Customer Reviews

Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

One of the least useful textbooks I've ever read; I learned next to nothing from it. It's very poorly written, in very confusing style. Samples are placed several pages away from where they are referred to. As another reviewer stated, the authors don't explain much of anything -- it's like watching an expert accountant quickly burn through his work, then ask you if you understood everything you saw him do. The problems aren't very enlightening, either: instead of focusing on building up the basics, they seem to prefer to focus on special cases, so you're thoroughly confused about what to do in the normal case.

Yes, there are good reviews, but notice that two are commenting only on shipping speed, and the other was from a guy trying to sell his copy. I won't inflict my copy on anyone else, because I'd rather destroy it.

This textbook is written terribly. Each chapter seems to refer to multiple concepts, with little to no explanation of the concepts besides "We will cover that concept in X chapter". Chapter 1 refers to nearly every other chapter, Chapter 2 refers to nearly every other chapter, (Including Chapter 1??) Chapter 3 refers to every other chapter, (Including chapters 1 and 2) etc etc. Each chapter seems to read like the introductory chapter. The content organization of the book makes me think the authors decided how to break each "topic" down, then wrote that topic while referring to the (not yet written) other "topic" sections. The "topics" then were assigned chapters based on how they thought information flow should go. The problem is, there is NO buildup of knowledge as every chapter reads like it *should* be the last chapter in the book since it assumes you know all of the other concepts it refers to in every other chapter. (Which of course you do not)

The book also, despite saying it will focus on only two companies in chapter 1, constantly jumps into different companies financial information. This seems to only confuse, not help understanding.

As other reviewers stated, the book does very little explaining, and mostly stating. I found the review which mentioned watching an expert accountant fly through the work they do daily and expecting you to understand it right on. To say this book is hard to pay attention to, and hard to comprehend is a drastic understatement.

This book is one of the most terrible MBA textbooks I've had. If it didn't cost so much (and therefor be worth more to sell back) I'd burn it too.

It is a very detail oriented book and you have to read every single sentence. Everything is stated, not much is explained. The reader gets lost in all the statements and tables. The probelms are annoying and like playing meaningless puzzles. One gets the feeling that the authors want to trick you rather than effectively teach the material.

I wish the authors would have explained all the concepts step by step, but they go over the material again and again in a spiral fashion. I find this approach rather confusing and would have hoped for a more gradual approach of logically building up knowledge.

If you are a detail oriented person you might like this book, but if you are a grand-picture thinker you get terribly lost. The storyline is missing.

I find this book one of the hardest books to follow. I can read general relativity books and solve Einstein's equations, but the way the material is presented here makes Einstein's work sound really easy.

This is a decent book. It is mostly well written and full of practical examples. In fairness, if you are looking for a book that you can extract the material without reading the text (handbook style) than this isn't it. The authors organize the book in a unique way. They discuss financial reports in some detail and then reiterate the reports in individual chapters. At first it was frustratingly redundant; however, it was also an effective organization for thoroughly learning the material.

I'm using this book during my MBA, it is a required lecture. I will put it very simple:

1.- It is confusing, the structure makes difficult to follow the examples which are located in several places.
2.- Very congested; I'm a visual learner and all the examples and solutions are narrated, not graphically described. like a, b, c.
3.- The solutions to the proposed excersices are not included in the book
4.- The paper used is shiny which causes glare when reading it, I have to find a good position when reading for a long time.

For me this was my first exposure to accounting, and I used this book only because my University charged the price and used it as the main text. I ended looking for other authors.

I do not understand why instructors use this textbook. It seems as if the writers of the text and the writers of the problems have nothing to do with each other because the problems focus on topics that were never covered in the text. The problems also seem to focus on things that have no meaning. I learned more from an online Harvard Business School tutorial on accounting than I learned from this textbook. It is just god awful.

This textbook is a disaster. As the other reviewers have stated, the chapters do not list step by step examples with calculations and there is very littlel explanation of even the most basic concepts. For those of us not in the accounting profession, we struggle to find meaning and solve our homework problems. The problems within the book are not comparable to what is in the chapter content so it gets EXTREMELY confusing and there is no answer key in the back to give the slightest bit of guidance. As mentioned it seems each chapter refers to multiple concepts and multiple chapters which send you on a wild goose chase, A TEXT BOOK SHOULD NOT REQUIRE SO MUCH EFFORT!

It is a struggle to make sense of the mayhem contained in each chapter and there is not flow throughout the book. I think the authors assume the student already knows this material all too well, and let's face it this is not a class for the accounting professional.

As other reviewers stated, the book does very little explaining leaving a lot for you to figure out on your own. I, too, found the review which mentioned watching an expert accountant fly through the work they do daily and expecting you to understand it right on. This book is hard to pay attention to, and hard to comprehend and follow intelligently.

This book is one of the most terrible and worthless MBA textbooks I've had. To the rest of you in a similar situation, good luck and to the professors reading this, pick a better text book.

This book was absolutely terrible it is overly complex in no way easy to read. it literally makes everything more complicated. this book is worse than Hitler drowning puppies. i threw it off of my dorms roof halfway through the semester. the authors of this book should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. i deeply believe any person who picks up this book will hate it.

The book is good, but the package is not good. When I open the package, it has much dust and make my clothes dirty. However, the book's quality is the same as the introduction and I am satisfied. Good seller. Good book.

Every time I read any line or chapter I end up being more confused, not a single chapter is complete, " this chapter's concept in that chapter" and so on.
tables and tables...like if you read engineering book all you see are the graphs and tables with no explanation this is what this book looks like.
Authors made my first course of MBA, a hell, when I could have done much better...