books to self study accounting

I bought the WSO tech guide and it's been helpful. But, I've been having trouble bullshitting my way thru the interviews about accounting questions.. I could memorize how the 3 statements are linked, but it's hard for me to answer naturally when I have not even done any accounting before. Are there any good books out there that I could use to self study?

 

If you really want to be solid on your accounting I would take a review course for the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FARS) section of the CPA exam. You can get the Wiley books or take a course like Becker; either way, a CPA review course will be a comprehensive review of all the accounting you will need to know.

PS. If you do sign up for a course, make sure you're not paying for any of the other 3 sections of the CPA exam (BEC, REG, AUD). You will not find them helpful.

 

Man... accounting is so fucking horrible, I hated those fucking classes so much.

As for the question... any college level financial accounting book would do. I don't really think you would need a intermediate financial accounting book, introductory level should suffice. Do a search, I remember a couple threads about this in the past.

 

Good question. I would avoid intro level stuff since it tends to focus on journal entries and things like that. You do not need to really know these things.

I would suggest "Financial Reporting and Analysis" by Revsine, Collins, Johnson. It is a really exceptional book that teaches you some really useful stuff. I just took a Financial Statement Analysis course last semester, and I really wish I read this book before my internship last summer. It really gives you some perspective and fills in a lot of details.

Best part about this book is that it really links the statements together and makes you feel comfortable working with them. I think you will enjoy it (that is, as much as accounting can be enjoyed).

Good luck.

 

I own this one: http://www.amazon.com/Financial-Accounting-Annual-Report-Products/dp/04…

And I know everything in it but still am lost at times when it comes to discussing financial accounting.

I couldn't find any threads on financial accounting when I ran a query on these forums.

I originally planned on just downloading a ton of real statements and working on linking them, making changes and adjusting other statements accordingly. However there are some things that I know are not strictly statement related that may be asked at interview time.

 

I mean - he is solid at market research, industry knowledge, overall IB business - and maybe it's not like that he doesn't know anything accounting related - he has some basics.

But if you tell him - how depreciation affects 3 statements, calculate WACC, walk me through DCF, etc. he is blind. Because he doesn't understand what interact with what.

 
jackiejones:

Hi.

My friend is really into IB, however he lacks on technical knowledge. Like, really lack. He sees a financial statement and it's just random numbers for him. He lacks accounting knowledge.

So -- my question to you - what accounting books do you reccomend to learn this shit? Bear in mind that those books should be written with an understandable language.

So by friend, you mean yourself right?

 

There's a book called something like "Understanding Financial Statements" that my wife's bank gave to her (she came from a legal and not financial background). I think it's for newbies to financial statements, probably would do the trick to explain the concepts.

Those who can, do. Those who can't, post threads about how to do it on WSO.
 
SSits:

There's a book called something like "Understanding Financial Statements" that my wife's bank gave to her (she came from a legal and not financial background). I think it's for newbies to financial statements, probably would do the trick to explain the concepts.

Is that the red book, landscape page layout, with the hands "wringing out the data" (picture of hands wringing out a towel)?

 

If your friend is looking for a solid textbook, I would recommend one of the intermediate accounting books by David Spiceland. I think that's his first name, I know the last name is correct. It really does a solid job of building on topics covered in past chapters. Its kind of bulky but if your friend has the time it will really enhance his accounting knowledge.

 

Regarding 1 - I am not looking for basic. I am looking for books that talk about those things which are not there in standard financial accounting books. How companies cheat, lie, embellish, inflate, deflate, mislead, under/over report stuff etc. In short how to protect myself and what to be watchfull about ?

 

Wall Street Prep's lbo model did a pretty good job for me in terms of translating it from concepts to a model. The instructions explain some of the background and why you do it (not super in depth, but as far as I wanted to know). I had no background in LBOs so it was about the right level of information.

if you like it then you shoulda put a banana on it
 

posting to follow

People tend to think life is a race with other people. They don't realize that every moment they spend sprinting towards the finish line is a moment they lose permanently, and a moment closer to their death.
 

Here are two recommendations you can start with:

Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide (Wiley Finance) by Martin S. Fridson CFA Accounting for Value (Columbia Business School Publishing) by Stephen Penman

Feel free to message me you're looking for some further suggestions.

 

This was just posted a few weeks ago: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/need-to-brush-up-on-your-accounti…

I haven't used any of the guides, but if the above doesn't work for you, or if you're having a hard time with the concepts, I'd suggest just grabbing a accounting textbook. I've personally used for my accounting coursework: http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Accounting-Donald-E-Kieso/dp/0470587…

It should be more than sufficient to cover most any accounting related question you might get in an interview.

 

Cannot speak to how much CFA I teaches you accounting, but I never took accounting in college so I learned the basics from Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses by Weil.

 

If you want basic financial, Coursera.com has an online class by a Wharton prof that covers bare bones stuff (three statements, a little on ratios, accrual, etc). Its been three years since my last accounting course and I'm just brushing up on the very basic stuff before I start my MSF. It's free and only during the month of May but if you're not looking for like Intermediate or anything then it might help.

 
rufiolove:
Honestly, the BIWS is probably more than enough to prepare you to hit the ground running. Sure, you will encounter obscure situations, but you are going to constantly be learning new things on the job and you can't possibly prepare for it all. If you want some additional prep, check out the Rosenbaum book as that should be plenty.

I second this... the BIWS interview questions cover accounting, financial statements, valuation, and DCF very well and in plain language that is usually not found in textbooks

 

[quote=dukebanker12]thanks for the advice. have any of you looked into Financial Reporting & Analysis by Revsine? also, do any of you know a good resource to learn more about working capital management (forecasting, efficiencies, etc.)?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0078110866/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i4?pf…] that table of content looks like it covers the same topics, in the same order, as an intermediate acct texbook.

 

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