Alpha Teach Yourself Accounting in 24 Hours, 2nd Edition (Alpha Teach Yourself in 24 Hours) [Paperback]

Carol Costa (Author), C. Wesley Addison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2006 | Series: Alpha Teach Yourself in 24 Hours

Be a pro in no time …

Ideal for bookkeepers, accounting clerks, and small business owners, this practical guide goes beyond general accounting principles to teach readers how to prepare and manage their companies’ books. In this new edition, readers will find completely revised and updated information on handling sales and services, and updated tax information reflecting changes in the tax code.

• Perfect for the many practicing accountants who are unlicensed bookkeepers, accounting clerks, and small business owners
• There are 3.1 million accountants, bookkeepers, and accounting clerks in the U.S.
• There are an estimated 23 million small business owners in the U.S., many of whom manage their own books

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Prentice Hall Teach Yourself in 24 Hours will teach readers the basic principles of the monthly accounting process-- from the chart of accounts to financial statements. Ideal for bookkeepers, accounting clerks, students and small business owners, lessons include accounting procedures, assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, accounts receivable and payable, payroll and cost of goods sold. Accounting software programs are also discussed. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Carol Costa has written for numerous business publications and has been a correspondent for the Phoenix Business Journal and The Tucson Business Chronicle. She has owned a bookkeeping and tax service and worked as an accountant.
C. Wesley Addison, CPA, holds a Master’s degree in accounting and is a member of AICPA and ASCPA. With over 20 years’ experience in all aspects of accounting and taxes, he is the senior partner of Addison and Gadea, a public accounting firm in Tucson, Arizona.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 2 edition (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592575021
• ISBN-13: 978-1592575022
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carol Costa is an award-winning playwright and the published author of both fiction and nonfiction books. With a business backgroung in accounting she has written five financial titles for The Penguin Group. She has also combined her financial knowledge with her love of gaming and written a book on video poker. Her other books include mysteries, romances, a biography of a nationally-known psychic, short-story collections, and an inspirational book co-authored and edited with Maggie TerryViale and Liisa Kyle.

Carol has also worked as a newspaper correspondent and editor and a theater critic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CPA's favorable comments, September 4, 2001

By 

Janet K Spangler (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alpha Teach Yourself Accounting in 24 Hours (Paperback)

Having looked for a good, simple, in layperson's language book to give to beginning entrepeneurs, this is it. Very well done, understandable, but factual at the same time.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great concept. Confusing execution., December 1, 2004

By 

Eric A. "Fledgling Accountant" (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alpha Teach Yourself Accounting in 24 Hours (Paperback)

This book has a great idea, and it's exactly what I needed, a crash course on accounting. It's nicely broken up into brief lessons, so you can digest small portions.

Unfortunately, while the examples are generally clear and easy to understand, this text too often showed without telling. You need to follow the authors' logical leaps and work backwards to guess some of these accounting concepts.

Worse, in several examples, the ledgers have typos, with numbers in the wrong columns, along with incorrect arithmetic. I hope the next edition will be better proofread. Aside from losing credibility for the book, these errors made it even harder to follow.

With so many accounting crash course books on the market, next time, I would investigate other titles.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Accounting Overview, January 6, 2003

By 

"mike_thompson" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alpha Teach Yourself Accounting in 24 Hours (Paperback)

It has been over 15 years since I had Accounting in college. I am starting a new business and purchased Quickbooks 2003 to keep track of the books. I was having a hard time grasping Quickbooks and realized that I needed an overview of Accounting to learn how the software should be used. This book is easy to read and provides a good overview to bring someone up to speed on Accounting methodology, how to read financial statements, etc.