Accounting is a versatile discipline. It reacts with the changes in the field of mathematics, and science and technology. The whole concept of accounting has changed with the revolution in information technology. Accounting has changed to serve a large number of goals of present business and industry environment simultaneously. The accounting information the decision makers need is different from the accounting information the shareholders, investors and creditors need. Different principles are required to meet the different objectives of accounting. As per The American Accounting Association (AAA), the basic objective of accounting is to provide information for the following purposes:

a.                   Making crucial decisions with the limited resources.

b.                   Directing and controlling the organization's physical and manual resources.

c.                   Maintaining systematic records and reporting on the protection of resources.

d.                   Helping for special functions and control.

from the above, we can say that accounting has the following primary objectives:

Maintenance of Records for Business Transactions/events: One golden rule for every accountant is that "first record, then pay". Even an intelligent executive cannot remember all things accurately. Moreover, he need not remember all things if proper records are maintained. Different executives use accounting records for different purposes. Thus, the basic objective of accounting is proper maintenance of records to help the executives to make business decisions.

Ascertaining whether the Business Operations have been Profitable or Not: Every businessman wants to know whether the business is earning profits or not. Profit is the difference between incomes and expenses. Accounting helps to know the profit or loss made by a firm in an accounting period. All incomes and expenses that are earned and incurred in a particular accounting period are collected and are presented in a statement, which is called as profit and loss account or income statement. The difference between the incomes and expenses is the profit or loss made by the business in that particular accounting period.

Depicting the Financial Position of the Business: Every businessman wants to know the value of total assets in the business, the solvency capacity of the business and the total amount of liabilities. Accounting can give information of above aspects in the form of a statement, which is called as position statement or balance sheet. All the assets and liabilities of the business are placed in this statement. Excess of assets over liabilities denotes the capital of the business and it is also an indicator of the financial soundness of the business.

Providing Information to the Users of Financial Information: As per AAA, accounting includes the process of communicating accounting information to the users of the information to make judgments and decisions. Mere generation of information is not useful to anyone. It is useful only when it is communicated to different persons and groups. So, nowadays communication of accounting information is also the function of accounting. Generally, accounting information is communicated in the form of reports, statements, graphs and charts to the internal and external users.