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Governments and their agencies
. 
Governments and their agencies are interested in the allocation 
of resources and therefore in the activities of enterprises. They also require information in order to 
provide a basis for national statistics. 
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CHAPTER 8
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THE ROLE OF ACCOUNTING 
 
203 
(i) 
The public
. Enterprises affect members of the public in a variety of ways. For example, 
enterprises may make a substantial contribution to a local economy by providing employment 
and using local suppliers. Another important factor is the effect of an enterprise on the 
environment, for example as regards pollution. 
Accounting information is organised into financial statements to satisfy the 
information needs 
of these 
different groups. Not all will be equally satisfied. 
Managers 
of a business need the most information, to help them take their planning and control 
decisions; and they obviously have 'special' access to information about the business, because they can 
get people to give them the types of statements they want. When managers want a large amount of 
information about the costs and profitability of individual products, or different parts of their business, 
they can arrange to obtain it through a system of cost and management accounting. 
QUESTION 
Information
 
It is easy to see how 'internal' people get hold of accounting information. A manager, for example, can 
just go along to the accounts department and ask the staff there to prepare whatever accounting 
statements they need. But external users of accounts cannot do this. How, in practice, can a business 
contact or a financial analyst access accounting information about a company? 
ANSWER 
Limited companies (though not other forms of business such as a sole trader) are required to make 
certain accounting information public. They do so by filing the required information with the Registrar of 
Companies at Companies House. The information filed at Companies House is available, at a fee, to any 
member of the public. Other sources include financial comment in the press and company brochures. 
 
In addition to management information, financial statements are prepared and perhaps published for the 
benefit of other user groups. 
(a) The 
law 
provides for the provision of some information. The Companies Acts require every 
company to publish accounting information for its shareholders; and companies must also file a 
copy of their accounts with the Registrar of Companies, so that any member of the public who so 
wishes can go and look at them. 
(b) The