Financial Accounting (Fourth Edition) with CD-Rom [Hardcover]

Robert Libby (Author), Patricia Libby (Author), Daniel G Short (Author), Daniel Short (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0072850531 | ISBN-13: 978-0072850536 | Edition: 4

Libby/Libby/Short wrote this text based on their belief that the subject of financial accounting is inherently interesting, but financial textbooks are often not. They believe most financial accounting textbooks fail to demonstrate that accounting is an exciting field of study and one that is important to future careers in business. When writing this text, they considered career relevance as their guide when selecting material, and the need to engage the student as their guide to style, pedagogy, and design.

Libby/Libby/Short is the only financial accounting text to successfully implement a real-world, single focus company approach in every chapter. Students and instructors have responded very favorably to the use of focus companies and the real world financial statements. The companies chosen are interesting and the decision-making focus shows the relevance of financial accounting regardless of whether or not the student has chosen to major in accounting.

This text has enjoyed tremendous success, and will continue to do so because of its timely, real world and relevant content, its solid pedagogical features, and its appropriate balance of innovative and traditional content.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Libby is the David A. Thomas Professor of Management at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, where he teaches the introductory financial accounting course. He previously taught at the University of Illinois, Pennsylvania State University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Chicago, and University of Michigan. He received his B.S. from Pennsylvania State University and his M.A.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois; he is also a CPA. Bob is a widely published author specializing in behavioral accounting. He was selected as the AAA Outstanding Educator in 2000. His prior text, Accounting and Human Information Processing (Prentice Hall, 1981), was awarded the AICPA/AAA Notable Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award. He received this award again in 1996 for a paper. He has published numerous articles in the Journal of Accounting Research; Accounting, Organizations, and Society; and other accounting journals. He is past Vice President-Publications of the American Accounting Association and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the editorial boards of The Accounting Review; Accounting, Organizations, and Society; Journal of Accounting Literature; and Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.

Patricia Libby is Chair of the Department of Accounting and Associate Professor of Accounting at Ithaca College, where she teaches the undergraduate financial accounting course. She previously taught graduate and undergraduate financial accounting at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Texas. Before entering academe, she was an auditor with Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and a financial administrator at the University of Chicago. She received her B.S. from Pennsylvania State University, her M.B.A. from DePaul University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan; she is also a CPA. Pat conducts research on using cases in the introductory course and other parts of the accounting curriculum. She has published articles in The Accounting Review, Issues in Accounting Education, and The Michigan CPA. She has also conducted seminars nation-wide on active learning strategies, including cooperative learning methods.

Dan Short is the Dean of the M.J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Prior to that he was Dean at Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University and Dean of the Business School at Kansas State University. Before entering adminstration, Dan taught at the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He has won numerous teaching awards during his career teaching both undergraduate and MBA financial accounting courses.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 830 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 4 edition (January 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072850531
• ISBN-13: 978-0072850536
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #999,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Financial accounting, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Financial Accounting (Fourth Edition) with CD-Rom (Hardcover)

Don't buy this book as a self-study guide to financial accounting. It is an excellent textbook for a course or, if you have already studied bookkeeping, it is the perfect book to show you how financial accounting information is useful for managerial and investment decisions. The real world emphasis provides a great context. The authors have struck a good balance between acccounting processes and the use of accounting information.

The book is a good choice for an accounting course or the perfect next step for self-study after bookeeping but you'll be unhappy with it if you looking for an overly simplistic approach to accounting.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor Choice all around., March 14, 2006

By 

AVIDRDR - See all my reviews

This review is from: Financial Accounting (Fourth Edition) with CD-Rom (Hardcover)

Libby et al try to sell this book to schools ranging from Harvard Business School down to undergraduates at West Texas A & M University, and unfortunately for students, they get their wish with the highest grossing accounting textbook on the market. What results is a text that is far too verbose, and yet simultaneously superficial on regulatory and finance issues, for an elite undergraduate or graduate school student's first go at the subject, as well as a text far too meandering for the attention span of less academically inclined pupils. The specific problems are manifold. First, the examples are less than clear. Second, the attempt to bring in real would cases adds a lot of volume to each chapter with little to no actual relation to the topic at hand (e.g. five pages about Papa John's Pizza to give one or two relevant lines about their operations). Third, redundancy occurs at times to the point of causing students to miss actual salient differences (e.g. and not appropriately denoting problems where they occur). Fourth, a color scheme / layout from hell!

The fundamental sales pitch behind this book is that it's, "a text students and teachers can agree on." Frankly, I would rather see more professors opting for a tax type text than might overwhelm brighter students in content, and force them to read actively to discern what is relevant, while simultaneously selecting a more outline oriented format for the majority of undergraduates using a single case for clarity throughout a chapter (and in the questions). Both texts exist already.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tour de force in accounting textbooks, December 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Financial Accounting (Fourth Edition) with CD-Rom (Hardcover)

Had this as a textbook in my first financial accounting graduate course. Very well done. It actually covers A LOT for a one semester course. I have never seen so many exercises, example problems, and projects presented in one text book. The CD, plus web site, also offer more example problems. Be prepared to spend a LOT of time solving problems... which I think is the only way to really learn accounting. You'll love this textbook, but, be prepared to work hard and spend time.