Blogs on Accounting, Finance & Economics

If you’re here, it’s likely because you’ve been looking out for good finance and accounting books. You may be wondering what kinds of books would be useful as an introductory guide to this field, or why concepts like financial accounting and cost accounting are relevant to today’s workplace. As the time draws near for the scheduled release of the new editions of Financial Accounting Essentials, Financial Management Essentials, and Cost Accounting & Management Essentials, we’ve asked the author, Kalpesh Ashar, to answer all of these questions and give us his insights into these concepts. Join us in conversation with Mr. Ashar as we discuss his thoughts on these three books as essential guides for different types of readers.   Why did you decide to write this book? Most decision-makers in an organization do not have a financial background. However, they need to know the basics of finance for making sound decisions. This makes financial accounting, financial management, and cost accounting and management important skills that they need to have. So, I decided to document some of the key practices of finance in these books.   How are these books different from others on these topics? There are several good books in the field of finance. However, all of them go into a lot of detail. The drawback is that one loses focus in trying to study too many concepts and not concentrating on the critical areas. I realized that most people would like to know the key areas to give them a starting point in sound decision making, on which they could build further much more easily. These books are not a complete guide to finance, but an essential guide to the most important financial techniques.   What are the two main takeaways for the readers of this book? In order to learn anything, a person needs two things: knowledge and skills. Knowledge stands for theoretical concepts, and skill stands for the application of those concepts. The two takeaways are based on this thinking. Takeaway #1: These books provide the reader with the key financial concepts in a simple-to-understand manner so that even a novice in this field would not feel left out. Takeaway #2: They connect concepts to practice, so that the reader’s understanding of the concepts is as complete as possible—both theoretically and practically.   Why do the readers need to read these book NOW? Organizations today look for employees who not only have relevant technical knowledge but also other key skills required for decision-making in a dynamic environment. Financial accounting, financial management, and cost accounting and management are on the top of that list of key skills. Reading these books could be a great start towards learning these skills and making yourself more valuable to your current or future organizations.   What is the difference between FA and FM? Financial Accounting is about understanding the financial statements. Financial Management is about making decisions based on the financial statements.   Who should read FA (Financial Accounting) and who should read FM (Financial Management? In reality, Financial Accounting and Financial Management are best read together, since the prior gives an understanding of the numbers, whereas the latter provides frameworks for decision making using those numbers.   What is CAM (Cost Accounting and Management)? How is it different from FA and FM? Cost Accounting and Management is meant for those who are in decision-making positions within an organization, as it requires access to the organization’s cost data that is not available to everybody. Financial Accounting and Financial Management are meant for anybody who wants to understand the publicly available data about a company and to make decisions based on that data.   Who should read the CAM Essentials book? Cost Accounting and Management Essentials is meant for decision-makers within an organization.   Should engineers or doctors read these books? How will the books help them? These books are meant for all those who would like a crash course in finance or costing. It gives them a solid and essential base to understand a company’s data and to make good decisions based on it. This book could be a very useful resource to engineers and doctors due to the simplicity of the text and less use of heavy finance jargon. The book is written keeping in mind that the reader might not be from an accounting or finance background. Financial Accounting Essentials, Financial Management Essentials, and Cost Accounting and Management Essentials have received rave reviews from professors and industry experts since they were released. These new editions contain updated information and reflect the constantly changing trends in the fast-paced world of accounting and finance. They are now available for review on NetGalley. Review Financial Accounting Essentials on NetGalley.Review Financial Management Essentials on NetGalley. Stay tuned for the NetGalley release of Cost Accounting & Management Essentials!