Accounting for Dummies (Paperback)

by John A. Tracy (Author) "Most folks are lousy bookkeepers just because they really don't do much bookkeeping..." (more)
Key Phrases: total fixed manufacturing costs, financial leverage gain, cash flow from profit, The Wall Street Journal, Eric Tyson, Exchange Commission (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“…insightful and well-reasoned…” (Money Matters, October 2004) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“…insightful and well-reasoned…” (Money Matters, October 2004) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Hungry Minds Inc; 1st edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764550144
• ISBN-13: 978-0764550140
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,670 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

192 of 198 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not abt Accounting, September 19, 2000

By A Customer

While the book does have an excellent layout and has been thoroughly and professionally edited, like almost all of the "for Dummies" books, it lacks content where it needs it most. There is surprisingly little about accounting. There are no examples of how to create any of the three basic accounting reports, the balance sheet, income statement, and the cash flow statement. Double-entry accounting, the foundation of modern accounting, is only given three short pages with, again, no examples. It is not written for those who want to know how to do accounting or how to assist their accountant with their own company's books, but for those who want to have a functional understanding of a small set of reports. This makes it wholly inadequate for someone who wants to learn about accounting. On the other hand, this could make it a good resource for the middle-level manager who needs to know a little about how to read a small group of reports.

120 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for you if your looking for a bookkeeping treatise., October 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Accounting for Dummies (Paperback)

This book is great (I mean great) if you need to understand what is profit, whats in a balance sheet, how to understand it, whats in an income statement. What are assets, etc, etc. This book will open your eyes. Like others have said its not about double entry bookkeeping, or how to prepare your balance sheet. Find that elsewhere. This book addresses what the numbers mean and how to follow them to come to conclusions and how to use that information.

Let me put it this way. If you have a small business, or are put into a position where you need to manage money for a business, or need to buy a business. This book will help you if your not accountant savy.

Its a great book, and is very well written. Another five star success for the dummies series.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent ... for certain purposes, July 26, 2006

By	The Christopher "chris00nj" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Accounting For Dummies (Paperback)

Accounting for Dummies is an excellent book for dummies to understand accounting practices, not necessarily perform accounting yourself. Whether this book will be helpful or not depends on your educational goal.

If you are a small business and want to learn how to "keep the books," this book isn't for you. I think Idiot's Guide to Accounting is more geared for that.

However, If you want to learn the termonology and ideas behind accounting practices this is good. I'm a graduate business student who never had accounting in undergraduate classes. This book was very helpful in "getting me caught up." It also helps you learn to read and understand a financial statement as well.

The book is also well read, easy to read and follow. Termonology is clearly explained and future mention of those ideas have references back to the original explanation. There is a good glossary in the back and the index is very complete.