FT Press – 2012, 191 pages, 2nd edition
ISBN: 0132849259, 9780132849258The purpose of this book is to teach you the fundamentals of keeping score in business. You will learn the basic workings of the accounting system. When you are through, you will be able to read, understand, discuss, and use a balance sheet, an income statement, and other statements found in financial reports. You will know some- thing about various tools for analyzing financial reports and invest- ment opportunities. You will have a basic vocabulary of the important terms used in accounting. You will be able to talk with more confi- dence to accountants, auditors, financial analysts, budget directors, controllers, treasurers, bankers, brokers, and lots of other people who use accounting jargon.
This book will not make you an accountant. But it will help you talk with accountants. This book will not teach you to keep the books for a company. But it will help you understand the financial reports produced by bookkeepers and accountants.
This is a book for non-accountants. It was written by a non- accountant. This book aims to make you successful in business despite your lack of formal accounting education or experience.
To get the most out of this book, you need three things. You need to keep paper and pencil beside you as you read. You need a calcula- tor (or a good head for computation). Any cheap, simple calculator that can add, subtract, multiply, and divide will do. If you don’t have one, I strongly recommend that you get one. Finally, you will need some time to get the most out of this book.
This is not a long book. But it will repay close attention. Some of the concepts are confusing. Some of the computations are a bit complex. There is nothing here that a good high school student cannot understand and handle. But it will take time. The time you spend will be repaid with a basic understanding of business accounting.
