This example will help you to appreciate that you are working with accounting data on a daily basis, and continues the topic from pages 10-12 of Chapter 1.
Before you started your current programme of study, you probably set yourself a target of a percentage you would like to achieve or a degree classification you would like to gain by the end of your course. The results you receive from each piece of coursework and each examination are presented on a single sheet of paper at the end of each year of your course and fall into the category of accounting data thus:
| Accounting summarizes | Your results are a summary of what you have achieved. |
| numerical data | Results are expressed as numbers, the % score you achieved on each piece of assessment and your overall score on each module studied. |
| relating to past events | The percentages are the result of your past efforts. |
| and presents this data as information to managers | You are the manager of your own performance, so the results enable you to see where you are now and what you still have to do to achieve your goal. |
| as a basis for both decision making | Your results enable you to make decisions about the future, to decide whether you have to work harder to achieve your aims, whether you are currently working at the right level or whether you are working above the required level and could set your goals higher than you originally envisaged. |
| and control purposes | The results summary acts as a control by allowing you to compare what you expected to happen with what actually happened. Were the results what you expected? Were they different? If they were different, were they higher or lower than you expected? Can you find ways in which to study more effectively and efficiently to achieve your aims or enable you to aim higher? Again, your results summary enables you to control the amount of time and effort you are putting into your studies so that you can plan to attain your required level of achievement at the end of your programme of study. |
By checking your results, you are keeping track of your plans, monitoring outcomes, ensuring that your results are in line with your aims and planning how to improve your scores to keep your plans on course. This is exactly the role accounting performs in a business context.