SIC 8721 Accounting, Auditing, and Bookkeeping Services

Encyclopedia of American Industries | 2005 | Copyright

SIC 8721
ACCOUNTING, AUDITING, AND BOOKKEEPING SERVICES

This category covers establishments primarily engaged in furnishing accounting, bookkeeping, and related auditing services. It includes those businesses that use data processing and tabulating in connection with these services, but those whose primary aim is to provide such data processing and tabulating are classified in SIC 7374: Computer Processing and Data Preparation and Processing Services. Establishments providing tax preparation services without also providing accounting, auditing, or bookkeeping services are covered in SIC 7291: Tax Return Preparation Services.

NAICS Code(s)

541211 (Offices of Certified Public Accountants)

541214 (Payroll Services)

541219 (Other Accounting Services)

Industry Snapshot

Accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services serve key functions in America's (and the world's) economic engine. In such publications as The Bottom Line, the global significance of the accounting profession has long been confirmed: "The world's capital markets rely on financial statements certified by independent auditors. If the integrity of those statements could not be trusted, investment would come to a halt and economic growth would be paralyzed." The close relationship between the accounting industry and the economy as a whole became increasingly apparent in the early 2000s as a wave of corporate scandals not only rocked the U.S. accounting industry but also undermined an already weakened economy. The Enron bankruptcy, that resulted in the demise of Big Five accounting firm Arthur Andersen in 2002 was followed by admissions of fraudulent accounting by WorldCom Inc., the criminal indictment of Tyco International Ltd.'s CEO and CFO, and various other accounting impropriety charges levied against firms like Kmart Corp., Adelphia Communications Corp., and Merrill Lynch & Co. As scandals mounted, investor confidence waned, pushing the already beleaguered stock market down further.

In response to the growing number of high profile corporate fraud cases, the Bush administration passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 as part of an effort to crack down on fraudulent accounting practices and to bolster investor confidence. The United States Congress also stripped the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants of its regulatory duties, granting auditing oversight responsibilities to a new federal board.

Organization and Structure

Different fields in the accounting profession represent different degrees of affiliation with the world of commerce. Public accountants run their own businesses or are employed by accounting firms to meet the particular accounting needs of their clients. Accountants employed by companies to record and summarize financial data are known variously as management, industrial, corporate, or private accountants. Internal auditors are employed by companies to check records for signs of inefficiency, mismanagement, or fraud. Accountants and auditors employed in government not only produce and check the financial records pertaining to the institution for which they work, they also audit persons or businesses regulated and taxed by government. Each of these broadly defined fields is further subdivided by choices of specialization, yielding a wide variety of niches for accountants to fill.

Associations. Numerous organizations within the accounting profession cater to the specialized needs of different groups of accountants, ranging from the Association of Black CPA Firms to the American Women's Society of Certified Public Accountants to the National Association of Accountants. By far the largest and most important of the organizations within the...

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	Hare today, gone tomorrow? Newspaper article from: Morpeth Herald (Morpeth, England) ; ...increase the declining hare population in many...particularly brown hares following the announcement...including the brown hare. Dr Stephen Tapper...has studied brown hares extensively said...spectacle of boxing hares became a thing of...is not a case of 'hare today, gone tomorrow...
	Hare today - but gone tomorrow? The brown hare is in danger of dying out - but you can help by taking up hare spotting.(Features) Newspaper article from: Daily Post (Liverpool, England) ; ...static, the brown hare is just one of 175...task: ironically, hares benefit from farming...ground, exposing hares to predators. The...occurs throughout the hare breeding season...as game animals, hares are still protected...Act (1880) and the Hare Protection Act (1911...
	Hare today but gone tomorrow if we're not careful; Plea to public to help secure the future of UK's fastest land animal.(News) Newspaper article from: Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales) ; ...featured the Mad March Hare dining with the heroine...Mad Hatter. Brown hares are typically found...reverse the decline in hare numbers. A trust spokesman said: Hares need quiet, undisturbed...asked not to shoot hares in late winter unless...THREAT: The brown hare population has ...
	O'Hare losing ground as first-class air hub Series: AIRPORT AGONY Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times ; ...American cities are galloping ahead. O'Hare already has lost boasting rights to being...decade-twice the rate of increase at O'Hare, according to a United Airlines study...compared with just 12 percent at O'Hare. "Regionally, other hubs are siphoning...
	Hare: alive - and well Newspaper article from: Wheeling Countryside (IL) ; ...former St. Viator High School stud Mike Hare sporting a Grateful Dead tie. At 20 years...search of a future starting role. When Hare was a senior in high school, he was recruited...with more academic challenges, now has Hare truly experiencing how demanding life can...
	Hare publishes stories you won't want to read at night. (Hare Publications, Carlsbad, California, releases paperback book entitled 'Death Row' chronicling death row inmates) Magazine article from: San Diego Business Journal ; Hare publishes stories you won't want to read at night The latest book from Hare Publications in Carlsbad chronicles the most despicable...of the worst get the death penalty," said Glenn Hare, former San Diego police officer and principal of...
	Hare today, but under real threat of going tomorrow; Usurped: The Irish hare is in danger of being squeezed out by foreigners. Newspaper article from: The Daily Mail (London, England) ; ...2007, surveyors used spotlightsto find hares at night, since hares are most active after sunset. The survey found hares throughout the country, in many types of habitats. Uniquely, the Irish hare has adapted to all kinds of habitat...
	Hare Sculpture Worth Its Weight in Bronze Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times ; ...their anatomy, these hares are wildly expressionistic...meaning to the epithet wild hare. "Nijinski Hare on Globe...both highlighting the hares' incredible vitality...In one piece, a boxing hare is poised on a cast anvil...below. In another, two hares dance on one foot on the...
	Hare visits Decatur, promises Democratic supporters he won't forget labor roots. Newspaper article from: Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) ; ...Mike Frazier Jun. 9--DECATUR -- Phil Hare pledged to local Democrats on Thursday...if it were not for organized labor," Hare told the party faithful gathered midday...I wear that as a badge of honor." Hare was selected earlier this week by precinct...
	Hare hunt a midwinter tradition. News Wire article from: Duluth News-Tribune (Duluth, MN) ; ...hunts, the group took 71 hares. They boned the meat...shop and had made into hare sticks (think beef sticks...shoot 10,000 to 70,000 hares, but in 1980-81 they...biologists think the snowshoe hare population is slowly declining...Across Minnesota, snowshoe hares range as far south as...