Customer Reviews

Essentials of Accounting for Governmental and Not-for-Profit Organizations

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

This is the first textbook that I haven't been able to read through all the assigned chapters. That's saying a lot since I already have one degree and working on a second.

Wow! The text is extremely dry! No book should have 6 or 7 bolded terms in a row and not bother to explain the terms. Also it makes no distinction between some terms. For instance, appropriations vs. emcumbrance vs. expenditure. I had to figure that out on my own.

As someone else said, this is NOT a self-study book! Granted no accounting book should baby you, but if nobody in the class understands what the hell the book is saying, then there's something wrong. If you're using the book for a class and want to use the PowerPoint slides on the publisher's website, don't bother! They're just as bad as the textbook. They don't have a logical flow to them. They don't even flow with the book. What is at the beginning of a chapter in the book may be at the end of the PowerPoint slides for that chapter. There are big chunks of the chapters missing from the slides.

I can't believe this is the 7th edition of this book! It's written like it was the first edition. The author has no concept of how people study. McGraw-Hill should have stopped publishing this horrendous book after the first edition.

This book is perhaps the most poorly thought out text I've ever had the displeasure to read... The authors write this book in high level language and do a very poor job of explaining just what it is that they are attempting to convey to the reader. I think that I would actually rather read GASB doctrine than attempt to decode this text. If you are reading this review and you are a professor, please do NOT choose this text for your course.

Of all of the accounting books that I have read, this is the worst. Very very dry... Can you imagine that the author writes journal entries in paragraph form. There is absolutely no structure for the book, no summaries, no examples, no questions and answers.

This book would only be useful if you have other references to go to. Otherwise, by itself, it will just confuse and discourage you from study governmental accounting.

I was "lucky" enough to take a governmental accounting course in which this alleged text was the book for the class. It was universally scorned, and at least the school had the good sense to dump it in time for the following semester.

It's so dry that I have a hard time believing it wasn't written in the 1950's, when dry textbooks were the rule of the day. The layout is drabbed and the font is very cramped. It's surprising how cramped type and very little space between lines actually makes reading so much more difficult. You really sense the book was created on a low budget (even though it's WAY overpriced!).

The subject matter, at least for most people, is a bit uninspring anyway, and this text does NOTHING to allay those prejudices. Accounting books are rarely "fun" but they can be presented in a way that's visually interesting, with some real life case studies or examples. Nothing from real life makes its way into this book.

And on top of everything else, the ink is so cheap that it smears if you hold your finger in one place too long, oh, like when you're holding it open to read. So both the content AND the construction are C**P!!!

Avoid!!!

If it was possible to give this book a negetive star review I would. It has no organization, no structure, and makes no sense. It is by far the worst text I have ever had to read. Although the author is a professor, he must be a very bad one. He has no grasp on how students learn, and makes no attempt to link information together. He uses the same example throughout the entire text. As if in chapter 9, you rememeber what entry 14, is in chapter 3. A horrible book. It is easier to read the GASB statements than it is this book. DO NOT BUY IT!!

This is a truly horrible book. It's written so poorly that the only way it can be used is as a look-up reference. If you don't have a really good instructor for Not-for-profit accounting, find one using a different book. You won't get much out of this.
The 7th Edition is just as bad as the 6th.

WARNING! This book may cause drowsiness. Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery after reading this book.

It's too bad the author has absolutely no literary skills whatsoever. I'm no great author myself but you'd think by the time they got to the fifth edition all the errors would be gone and they would have improved upon the existing text. I guess the editors must have let this one slip through without actually reading what they were going to be publishing.

If you are unfortunate enough to have to buy this book then you will be dumber for having read it and may God have mercy on your soul.

I am writing this from the viewpoint of the student who got stuck with having to use this book for my course. However, I have taught college accounting courses and would not recommend this book ever in relation to the topics it discusses.

As some of the other reviews have mentioned, this has got to be the worst book ever written on governmental and fund accounting. I am not sure which is worse: the accounting department at the College of DuPage (or any college accounting department that selects it) who selected the book or the book itself.

I have been in the field of accounting for nearly 20 years. One of my weak spots is governmental accounting. I took this course for the specific reason of getting familiarized with the latest in GASB, as well as preparing me for the CPA in the governmental and fund accounting areas. It would have been better to pick up teh Wall Street Journal and read the government related articles. This book does nothing in terms of preparing you or explaining the issues that I will face on the CPA exam.

Besides the fact that I have a professor who clearly thinks this book is better than sliced bread in relation to government accounting, this book assumes you have extensive knowledge in the field of governmental accounting; that you are really only using this book as a Cliff notes, of sorts, to help you out.

The books wants to cover everything about governmental accounting. However, in the effort of doing so, it covers little to nothing, leaving you constantly seeking out information from other sources in order to understand what they are talking about or how it actually works in today's local, city and statement governments.

You will find very basic examples of journal entries in relation to the concepts being discussed. I will give this book praise for at least providing the summary journal entries. More and more books seem to think that those are no longer necessary for understanding the concepts.

However, these journal entries typically will leave you wondering if there are things missing, or maybe you don't have enough information to figure out how it fits together. It leaves out a more detailed discussion of things such as how control accounts are managed in today's government accounting departments; how budgets are actually booked into the governmental accounting systems today and not when we were using ledger pads and pencils; and how has GASB Statement 34 really changed many areas in the reporting at local, city and state government levels.

One of the biggest let downs of this book is in the area of understanding the adjustments necessary to convert the fund financial statements into government-wide financial statements using the appropriate accrual based accounting and measurements as required by GASB. The chapter flows like a basic outline of a college thesis, with references to previous chapter information that was just as scantily presented as the current information.

For example, the book uses the ineffective examples from previous chapters as a means of making those adjustments. However, the adjusting journal entry is simply referenced back to that chapter and lets you assume you understand how and why the adjustment is even necessary for the government-wide financials. This methodology assumes that the initial discussion was extensive, leaving you with little doubt as to why and what you were posting. However, that is not the case. It only leaves you wondering even more how this would function in a real government and, oftentimes, leaves you wondering how the numbers were calculated to arrive at the adjustment (that should be so clear and obvious to the reader, based on the authors presentation of the material [insert sarcasm here]).

The book would be much more useful as a teaching tool if it expanding extensively on all the topics discussed and spent some serious time (more than one short chapter) in converting the fund financial statements to the government-wide statements. In addition, a chapter or two should be devoted to understanding the necessary footnote disclosures showing the basics that need to be presented.

As a professional in the insurance and statutory area, I strongly suggest you look elsewhere for a much better reference guide, if you are looking to use this book as a reference guide. As a student, I would scream loudly at the professors and the accounting department that select a book as incomplete and lacking as this book is. As a professor, I would be embarrassed to have some a book used in my classroom.

Another point that I believe is so vital to today's starving students, is the cost of this book. Regardless of what it does not do in terms of educating the accounting student, when I purchased the book, I was expecting a hardbound copy with 700 to 800 pages of material. Yet, here I end up with a black and white, paperback book, slightly bigger than a romance novel. In terms of perception, I immediately felt cheated. In terms of material and presentation of the information, I have no doubt I was ripped off. This book is a complete waste of money and should be considered an embarrassment to the selection committee involved in allowing this material to even enter their colleges or universities. It is not worth more than a romance novel on sale at Price-Costco.

In relation to the supplemental material, the publisher clearly is looking to cut costs and maximize profit, in terms of providing as little additional content as possible. The publishers lack of care shows blindingly if you look at the download of files for the practice set, provided free on the website. The file names are misspelled. They don't even care enough to spell check the work being provided. You will also find some of the presentation material having the same lack of neatness and review with some misspellings, format issues and graphic problems.

In addition, don't look for a supplemental study guide. Not available. I guess to costly to print in black and white. Don't expect to be too burdened to think on the quizzes. They completely lack any real testing of your knowledge an understanding. I suggest you make your own questions, much like I do.

Lastly, for those looking for books that would be a great addition to your reference library or wanting to further your understanding if you are stuck with using this book, I have found that the Governmental Accounting, Auditing and Financial Reporting guide by the Governmental Financial Accounting Officers Association has excellent information and provides much more detail about how governmental accounting works under the new GASB 34 environment.

Astoundingly bad text. To say that this book is dry is a complement. The fact is that any introduction text should paraphrase and explain the more complicated issues involved. The authors do not do this. They borrow from the GASB standards word for word in order to fill out space in the text. See what you think of the following excerpt: "Accordingly, a distinctive characteristic of governmental accounting resulting from the need to demonstrate compliance with laws governing the sources of revenues available to governmental units and laws governing the utilization of those revenues is the formal reporting of the legally approved budget compared with actual results for the General Fund and all special revenue funds that have a legally adopted annual budget." Real nice for an intro book!

The book is extremely poorly written, difficult to follow with many topics only partially explained at best. The highly nuanced writing style results in ambiguous coverage and frequently the authors do not cover all elements of the accounting treatment, which are only discovered through reviewing answers to chapter quizzes. The on-line chapter quizzes do help to explain the appropriate accounting treatment. Some students advise me they elect not to purchase the book, but rather, visit the publisher's website to take chapter quizzes and use them as study guides.