Primarily monetary or financial in nature
Type of Information
Primary users of report
Types and frequency of reports
Purpose of reports
Source of data
Focus of information
such as revenues, expenses, assets, Monetary and non-monetary
liabilities and equity.
External Users: Stockholders, Creditors Internal Users: Managers, Officers and
and Regulators other Employees
Types of Reports: (Financial
Types of Reports: (Internal Reports)
Statements)
 Job cost sheet
 Balance Sheet
 Cost of goods manufactured
 Income Statement
 Production cost report and the
 Cash flow Statement and the
likes
likes
Frequency of Reports: As frequently as
Frequency of Reports: Quarterly;
needed
Annually
These are made to help external users
These are made to assist internal users
in their decision making process in terms
in the planning and control decision
of credit, investments and other crucial
making process.
decisions.
Sources will be external and internal.
Data may come from many sources and
The source of data is internal or the not just from the audited and approved
company's approved and audited accounting system of a company. Data
accounting system.  can also come from ,for example, sales
force automation software used to
forecast sales.
Management accounting focuses on the
Financial accounting mainly focuses on
segments and the business itself as a
the business or entity as a whole.
whole. 
 Reports of financial accounting are Reports of managerial accounting are
important for management to make very crucial to help the management
Necessity of reports
informed business decisions based on in planning, regulating, decision making,
facts of the company's financial health. and measuring performance. 
Content of report Management accounting reports often
Financial accounting reports contain the contain details of the company's
following: available cash, recent generation of
sales revenues, the current state of the
 External financial statements organization's accounts payable and
(income statement, statement of receivable, and more.
comprehensive income, balance
sheet (Links to an external
site.), statement of cash flows (Links
to an external site.), and statement
of stockholders' equity (Links to an
external site.))
 The notes to the financial
statements (Links to an external
site.)
 Press releases and conference
calls regarding quarterly earnings
and related information
 Quarterly and annual reports to
stockholders
 Financial information posted on a
corporation's website
 Financial reports to governmental
agencies including quarterly and
annual reports to the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC)
 Prospectuses pertaining to the
issuance of common stock (Links to
 an external site.) and other securities

Guiding principle Generally Accepted Accounting Principle Management's wants and needs
Financial accounting reports give Managerial accounting reports give
Emphasis of reports emphasis on reliability or also known as emphasis on relevance or timeliness of
the precision of data. data.
Amount of details Compressed and simplified Extensive and detailed
Verification process Audited by CPA No independent audits made
Historical Perspective; Reporting on Future Emphasis; Decisions to affect the
Time orientation
Past Performance future based on past and current data
Unifying model Assets=Liabilities+Equity No unifying model or equation