The beginnings of accounting, which precede even the first use of figures, date from before the time of recorded history. The first attempts at modern corporate accounting, however, are usually traced to the late Middle Ages. Double-entry accounting, now used throughout the world, is not a fixed set of techniques, but rather a system that is continually being perfected and adapted to the needs of firms and their economic environments. Some authors, such as the German economist Werner Sombart, would see it as a major factor in the development of capitalism. Without question, double-entry book-keeping is still the primary information system available to firms.

Today, it is possible to define accounting as a system of producing and communicating information about the firm. This system can be divided into two main sub-systems. The first provides information used within a firm itself for internal management. For this reason, it is called management accounting. The second sub-system, provides information for external use by a firm's economic and social partners. It is called general accounting, or, more frequently, financial accounting.

Information is provided by financial accountants through a series of documents, including the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of retained earnings and the cash flow statement. The formats of these tend to be regulated and standardized, depending on the regulatory regime in the country in question. These basic documents have limitations, in that they cannot provide complete information about the firm. Accordingly, new types of report are now beginning to be used, such as methods of accounting for inflation, employee reports and social accounts, reporting on the organization's social programmes.