Accounting

This textbook approaches managerial accounting as a tool that organizations rely on to reach their operating and organizational goals, rather than as a catalog of internal reporting systems. Readers follow a continuing simulated business setting in which they listen in on realistic team conversations and decisions, so that the subject matter feels concrete. Because the author keeps the focus on how each transaction changes the financial picture, readers can grasp the effect of a decision without getting lost in procedural detail.

The four core financial statements are introduced near the beginning: the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of cash flows, and the statement of owner's equity. The author shows how these statements connect to and influence one another. Throughout the book, the author examines how service companies apply managerial accounting, with a service segment in every chapter and a closing chapter devoted entirely to service businesses. Accounting is framed as the main channel of communication among cross-functional management teams.