Accounting demystified

This book makes an excellent companion to any standard text, or it can be used as a stand-alone volume. It is designed to present the subject in a straightforward, approachable manner. Financial accounting is an incremental process. What you learn in earlier chapters is used in later ones. There are no shortcuts to learning financial accounting, but at the same time, if it is taught clearly, it is not difficult. Financial accounting involves all the steps from the original entries in the accounting records to the preparation of financial statements. There are other types of accounting as well, such as managerial accounting, cost accounting, and tax accounting, to name a few. These other types of accounting are covered in other books. The end user of financial accounting is the public: therefore, financial accounting has a lot of rules. These rules are necessary to make the information presented in the financial statements consistent and understandable. In contrast, in managerial accounting, which is used by the managers of a business to improve the business?s operations, efficiency, and profitability, there are relatively few rules. Instead, it primarily consists of techniques that have proved themselves over time.