Information system for statistics and accountancy

Abstract

Oral and numerlcal forms of information may concern various fields of social and economic llfe. The article discusses that type of information which appears in the economic field in numerical form, with special view to information of primarily economic nature. It treats the place and role of information pertaining to statistics and accountancy in the overall information system. As is widely known both kinds of the above-mentioned information depend on the objectives of economic policy and on the actual system of economic guidance in the given country. The types of information systems are strongly influenced by the mechanization of information processing techniques.
The article outlines, in detail, the multi-channel information gathering system of statistics, its resemblance to and variance from the information system of accountancy. It also outlines the method of utilizing such types of information both at a macroeconomic level (i.e. at the level of authorities, bodies controlling the individual enterprises, of broad branches of industries, or generally at a national economy level) and at a microeconomic level (i.e. at the level of enterprises, institutions). The article also dwells upon the demand for the complexity of information systems, this being an essential need of up-to-date industrial management.
Finally, it tackles a question, which in our days forms a crucial problem of the statistical practice, both at home and abroad, namely the question of determining the counting unit. In this respect both the users' needs and international comparisons have necessitated the gradual introduction of a counting unit more homogeneous than before.