John A. Tracy

Welcome to the incredible world of Accounting! Yay! Accounting for Dummies is a book in the series that introduces Accounting practices to the layman. It discusses the differences between Bookkeeping and Accounting, a point that I had forgotten or overlooked. The author makes it a point to differentiate between the two of them. For instance, while a person that does Bookkeeping might use software and enter data into a computer program, an Accountant would choose between the different brands of accounting software and get to make specialized decisions. In general, the Accountant is the boss or manager of the Bookkeeper.

While I had taken a College Course in Accounting, that is already a story that is over a decade old. I didn’t particularly enjoy the class since it was dry, dull, and overly technical. Not that I expected something exciting, but I figured it would at least be interesting. I was wrong in that sense. Perhaps I wanted to test the Accountant waters and see what it was like.

I had hoped to brush up on some of the Accounting Jargon and maybe refresh my memories of what exactly Accounting is. In that vein, this book didn’t disappoint me. It contains a lot of information that pertains to Accounting; from the fact that you don’t need to be a CPA to be an accountant(it helps though), to the fact that there is no international Accounting Standard in place as of the printing of this book. The major parts of importance discuss how to read Financial Statements and other forms of Financial Reports. For instance, while profit is reported, it is not an independent account. It isn’t even consistently called profit. Sometimes it goes by Net Earnings or Earnings.

So it does put a large amount of effort into raising your Financial Literacy. It even goes into ‘Cooking the Books,’ stressing the fact that this is illegal. However, I suppose if you know what to look for, you can find it better in your own business or personal life. So the book is really useful. I only have one problem with the book itself. Accounting For Dummies has no workable problems. I suppose that this isn’t a huge deal since the mathematics involved with accounting is pretty basic. It isn’t like it would be for Actuarial Science or something along those lines.

In any case, this book was still good. It talks about developing an active reading stance for financial reports and so on. I would say it is pretty invaluable.… (more)

Not everyone is cut out to be a professional accountant. But thanks to Accounting For Dummies, 2nd Edition you can get a handle on the financial aspects of your business, investments, or taxes. Accounting professor and author John A. Tracy sheds light on the mysteries of
Generating income statements and balance sheets
Establishing budgets, controlling profit and cash flow, stemming losses, and managing inventory
Evaluating profit margins – and identifying ways to increase them
Making financial decisions that keep investors, creditors, and managers satisfied
Reading financial reports
Surviving an audit and using the results to improve your accounting system
Putting the latest computer technology to work to help you manage the bottom line… (more)