When a person living in a small village in India buys a can
of Campbell's soup, that act triggers an elaborate economic scorekeeping system
that both describes and empowers worldwide commerce. The scorekeeping system is
called accounting, and the score is a measure of rewards owed to people along
the value chain for their effort, ideas and investments.

Accounting is the most practical subject in school, because
it expresses what all of us do with money everyday. I'm not saying that
geometry is not practical, but when a teacher tells a roomful of ninth graders
that they'll need geometry if they ever want to build a bridge across the
creek, well, most people live to a ripe old age without building a single
bridge.

But we go to the supermarket and the gas station pretty
often, and we want to know whether we can afford a gallon of milk, a dozen
eggs, and a tank of gasoline. We
don't call it accounting, but that's what it is. And with a little instruction,
we could be handling our money a lot better. Most Americans don't budget, don't
regularly balance the checkbook, and can't seem to understand where the money
goes.

Knowledge of accounting empowers business people across a
wide range of disciplines, building credibility into marketing plans, product
proposals, and HR decisions. Today, business students can take classes in
entrepreneurialism, marketing, management, leadership, organizational analysis,
etc.; and they all offer valuable lessons. People often skip accounting because
it seems too banal, or, for those with math anxiety, too difficult. But
accounting is the very language of business, just as mathematics is the
language of science. To fully understand your business, you need to understand
its accounting.

Think about all the executives in the news who didn't seem
to understand how the finances at their own companies worked. Think about all
those people who panic at tax time because they don't understand basic
financial terminology - even after their accountant explains it! Whether you
are still a student or have long-since graduated, consider taking an accounting
class. It's a great way to empower yourself in business and increase your
overall financial literacy.