Cost Accounting For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Introduction

The world needs accountants. People who know how to do accounting make the business world go round. Accountants analyze and report on every aspect of a business.

Cost accounting can be the most difficult accounting topic to grasp. This area has a unique language — a set of terms that differ quite a bit from other areas of accounting. Students and business owners may find cost accounting more challenging than other areas of accounting.

I wrote Cost Accounting For Dummies because your ability to understand this material has a huge payoff. Every business can be improved using cost accounting. The concepts help you to lower costs and increase profits. I’m passionate about helping you learn more about these critical topics.

About This Book

Some cost accounting books overwhelm you with dozens of complex topics. Not Cost Accounting For Dummies. Here, I focus on the really important topics that are used the most often. Accounting knowledge is meaningful when you can use it to solve a problem.

As a friend of mine once said, “It’s hard to drink out of a fire hose,” so I present the material in this book in an easy-to-read reference format. The book is logically divided into parts. Each part contains several chapters that are divided into readable “chunks” or sections. This system avoids blasting you with information. Instead, topics are introduced at a steady (but not overwhelming) rate, with concepts building on one another, making the reading (and understanding) easier. ...