Customer Reviews

Bookkeeping the Easy Way (Barron's Easy Way)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a CPA, I frequently encounter small businesses who have hired bookkeepers and accounting clerks with little to no experience. Thankfully, these people have been bright and eager to learn, and I am often asked if I could recommend a course or book on the subject. Your local high school will probably have adult education classes in bookkeeping. In addition, your community college will offer relatively inexpensive courses in accounting (though these courses can be quite challenging and too indepth for the bookeeper who simply wants to record cash receipts and disbursements and balance the check book). To recommend a book, I had to do a little research.

I set out to find a book that presents bookkeeping in a clear and concise manner; this was not an easy task. Many books throw the reader into accounting too quickly or weigh him/her down in pages of text before getting to anything remotely interesting. These books leave the reader frustrated.

I reviewed several (7 or 8) bookkeeping and basic accounting books at my local book store (sorry, Amazon, sometimes I need to see more than the cover of a book, but I already told you this). I found that Bookkeeping the Easy Way was the best of the bunch. It sets a clear and concise foundation of basic bookkeeping principals. Each chapter has a discussion with simple and easy to follow examples. Each chapter ends with a review of vocabulary and additional questions/problems and answers. The table of contents and index are clear and appear to be accurate.

Bottom line, I gave this book to one of my clients, and three days later she called and said, "Kate, I finally understand what you have been trying to tell me... Assets = Liabilities + Equity," and we both laughed.

I don't think that any book on this subject will be as helpful as classroom or on-the-job training (with a knowledgeable supervisor), but if you're determined to try to learn on your own, I think that you might find this book helpful.

I wish you well in your endeavours.

When I was trying to find a bookkeeping book it was hard to sort through the many choices offered on Amazon.com. If you are like me and want to get a basic understanding of bookkeeping with a chance to practice then this one will work for you as it provides all of the basics necessary to understand double entry bookkeeping. I had accounting in college many years ago but never really understood bookkeeping. This text walks you through the subject from the ground up. Presented in short lessons with lots of practice exercises it is practical, and well presented. The book has been updated (1999) but it was clearly originally written long ago (the original copyright is 1983) so be prepared to feel as though you are in the 70's as you do the exercises. There are several errors (which begin appearing in Chapter 10) where the answer key does not match even the original data provided in the problem but if you know this (another reviewer had mentioned this when I was researching this book and that was very helpful to know ahead of time) then even their mistakes can be used to keep you on your toes and enhance your learning by trying to discover where the errors are! (The errors aren't so gross that it interfered with my understanding of the material.)

Even though you may never actually do bookkeeping using hand written entries and journals and ledgers as the exercises in the book ask you to do, the understanding of how this all works can help with knowing what is going on behind the scenes in Quickbooks or other accounting software. My only caveat may be that if you don't have any business experience whatsoever, it might not be substantial enough. I would still get this book and then supplement it with other general business books. A great companion whose first 5 chapters mesh well with this book and which then takes you beyond bookkeeping into accounting is The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Accounting Course, Third Edition. The focus of Bookkeeping The Easy Way is small business and the McGraw-Hill book is corporate focused.

My husband has started his own small business and I am his Office Manager, so I started reading different books on Bookkeeping & Accounting. Most of them did nothing more than confuse me. I found this book to be Excellent! It is easy to understand, easy to follow, and the questions & problems section (practice lessons) really helped me. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs to understand the basics!

It has been awhile since I received my AS degree in Accounting. Therefore, I saw taking a Full Charge Bookkeeping course at Fayetteville Technical Community College as a great opportunity for a review. I did not get past the first 3 chapters before I started finding errors. Some of them were small such as a different company name listed on the answer sheet than was on the homework. But when I got to chapter 10 were I am completing the whole accounting cycle including journalizing transactions, posting to ledgers, preparing trial balances and financial statements, and closing entries, things really got messy. One entire problem in the answer section was wrong. The wrong dollar amount was incorrectly posted to the worksheet which made net income understated. Closing entries were reversed which indicated a net loss instead of net income. I am very upset. I have 4 other classmates and this information is brand new to them. Several of them stopped their work completely becasue they thought they had the wrong answer after checking the answer sheet. I am very disappointed in this book. I have 12 more chapters to go and I do not think things will get any better. I will also write to publisher about this because my classmates and I want our money back. DO NOT GET THIS BOOK!!!!!

I am completely new to accounting and bookkeeping. I wanted a book I could teach myself the basics before using software. I went to my local Borders and found this book was the only one that actually made you DO exercises to make sure you understood what you were learning. So far this book has been great. Accounting terms and concepts can be confusing for normal people like me (chemist) but this book does a great job making you understand by doing and not just reading. There are a few mistakes in the answer section but the book teaches me well enough for me to realize that they are mistakes. Enough said.

It has been awhile since I received my AS degree in Accounting. Therefore, I saw taking a Full Charge Bookkeeping course at Fayetteville Technical Community College as a great opportunity for a review. I did not get past the first 3 chapters before I started finding errors. Some of them were small such as a different company name listed on the answer sheet than was on the homework. But when I got to chapter 10 were I am completing the whole accounting cycle including journalizing transactions, posting to ledgers, preparing trial balances and financial statements, and closing entries, things really got messy. One entire problem in the answer section was wrong. The wrong dollar amount was incorrectly posted to the worksheet which made net income understated. Closing entries were reversed which indicated a net loss instead of net income. I am very upset. I have 4 other classmates and this information is brand new to them. Several of them stopped their work completely becasue they thought they had the wrong answer after checking the answer sheet. I am very disappointed in this book. I have 12 more chapters to go and I do not think things will get any better. I will also write to publisher about this because my classmates and I want our money back. DO NOT GET THIS BOOK!

I am a bookkeeper and accountant for almost twenty years and this was a great book to brush up on skills I don't use all the time. It was easy and very excellent for beginners as well as professionals as myself. I highly recommend this book.

At best: A simple, clear, student workbook.
At worst: Lame, out of date, historical documentary.

All excercises are hand written and methods do not include any mention of computers, email, spreadsheets, or other standard parts of any modern business. A great way to bore any student to tears, but unreadable for a small business that needs to get the job done quickly.

this is the book i've been looking for for a while. it is an excellent book that teaches bookkeeping with paper and pen/pencil. it starts from the beginning of bookkeeping context and ends with a whole segement that deals with merchandise/retailing. a definitive book for starters of bookkeeping.

I am a 52 year old adult and somehow missed these lessons in prior schooling. I made it to chapter 2 with enthusiasm, though. The "why" of accounts continues to escape me. Such as why something not entirely owned (bought on credit, for instance) can be an asset. I continue to struggle with the concepts and can't move on until I "get it".