Accounting is the process of recording, collecting, analyzing, and verifying all possible financial transactions carried out in a business. The information is recorded in accordance to Generally

Accounting is the process of recording, collecting, analyzing, and verifying all possible financial transactions carried out in a business. The information is recorded in accordance to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The aim of any business is to earn profit and remain solvent. Accounting helps the company keep track of its profits or losses. The main function of an accounting system is to prepare financial statements in a company, which helps them keep a record of their revenue and expenses. The procedure by which accountants convert data about individual transactions to financial statements is called the accounting cycle. The process of accounting starts with bookkeeping that involves recording the transactions of the company.

The four main financial statements that are prepared for accounting information are as follows.

· Balance Sheet (contains the assets, liabilities, as well as the owner's equity)

· Statement of Cash Flows (presents the cash inflows and outflows of a company for a given period of time.)

· Income Statement / Profit and Loss Statement (shows whether the company has made a profit or loss in a given reporting period)

· Statement of Retained Earnings (shows the changes in the company's retained earnings over a period of time)

Public companies are required to report their financial statements at the end of each three-month period, as well as at the end of each fiscal year. Annual statements must be examined and verified by the firm’s outside auditors. A fiscal year does not have to coincide with the calendar year, and companies set different fiscal years.

Although the financial statements focus on past business activities, they also provide the basis for planning in the future. A budgetis a planning and controlling tool that reflects the firm’s expected sales revenues, operating expenses, and cash receipts and outlays. It quantifies the firm’s plans for a specified future period. Because it reflects management estimates of expected sales, cash inflows and outflows, and costs, the budget is a financial blueprint and can be thought of as a short-term financial plan. Budgeting in both large and small firms is similar to household budgeting in its purpose: to match income and expenses in a way that accomplishes objectives and correctly times cash inflows and outflows. The overall master, or operating, budget is actually a composite of many individual budgets for separate units of the firm. These individual budgets typically include the production budget, cash budget, capital expenditures budget, advertising budget, sales budget, and travel budget.

Households, businesses, government, financial institutions, and financial marketstogether form what is known as the financial system. The financial system is the process by which money flowsfrom savers to users. For the funds they borrow from savers, businesses and governments provide different types of guarantees for repayment. Securities, also called financial instruments, represent obligations on the part of the issuers—businesses and governments—to provide the purchasers with expected or stated returns on the funds invested or loaned. Securities can be grouped into three categories: (1) money market instruments (short-term debt securities issued by governments, financial institutions, and corporations.), (2) bonds (a debt security, under which the issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay them interest (the coupon) and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed the maturity date.), and (3) stock (units of ownership in corporations). Securities are issued and traded in financial markets. While there are many different types of financial markets, one of the most important distinctions is between primary and secondary markets. In the primary markets, firms and governments issue securities and sell them initially to the general public. The secondary market is a collection of financial markets in which previously issued securities are traded among investors. Stock markets, or exchanges, are probably the best-known of the world’s financial markets. In these markets, shares of stock are bought and sold by investors. The two largest stock markets in the world, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ stock market are located in the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (often referred to as the Dow) is a price-weighted average of the 30 most significant stocks traded on the NYSE and the NASDAQ. Stock markets exist throughout the world.

Virtually all developed countries and many developing countries have stock exchanges. Examples include Mumbai, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Paris, and Toronto. One of the largest stock exchanges outside the United States is the London Stock Exchange. In Russia, Moscow Exchange is the main liquidity and price discovery center. Moscow Exchange hosts trading in equities, bonds, derivatives, currencies, money market instruments and commodities. For years a so-called fourth market has existed—the direct trading of exchange-listed stocks off the floor of the exchange. In ECNs, buyers and sellers meet in a virtual stock market and trade directly with one another.

One of the most important components of the financial system is financial institutions. They are an intermediary between savers and borrowers, collecting funds fromsavers and then lending the funds to individuals, businesses, and governments. Traditionally, financial institutions have been classified into depository institutions—institutions that accept deposits that customers can withdraw on demand—and nondepositoryinstitutions. Examples of depository institutions include commercial banks; savings banks; credit unions andInternet banks. Nondepository institutions include life insurance companies; pension funds; and mutual funds. A noteworthy difference between banks and other financial institutions is that bank indulges in various business transactions, savings as well as investment, while financial institutions mainly focus on investment and stabilization ofcurrency.A bank is a deposit-taking financial institution. As with most of the other institutions banks acts as financial intermediaries. Basically, banks allow consumers to deposit money in savings accounts and lend the same money in form of various loans. They are among the most strictly regulated financial institutions in the economy. While the basic concept of banking is more or less same in all the countries, certain restrictions may differ from one country to another.

The banking system in Russia is organized as a 2-tier system. The first tier is represented by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). The second tier consists of commercial banks as well as branches and representations of foreign banks. In Soviet times banks had to finance central government’s economic plans. They were obliged to give money to enterprises that were planned to run at a loss, producing goods important to the government but for which there may have been no demand. Banks also provided finance for massive government projects (the construction of large industrial plants, railway lines or military installations), without regard for the wants of the Russian population.The Soviet - Era Savings Bank restructured itself into Sberbank of Russia with around 60-70% of its shares controlled by The Russian Central Bank. The Foreign Trade Bank or Vneshtorgbank (VTB) is also a state controlled bank. These two state-controlled banks continue to dominate the corporate and retail banking sectors in Russia. CBR is responsible for: controlling the country's money supply, monitoring the transactions among banks; implementing the federal budget; servicing Russia's foreign debt; monitoring the exchange rate of the rubble; maintaining foreign currency and gold reserves; licensing, regulating and governing the commercial banks. Other viable Russian banks include emerging service-oriented banks and large banks owned by financial-industrial groups (e.g. Gazprombank, Russian Agricultural Bank, and others). The majority of banks in Russia are focused on lending to firms. Foreign bank presence is still relatively low in Russia.Under the current legislation, foreign banks, e.g., Citibank and Raiffeisenbank, can operate in Russia only as subsidiaries. They are subject to all Central Bank regulations. So, Russian banking sector these days consists of a number of major retail banks, both state-owned and privately held, as well as several smaller banks.Online and telephone banking are becoming more and more popular in Russia

Russia has undergone significant changes, moving from a centrally planned economy to a more market-based and globally integrated economy. Economic reforms of the Shock therapy in the late 1980s and during 1990s privatized many sectors of industry and agriculture, with notable exceptions in the energy and defense-related sectors. The rapid privatization processincluding a much criticized "loans-for-shares" scheme that turned over major state-owned firms to politically connected "oligarchs", has left equity ownership highly concentrated. In Russia, services are the biggest sector of the economy and account for 58 percent of GDP. Within services the most important segments are: wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods; public administration, health and education; real estate and transport storage and communications. Industry contributes 40 percent to total output. Mining, manufacturing and construction are the most important industry segments. Besides its resource-based industries, Russia has developed large manufacturing capacities, notably in machinery. The defense and aircraft industries are important employers and are able to offer internationally competitive products for export. Agriculture accounts for the remaining 2 percent of GDP.Space industry of Russia consists of over 100 companies and employs 250,000 people. The largest company of the industry is RKK Energia, the main manned space flight contractor. Automobile production is also a significant industry in Russia.

Russia runs regular trade surpluses primarily due to exports of commodities. The mineral-packed Ural Mountains and the vast oil, gas, coal, and timber reserves of Siberia and the Russian Far East make Russia rich in natural resources. Natural resources, especially oil and gas, dominate Russian exports. Oil and gas exports continue to be the main source of hard currency. The petroleum industry in Russia is one of the largest in the world. Russia has the largest reserves, and is the largest exporter, of natural gas. It has the second largest coal reserves, the eighth largest oil reserves, and is the largest exporter of oil in the world in absolute numbers.

Russia imports food, ground transports, pharmaceuticals and textile and footwear. Main trading partners are: China, Germany and Italy.

The UK is the 6th largest economy in the world according to GDP. Presently UK’s economy encompasses those of its home nations – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Isle of Man and the Channel Isles are also considered to be part of the British Isles but have offshore banking statuses. As a member of the EU, the UK is part of a single market that ensures the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within member states. Nevertheless, the UK still maintains its own economy and has chosen to continue using the Pound Sterling as its national currency rather than converting to the Euro. During its heyday as the British Empire, the UK was the largest and most influential economy in the world. It was the birthplace of the first Industrial Revolution during the 18th century. But UK’s economy was greatly affected by the two World Wars and the breaking up of the British Empire.

Despite the historical importance of agriculture and industries, services remain the dominant component of UK’s economy. Finance and banking are by far the UK’s most important services with London being one of the three major economic “command centres” alongside New York City and Tokyo. Important financial institutions located within London include the London Stock Exchange, the London Metal Exchange, Lloyds of London, and the Bank of England. The production of automotive or aerospace equipment is a major contributor to UK industries. UK’s aerospace industry is the second largest in the world with companies such as BAE Systems (the world’s second largest defense contractor), and Rolls-Royce (the world’s second largest aircraft engine maker).Although the UK economy has recoveredsince World Wars, it is unlikely to reclaim its former position as the top economic power in the world.

The US is a market-oriented economy, where private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments purchase goods and services predominantly from the private marketplace. US business firms have more flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan. US firms are near the vanguard in technological advances, especially in computers and in medical, aerospace, and military equipment.

Although the US strongly advocates free market principles, the government still plays a major role in dictating the US economy. The US still relies on the government to address matters from education to protecting theenvironment. From time to time, the US government protects American companies from foreign competition. This is clearly visible from the highly subsidized agriculture industry in the US.Since the 1970s, the US economy has gradually shifted from producing goods to providing services. The large majority of service-providing jobs are found in the group of trade, transportation, and utilitiesoccupations. Other key service industries for the US include finance, tourism and information technology. Another instrument for the US is its natural resources.

As such, the US economy is best described as a mixed economy where the economic structure is upheld through the interactions between the private, public and international sector. Despite leading the world’s economy for more than a hundred years, it is increasingly likely that the US economy will lose its status as the world’s largest economyon the international front.

To address scarcity, societies must answer three questions:

• What should be produced?

• How should it be produced?

• For whom will it be produced?

In practice, however, the disadvantages of command economies are abundantly clear. To begin with, central planners often have little understanding of local conditions. Because of this, their economic decisions are frequently misguided or wrong. Also, workers often have little motive to improve their productivity, since they know they will be paid the same wages regardless of their output. And because there is no private property, there is no motivation for workers to use resources wisely.Centrally planned economies often set prices well below those that would be established in a market system. As a result, command economies face shortages.

Modern societies that have adopted command economies have done so largely because of the influence of Karl Marx, a 19th-century German philosopher, historian, and economist. According to Marx’s analysis, all of history is a struggle between classes. In his own time, the struggle was between the owners of the great industrial factories and the workers who exchanged their labor for wages. While the industrialists grew rich, the workers remained relatively poor. Marx predicted that in time the workers would overthrow this system and transfer ownership of the factories to public hands. With the means of production owned by the government, the class struggle would be resolved and all citizens would share in the wealth.

To address scarcity, societies must answer three questions:

• What should be produced?

• How should it be produced?

• For whom will it be produced?

The answers to these questions shape the economic system a society has. An economic system is the way a society uses its scarce resources to satisfy its people’s unlimited wants. There are three basic types of economic systems: traditional economies, command economies, and market economies. Amarket economy is based on individual choice, not government directives. In other words, in this system consumers and producers drive the economy. Consumers are free to spend their money as they wish, to enter into business, or to sell their labor to whomever they want. Producers decide what goods or services they will offer. They make choices about how to use their limited resources to earn the most money possible.Economic and Political Freedomis one of the chief advantages of a market economy. A market economy requires that individuals be free to make their own economic choices, since it depends on the consumer’s right to buy or refuse products to determine what will be produced.The profit motive, a key feature of a market economy, insures that resources will be allocated efficiently, since inefficiencies would result in lower profits. It also serves as a reward for hard work and innovation. Knowing you can earn moneyif you come up with a good idea is an incentive to do so, and the more good ideas people have, the more the economy grows. Market economies, however, have disadvantages as well. In a pure market economy, the economic good of the individual is the primary focus. A pure market economy has no mechanism for providing public goods and services, such as national defense, because it would not be profitable from a strictly economic viewpoint to do so. Another disadvantage is that a pure market economy cannot provide security to those who, because of sickness or age, cannot be economically productive.

Managementis the process of achieving organizational objectives through people and other resources. The manager’s job is to combine human and technical resources in the bestway possible to achieve the company’s goals. The term "management" characterizes the process of the personnel leading and directing all or part of an organization through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible).

Management operates through various functions, often classified as planning, organizing, leading/motivating and controlling.

Towards the end of the 20th century, business management came to consist of six separate branches, namely: human resource management, operations management or production management, strategic management, marketing management, financial management, information technology management.

The management of a large organization may have three levels:

• Senior management (or "top management" or "upper management") is generally a team of individuals at the highest level of organizational management who have the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a corporation.

• Middle management is a layer of management in an organization whose primary job responsibility is to monitor activities of subordinates and to generate reports for upper management.

• Supervisory/ Low-level management/ first-line management includes positionssuch as supervisor, section chief, and team leader. These managersare directly responsible for assigningnonmanagerialemployees to specific jobs and evaluating their performance.

Various management styles can be employed dependent on the culture of the business, the nature of the task, the nature of the workforce and the personality and skills of the leaders.

✔ Autocratic or Authoritarian: In this style, the complete authority is in one person's hand and nobody can question it. It is also known as totalitarianism or dictatorship. ✔ Paternalistic: In this style, the authority is in the hands of an individual. However, that individual cares more about the employees than the profit of the organization. That means that the manager will be more like a parent rather than a boss. ✔ Democratic: In this management style, the management allows the employees to voice their opinions freely. Most company policies and decisions are made after taking the opinion of the employees into consideration. It is also known as 'participative style' management. ✔Chaotic: Popularized around the world by multinational company Google, this management style believes that employees perform to their full potential when they are given a free hand. ✔Laissez-faire: In this management style, the targets are communicated to the employees; however, the employees can go about meeting those targets in whichever way they want. It is a very liberal management style.

Simply put, marketing is creating something of value and finding the best way to sell it to specific customers, at a considerable profit. It also involves the use of various strategies and tools to achieve this goal. Various factors like market research, branding, sales promotion, advertising, pricing strategies, consumer behavior, etc., also form important aspects of marketing.With the surge of social networking portals, multifunctional cell phones, and gadgets, the face of marketing has undergone a major makeover in the past decade.Today, with such a competitive market, customers are spoiled with choices. So in order to be successful, companies need to follow the philosophy of "customer is the king". That's why marketing plans of various companies are incorporated while keeping their consumer's needs in mind. These marketing plans are based on the marketing mix i.e., on the 4 Ps of marketing - a concept proposed for the first time by a marketer named E. Jerome McCarthy in the year 1960.The foremost of the marketing four Ps is the “product” that a company intends to sell. It can be a car, toothbrush, nail polish, utensil, clothing item, etc.The “price” should be determined in accordance to a number of factors such as the number of product features, the price of similar products in the market, how much the customers are willing to shell out for the conveniences offered by the product, etc."Place" refers to making a product available to a customer at the right place and at the right time. For this, a business needs to have a proper distribution network in place along with appropriate storage facilities. The last one is “promotion” i.e. making the end customer aware of the uses of the product. Advertising, managing public relations, branding, and sales promotion, all fall under this category. These promotional methods help a customer make his choice with regards to buying or not buying a particular product.

In addition to selling goods and services, marketing techniques help people advocate ideas or viewpoints and educate others.Not-for-profit organizations often engage in one or more of five major categories of nontraditional marketing: person marketing, place marketing, event marketing, cause marketing, and organization marketing. Through each of these types of marketing, an organization seeks to connect with the audience that is most likely to offer time, money, or other resources.

The earth's environment has become a global problem.Forests are disappearing. Green areas around cities are being replaced by concrete buildings. Waste products are being dumped indiscriminately. Water is too toxic to consume. The air is unfit for breathing in. Global warming has become a menacing issue.Globalization has helped in the immense growth in international trade and finance. It has made countries to work more closely with each other and has led to several innovations in science and technology. However, it has contributed to environmental degradation as well. Globalization has featured extensively in the debates on environmentalism, and green activists have highlighted its far-reaching effects. Activists have pointed out that globalization has led to an increase in the consumption of products, which has impacted the ecological cycle. Increased consumption leads to an increase in the production of goods, which in turn puts stress on the environment. Globalization has also led to an increase in the transportation of raw materials and food from one place to another. Earlier, people used to consume locally-grown food, but with globalization, people consume products that have been developed in foreign countries.The gases that are emitted from the aircraft have led to the depletion of the ozone layer apart from increasing the greenhouse effect. The industrial waste that is generated as a result of production has been laden on ships and dumped in oceans. This has killed many underwater organisms and has deposited many harmful chemicals in the ocean.

Due to globalization and industrialization, various chemicals have been thrown into the soil. This toxic waste has caused a lot of damage to plants by interfering in their genetic makeup. Various studies over the years, have found that plastic is one of the major toxic pollutants, as it is a non-biodegradable product. However, plastic is of immense use when it comes to packaging and preserving goods that are to be exported. This has led to increased use of plastic, causing widespread environmental pollution. It has made so many changes in our lives that reversing it is not possible at all.

The solution lies in developing effective mechanisms that can check the extent to which it can impact the environment. Researchers are of the view that the answer to this problem lies in the problem itself, that is, globalization itself can lend support to building a better structure which is economically feasible and environment-friendly. The people that we have chosen to represent us have the responsibility of ensuring that the extent of damage on environment is curtailed, if not totally prevented

Last year by the decision of the Scientific Council I took post-graduate courses to increase my knowledge in economics. I passed three entrance examinations – in __________, English and the special subject. So now I am a first year post-graduate student of the Samara State University of Economics. I'm attached to the __________ Department. In the course of my post-graduate studies I am to pass candidate examinations in philosophy, English and the special subject. So I attend courses of English and philosophy. I'm sure the knowledge of English will help me in my research.

My research deals with economics. The theme of the dissertation (thesis) is "___________________". I was interested in the problem when a student so by now I have collected some valuable data for my thesis.

I work in close contact with my research adviser (supervisor). He graduated from________________15 years ago and got his doctoral degree at the age of 40. He is the youngest Doctor of Sciences at our University. He has published a great number of research papers in journals not only in this country but also abroad. He often takes part in the work of scientific conferences and symposia. When I encounter difficulties in my work I always consult my research adviser.

At present I am engaged in collecting the necessary data.

For the moment I have 4 scientific papers published. One of them was published in the US journal.

I take part in various scientific conferences where I make reports on my subject and participate in scientific discussions and debates.

I’m planning to finish writing the dissertation by the end of the next year and defend it in the Scientific Council of the Samara State University of Economics. I hope to get a Ph. D. in Economics.

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