Accounting is an instrument for representing business transactions and relationships. It includes internal and external accounting, with each having different audiences.

The external accounting area of an enterprise includes:

• Duty to account
  An enterprise needs accounting processes to meet the requirements of the law to account to stockholders, tax authorities, and creditors or lenders with respect to its assets, debts, and profit and loss.

• Duty to inform
  An enterprise publishes information about the overall business of the enterprise, both voluntarily and to meet legal requirements.

External accounting contains business processes for commercial record-keeping and for accounting to other parties, particularly to the owners of outside capital and the tax authorities. These processes include financial accounting and year-end closing.

The range of services provided by the SAP System include the processes of the following subareas of the Financial Accounting component: