Firm is a general term for all entities that conduct business activity: Limited companies, partnerships, independent businesses, law firms, etc.

The following explanations and examples concern mostly limited liability companies, but they also apply to firms in general.

Name of a Company: Company names will be printed in bold text with abbreviations like LLC (Limited Liability Corporation), Ltd. (Limited), and Inc. (Incorporated) left out. Every transaction or scenario that has financial consequences for a firm is accompanied by full documentation and registration. Documentation and registration make it possible to produce reports that portray a picture of the firm’s situation. All activity involving documentation, registration, production of reports and their analysis is called “financial accounting”. Some of the reports produced in a firm are legally required, and some are designed to help the company management make business decisions. All types of reports are discussed in this course.

The department that deals with documentation, registration and production of legally required reports is called the bookkeeping department and its employees are called bookkeepers.