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1.3: Types of activities performed by business organizations

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    The forms of business entities discussed in the previous section are classified according to the type of ownership of the business entity. Business entities can also be grouped by the type of business activities they perform—service companies, merchandising companies, and manufacturing companies. Any of these activities can be performed by companies using any of the three forms of business organizations.

    Service companies perform services for a fee. This group includes accounting firms, law firms, and dry cleaning establishments. The early chapters of this text describe accounting for service companies.

    Merchandising companies purchase goods that are ready for sale and then sell them to customers. Merchandising companies include auto dealerships, clothing stores, and supermarkets. We begin the description of accounting for merchandising companies in Chapter 6.

    Manufacturing companies buy materials, convert them into products, and then sell the products to other companies or to the final consumers. Manufacturing companies include steel mills, auto manufacturers, and clothing manufacturers.

    All of these companies produce financial statements as the final end product of their accounting process. These financial statements provide relevant financial information both to those inside the company—management—and to those outside the company—creditors, stockholders, and other interested parties. The next section introduces four common financial statements—the income statement, the statement of retained earnings, the balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows.


    1.3: Types of activities performed by business organizations is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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