Books like Financial Statements: A Step-by-step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports

It is not easy to write an accounting book. A lot of accounting books are written for accountants which might makes a lot of sense however a large business audience may be left behind. Mr. Ittelson does a decent job of balancing the explanation of accounting principles and the details behind these principles without getting into too many minute details as happen in other accounting books.In the book first section, Mr. Ittelson starts with explaining the 3 accounting statements, each with its own line items and then “ties up” the 3 statements together, while explaining the different aspects of the movements between the statements. Mr. Ittelson also explains several important financial/accounting ratios at a later part of the book.I think business owners and readers, who are not accountant by profession, will greatly benefit from the second section of the book. In this section Mr. Ittelson is doing a superb job of explaining the construction and use of the financial statement (as well as other financial tools and statements) via a hypothetical company. Mr. Ittelson takes the reader through many of “any corporation” transactions and weaves the fictional story with real financial statements. I believe the reader may find the second section the most beneficial part of the book, and may use it not just as a learning tool but also as a reference guide for their own business situation. One caveat to the above statement, a novice financial reader may find this section a bit overwhelming so patience is required.I am not sure if this book fits to be the first accounting book you should read, but if you are willing to invest the time and energy you will find many insights and nuggets of wisdom in this book.