Vanessa Panetta
Post #2
Tangible Object in Research - Calculator

I am planning on going into the business field of accounting, and they do research in two ways: auditing and taxing. Auditing means looking at all of a business' and individuals' financial accounts and organizing it onto financial statement to examine. Taxes, on the other hand, means you take an individual's or a company's expenses for the year and organize it to see if they owe money to the government or if the government owes them. Both types of accounting involve investigating someone's financial transactions and then organizing and summarizing the data and making conclusions on your findings. One of the most important things that I can think any accountant might need - whether they are a Certified Public Accountant or still only in the entry-level Accounting 201 course like myself - is a calculator.
When I think of a calculator, I don't mean one of those fancy types that can cost up to $200. Accountants don't need much to make them happy, just a simple desk calculator will usually suffice. Although accounting consists of elementary mathematics like adding and subtracting, it is key when it comes to double and triple checking entries, no matter how simple the functions are. Since accountants are usually looking at hundreds of transactions, it is to easy to get confused and make an error somewhere along the line if they do it by hand or in their head. One simple mistake can ruin a clients' statements and their accountant could get in serious trouble for any inaccuracies involving their money. It is essential for accountants to be careful and correct, which is why they cannot rely on doing math in their head. Calculators are necessary tools and can be lifesavers when it comes to keeping track of all the transactions accountants have to manage.