Basic Bookkeeping
This eBook is a complete guide to basic bookkeeping. It discusses, with examples, the role of a bookkeeper or financial accountant, the types of accounts, debits and credits (including a way for them to remember which is which and when they are appropriate), the most commonly used journals and ledgers, adjusting and closing entries, types of trial balances, types of financial statements, and basic ratio analysis. It includes exercises and multiple-choice questions to reinforce the learner?s grasp of the materials.
This book is ideal for university students in beginning accounting classes as well as practicing bookkeepers. Though it does not go into as much detail as university textbooks do, it will serve as a valuable adjunct to those books by providing the student with a framework in which to read the textbooks.
An Introduction to Basic Bookkeeping
Financial accounting is everywhere in modern society. When a student applies for financial aid, the lender generally requires his or her parents to provide extensive financial information. Every business owner must track their finances in order to prepare their income tax returns. Even when we die, the Federal Government and most probate courts may require that our final assets and debts be accounted for. Finally, the need to know accounting concepts is so pervasive in our society that some colleges require their students enrolled in non-business majors to complete a class in basic accounting principles and practices.
Unfortunately, most textbooks treat accounting as something closer to rocket science than to a common practice performed by millions of businesspeople or their bookkeepers per every year. As a result, most students pay tutors almost as much as they pay for their classes and still leave the classes knowing little more (if not, unbelievably, less) than when they started the classes. I am writing this book to demystify accounting and to teach you, the student, its most basic principles and practices.
This book is divided logically into six sections by according to the accounting process. We start by discussing the role of the bookkeeper and financial accountant in a company. We then discuss Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, which is the framework upon all accounting is performed. From there, we explore the various types of accountsentities which businesspeople use to conduct their businesses. We then explore the bookkeeping and financial reporting processes. Because of the volume of new concepts which you will learning, I encourage you to read the book in the order in which I presented the chapters and to work the exercise or quiz at the end of each chapter.