Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finance and Accounting

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If it's an ACCOUNTING guide you want, then this book is not for you. If it's a FINANCE guide you want, then buy it. I was hoping it would have more strictly accounting advice like how to read a balance sheet, what a profit and loss statement is, what is a liability, etc. It hardy touches accounting, concentrating more on the finance side of starting up & running a business, eg. business plans, cash flows, types of companies, tax, etc. The book however is easy to read & understand but I feel should get rid of the "accounting" term in the title.

I am an idiot. Just a garden variety idiot, the kind of regular joe-shmoe idiot who these books are marketed for. Couple of years ago I took an expensive crash course in accounting. By the end of the first day I knew I was going to be one of the shlubs sitting in the back watching the teacher's mouth move, but not understanding a word he was saying. After that first day, I went to the bookstore, picked up this book, took it home and read the first several chapters. Next day in class I took a seat up front and looked like a genius the way I grasped all these difficult accounting concepts. I kept reading ahead of the class, not using the assigned textbook, but using the Idiot's book. Received an A in the class, and a sterling recommendation from the teacher, he said I was a 'natural' LOL! I can't even get the numbers in my address right!

I am writing this review as the person who developed this book for Macmillan General Reference. I am a book packager, and my company was contracted to develop this title, and I worked with the author, Michael Muckian in getting it written. The May 1998 Inc. magazine included reviews of seven finance and accounting books. Muckian's book was the only one to receive 5 stars. Here's what the review said:

....Muckian, a financial manager who is clearly no idiot, has written a guide that is well constructed and facilitates easy scanning of any topic that is currently driving you to distraction. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 (on accounts receivable, accounts payable, and general cash-flow issues, respectively) are particularly worth a careful read. Pay special attention to the shortcuts and red flags that are highlighted in small boxes; in many instances, they can save your company big headaches....***** (five stars)

If you're looking for a basic book on how to understand and set up an accounting system for your business, this book will help you do it, and it's fun to read. END

This book seemed to be 98% about Finance with 2% brushing very lightly over double entry accounting with very vague explainations of how a credit increases liability, etc. I was very disappointed in it as I had hoped to get some grounding so I could at least figure out where to post numbers in an accounting program like MYOB. All four or five pages on accounting were inadequate and very confusing. To paraphrase the text, "you can get this, if you work at it." Unfortunately, I found very little to work with.

OK...lets get this straight.. who is going to tell me that accounts payable and accounts recievable is NOT a part of accounting??? who is going to tell me that doing taxes is NOT part of accounting.. COME ON PEOPLE.. this is probably the best accounting book with finance info there could be.. sure it doesn't get into CALCULUS.. but thats not what its suppose to do.. it is suppose to be for NON-FINANCIAL-MANAGERS!!! the people who wrote bad reviews should LOOK UP the term before saying crap..the book has got alot more accoutning stuff than the just 4 chapters... (they probably left the review thinking about a different book which would explain most of this drama) but anyways.. thats all i gotta say.......

I am writing this review from an Accounting perspective, and I agree with the other review that if you want to learn Finance then this book might be for you since, its HEAVILY weighted for Finance with a side order of Accounting. I totally disagree that using this book as your primary source of information will get you an "A". And even if you did get an "A", and brag that you aren't that smart, then that "A" is just a letter on a piece of paper. In the real world you would get burned. This book barely scratches the surface on Accounting, in fact its buried in a small section in the middle of the book with Finacnce before and after it.
Bottom line, if you know someone in your life that is an Accountant and you want to know a FEW of the jargain words, then check this book out at the library. If you need it for school, or to give yourself a clear understanding of the language, this book will give you a major false sense of security, and then you will feel like (as the title says), "The Complete Idiot"

My intentions in buying this book was to brush up on my finance and accounting skills since I had graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree seven years ago. I purchased the Complete Idiots Guide to Finance and Accounting because not only I am fan of that series but I figured that I could get more information about finance and accounting than reading some boring textbook or a non-fiction book written by an accounting.

This book exceeded my expectation, alhtough there are many areas that I like about this book, I will highlight my favorites: first, I like the way the author explain in similar terms about how to create a successful plan for your business and how the author goes into detail about why most small businesses/entreprenuer fail to draft a good business plan. The second highlight is probably one of the crucial of any business is create and maintain reasonable budget for an enterprenuer and small business owner; plus great tips on watching and creating a steady cash flow after the debts are paid.

Finally, I like this book because Michael Muckian brings a down-to-earth realistic and fun approach to a subject that most people find boring but necessary.

This is a nifty tool for starting entrepreneurs and business owners...but not for those in search of an actual guide to FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING