Financial and Managerial Accounting

From the Authors

Dear Student,

Why This Course? Remember your biology course in high school? Did you have one of those “invisible man” models (or maybe something more high-tech than that) that gave you the opportunity to look “inside” the human body? This accounting course offers something similar: To understand a business, you have to understand the financial insides of a business organization. An introductory accounting course will help you understand the essential financial components of businesses. Whether you are looking at a large multinational company like Microsoft or Starbucks or a single-owner software consulting business or coffee shop, knowing the fundamentals of accounting will help you understand what is happening. As an employee, a manager, an investor, a business owner, or a director of your own personal finances—any of which roles you will have at some point in your life—you will make better decisions for having taken this course.

“Whether you are looking at a large multinational company like Microsoft or Starbucks or a single-owner software consulting business or coffee shop, knowing the fundamentals of accounting will help you understand what is happening.”

Why This Book? This textbook contains features to help you learn best, whatever your learning style. To understand what your learning style is, spend about 10 minutes to take the learning style quiz at the book's companion website. Then, look at page xiii for how you can apply an understanding of your learning ...