Reporting Practices and Ethics

Financial management is the management of any business finances or an organization to achieve the business financial objective. There are many financial decisions made on a day-to-day basis for any transactions to occur. These decisions have to be made according to the organization's fiscal objectives (Jones & Bartlett, 2010). Professionals and other entities may have one question - “How good are health care organizations’ finances, and are these health care organizations' financial records accurate?"

The four elements of financial management include planning, controlling, organizing and directing, and decision making. These elements are based on what kind of task is performed at a given time. Some organizations have different ways of looking at three of the elements, which are planning, controlling (organization and directing is part of the controlling element), and decision making (Jones & Bartlett, 2010).

1. Planning is the area in which the financial manager identifies these four elements as steps for an organization to accomplish the organizational objectives. The planning process is to identify and take the initial steps to accomplish those objectives.

2. Controlling: Financial manager will take control and making sure that each part of the organization is following the plans that have been put into place.

3. Organizing and directing is a decision made by the financial manager on how resources should be carried throughout the organization, and whether or not they are carried effectively or directly.

4. Decision making is a process in which alternative decisions can be discussed or made available to the organization. Decision making leans heavily on information brought in from planning, controlling, and organization (Jones & Bartlett, 2010).

The GAAP (Generally accepted accounting principles) are set as guidelines for organizations financial accounting along with the jurisdiction of every standard account. There are several accounting...