Who knows of some really good accounting books?? I’ve realized that accounting is one of my weakest areas so I want to get spun up on accounting, investing, and real estate… As an IT guy I’ve never really had any courses on this stuff. Anyone read any good finance books lately?
I’m thinking of reading superfreakenomics I think it’s called, but would prefer to hear from some of the CPA’s or Bankers on this site and see what they recommend.
Counting Beans.
As bad as it sounds, I would say get Accounting for Dummies.
The reason I say this is because any traditional text I’ve read would be like a chloroform soaked rag to most non accounting people. The dummies series are usually written in a more digestible form.
I’m also assuming you want a basic intro rather than focusing on certain areas, financial vs management accounting for example.
[quote]WolBarret wrote:
Counting Beans.[/quote]
Good book, but a lotta anger sprinkled throughout, I felt.
I’ve earned a Canadian accounting certification and am now studying for the US CPA exams…
What exactly about accounting do you want to learn?
Do you want to learn how to file your own tax return? - Simply pick up a book from your local bookstore.
To be honest I’m not really sure of any specific books you could read since I learned everything I know through university courses/textbooks, but picking up an introductory financial accounting textbook would be the best place to start in my opinion.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
What exactly about accounting do you want to learn?
[/quote]
This question must be answered.
If you’re looking to learn about general accounting and finance terms there are some blogs you can read.
If you’re looking to do your own taxes you can pick up a DIY book.
If you’re looking to learn debits and credits I would just as soon advise you not to, lol.
(btw, I’m a CPA and resent everyone pointing to the bean counter for advice. I think I smoked him in SteelyD’s CPA thread a few months back…
)
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
I’m thinking of reading superfreakenomics[/quote]
I’ve read both this book and the original and they will teach you NOTHING about accounting. They’re both OK books and are pretty quick reads but not accounting related in any way. They’re semi economics related as they use economic tools to explain non economic issues, but no accounting involved.
So do you want to learn about accounting or economics?
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
(btw, I’m a CPA and resent everyone pointing to the bean counter for advice. I think I smoked him in SteelyD’s CPA thread a few months back… )[/quote]
FUCK THAT NOISE!
I won with my driving both the front desk girl and AP clerk upstairs for over 30 mins with my raunchy “I ate too much protein today” side effects while at a client.
I have also, after hours, snuck into the office of someone who makes stupid fucking money, just to violate his throne.
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
I would just as soon advise you not to, lol.
[/quote]
But seriously, this.
I love what I do, but just pay someone to do it for you. You don’t want to know.
There is a guy on here, THEOUTLAW who left accounting for law. I would assume he would agree that it takes a special case to enjoy this enough to continue to do it.
And I agree with the dude that has a puppy avatar. If you insist get a bare bones basic book that explains things in “normal” language. I doubt you’d make it through a text book without drooling all over it when you slept and making the ink run.
I want to know the bare basics, and then from there decide what I want to learn more about after I get the basics down. I love my job and would never quit, but I’m interested in getting into investment banking and real estate and begin to acquire some assets. But as with everything I need to build a strong foundation in accounting and investing before I begin to throw money in Wallstreet and Real Estate.
I did see the thread where LankEy and CB were going at it, but I got kinda bored and stopped reading after about 2 posts. Maybe I should start paying closer attention if I want to take this seriously! lol.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
I want to get spun up on accounting, investing, and real estate… [/quote]
I’m assuming this is for personal financial gain and not part of your job. I’ll defer to others on accounting but I can give a few tips on investing and real estate.
To be sucessful at investing you need to read, talk, and practice it with people who are actually good at it. Make sure to set aside a generous portion, 20% +, of your income for investing so you can actually make some money. Plan for long term gain and try to do the opposite of what the crowd does…that means the opposite of what the guru’s on TV say to do.
Real Estate. Unforunately all of my knowledge is theoretical since I haven’t had any real estate transactions yet. Go to www.reiclub.com I pimp this website quite a bit but it’s the best out there that I’ve found. Go to the forums and get awesome real world, current, advice that’s completely free. I view www.reiclub.com as the T-Nation of the real estate world.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
I want to know the bare basics, and then from there decide what I want to learn more about after I get the basics down. I love my job and would never quit, but I’m interested in getting into investment banking and real estate and begin to acquire some assets. But as with everything I need to build a strong foundation in accounting and investing before I begin to throw money in Wallstreet and Real Estate.
I did see the thread where LankEy and CB were going at it, but I got kinda bored and stopped reading after about 2 posts. Maybe I should start paying closer attention if I want to take this seriously! lol.[/quote]
You’re spot on with the second point, if you’re feigning interest then it’s not for you.
If it’s investment banking and real estate you want to know more about then there a many, many books on both subjects by investors. Of course take each with a pinch of salt, see what worked for them and use what you can. Not everything will apply to you. You should be attending seminars to know more as well, a 4 day course will open your mind enough to ask better questions and get specific about what you really want.
Even with investing I believe you need personal interest. I own two homes both being rented out. I love talking about real estate, property values etc But don’t put me near Wall Street, I am as clueless as they come. Sure I can understand P/E ratios and like to understand how businesses work (another interest of mine) but not enough to invest in stocks by myself. Diversification is great, but specialise first, very few people are good with more than one investment instrument and we call those few people the super rich, the affluent, the high rollers whatever you like.
Finally learn from someone with results, it’s the one true rule to follow. If they don’t have the wealth you seek then don’t go and learn from them.
PS - Freakanomics, Superfreakanomics are both great books for nothing else read them for interest. Fascinating stuff.
For simply running a business/basic accounting and tax prep stuff, NOLO has some good books for home based businesses and small businesses. I’ve run my business and have done my own taxes off them for 7 years and never had issues.
As for investing… I’m clueless. I pay someone to do that.
It seems like you’re not trying to learn about accounting but just trying to learn about business and finance terms. If that’s the case then start reading the Wall Street Journal and look up any terms in which you’re not sure what they mean. That’s the best place to start, IMO, without being too dry and boring by just learning about a subject in theory. There is always some real interesting stuff going on in the business world that most people are clueless about.
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
It seems like you’re not trying to learn about accounting but just trying to learn about business and finance terms. If that’s the case then start reading the Wall Street Journal and look up any terms in which you’re not sure what they mean. That’s the best place to start, IMO, without being too dry and boring by just learning about a subject in theory. There is always some real interesting stuff going on in the business world that most people are clueless about.[/quote]
Maybe I’m totally of (very well could be) but I thought studying accounting would be the best way to look at small business I would be interested in buying/ starting/ investing in. I would like to look at their balance sheets and not rely on some other accountants calculations on net worth of a contract or deal but figure it out on my own and decide if this “business” is worth buying/ starting/ investing in. I would also like to know tax rules and how to protect my assets from uncle sam from taking large portions of my profits, how to reinvest my income so they don’t get taxed as much or show it as a corporation income and protect it that way. Basically before I want to start investing in anything, I want to be able to know where my money is going and how to protect my gains.
Thanks Fraggle and Karma for the book suggestions. I was thinking accounting for dummies might be a good option. Those books tend to not go as into detail as I’d prefer but they are probably the best place to start.
My buddy and I were just talking about the book NOLO the other day, I definitely need to pick that one up.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
It seems like you’re not trying to learn about accounting but just trying to learn about business and finance terms. If that’s the case then start reading the Wall Street Journal and look up any terms in which you’re not sure what they mean. That’s the best place to start, IMO, without being too dry and boring by just learning about a subject in theory. There is always some real interesting stuff going on in the business world that most people are clueless about.[/quote]
Maybe I’m totally of (very well could be) but I thought studying accounting would be the best way to look at small business I would be interested in buying/ starting/ investing in. I would like to look at their balance sheets and not rely on some other accountants calculations on net worth of a contract or deal but figure it out on my own and decide if this “business” is worth buying/ starting/ investing in. I would also like to know tax rules and how to protect my assets from uncle sam from taking large portions of my profits, how to reinvest my income so they don’t get taxed as much or show it as a corporation income and protect it that way. Basically before I want to start investing in anything, I want to be able to know where my money is going and how to protect my gains.[/quote]
Dude, you are asking for knowledge given over the course of a few college level classes. PLUS years of experience in the field to make truly informed choices.
What you learn in school/from a book is not even the tip of the iceberg.
^ I totally understand that CB, but I have to start somewhere and was asking for good books to begin laying the foundation. The biggest sky scrapers are built by first laying the foundation, thats all I’m trying to do. Like I said in my first post, I want to start understanding the basics right now, then maybe take a couple courses, read some books, attend some seminars…
Everyone has to start somewhere, I was just asking for suggestions on books that are great for beginners so I can start now that I’m young and possibly be investing within the next couple years and starting my own business before I’m 30 (a goal I set for myself).
I don’t expect to be donald trump in a couple years, but being able to undestand what I’m looking at when I see a possible good investment would be nice.
[quote]AndrewG909 wrote:
but I’m interested in getting into investment banking
I did see the thread where LankEy and CB were going at it, but I got kinda bored and stopped reading after about 2 posts. Maybe I should start paying closer attention if I want to take this seriously! lol.[/quote]
Maybe someone smarter can correct me, but if your only interested in dabbling into finance/economics related stuff, investment banking is pretty much out of your reach. Hell, it’s out of reach for people who are busting ass to get there.
The for Dummies books are a good start then.