accounting
noun/əˈkaʊn.tɪŋ/
Etymology * First attested in the late 14th century. * account + -ing
1
Business Usually The development and use of a system for recording and analyzing the financial transactions and financial status of an individual or a business.
- British Railways are beginning to reap the advantages of electronics applied to accounting. At Swindon Works, a computor, the first of its type to be used anywhere in the world, was installed recently to deal with the pay of some 10,000 employees.1957 November 23, “Electronics in Railway Accountancy”, in Railway Magazine, page 746:
2
Usually A relaying of events; justification of actions.
- He was required to give a thorough accounting of his time.
3
Law Usually An equitable remedy requiring wrongfully obtained profits to be distributed to those who deserve them.
- In contrast, an accounting for profits, or accounting— a distinct form of relief that the majority groups with disgorgement — has a well-accepted definition: It compels a defendant to account for, and repay to a plaintiff, those profits that belong to the plaintiff in equity.2020, Liu v. SEC (U.S. Supreme Court No. 18-1501), Justice Thomas dissenting
- Derived terms
- accounting cost, accounting equation, accountingese, accounting machine, accounting period, accounting profit, accounting year, cookie-jar accounting, creative accounting, financial accounting, forensic accounting, funny accounting, green accounting, Hollywood accounting, management accounting, nonaccounting, Pereira accounting, preaccounting, project accounting, pushdown accounting, shadow accounting, tax accounting, Van Camp accounting