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accounting

noun

Simple meaning

The occupation of maintaining and auditing records and preparing financial reports for a business.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhkownting

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈkaʊntɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. business

    The occupation of maintaining and auditing records and preparing financial reports for a business

  2. business

    The development and use of a system for recording and analyzing the financial transactions and financial status of an individual or a business.

  3. A relaying of events; justification of actions.

  4. law

    An equitable remedy requiring wrongfully obtained profits to be distributed to those who deserve them.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The occupation of maintaining and auditing records and preparing financial reports for a business

'Accounting' refers to the profession or system of managing financial records, commonly used in American English. Unlike 'accountancy,' it's the standard term for the field itself in the US.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where you'll really hear it

  • University Course Catalog

    “He is taking an introductory course in financial accounting.”

  • Business News

    “New regulations are changing how companies approach accounting practices.”

  • Job Description

    “We seek an expert in forensic accounting for this position.”

Where it naturally appears

  • Finance/economics
  • Business/professional

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Nearby words

  • accountancy , used mainly in Regional English

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use accounting

  • “He was unable to give a clear accounting for his actions.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

cost accountingaccounting systemaccounting periodmanagement accountingaccounting firmgeneral accountingaccounting officeaccounting department

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • accountnounBase word

    A record or narrative description of past events.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • accounting datanounCompound term

    All the data (ledgers and journals and spreadsheets) that support a financial statement.

  • accounting entrynounCompound term

    A written record of a commercial transaction.

  • accounting firmnounCompound term

    A firm of accountants who provide accounting and auditing services for a fee.

  • accounting principlenounCompound term

    A principle that governs current accounting practice and that is used as a reference to determine the appropriate treatment of complex transactions.

  • accounting standardnounCompound term

    A principle that governs current accounting practice and that is used as a reference to determine the appropriate treatment of complex transactions.

  • accounting systemnounCompound term

    A bookkeeper's chronological list of related debits and credits of a business.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: occupation of maintaining and auditing records and preparing financial reports for a business

accountancyRegional

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.