Customer Reviews

Managerial Accounting

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

After using this for my class I have to say that the explanations in the chapters does not prepare you very well from the homework questions at the end. These questions can literally take a hour each and the chapter just does not have enough examples to help you with them. I ended up buying the solutions manual off Amazon and it helped a TON. It also shows you how to calculate the problem so it really helps you learn not just give you the answer. If anyone is stuck with this book I would recommend getting the manual for extra help.

In the industry we call this the "Lighthouse Series." It is the preeminent textbook in Management Accounting. My firm uses this book as a resource and it is available to us at work. I'm a practicing CPA, licensed in Washington, DC with a master's degree in accounting.

Initially I hesitated to review the 13th edition of the Lighthouse Series because it is hard to find something critical to say. But the authors dedicated this book "To our families and to our many colleagues who use this book." Management Accounting is meant to be the number one textbook in its field, which it is, and the number one management accounting resource to practicing accountants, which is also the case.

This book is dominant because of the enormous investment in making it simply the most student-friendly and resourceful text in the field. This is one of the few texts where no money was spared to make it what it is today, and the list of professors that contributed by being reviewers and consultants to this text is longer than any such list I have ever seen. You can hardly find any written work that has benefited from and survived such scrutiny.

The three authors are famous within the profession as they have published many scholarly articles in the professional journals. But what impresses me more is that they have all won major awards for teaching, even awards that were decided by students. I am even more impressed with star teacher accountants than prolific publisher accountants because their contribution will ultimately be greater.

There are many topics covered in this text and the following is just a sample: job order costing; process costing; activity-based costing; cost-volume-profit; inventory; balanced scorecard; overhead application and analysis; budgeting; financial statement analysis; decentralization and segment reporting; valuation methods; management investment projects; decision-making of all types including make-or-buy and allocation type decisions and much more.

The textbook is part of a set that is produced and reviewed by all the same people. The 896 page hardcover with good paper stock and sturdy binding is a fraction of the material. You also get the best supplements of any book within the subject of accounting, and fortunately you can use one password to access all of the book's online resources. These supplements include but are not limited to Homework Manager (a lot of problems of which only a fraction would be assigned by a professor with instant feedback); Online Curriculum Center (contains many Internet-based activities such as quizzes, tours and even information about careers and jobs); Topic Tackler Plus (interactive multimedia lessons); Workbook Study Guide; Templates; Practice Sets; Notes and Study Aids. Again, no expense has been spared and the list of professors that added value to these resources is extensive almost beyond belief.

Finally I am surprised at the relatively low cost on Amazon considering the quality of the textbook, the online resources behind the text and the money spent to produce this 13th edition of the Lighthouse Series. I know that for students, it is not a cheap book, but it is not as expensive as many textbooks with far less expertise and resources required for production.

This book although heavy and very expensive does the job! Some chapters are a bit long and make you sleepy, but the information is very good. The book guides you step by step and that is very handy when you haven't been in intro accounting for a while. I find it very helpful.

I have an MA and a PhD in a related field, so I am not new to studying a finance/accounting subjects. However, I must say that this is one of the worse textbooks I have ever come across. This was particularly disappointing as I hoped to gain a lot from the course for which this textbook was selected. The explanations and illustrations of the accounting concepts are minimal. The presentation lacks clarity and continuity and the practical examples in the "In Business" insert boxes at times leave to wish for the better in terms of relevance to the content of the chapter. But this is not the worst. Wait until you come to the exercises, problems and multiple-choice quizzes (the latter available on the textbook's web-site), which supposedly should help you to master the chapter material. As another review of this book correctly mentions, there is very little in the text that prepares you for them. The exercises seem to aim to make you to produce several rounds of (largely irrelevant from an empirical standpoint) calculations to eventually insert a missing number into what is in essence a simple formula. How such problems are supposed to help you learn the material and prepare you for future work remains a puzzle. I have not bought a study manual, but if a text is not usable without one, what does it tell you about its didactic quality? All in all, I feel I wasted my money and I do not believe that the textbook serves the purpose to provide you with a solid base in managerial accounting. I only rated this book as one start because it seems it is not possible to give a lower rating.

I took managerial accounting for the first time with a fairly difficult instructor and this book really helped me. If it weren't for the clear and helpful examples, I would have failed the class. The book is filled with real-world, easy to understand examples which makes the difficult-for-newbie accounting methods as simple as humanly possible. Everything is explained perfectly so I am very happy that I had the privilege of using this book for the class.

The connect card allows you to do homework online if the instructor requires it. It helps because you can submit the work and it will tell you step-by-step how to solve the problems which really helps when studying for tests.

In short: This book makes an already hard for most subject as easy and non-intimidating as possible. A++

I took managerial accounting for the first time with a fairly difficult instructor and this book really helped me. If it weren't for the clear and helpful examples, I would have failed the class. The book is filled with real-world, easy to understand examples which makes the difficult-for-newbie accounting methods as simple as humanly possible. Everything is explained perfectly so I am very happy that I had the privilege of using this book for the class.

In short: This book makes an already hard for most subject as easy and non-intimidating as possible. A++

This book contains and overwhelming amount of information. Great Index and Summaries. This book leans towards manufacturing. It would be great to have more examples of service industries. Overall a really informative book.

Managerial accounting is not for everyone. This is a step up above from Principles. I used this book in one of my MBA classes, specifically "Accounting for Decision Making."

Informative, easy to follow.

I think that the extra learning aides (video, Ipod segments) have been helpful in my understanding of the material. Most textbooks are grossly overpriced, but at least here, you are getting some additional learning aides.

I have started reading the book although classes have not started yet. It seems well organized. The book was shipped promptly by the seller.