The Complete Idiot's Guide to Accounting, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

MBA, Lita Epstein (Author), CPA, Shellie L. Moore (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1592575307 | ISBN-13: 978-1592575305 | Publication Date: June 27, 2006 | Edition: 2

Updated information on new tax rates, forms, software, and more!

A comprehensive overview of the monthly accounting process for small business owners and novice bookkeepers and accounting clerks, this book guides readers through the ins and outs of creating accounts, conducting transactions, handling employees and payroll, managing month- end procedures, and issuing financial reports.
• Fully revised to reflect the latest laws and procedures
• The perfect tool for the 23 million small business owners in the U.S.
• Covers the types of accounting software programs available and how to use them to manage a manual set of books

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lita Epstein, MBA, is the author of several books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tax Breaks and Deductions, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Security, and Streetwise Retirement Planning. She was the content director for a financial services website, MostChoice.com, and managed the website Investing for Women.
Shellie L. Moore, CPA, is an accountant who focuses on tax preparation and planning for individuals and small businesses, as well as small business consulting, bookkeeping, and payroll preparation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 2 edition (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592575307
• ISBN-13: 978-1592575305
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I enjoy translating complex financial and political topics critical to people's everyday life in language that can be easily understood. I do this through my non fiction "how to" books for the Dummies series and the Idiot's Guides. I have more than 25 finance and political books on the market. Prior to writing books, I've worked as a daily newspaper reporter, a magazine editor, a press secretary for a U.S. Congressman and a fund raiser for former President Jimmy Carter, so he can continue his international work through The Carter Center. I earned my MBA at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and my BA at Rutgers University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really for the average accounting idiot like me, February 5, 2008

By 

Dolphin Incarnate "Dolphin Incarnate" (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Accounting, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I found this book to be somewhat difficult to use in learning the accounting skills that I need for my small business. I'm not good at accounting, but I am a decent programmer. I found that many subjects were just tossed at you, and not really explained all that well.

I had to really search to find the information that I wanted, and did find some useful information though.

If you are totally new to accounting, I reccomend "The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand". I learned a LOT from that book, and it presented the basic accounting ideas extremely well. That book was lacking in specific details that this book provides. This book provides MUCH more intermediate accounting knowledge, just in a format that I find difficult to learn and retain.

Overall, I'm glad that I purchased this book along with "The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand". This book has intermediate accounting detail that will serve as a reference book, while "the Lemonade Stand" really taught me the basics of accounting which I really needed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Complete Idiot's Guide to Accounting, Second Edition, January 9, 2011

By 

Larry - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Accounting, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I started a business a little over a year ago and needed to learn accounting. I have a degree in engineering but I've never had any accounting courses. I bought about 12 accounting books and none of them taught from the ground up and in a very understandable way. I was very discouraged because I was not making any progress until I got to this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who does not have an accounting background that needs to learn it quickly from the ground up. Fantastic book. I highly recommend it.

1.0 out of 5 stars Gets really important basic thing that will effect all of your accounting wrong, January 17, 2012

By 

Daniel J. Clark "Sys Admin" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Accounting, 2nd Edition (Kindle Edition)

This book has caused a major headache for me and my accountant (who was like WTF when I told him I was required by law to use Accrural in my situation); it states that Accrural method is REQUIRED for a wide array of businesses and situations.

IRS Revenue Procedure 2002-28 in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2002-18 (which came out 4 years before this book's publication date) -[...] - states that there is an exception in the case of "average annual gross receipts" of $10,000,000 or less that is not prohibited from using the cash method under § 448.

§ 448 - [...] - states that there is an exception for "(3) Entities with gross receipts of not more than $5,000,000"

I would guess that the majority audience of this book is probably small companies that don't take in five million dollars a year.

I have no idea what other misinformation this books has, but I feel like this is a major issue that could cause many businesses to make the wrong (or at least significantly harder to implement) choice, a choice which is hard / annoying to change later (IRS Form 3115).

For that reason I would recommend not buying the book, future versions, or any other books by these authors.