Financial Accounting For Dummies

Chapter 1

Seeing the Big Picture of Financial Accounting

In This Chapter

Figuring out why financial accounting matters

Meeting the financial accounting stakeholders

Introducing key financial accounting characteristics

Accepting ethical responsibilities

I assume that you have a very good reason for purchasing this book; most people don’t buy a title like Financial Accounting For Dummies on a whim in the bookstore. Most likely, you’re taking your first financial accounting class and want to be sure you pass it, but perhaps you’re a business owner wanting to get a better handle on financial statement preparation. Whatever your motivation, this chapter is your jumping board into the pool of financial accounting.

I explain what financial accounting is and why it’s so important to many different individuals and businesses. I spell out the various users of financial accounting data and explain why they need that data. Finally, I briefly introduce four all-important characteristics of financial accounting: relevance, reliability, comparability, and consistency. Whether you’re a financial ...