Accounting is a foreign language to the owners of many service businesses. An accountant is far more than someone who prepares income tax returns. Understanding what an accountant does — and using those services — can mean the difference between a troubled business and a successful one.Many owners think accounting and bookkeeping are the same. They are not. Bookkeeping is chiefly the clerical phase of accounting. A bookkeeper primarily records the business’ financial transactions. Accounting is much broader. Accountants develop systems to classify and summarize transactions and interpret financial statements. They are — or should be — decision makers. A
