ungovernable was the habit, that there is hardly any rational means to be found for accounting for it.
A Cursory History of Swearing|Julian Sharman
They paid each other's bills without any accounting and there was never any friction, until now.
David Lannarck, Midget|George S. Harney
In my interview you'd better lay great stress on the imperative need for a uniform accounting law for county officials.
A Hoosier Chronicle|Meredith Nicholson
There is no accounting for the freaks of these military Americanos, so I went to my bed.
Boy Scouts in the Philippines|G. Harvey Ralphson

British Dictionary definitions for accounting

accounting

/ (əˈkaʊntɪŋ) /

noun

the skill or practice of maintaining and auditing accounts and preparing reports on the assets, liabilities, etc, of a business
(as modifier)an accounting period; accounting entity

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for accounting

accounting

The system of recording and auditing business transactions. (See audit.)

accounting

Origin of accounting

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH accounting

Words nearby accounting

Words related to accounting

How to use accounting in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for accounting

Cultural definitions for accounting