Financial Accounting For Dummies

Essential concepts and terminology to clarify business accounting for today's economy Financial Accounting For Dummies helps you decode the language of business, with clear explanations, practical examples, and updated guidance covering the latest GAAP standards. Learn the basics of decoding financial statements and keeping the books, along with more advanced topics like business investing. In this new edition, you'll find new information on must-know topics like AI for accounting, keeping your data cybersecure, and accounting in specialty industries. Author and CPA Maire Loughran offers a friendly, accessible path to understanding how financial information is created, reported, and used. This timely and practical resource helps you stay ahead of the game in today's fast-evolving financial landscape. - Gain a solid background in financial accounting concepts, with clear explanations and examples - Learn about major changes to GAAP accounting standards, and apply GAAP to emerging industries - Understand profit and loss, financial statements, and other accounting must-knows - Manage a startup, launch a career in accounting, or brush up your knowledge Financial Accounting For Dummies is a valuable resource for business generalists, accountants-to-be, and financial professionals alike.

Maire Loughran, CPA, is a ­certified public accountant and small business owner with more than 25 years of experience in accounting and financial reporting. She is the author of several For Dummies titles including Auditing For Dummies and Intermediate Accounting For ­Dummies.

Introduction 1 Part 1: Getting a Financial Accounting Initiation 5 Chapter 1: Seeing the Big Picture of Financial Accounting 7 Chapter 2: Introducing the Big Three Financial Statements 23 Chapter 3: Running the Numbers for Success 37 Chapter 4: Acronym Alert! Setting the Standards for Financial Accounting 55 Part 2: Reviewing Some Accounting Basics 69 Chapter 5: Booking It: The Process Behind Financial Accounting 71 Chapter 6: Focusing on Accounting Methods and Concepts 93 Part 3: Spending Quality Time with the Balance Sheet 103 Chapter 7: Assessing the Balance Sheet's Asset Section 105 Chapter 8: Digging for Debt in the Liabilities Section 121 Chapter 9: Letting Owners Know Where They Stand: The Equity Section 137 Part 4: Investigating Income and Cash Flow 149 Chapter 10: Searching for Profit or Loss on the Income Statement 151 Chapter 11: Following the Money by Studying Cash Flow 173 Chapter 12: Examining Deprecition Cost Flow Assumptions 189 Chapter 13: Learning about Inventory Cost Flow Assumptions 205 Part 5: Analyzing the Financial Statements 219 Chapter 14: Using Ratios and Other Tools 221 Chapter 15: Got Your Dictionary Ready? Reading Explanatory Notes and Disclosures 237 Chapter 16: Studying the Report to the Shareholders 255 Part 6: Feeling Brave? Tackling More Advanced Financial Accounting Topics 269 Chapter 17: Accounting for Emerging Issues 271 Chapter 18: Accounting for Income Taxes 293 Chapter 19: Accounting for Leases 305 Chapter 20: Reporting Changes in Methods and the Correction of Errors 317 Part 7: The Part of Tens 331 Chapter 21: Ten Industries with Special Accounting Standards 333 Chapter 22: Ten Accounting Career Opportunities. 343 Index 353