35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Much better than I was expecting, This book should give you an overall "Big Picture" of accounting.,
May 30, 2011
This review is from: The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand (Paperback)
I bought this book because I am a student and I will be taking Intro. to Financial Accounting this summer. I just wanted a head start before the semester begins as I don't know anything about accounting. This book was very easy to read and comprehend and I actually finished it in just two days. If you have a whole day to spare, you can easily get through this in a day with extra time to spare!
What I liked about this book was that it makes a point or a statement and then re-emphasizes that point or statement many times until you get it. As a result, I did not get lost in this book. There were one or two points that didn't make a whole lot of sense but I scored a 90% on the end of book test. Accounting sounds pretty boring but this book really did make it seem somewhat interesting.
The writing is in big print and heavily spaced with color charts. I would say it is engaging and the chapters are short so you don't get frustrated. The book is definitely not intimidating like a textbook.
After reading the book, the accounting principles make sense to me and I can now understand why things are the way they are. If anything, the fact that I learned that the "Left side has to balance with the right side" has helped me to understand the purpose of financial accounting. Also for a basic book, I was surprised that the book talked about prepaid expenses. The prepaid expenses used as an example in this book will give you an understanding of the adjustment concept. This book also does get into FIFO and LIFO but again, it gives you the overall picture. FIFO and LIFO in a textbook is much more in depth.
This is by no means a full course in accounting. I flipped through my school textbook and there are things in there that you won't learn here. The purpose of this book is to give you the "Big picture." I think after reading this book you will be less intimidated by accounting and you will feel comfortable learning it.
The one part of the book that I wish they could change was that for certain charts, you have to constantly flip back to previous pages or chapters to get the information. That's a little too tedious and it's not like that in real-life.
I will try to update this review once I finish my class to let you know how much this book has ultimately helped me.
Overall:
I liked the book, I learned something, and I will recommend it.
I'll give the book four stars just because I think the authors could have thrown in some extra material in the book without making it much harder and the fact that you still have to flip back to complete some of the charts.
Other than that, the book is worth buying.
EDIT: July 7, 2011. It is now July and I have completed my Intro to Financial Accounting class. I am happy to report that I received an A in the class. I can honestly say that this book played a part in that because I was prepared for the class before it started. In my initial review I gave it four stars because I thought it was too basic. I'm going to change my review to five stars because I think it is probably better that way. If this book was harder, than you might get confused. I think this book keeps it simple but gives you the main ideas that you need to really understand. After reading this book, either take an accounting class or work through a textbook to understand all the other concepts.
*****I want to strictly emphasize that this book is a great introduction to FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING ONLY. Managerial accounting is totally different. This book has NOTHING to do with managerial accounting just in case you were wondering.*****
Overall, highly recommended.
EDIT: August 4, 2012. After taking Intermediate I and II, I can tell you that this book is in every sense of the word only a "basic" introduction to accounting. Once you get to Intermediate II where you are calculating leases, bonds, etc., you will begin to see how hard accounting really is. I still highly recommend this book but just be aware that accounting is not just simple debits and credits like you see in this book. Once you have to start calculating the debits and credits, that is actually real accounting --and it is not easy.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Excellent introduction to accounting,
April 26, 2009
This review is from: The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand (Paperback)
This book is a really good starting point for people who have no clue what accounting is. It clearly explains what the different accounting methods (accrual, cash) are and when and why they are needed/used. It also has plenty of examples for the three financial statements (Income Statement, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet). Most importantly, there is a brief explanation of the term "tax purposes". Whenever someone does something that is weird, they say it is for "tax purposes". This book has a very intuitive example of what it means.
Other topics covered are accounting for a service based company vs. company that has inventory, how to account for equipment (expense it vs. capitalize it), depreciating assets etc.
The book has blanks in it where we can fill up the transactions (inventory bought, products sold, profits made, loans made and repaid etc.). An even better way to follow along is to use an accounting software such as GnuCash to produce the financial statements and compare to the one in the book.
I highly recommend this book to anyone (including engineers like me, who never dreamed of reading an accounting book) who wants to get a basic and working knowledge of accounting.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
I never thought I would say "I kinda like accounting"!,
July 8, 2011
This review is from: The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand (Paperback)
The premise used in this book for teaching basic accounting principles is incredibly creative. A lemonade stand! It reads like a story and that in itself makes it easier to follow than a text book. The authors keep it very simple starting out with a young boy wanting to sell lemonade. He has a few dollars (original investment), he borrows a few dollars from his parents (note payable), sets up an account at the local grocery store to buy lemons and sugar (accts payable), etc. Very clever. I am a little more than 1/2 way through the book and will review again when finished. I always told people that "I hated accounting". I am truly starting to change my mind. That could simply be because I can better understand it now and this book has made it possible. My goal is to go through this book and gain all of the basics then take an actual class. The only drawback so far and one that another reviewer mentioned is going back several pages to look up older info in order to fill in current reports. But that's really not too big of a deal. If you really don't "get it" (the basics) and want to, I highly recommend it.
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