READING COMPREHENSION

a.Read the heading. Do you think the writer enjoys his job? Discuss with your partner.

I work in the Accounts Dept. and…

My name is Robert. I work in the Accounts Dept. of a major company and I love my job.

The computer program that we employ for the management of projects, orders and
administration is new and quite intuitive. It is used by all Departments; in the accounts Dept. it is used
to manage the accounts payable, the accounts receivable, the company’s liabilities and the source of
income (fixed assets, current assets). It is also used to update the petty cash book and can generate
the profit and loss statement, the general ledgers (GL), the balance sheet and various reports.

My typical daily routine involves checking, approving and recording the client pre-invoices that
my colleague has issued. Each client pre-invoice must be associated with an internal order/project,
then it is approved by me and my boss before being recorded and sent to the customer. I also deal
with the unpaid accounts receivables. I do not really like debt collection, but it is an essential task.

The supplier invoices must be associated with an internal order/project too. I record them once a
month, and I update the register of incomes and expenses for Income Revenue Authority too. After
having paid the V.A.T. through the F24 form, I usually print the V.A.T. records in the middle of the
following month.

Another role of the Accounts Dept. is the monthly management of the personnel. My
colleague Alice deals with payrolls.

We mainly use the online banking for the banking operations, it's very simple and we do not
have to go to the bank branch. We haven’t used the checkbook for years, we pay suppliers by bank
transfer or credit card. Our customers pay us only by bank transfer or SDD (SEPA Direct Debit). For
this reason, the main banking operations I carry out are the bank transfer orders and standing orders

reque for our regular suppliers.

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I also deal with bank and credit card reconciliations. I check our bank accounts every morning.
Once a week I send a copy of the statements to my boss and to our managing director.
b. Answer these questions:

1. Is Robert the boss of his Department? YES_____NO__X___

2. Does he have direct relationships with customers? YES_____NO__X ___

d. Answer these questions:
1.The company employs an old computer program.
TRUE_____FALSE_x_
TRUE_____FALSE__x_
2.Robert issues invoices. __

3. He prints the V.A.T. record once a month TRUE__ ___FALSE__ x ___

4. The company pays suppliers by cheques/checks TRUE_____FALSE_ x ____

5. Robert uses online banking TRUE__ x___FALSE_____

e. Look at the highlighted words in the text and match them to the definitions.

WORDS DEFINITIONS

1 accounts payable

2 accounts receivable

3 liability

4 fixed and current assets

5 petty cash book

6 general ledger (GL)

register of incomes and

7 expenses for Income
Revenue Authority
8 payroll
9 standing order request
statement
10

Total long term and liquid resources of a person or business, as cash, notes and accounts receivable, securities,
4 inventories, goodwill, fixtures, machinery, or real estate

The accounting transaction record, maintained either manually or using computer software, of all the balance sheet
6 and income statement balances of a company or business.
 An instruction a bank account holder gives to his or her bank to pay a set amount at regular intervals to another's
9 account.

8 A list of employees to be paid, with the amount owed to each.

A printed listing that shows financial amounts taken in or paid out of a bank account, or of finances generally.
5
3 Money owed, debts

The amount of money a company owes creditors (suppliers, etc.) in return for goods and/or services they have
1 delivered.
A formal summarization of petty cash expenditures, sorted by date.
7
Annual declaration to the tax office of all domestic VAT sales and purchases.
10
The amount of money owed by customers or clients to a business after goods or services have been delivered
2 and/or used.
f. Correct the mistakes in the spelling

1. stand order request_______________ Standing order requests

2. accunts________________Accounts

3. statment___________Statement

4. general legger__________________General ledger

5. petcash book_______________Petty cash book

6. fix assets______________Fixed assets

7. autorithy ______________Authority

8. paysroll ______________Payroll

9. paiable ____________Payable

10. receivables ___________Receivable

g. Fill in the gaps with the words given

accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed, current, petty cash , ledger, register of income and
expenses, standing order request, statement, liabilities.

1. I’m sorry, the bank online program has a bug and our_standing order request______hasn’t
been processed, that’s why you haven’t received the payment.

2. Our Board of Directors is meeting to discuss the General___ledger_____.

3. I’m always nervous when it comes to print the____register of income and expenses___. I
often call our consultant so she can check that everything’s fine before sending it to the
Income Revenue Authority.

4. I don’t like debt collecting but it’s part of my job. I have to make sure our
accounts______receivable______are under control and customers pay .

5. The company went bankrupt due to too many___liabilities________.

6. ___Fixed_____and ______current_____ assets are recorded on a balance sheet which is a

statement showing the worth of a company at a certain point in time.

7. Can you check the last bank ____statement______? Has Mr Jones’ payment come in?

8. We ought to cut our expenses. Mark said that our accounts____payable_______are too
much a heavy part on the budget.

9. If you need any cash, please ask Julia of the Accounts. Dept., as any cash must be recorded
on the______petty cash___________book.