Accounting: A Very Short Introduction

DescriptionVery 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 FeaturesExamines the key concepts and the main types of accounting workTraces the development of accounting over the centuriesExamines the building blocks of financial reports, such as assets and liabilitiesLooks at how accounting differs between countries and the importance of international standardsIncludes a glossary of key termsPart of the best selling Very Short Introductions series – over six million copies sold worldwideTable of ContentsIntroductionHow accounting has developed internationally and over timeThe fundamentals of financial accountingFinancial reports of listed companiesInternational differences and international standardizationRegulation and AuditCosts and volumesBudgets, standard costs and balanced scorecards AppendixAbout the SeriesOxford’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. 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Whatever your area of study, whatever the topic that fascinates you, the series is an indispensable and accessible guide that will enrich your understanding.Reviews“The Very Short Introductions range from worth reading to wonderfully appealing… Much of the pleasure to be found in them is the bedrock one of good nonfiction: facts… They appeal to us because the world is vast and strange, because everywhere we look, from the firefly flashing in the darkness to Auden’s elegy for Yeats, there is something to provoke our curiosity, some sliver of existence that we want to understand.” – New Yorker Magazine“I have a pile of the Short Introductions and they are uniformly excellent: an ideal way to dip your toe in a topic and, being relatively cheap, allow you to decide whether invest in more expensive tomes. They’re well written by leaders in their area, thought-provoking and insightful.” – Mark Greener, Fortean Times“I absolutely LOVE the VSI series. 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Snappy, small format … stylish design … perfect to pop in your pocket for spare moments” – The Times“A series of instantly accessible handbooks that neither shame our ignorance nor frighten us with their erudition. All are to be applauded.” – Oxford Times“If there’s anything you ever wanted to know more about … grab yourself one of these little beauties.” – Sarky Cutt, Greenwich University“These perfect books form a solid grounding in various subjects, stretching from the Bible and the Koran, to Social and Cultural Anthropology … interesting, informative and concise, they combine to make a beautiful set. They will broaden your studies, widen your knowledge and maybe give you a chance of winning those pub quizzes once in a while!” – The Beaver, LSE“Would make a useful addition to any bookshelf, and their size makes them ideal for carrying around” – Humanist Philosophers Group“Attractively packaged and, very importantly these days… attractively priced. They are the sort of books that can be read in a couple of evenings but repay further study.” – The Philosophers Review“Always invigorating” – Independent on SundayAuthor BiographyChristopher Nobes, Professor of Accounting at Royal Holloway (University of London) and at the University of SydneyChristopher 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).