The accountant's role, on the other hand, is geared toward the accurate compilation of financial data through such tools as financial statements, cash flow reports, and annual reports utilizing set compilation strategies and methodologies, rather than specific planning or final decisions for capital uses and management of existing funds. The types of groups or users typically requesting such information include company financial managers, planners, and owners, investors, creditors, employees, as well as the SEC. Accounting provides a necessary and critical support role in a companies financial health and is the basis for all informed financial decisions of importance. Usually, accounting professionals have earned a designation called the CPA, or Certified Public Accountant, allowing them access to top accounting positions such as managerial and cost accountants, auditors, public, governmental, and industrial accounting, all pledging to attempt to follow established international standards of practice. Because accounting information is fundamentally qualitative in nature, this naturally limits is use somewhat the life of a company or the role of the controller and there are many other necessary pieces to the puzzle, such as economic data not provided by the raw numbers.
Though there are self-prescribed limits to what an accountant can do, this does not minimize their importance. The financial and project managers still require professional cost analysis to help decide whether product or asset acquisition is feasible, auditors are required to make sure the numbers add up accurately, taxes still need to be accounted for, and managers need to consult many times with in house controllers to gain useful understanding of various forms of financial statements.