Management, accounting, finance : what are the differences ?2 min de lecture

In many cases, accounting, management and finance are confused into a single profession and sometimes reduced to the simple accounting entry. However, these are 3 different functions within the company. And each has its own importance.

Accounting

Accounting focuses on the past . Its role is to produce a snapshot of the company’s financial situation in accordance withtax standards. It is a kind of photograph taken at a T-moment of the company’s figures ordered according to very specific rules. The purpose of accounting is to provide financial statements that will be published and forwarded to the various governments.

Its main tasks are :

• The Holding and entering accounts according to current standards
• The different tax returns
• The production of financial statements
• The payroll management

Management

Management focuses instead on the future. The manager will rely in part on accounting data but also on all other information provided by the various departments of the company in order to establish projections projections in the future. It will also be the study of the costs, margin, cash of the company in order to be able to control the business. Its aim is to improve the performance and profitability of the company and to provide tools to facilitate decision-making decision-making..

Its main tasks are :

• Forecast budgets
• Cash management
• Product profitability studies
• Dashboards

Finance

It focuses on the long-term value of the company. Its goal is to maximize the value of the company to its shareholders over the long term. It is therefore closely linked to bank finaning and investors. It also relies on accounting data but also on manager’s data to make decisions.

It focuses mainly on :

• The study of external funding
• The company’s investment projects
• The compensation for capital providers

Linking the 3 functions

As you can see, these three areas are linked together, and they are all necessary to the goodmanagement of your company and to optimize your economic performance.

Nowadays, innovative tools link accounting, management and finance to facilitate decision-making and business case analysis. This is the case with Perfactor, a web platform that automates the production of dashboards in order to drive the growth of your company. Based on your accounting data, you are able to quickly calculate the profitability of your products and optimize all your activities. With your dashboards, you can also reassure your financial partners about your company’s key figures.