Accounting for Non-Accountants: Financial Accounting Made Simple for Beginners (Basics for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners) Paperback – January 1, 2013

Accounting for Non-Accountants by Wayne A. Label is a marvelous little book for getting acquainted with basic financial statements such as, primarily, the Balance Sheet and the Income Statement, in addition to the Statement of Cash Flows and the Statement of Retained Earnings.The book is geared for people new to accounting principles, as it lays out, for instance, different sequential snapshots of the balance sheet to demonstrate how individual adjustments are treated. This is probably the highlight feature of the book for newcomers--its straightforward and sequential layout of accounting transactions.With that said, let it be clear that Label has personality, demonstrated by his occasional use of humor and his engaging writing style.Furthermore, Label covers a large scope of interesting material--not just information on financial statements-- to give beginners a broad overview of the industry.To explain, about half of the book is dedicated to the financial statements, journal, and ledger, while the other half is dedicated to concepts such as fraud prevention, audits, GAAP, and--perhaps most interestingly--ratios (including rate of return on investment, current ration, sales ratios, and many others) for reporting short-term or long-term analysis of financial data.As a specific example of what the book offers, Label expounds on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which apply to the United States (and Canada, too, so I am told). These principles outline the requirements for accounting, such as both the requirement that financial statements be relayed in monetary terms and the requirement that the depreciation estimates be sufficiently verifiable.As another example, the book provides a somewhat cursory albeit introductory discussion on both the journal and the ledger, while providing a clear definition of the double accounting system, including an accessible definition of the somewhat arbitrary meaning of both credits and debits.Perhaps unique to Label's book is the emphasis on corporations, where he outlines concepts such as preferred versus common stock, cash dividends, stock dividends, and stock splits. This section is more advanced than the rest of the book, but will be especially of interest if the reader either plans to incorporate, of course, or has had prior experience with the stock market.While Label's book is an excellent introduction to accounting principles (with overviews of some advanced concepts such as stocks, corporations, and audits), it is only the first stop for acquiring a solid footing in accounting concepts.A good follow-up (and relatively more advanced and academic) book to Label's that I've started reading is Barron's Accounting by Peter J. Eisen. Eisen's book does not ease the newcomer into accounting principles like Label's does, but it offers a lot more in-depth practice and insight into financial statements. Eisen's book also emphasizes proprietorship, unlike Label's which focuses a great deal on the corporation.Another book recommendation to read in tandem with Label's is Accounting Made Simple: Accounting Explained in 100 Pages or Less by Mike Piper.All in all, I'd recommend starting with Label's book if (1) you have little to no background in accounting, (2) you would like an overview of the industry, or (3) your long-term agenda includes setting up a corporation.

This is clearly written, and builds on itself in a logical manner.I was humbled to find stuff I didn't know, considering I have had my small business for 10 years.IMHO, I wish I read this about 20 years ago.I plan to gradually teach my kids off these principles as they get older.

Nice book with lots of information for a non-accountant, which is what the title of the book is. However, it is too long and i quickly lost interest in reading it. I did, however, go thru looking for tips and tricks. Thank you. Lot it makes sense.

If you are one of those people who can't keep up with your money the way you are supposed to, this book is for you. If you need to learn accounting but shudder at the thought, this book is for you. The author has taken dry, boring, but necessary to learn concepts and made them easy to understand and probably as interesting as it can get (if that's possible). If the title "Accounting for Dummies" wasn't already taken, he could have used the title for this book.

Excellent book for the essential topic for every business. Great condition!

It was okay just a lot of reading no step by step process

If you're a small or micro business owner, but A) aren't clear on what kind of records you should be keeping, or B) don't know a balance sheet from an income statement, or an expense from a liability, then this book would be an excellent investment of your time. He gives it to you straight and at the right level of complexity.Only one chapter didn't seem immediately relevant to me -- the one on corporations -- but it helped that all that info was contained in one chapter that I could basically skip, AND, I saw that even though it wasn't immediately relevant, it also contained info that I should probably learn.Highly recommended.

Very clear answer