Accounting All-in-One For Dummies (+ Videos and Quizzes Online), 3rd Edition

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright
4. Introduction
   1. About This Book
   2. Foolish Assumptions
   3. Icons Used in This Book
   4. Beyond the Book
   5. Where to Go from Here
5. Book 1: Accounting for Financial Systems
   1. Chapter 1: Accounting for the Basics
      1. Knowing What Bookkeeping and Accounting Are All About
      2. Wrapping Your Brain around the Accounting Cycle
      3. Working the Fundamental Accounting Equation
   2. Chapter 2: Charting Your Accounts
      1. Navigating the Chart of Accounts
      2. Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts
      3. Giving Credit (Or Is It Debit?)
      4. Understanding Double-Entry Accounting
   3. Chapter 3: Using Journal Entries and Ledgers
      1. Keeping a Journal
      2. Bringing It All Together in the Ledger
      3. Putting Accounting Software to Work for You
   4. Chapter 4: Choosing an Accounting Method
      1. Choosing Your Method
      2. Sorting through Standards for Other Types of Accounting
   5. Chapter 5: Setting the Standards
      1. Exploring the Origins of Accounting Standards
      2. Recognizing the Role of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
      3. Checking Out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
      4. Getting to Know the Financial Accounting Standards Board
      5. Grasping Accounting Standards Around the Globe
6. Book 2: Recording Transactions
   1. Chapter 1: Keeping the Books
      1. Analyzing the Effect of Business Transactions
      2. Managing Your Bookkeeping and Accounting System
      3. Wrapping Up with End-of-Period Procedures
   2. Chapter 2: Tracking Purchases
      1. Keeping Track of Inventory
      2. Buying Supplies
      3. Handling Billing and Payables
   3. Chapter 3: Tallying Your Sales
      1. Collecting on Cash Sales
      2. Selling on Credit
      3. Proving Out the Cash Register
      4. Tracking Sales Discounts
      5. Recording Returns and Allowances
      6. Monitoring Accounts Receivable
      7. Accepting Your Losses
   4. Chapter 4: Processing Employee Payroll and Benefits
      1. Staffing Your Business
      2. Collecting Employee Taxes
      3. Determining Net Pay
      4. Surveying Your Benefits Options
      5. Preparing Payroll and Posting It in the Books
      6. Depositing Employee Taxes
   5. Chapter 5: Taxing Payrolls
      1. Paying Employer Taxes on Social Security and Medicare
      2. Completing Unemployment Reports and Paying Unemployment Taxes
      3. Carrying Workers’ Compensation Insurance
      4. Maintaining Employee Records
7. Book 3: Adjusting and Closing Entries
   1. Chapter 1: Depreciating Your Assets
      1. Appreciating Depreciation
      2. Comparing Depreciation Options
      3. Tackling Taxes and Depreciation
   2. Chapter 2: Interesting Rates
      1. Deciphering Types of Interest
      2. Handling Interest Income
      3. Delving into Loans and Interest Expenses
   3. Chapter 3: Proving Out Cash
      1. Making Sure That Ending Cash Is Right
      2. Closing the Cash Journals
      3. Using a Temporary Posting Journal
   4. Chapter 4: Reconciling Accounts and Closing Journal Entries
      1. Reconciling Bank Accounts
      2. Prepping to Close: Checking for Accuracy and Tallying Things Up
      3. Posting to the General Ledger
      4. Checking Out Computerized Journal Records
   5. Chapter 5: Checking Your Accuracy
      1. Working with a Trial Balance
      2. Testing Your Balance by Using Computerized Accounting Systems
      3. Developing a Financial Statement Worksheet
      4. Replacing Worksheets with Computerized Reports
   6. Chapter 6: Adjusting the Books
      1. Adjusting All the Right Areas
      2. Testing an Adjusted Trial Balance
8. Book 4: Preparing Income Statements and Balance Sheets
   1. Chapter 1: Stating Your Income
      1. Understanding the Nature of Profit
      2. Choosing the Income-Statement Format
      3. Deciding What to Disclose in the Income Statement
      4. Examining How Sales and Expenses Change Assets and Liabilities
      5. Considering the Diverse Financial Effects of Making a Profit
      6. Reporting Extraordinary Gains and Losses
      7. Correcting Common Misconceptions about Profit
   2. Chapter 2: Balancing Your Sheets
      1. Homing in on Historic Cost
      2. Discovering What Makes an Asset Current
      3. Exploring the Asset Section of the Balance Sheet
   3. Chapter 3: Digging for Debt in the Balance Sheet
      1. Seeing How Businesses Account for Liabilities
      2. Keeping Current Liabilities under Control
      3. Planning for Long-Term Obligations
      4. Accounting for Bond Issuances
   4. Chapter 4: Explaining Equity
      1. Understanding How Owner Equity Varies among Business Entities
      2. Distinguishing between Two Types of Capital Stock
      3. Defining Paid-In Capital
      4. Recording Retained Earnings
      5. Spotting Reductions to Stockholders’ Equity
      6. Exploring Stock Splits
      7. Computing Earnings per Share
   5. Chapter 5: Interpreting Income Statements and Balance Sheets
      1. Rejoining the Income Statement and Balance Sheet
      2. Introducing Operating Ratios
      3. Adding Fixed Assets, Depreciation, and Owners’ Equity
      4. Completing the Balance Sheet with Debt
9. Book 5: Reporting Your Statements
   1. Chapter 1: Valuating Finances
      1. Clarifying the Values of Assets in Balance Sheets
      2. Introducing Business Valuation
      3. Comparing Business Valuation Methods
   2. Chapter 2: Watching Cash Flow and Equity
      1. Understanding the Difference between Cash and Profit
      2. Flowing Through Cash Transactions
      3. Navigating the Three Flows
      4. Preparing the Statement of Cash Flows
      5. Interpreting the Statement of Cash Flows
      6. Stating Changes in Stockholders’ Equity
   3. Chapter 3: Analyzing Financial Statements
      1. Judging Solvency and Liquidity
      2. Driving the Balance Sheet
      3. Measuring Profitability
      4. Exploring Activity Measures
      5. Comparing Horizontal and Vertical Analysis
      6. Using Common Size Financial Statements
   4. Chapter 4: Explaining Disclosures
      1. Questioning Self-Governance
      2. Identifying Corporate Characteristics
      3. Reviewing Common Explanatory Notes
      4. Putting the Onus on the Preparer
   5. Chapter 5: Sharing Public Reports
      1. Differentiating between Private and Public Companies
      2. Finding Purpose in Reports
      3. Reading the Annual Report to Shareholders
      4. Walking through Form 10-K
10. Book 6: Planning and Budgeting for Your Business
    1. Chapter 1: Looking at the Legals
       1. Surveying Structures
       2. Going It Alone: Sole Proprietorships
       3. Choosing the Right Legal Structure for Income Tax
    2. Chapter 2: Incorporating Your Business
       1. Securing Capital: Starting with Owners
       2. Recognizing Legal Roots
       3. Incorporating a Business
    3. Chapter 3: Drawing Up a Business Plan
       1. Outlining the Basic Business Plan
       2. Developing a Business Plan
       3. Incorporating Third-Party Information into Your Plan
    4. Chapter 4: Budgeting for a Better Bottom Line
       1. Brushing Up on Budgeting
       2. Recognizing Factors That Affect Your Budgeting Process
       3. Understanding Budgeting Basics
       4. Reviewing Revenue and Production Budgets
    5. Chapter 5: Mastering Budgeting Strategies
       1. Budgeting with Cash or Accrual Accounting
       2. Budgeting to Produce the Income Statement and Balance Sheet
       3. Flexing Your Budget: When Plans Change
    6. Chapter 6: Planning for Long-Term Obligations
       1. Managing Long-Term Debt
       2. Accounting for Bonds
11. Book 7: Making Savvy Business Decisions
    1. Chapter 1: Costing Jobs
       1. Understanding How Job Costing Works
       2. Taking a Closer Look at Indirect Costs by Using Normal Costing
       3. Following the Flow of Costs through a Manufacturing System
    2. Chapter 2: Costing by the ABCs
       1. Avoiding the Slippery Slope of Peanut Butter Costing
       2. Designing an Activity-Based Costing System
       3. Using Activity-Based Costing to Compute Total Cost, Profit, and Sale Price
    3. Chapter 3: Contributing to the Margin
       1. Computing Contribution Margin
       2. Preparing a Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis
       3. Generating a Break-Even Analysis
       4. Shooting for Target Profit
       5. Setting a Margin of Safety
       6. Measuring Operating Leverage
    4. Chapter 4: Accounting for Change with Variance Analysis
       1. Setting Up Standard Costs
       2. Understanding Variances
       3. Teasing Out Variances
    5. Chapter 5: Pricing Wisely
       1. Differentiating Products
       2. Taking All Costs into Account with Absorption Costing
       3. Pricing at Cost Plus
       4. Accounting Extremes: Trying Variable-Cost Pricing
       5. Hitting the Bull’s-Eye (Your Target Cost)
    6. Chapter 6: Formulating Equations
       1. Analyzing Profitability
       2. Using Assets Effectively
       3. Evaluating Firm Liquidity
       4. Checking on Company Solvency
       5. Managing Projects and Debt
12. Book 8: Handling Cash and Making Purchase Decisions
    1. Chapter 1: Matching Costs with Revenue
       1. Defining Costs and Expenses in the Business World
       2. Discovering Which Costs Are Depreciated
       3. Preparing a Depreciation Schedule
       4. Deciding When to Recognize Revenue
    2. Chapter 2: Exploring Inventory Cost Flows
       1. Stating Inventory Valuation
       2. Logging Inventory for Service Companies
       3. Classifying Inventory Types
       4. Knowing Inventory Valuation Methods
       5. Preparing an Inventory Worksheet
    3. Chapter 3: Buying Wisely
       1. Identifying Incremental and Opportunity Costs
       2. Keeping Things Simple: The Cash Payback Method
       3. Netting Present Value
       4. Measuring Internal Rate of Return
       5. Considering Qualitative Factors
    4. Chapter 4: Financing with Debt
       1. Understanding the Basics of Debt Capital
       2. Determining When Debt Is Most Appropriate
       3. Using Loans, Leases, and Other Sources of Debt
       4. Getting Creative with Capital
    5. Chapter 5: Managing Results
       1. Approaching Financial Reports
       2. Reviewing Profit and Earnings
       3. Judging the Company’s Cash Position
       4. Tackling Extraordinary Gains and Losses
       5. Recognizing the Risks of Restatement
    6. Chapter 6: Acquiring New Business
       1. Maximizing Business Value
       2. Becoming a Team Player
       3. Funding a Business Purchase
       4. Working through Due Diligence
       5. Coming to Terms with a Sale Price
13. Book 9: Auditing for Financial Fraud
    1. Chapter 1: Regulating Securities
       1. Early Securities Laws
       2. The Scope of SOX: Securities and Issuers
       3. The Post-SOX Paper Trail
    2. Chapter 2: Preventing Cash Losses from Embezzlement and Fraud
       1. Preventing Loss with Internal Controls
       2. Putting Internal Controls to Work
       3. Recognizing Limitations of Internal Controls
    3. Chapter 3: Assessing Audit Risk
       1. Introducing Audit Risk
       2. Recognizing the Nature of a Client’s Business: Inherent Risk
       3. Assessing a Client’s Ability to Detect and Correct Problems: Control Risk
       4. Figuring Your Chances of Overlooking Inaccuracies: Detection Risk
       5. Following Risk Assessment Procedures
       6. Figuring Out What’s Material and What Isn’t
       7. Evaluating Your Audit Risk Results
    4. Chapter 4: Discovering Audits
       1. Management Assertions: Assessing the Information a Client Gives You
       2. Eyeing the Four Concepts of Audit Evidence
       3. Applying Professional Judgment
       4. Using Your Audit Program to Request the Right Evidence
       5. Documenting the Audit Evidence
    5. Chapter 5: Auditing Internal Controls
       1. Defining Internal Controls
       2. Identifying the Five Components of Internal Controls
       3. Determining When You Need to Audit Internal Controls
       4. Testing a Client’s Reliability: Assessing Internal Control Procedures
       5. Limiting Audit Procedures When Controls Are Strong
       6. Tailoring Tests to Internal Control Weaknesses
       7. Timing a Client’s Control Procedures
    6. Chapter 6: Scheming Scams
       1. Frauds Committed by Businesses
       2. Frauds Committed against Businesses
    7. Chapter 7: Cooking the Books
       1. Exploring the Financial Statement Fraud Triangle
       2. Spotting the Common Methods of Fraud
       3. Uncovering Financial Statement Fraud
14. Index
15. About the Author
16. Connect with Dummies
17. End User License Agreement