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We aim to make this section of the book as easy to understand as possible by stating what should be obvious. That is, the accounting function in most businesses has two primary purposes:

 First, the accounting function and systems established must be able to produce complete, accurate, reliable, and timely (“CART”) financial information on which businesses can base sound decisions.In today’s intensely competitive global economy that is now supported by a broad ranging technology infrastructure that delivers information in split seconds, it has never been more important for accounting systems and the entire accounting function to produce and deliver vital financial information on a timely basis for review and management action.

 Second, a business’s accounting function must be developed, implemented, managed, and periodically revised and updated to always be in the mindset of safeguarding company assets. Here, we are not just talking about preventing theft of liquid or hard assets such as an employee who may be embezzling cash or stealing inventory. Rather, the accounting function is now one of the critical gatekeepers associated with helping protect company intellectual property, shelter invaluable customer data and databases, preserve the integrity of critical financial information, control and direct the distribution of confidential financial operating results to the appropriate parties, and assist with critical risk management and insurance protection strategies, just to name a few.

As you progress through the rest of this book, it becomes abundantly clear that the accounting function has evolved into something much more than a bunch of bean counters, working with debits and credits, producing financial statements, and trying desperately to meet the annual income tax reporting deadlines. If the last 24 months has taught us anything, it is that the speed at which economic business models are now formulated, launched, disrupted, expanded, contracted, and potentially eliminated from the global market is in warp drive. Massive volumes of raw confidential business data are now considered one of the most valuable assets a company owns and monetizes to generate profits (aided by huge technological advancements). As such, accounting’s role in producing CART financial information in coordination with helping protect this data has never been more critical. Throughout this book, we provide examples and make references to accounting in the new, digital age; we start by diving into the digitization of accounting in Chapter 4 and a new era of risks.