The Complete Idiot's Guide to Accounting

Chapter 1 and 2 are essential for anyone wanting to occupy a managerial level. Tax chapters were just flippers , but gave a lot of basic information for me, and helped me understand what the accountants said in the meetings.

This book was one of the ones recommended to me by a friend who's a CPA. It does a good job of explaining the principles of accounting, but if you use it by itself you'll still have a few questions. I would recommend supplementing it with Alpha Teach Yourself Accounting in 24 Hours, as well as online research.

The review by mrbigbeast seriously misrepresents what is presented in this book. In Chapter 4, following chapters that explain how to set up the initial chart of accounts, a section entitled, "Working with Debits and Credits" explains the dual-entry accounting system. There are two full chapters on setting up accounts - one relating to the accounts for balance sheet items and one relating to the accounts for income statement items. The first chapter talks about structuring the business and how this impacts your accounting system.Most parts of the book reinforce the explanation of debits and credits and how to work with the dual-entry accounting system including examples of how to make dual-entry accounting entries for topics such as tracking sales, determining costs and expenses, adjusting sales and expenses, cashing out, hiring and paying employees, taxes, and employee benefits. There is also an extensive section on how to close the books and another on preparing financial reports. The final section of the book talks about year-end close and the final chapter talks about computerized accounting.

This book does an excellent job of taking you through the steps of setting up your accounting system. Starting with business structure, then on to developing your chart of accounts, and then teaching you how to work with dual entry accounting for all aspects of your business - sales, expenses, employees and benefits, and taxes. It also teaches you how to close the books monthly, develop financial statements and finanlize your year-end close. Great stuff! Easy to read and understand.