The importance of accounting in the management of economic entities of a market economy is revealed with the help of aphorisms of famous foreign scientists, accountants and economists. On the basis of an important normative act, the issues of combining (aggregating) and decomposing (detailing) economic information, synthetic and analytical accounts, sub-accounts, the relationship between them are considered in detail and their reasons are indicated. Three schemes of accounting records of changes in accounting objects caused by various economic facts are also presented.