Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
August 1, 2010 by · 10 Comments
Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
Financial Accounting, 5th Edition provides students with an understanding of fundamental concepts necessary to use accounting effectively. Starting with a “macro” view of accounting information, the authors present real financial statements. They establish how a financial statement communicates the financing, investing, and operating activities of a business to users of accounting information. Kimmel, Weygandt and Kieso motivate students by grounding the discussion in the real world, showing them the relevance of the topics covered to their future.
Rating: 
(out of 49 reviews)
List Price: $ 88.05
Review by Heath G. Gerlock for Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
Rating:
Potential Buyers,
If you are a student who is taking an accounting course and your instructor requires you to use the accompanying Wiley Plus website, do not expect to get a Wiley Plus, registration code with this product.
I purchased the text “new” directly from Amazon for an accounting class I am taking and I assumed that I would recieve the registration code I needed; I assumed wrong as there was no registration code included with my book.
If you do need the code for class and you do choose to buy this book from Amazon, you’ll be best off buying the cheapest, used edition and going to the Wiley Plus site directly to get a standard registration code for around $60 dollars. Of Course keep in mind shipping costs may eat up any savings you’d get buying from Amazon in the first place!
The 1 star review actually reflects my dissatisfaction with the description of this product on Amazon’s site, and not the quality of the text.
Happy Shopping!
Review by GCat002 for Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
Rating:
We used this book in my accounting class. The coverage jumped around a too much for my taste. Also, not having an accounting background, the constant language changes (with no cross references and very superficial glossary), especially between the chapter text and the exercises made the endeavor excruciating. The worst part was not being able to check answers. The answer key should come with the book. Not having an answer key invalidates this books use as a learning tool even if it were better written.
Review by heals for Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
Rating:
If you are new to accounting then this book should definitely be on your list. Explaining step by step how to record basic journal entries and how these entries relate to the various financial statements (Income Statement, Cash-Flows…), in a clear and well organized fashion. The only reason I am unwilling to rate this book five stars is due to the price; as most people will be using this book as an introduction to financial accounting it does seem a little expensive. It is also worth noting the problems and examples used throughout the book are of excellent quality, especially the financial statements provided in appendix A and B. If you have previous experience within the accounting field I would probably recommend a book at a higher level but beginners could do no better.
Review by Jonathan Todd for Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
Rating:
This book is terrible! It gives different definitions for the same term several times in the first few chapters. Why doesn’t it just give one coherent, comprehensive definition for each word?!! The concepts are broken up and presented helter-skelter, so reading this book is like working a tedious jigsaw puzzle. Then it includes lots of problems at the end of each chapter, but there is no answer key, and the Solutions Manual is only available to teachers. Do they think that my professor is too lazy or too stupid to make up his own tests? (Hint to oblivious writers/editors: a textbook is useless if students cannot practice working problems and check the answers on their own. This is not third grade, and my professor is not a babysitter!) I bought the workbook (which contains practice tests) separately, but I still don’t have the answers to the problems at the end of the chapters. I will speak to the department heads at my college and beg them to switch publishers next semester.
Review by THATCH for Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision Making
Rating:
Using this book as a required text for a brush up/seminar course for an MBA program, I’ve found this book did not do enough reviewing for me with regards to creating financial reports– income statement, statement of cash flows, balance sheet, etc. I had managerial accounting, financial accounting and financial management in undergrad, however, this book still lacks the concrete basics of “what goes where on a financial report and why”. Speaking to my undergrad accounting department chair, I found my opinion agreed with her’s– Kimmel is verbose and lacks clarity/simplicity for those without an accounting focus or background.
Review by Rod Brant for Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes
Rating:
Right, like Google would care about a measly few million!
There are three things that you should know about this book before you buy it.
1. Sure, the title says that it is a book about Adwords, but really it is a complete guide to overhauling your business. Yes, you’ll learn more about the intricacies of how Google works, how to make Adwords work better and how to save yourself a ton of frustration in the process. But, more importantly, you’ll be challenged on how you think about, plan for and execute your business.
2. Perry and Bryan are not huge fans of “Dilbert-Cube” environments (i.e. nameless, faceless corporations.) So, if you roll that way, prepare to be offended. This book is not for guys that have tens of millions of dollars in their ad budgets and are more worried about promoting their brand than getting sales dollars. This book is a must read for all the millions of businesses out there who need to drive customers to their shops, plants and agencies – now!
3. This is not a get rich quick book. What Perry and Bryan prescribe is a tough look at your business and a clear pathway to get the kinds of customers you want to be the kind of business you want to be. Don’t expect to read this book, buy a couple of keywords and have money rolling in tomorrow. Those days are over. But, if you want to capture a sustainable, profitable niche, then this book needs to be in your arsenal.
There is one thing that bothered me about the book. It frequently changes tenses. Sometimes it’s Perry writing, using “I” and then sometimes is Bryan writing, referring to himself as “I”. It is a bit disconcerting and unclear who is writing, but it hardly detracts from the overall effectiveness.
So, if you’d like to keep some of your hard earned money from Google, and like to see your business become more stable, and make a ton more cash in the process, then read this book.
Review by Gordon Smith for Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes
Rating:
Before this book, I was a complete AdWords newb. But bear in mind I was not a newb to internet marketing. I was pleased to find that for the most part, the book was full of very good information. It is good enough to get any novice up and running quickly. However, I did have a few complaints:
1. As another reviewer mentioned, there seems to be a problem distinguishing which author is writing at which time. Not that it matters all that much. But it did become confusing more than once.
2. I found the discussion on quality score to be somewhat limited. Maintaining a favorable quality score is something that many adwords advertisers have a problem with. Consider a more thorough discussion of this in the next edition.
3. Finally, this leads me to something that ticked me off more and more as I read the book. I was very disappointed to find that the authors heavily (and I mean heavily) promote products and services within the book that lacked sincerity. For example, the authors promoted their own services (and opt-in lists), friends services, and even services from companies paying them some sort of commission for mentioning them in the book. For the latter, it was not made extremely obvious, but anybody that is in internet marketing could spot this. For example, WordTracker’s url is http://www.wordtracker.com, not http://www.wordtracker.info as mentioned in the book. I’m sure the .info was merely set up as a means to count referrals to the WordTracker service. To the authors, I would remind them that writing a book is different than your every day internet marketing efforts. Of course it is a great opportunity to expose the audience to your own brands and services, but lets keep in mind that people are actually paying to hold this book in their hands. I really found it deceitful that the authors have treated this book like an opt-in list where they attempted to sell sell sell. On a side note, the thing I have learned over the years about internet marketing is there are very few tools you have to actually pay for. And that reminds me, don’t even bother with the “supplement” to the book (perrymarshall.com/supplement). It doesn’t offer any quick information or tips. Only more chances to Opt-In, and more chances to buy stuff. I look at it as a wasted opportunity to provide some real value to the reader. In the next edition of the book, I would love for the authors to focus on more of the great free tools that are out there, and forget about getting those kickbacks from WordTracker and other companies. If you genuinely love WordTracker, send them to WordTracker.com. Forget about this WordTracker.info nonsense. That’s just stupid. Provide great value to your readers, and they will love you for it. Trust me.
Summary: If you decide to read this book, read it for the content and marketing principles that are discussed. Take the website and tools endorsements with a grain of salt.
Review by Jeremiah J. Baker for Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes
Rating:
This is what I would tell my competitors if I had the chance…
If you are looking for a step-by-step guide to getting up and running with Google AdWords in record time this is the book.
If you follow the steps that Bryan and Perry teach in this book you’ll run circles around your competitors. This book will take you by the hand and show you all the tips and strategies that Bryan and Perry have discovered over the past 5 years or so. I can’t believe they packed so much into this book.
What I really like about the book is that it is written in a natural voice that makes it easy to understand. There is no confusing geek speak. If you are a beginner or a pro this book is easy to read and grasp.
I manage Google AdWords for my clients on a daily basis and I’ve been using AdWords since the day of its conception. I’ve generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for my clients using Google AdWords and I still find this 25 dollar book valuable enough to have on my desk with dog-eared pages, pencil marks and post-it notes on the pages.
I strongly recommend that you buy this book today and keep it on your desk for daily reference.
I hope you find it as useful as I do!
Jeremiah Baker
[...]
Review by Timothy Seward for Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes
Rating:
If you’re looking for a book to help you really master the art and psychology of succeeding online with Google AdWords, this book is your ‘go-to’ guide.
Going far beyond the mechanics of setting up your Google AdWords account, Perry covers ground where most books on the subject leave off, critical ground like:
*How to improve the conversion (ultimate sales) of your PPC landing pages, even when you have a site that is not an ecommerce store (such as a lead generation site)
*How to pay less for your Google clicks and get more clicks (the right way to organize your campaign, how to split test ads to get lower costs, adding negatives to improve your CTR, etc)
*How to test a concept you’re not sure will sell (headline tests, keyword research using tools outside of AdWords, long tail keywords)
*How to use Google to reach prospects shopping for products in your local area (including how to structure two campaigns to reach folks who use your city in their search and those who don’t)
*How to use auto responder email to follow up with prospects who arrive at your site and didn’t buy (increasing the value of your clicks over time)
*Why tracking your conversions with both Google Conversion Tracker and Google Analytics takes the blindfold off and allows you to bid and manage your Google campaigns like a pro
This book is required reading for my PPC account management staff.
Once I read it (I had it pre-ordered months ago based on how much I enjoyed Perry’s Definitive Guide to Google AdWords), I immediately ordered several additional copies so each PPC Account Manager on my team could have their own copy to highlight, dog-ear, and read over and over again.
Review by Gary Greenfield for Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes
Rating:
This book is an indispensable guide for beginner to intermediate level Google adwords advertisers. While the Google site has a thorough range of tutorials, they almost exclusively focus on the MECHANICS of Google adwords: how to do specific, basic tasks. Marshall and Todd’s book is focused on STRATEGY: how to get maximum results from your Google ads dollars by understanding how the program works. Big difference. The chapters are short and focused, the writing style is clear and understandable, the case histories are relevant. Given the amount of hype proliferating the Internet and its financial potential, I appreciate the fact that the authors are very grounded and pragmatic about what it takes to succeed with Google. No pie-in-the-sky claims, just straightforward nuts and bolts training! The only criticism is that many of the screen capture shots are too small to be easily legible. Learning to advertise with Google adwords requires a significant learning curve. This book won’t necessarily shorten or flatten that curve, but it will enable the committed reader to improve their Google adwords results.