The organization of this book is intended to present the\u00a0material in the order in which it needs to be understood.\u00a0Therefore, we start with the end product of \ufb01nancial accounting,\u00a0the \ufb01nancial statements, then jump back to the \ufb01rst step\u00a0in the accounting process, making journal entries. This may\u00a0seem out of order, but it follows the way accounting is best\u00a0understood and learned rather than following the chronology\u00a0of how accounting is done.<\/p>\n
You cannot be a good accountant if you are not a good bookkeeper. Bookkeeping is considered a lower-level profession\u00a0than accounting, and this perception is accurate because\u00a0accountants possess skills that bookkeepers do not. However,\u00a0the \ufb01rst step in learning accounting is to learn bookkeeping.\u00a0What makes it accounting and not simply bookkeeping is\u00a0going beyond just recording the entries into such areas as preparing\u00a0the \ufb01nancial statements, analyzing the statements, and\u00a0making necessary adjusting entries at the end of the accounting\u00a0period.<\/p>\n
A last thing to keep in mind when reading this book and\u00a0looking at the examples and descriptions is that how things are\u00a0presented and how they are arranged are highly variable in\u00a0practice. Companies and managers adapt forms, schedules,\u00a0and statements to meet their own needs (within the existing\u00a0rules). Except as speci\ufb01cally prescribed by accounting guidance,\u00a0there is an abundance of \ufb02exibility. A nimble mind will\u00a0come in handy in trying to reconcile what is described in this\u00a0book with what you may see in the real world. Sometimes\u00a0these will be the same and sometimes there will be minor differences\u00a0in presentation, but even given that variability, it\u00a0should not be hard to take what you learn from this book and\u00a0relate it directly to real-world situations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This book makes an excellent companion to any standard\u00a0text, or it can be used as a stand-alone volume. It is designed\u00a0to present the subject in a straightforward, approachable manner.\u00a0Financial accounting is an incremental process. What you\u00a0learn in earlier chapters is used in later ones. There are no\u00a0shortcuts to learning \ufb01nancial accounting, but at the same\u00a0time, if it is taught clearly, it is not dif\ufb01cult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9054,"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[10379],"product_tag":[10303],"class_list":{"0":"post-9053","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-altax-library-en","7":"product_tag-accounting","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"sale","12":"downloadable","13":"virtual","14":"purchasable","15":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n