Accounting: A Very Short Introduction

Description

Very Short Introductions have proven to be extremely popular with general readers, as well as undergraduates and their lecturers.

If you read the ‘business pages‘ of a newspaper or if you listen to the financial news on the television or radio, you will often hear terms such as ‘liability’, ‘balance sheet’ or ‘earnings’. These terms turn up in non-financial contexts as well: ‘he was more of a liability than an asset’. If you invest in shares, have a building society account, or sit on a committee of the property company which owns your apartment block, you will receive financial statements every year. If you are a manager in a company, a hospital or a school, you will see accounting information often.

This Very Short Introduction provides a guide to understanding and using accounting information. Christopher Nobes explains the main areas of accounting work, from bookkeeping and financial reporting to auditing and management accounting.

Key Features

• Examines the key concepts and the main types of accounting work
• Traces the development of accounting over the centuries
• Examines the building blocks of financial reports, such as assets and liabilities
• Looks at how accounting differs between countries and the importance of international standards
• Includes a glossary of key terms
• Part of the best selling Very Short Introductions series – over six million copies sold worldwide

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. How accounting has developed internationally and over time
3. The fundamentals of financial accounting
4. Financial reports of listed companies
5. International differences and international standardization
6. Regulation and Audit
7. Costs and volumes
8. Budgets, standard costs and balanced scorecards
   
9. Appendix

About the Series

Oxford’s Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects – from Public Health to Buddhist Ethics, Soft Matter to Classics, and Art History to Globalization. Each volume provides an authoritative and engaging assessment of a concept, field, or body of work, drawing out the central ideas, themes, and approaches. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, new insights, and enthusiasm to make often challenging topics highly readable to develop your core knowledge. With over 700 titles and many more in development, as well as regularly updated new editions, the series is constantly evolving to reflect a contemporary readership. Whatever your area of study, whatever the topic that fascinates you, the series is an indispensable and accessible guide that will enrich your understanding.

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Author Biography

Christopher Nobes, Professor of Accounting at Royal Holloway (University of London) and at the University of Sydney

Christopher Nobes is Professor of Accounting at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He is also Professor of Accounting at the University of Sydney and Adjunct Professor of Accounting at the Norwegian Business School. He has written several popular works in the area of Accounting including Pocket Accounting: The Essentials of Accounting from A to Z (4th ed Economist Books, 2001) and the Dictionary of Accounting (Penguin, 2002).