Understanding Business Accounting For Dummies, 3rd Edition -- About the Authors -- Dedication -- Authors' Acknowledgments -- Contents at a Glance -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- About This Book -- Conventions Used in Financial Reports -- Foolish Assumptions -- How This Book Is Organised -- Icons Used in This Book -- Where to Go from Here -- Part I: Accounting Basics -- Chapter 1: Introducing Accounting to Non-Accountants -- Accounting Everywhere You Look -- The Basic Elements of Accounting -- Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards -- Enforcing Accounting Rules -- The Accounting Department: What Goes On in the Back Office -- Focusing on Business Transactions and Other Financial Events -- Taking a Closer Look at Financial Statements -- Accounting as a Career -- Chapter 2: Bookkeeping 101: From Shoe Boxes to Computers -- Bookkeeping versus Accounting -- Pedalling through the Bookkeeping Cycle -- Managing the Bookkeeping and Accounting System -- Double-Entry Accounting for Non-Accountants -- Making Sure the Books Don't Get Cooked -- Chapter 3: Taxes, Taxes and More Taxes -- Taxing Wages and Property -- Getting to Grips with Value Added Tax -- Taxing Your Bottom Line: Company Taxes -- Chapter 4: Accounting and Your Personal Finances -- The Accounting Vice You Can't Escape -- The Ins and Outs of Figuring Interest and Return on Investment (ROI) -- An Accounting Template for Retirement Planning -- Part II: Getting a Grip on Financial Statements -- Chapter 5: Profit Mechanics -- Swooping Profit into One Basic Equation -- Measuring the Financial Effects of Profit-Making Activities -- Exploring the Profit-Making Process One Step at a Time -- So Where's Your Hard-Earned Profit? -- Reporting Profit to Managers and Investors: The Profit and Loss Account -- Chapter 6: The Balance Sheet from the Profit and Loss Account Viewpoint.

Coupling the Profit and Loss Account with the Balance Sheet -- Sizing Up Assets and Liabilities -- Financing a Business: Owners' Equity and Debt -- Reporting Financial Condition: The Classified Balance Sheet -- Costs and Other Balance Sheet Values -- Growing Up -- Chapter 7: Cash Flows and the Cash Flow Statement -- The Three Types of Cash Flow -- Setting the Stage: Changes in Balance Sheet Accounts -- Getting at the Cash Increase from Profit -- Presenting the Cash Flow Statement -- Sailing through the Rest of the Cash Flow Statement -- Free Cash Flow: What on Earth Does That Mean? -- Scrutinising the Cash Flow Statement -- Chapter 8: Getting a Financial Report Ready for Prime Time -- Reviewing Vital Connections -- Statement of Changes in Owners' Equity and Comprehensive Income -- Making Sure that Disclosure Is Adequate -- Keeping It Private versus Going Public -- Nudging the Numbers -- Browsing versus Reading Financial Reports -- Part III: Accounting in Managing a Business -- Chapter 9: Managing Profit Performance -- Redesigning the External Profit and Loss Account -- Basic Model for Management Profit and Loss Account -- Travelling Two Trails to Profit -- Doing What-If Analysis -- A Final Word or Two -- Chapter 10: Business Budgeting -- The Reasons for Budgeting -- Budgeting and Management Accounting -- Budgeting in Action -- Capital Budgeting -- Reporting On Variances -- Staying Flexible with Budgets -- Chapter 11: Choosing the Right Ownership Structure -- From the Top Line to the Bottom Line -- What Owners Expect for Their Money -- Choosing the Right Legal Structure for Tax Purposes -- Chapter 12: Cost Conundrums -- Previewing What's Coming Down the Road -- What Makes Cost So Important? -- Sharpening Your Sensitivity to Costs -- Putting Together the Pieces of Product Cost for Manufacturers -- A View from the Top Regarding Costs.

Chapter 13: Choosing Accounting Methods -- Decision-Making Behind the Scenes in Profit and Loss Accounts -- Calculating Cost of Goods Sold and Cost of Stock -- Identifying Stock Losses: Net Realisable Value (NRV) -- Managing Your Stock Position -- Appreciating Depreciation Methods -- Collecting or Writing Off Bad Debts -- Reconciling Corporation Tax -- Dealing With Foreign Exchange -- Two Final Issues to Consider -- Part IV: Financial Reports in the Outside World -- Chapter 14: How Investors Read a Financial Report -- Financial Reporting by Private versus Public Businesses -- Analysing Financial Reports with Ratios -- Frolicking through the Footnotes -- Checking for Ominous Skies on the Audit Report -- Finding Financial Facts -- Chapter 15: Professional Auditors and Advisers -- Why Audits? -- Who's Who in the World of Audits -- What an Auditor Does before Giving an Opinion -- What's in an Auditor's Report -- Do Audits Always Catch Fraud? -- Auditors and the Rules -- From Audits to Advising -- Part V: The Part of Tens -- Chapter 16: Ten Ways Savvy Business Managers Use Accounting -- Make Better Profit Decisions -- Understand That a Small Sales Volume Change Has a Big Effect on Profit -- Fathom Profit and Cash Flow from Profit -- Govern Cash Flow Better -- Call the Shots on Your Management Accounting Methods -- Build Better Budgets -- Optimise Capital Structure and Financial Leverage -- Develop Better Financial Controls -- Minimise Tax -- Explain Your Financial Statements to Others -- Chapter 17: Ten Places a Business Gets Money From -- Stock Markets -- Private Equity -- Business Angels -- Corporate Venture Funds -- Banks -- Bonds, Debentures and Mortgages -- Leasing and Hire-Purchase -- Factoring and Invoice Discounting -- Grants, Incentives and Competitions -- Using the Pension Fund.

Chapter 18: Ten (Plus One) Questions Investors Should Ask When Reading a Financial Report -- Did Sales Grow? -- Did the Profit Ratios Hold? -- Were There Any Unusual or Extraordinary Gains or Losses? -- Did Earnings Per Share Keep Up with Profit? -- Did the Profit Increase Generate a Cash Flow Increase? -- Are Increases in Assets and Liabilities Consistent with the Business's Growth? -- Can the Business Pay Its Liabilities? -- Are There Any Unusual Assets and Liabilities? -- How Well Are Assets Being Utilised? -- What Is the Return on Capital Investment? -- What Does the Auditor Say? -- Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Get a Better Handle on the Financial Future -- Sales Forecasts versus Sales Objectives -- Dealing with Demand Curves -- Maths Matters -- Averaging Out Averages -- Looking for Causes -- Straddling Cycles -- Surveying Future Trends -- Talking To The Troops -- Setting Out Assumptions -- Making Regular Revisions -- Part VI: Appendixes -- Appendix A: Glossary: Slashing through the Accounting Jargon Jungle -- Appendix B: Accounting Software and Other Ways to Get the Books in Good Order -- Popular Accounting Programs -- Using a Bookkeeping Service -- Hiring an Accountant -- Index.