Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A better text is available, July 4, 2006
As background for dissusion of the Beams "Advanced Accounting" text, 9th ed.: I took advanced accounting at one university last summer (which covered much of advanced accounting, but no accounting for not-for-profit organizations). Due to scheduling availability, I am taking advanced accounting at a different university this summer...this class WILL cover not-for-profit accounting issues, which is why I am taking it. We used the Hoyle, Schaefer, Doupnik "Advanced Accounting" 7th ed. text last year, and even though the concepts were difficult, the examples assisted greatly, and the text was clear, organized and without noticeable errors.
I wish the same could be said of the Beams "Advanced Accounting" 9th ed. Currently in my study of the fourth chapter, I find the text frequently wanders off topic, and contains surprising errors. For example, on page 106 (Chapt.4), it makes a math error ($30,000 - $1,500 x 80% = $22,500). My calculator indicates the answer should be $22,800. On page 107 it attributes a $93.5k elimination to "Entry b" described on page 106, when the amount actually belongs to "Entry c", described on the same page. This type of error requires the reader to perform a lot of additional work to get to the bottom of the information to be acquired. These are just two of the numerous issues I have uncovered in study of only four chapters. So far, the text compares poorly to the Hoyle, et. al. product, sadly, (which is why I am providing this warning) and I am not looking forward to the rest of the current summer semester!
Please, Prentice Hall, thoroughly review and edit this text before the next edition, and give students their money's worth.
|
|
|
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Advanced accounting, April 5, 2000
I used this book as my self-study material and I benefited from this book a lot. I would recommend using it either as a textbook for Advanced Accounting course or as a reference book for professionals. Here are the few points that I would like to share with you:1. Logical order The order to display the topics in this book is logical and consistent. This is important for self-study users. At the beginning of each chapter, there's always a paragraph or two summarize the main points that are going to present in the chapter. This gives the reader a whole picture. 2. Clear explanation and examples The book uses easy explanatory languages and the examples are very representative. Each example, the author is showing us every detail steps, so it is easy to follow. 3. Relevant exercises and problems. At the end of each chapter, there are questions that can help to reinforce the concepts. Most questions can be found directly from the material. There are also exercises and problems that are related to the topic presented in the chapter. I remember there is an accounting book I used before that the problems required more knowledge than the chapter actually covered. This not the case in this book. Some of the examples in the chapter could be used as quick reference while working on the problems, too. The only thing I would recommend, if I need to find some, is that I hope there could be more real life issues mentioned in the book. In this way, readers can relate the knowledge to daily life even closer.
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Content As Bad As the Attention-to-Detail on the Cover Picture Design, November 10, 2008
If you look at the book's cover picture, you'll notice that the piece of pencil shaving that is coming out of the pencil sharpener is upside down with respect to where the pencil is inserted. The shaving would only be positioned as pictured if the pencil was inserted through the other end.
The contents of this book provide the same lack of attention to detail. The example problems throughout the chapters are poorly explained and require you to look to other sources in order to fully grasp the concepts. Another annoyance is that most of the time, the financial statements along with their adjustments for consolidations provided as part of some of the examples are never on the same page as their accompanying journal entries. Instead, they were always scattered throughout several pages and this forced me to flip between those pages like crazy and eventually, I found myself ripping out the pages in frustration so that I could lay them out on the desk while hundreds of my peers at the library was staring at me like I was a madman.
This textbook left me feeling completely hopeless in preparation for my exams and caused me to have a series of panic attacks which required me to seek out therapy. I have used three other accounting textbooks in my college career and none of them have come close to creating such extreme levels of frustration and agony as this book. I have always been an A student in my accounting classes until taking the class that required the use of this book, which I also strongly believe is responsible for the onset of my anxiety disorder.
I decided to give this book a 2-star rating instead of 1 because the end-of-chapter exercises and problems provided me with adequate practice for my final exam (after learning the material from various online sources) which was the reason why I barely passed my class.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by William A. Raabe
by Larry E. Rittenberg
by William Messier
