Intermediate Accounting For Dummies

Chapter 1

Seeing the Big Picture of Financial Accounting

In This Chapter

Getting to know financial accounting

Understanding why accounting matters

Meeting key financial accounting players

Accepting ethical responsibilities

Most people don’t buy a title like Intermediate Accounting For Dummies on a whim in the bookstore, so I assume you have good reason for picking up this book. Most likely, you’re preparing for or in the midst of starting your series of classes on intermediate accounting. Or perhaps you’re gearing up to take the certified public accountant (CPA) exam and are looking for a plain-talk explanation of some tested topics. Maybe you’re a business owner wanting to get a better handle on financial statement preparation. Then again, maybe you’re just curious about the inner workings of the wonderful world of accounting. Whatever brought you here, welcome.

In this chapter, I talk about the background of financial accounting including key challenges to preparing financial statements. I also introduce you to the alphabet soup that is the three financial accounting standard-setting ...