It all boils down to pronunciation. Accents are there to help us know:

• where to put the stress, i.e. the emphasis on the spoken word
• whether to shorten the sound or draw it out (or else whether to make our voice go up, or down, or up and down)

And they ARE important and helpful if you want to pronounce the language, with a certain degree of ease.

What do you want to know? Just click on your choice in the left-hand margin and you shall be answered. I hope.