In the media as well as in the General Commercial Registry (GEMI), the financial statements of businesses (balance sheet, income statement) are published at least once a year.

These publications provide information about their financial position, obligations, personnel, transactions carried out during a period, mainly twelve months, and the result (profit or loss) achieved from these transactions.

The uniform presentation of financial statements, which was one of the objectives of the implementation, initially, of the Greek General Accounting Plan, and subsequently, of the Greek Accounting Standards, allows for comparisons between businesses in the same sector and the extraction of useful conclusions.

However, in order to prepare the financial statements, it is necessary to collect and record the various events that constantly change the assets of the business.

The events that daily change the assets of the business are called "accounting events".

The disbursement of funds by an entrepreneur to establish a business, the subsequent leasing of offices by him to house the services of the business and the payment of rent, the hiring of personnel as well as the payment of salaries to them, the purchase of goods by the business for resale are just a few of the thousands of accounting events that daily change the assets of businesses.