(Part 3) Top products from r/Accounting

This is probably more than what you are looking for, but I’ll go ahead and pass on what I have been using. I was already thinking about putting together a less expensive, non-Becker CPA exam strategy for r/accounting once I pass all the exams; so this will be a good warm up.
I haven’t taken all of the exams yet (I have passed the ones I have taken), but I can tell you the resources that have seemed to help the most far. I am pretty cheap, so I have tried to obtain my materials as inexpensively as possible (which is odd because my employer is paying for everything upfront).

For all of the exams I have purchased the Wiley CPA exam prep books; If you are lucky you might be able to find them at your local library.

I also use the Gleim multiple choice questions, and simulations. Gleim questions are in my experience more challenging than the real test questions, which make the actual exams seem not so bad (which is a great confidence booster). I try to answer 1500-2000 MC questions in the last couple of weeks leading up to the exam. I went through the Gleim regulation simulation questions once before the exam, and they really helped me a lot.

For BEC I pretty much relied on tons of Gleim MC questions, and the Wiley materials. I also used my managerial accounting textbook for reviewing cost accounting.

Additional materials I used for REG were my undergrad Business Law textbook, and the Federal Taxation book I mentioned in my last post.

For FAR (the test I am preparing for now), it had been so long since I took any financial accounting courses, I felt I needed a more fundamental review. I have been working through Schaums Outline of Intermediate Accounting I, Second Edition and Schaums Outline of Intermediate Accounting II, Second Edition. I have also been reading Governmental Accounting Made Easy, which has been helping with governmental accounting concepts (I never covered this in school). I am hoping that Wiley and Gleim materials will be sufficient for IFRS.

I’ll have to get back to you on AUD in a few months, but I am assuming that it will probably be a Gleim, Wiley, and old text book combo.

I hope that this helps. It has worked pretty well for me, but everybody learns a little different. Good luck!

If you really want to get into the nitty gritty details of accounting and don't mind reading textbooks, a textbook for an intermediate accounting class would be good. Not sure how in depth your other book went, but if it was just an intro book it' won't help you really understand what goes into financial statements very well.

This is the textbook I had for my intermediate class and I thought it was pretty good, I used it for two classes and found it pretty helpful. Intermediate covers the core of financial statement transactions (bonds, leases, pensions, receivables, revenue recognition, deferred taxes, etc.).

Intermediate Accounting

An advanced accounting book will go over consolidations, foreign currency transactions, government/not for profit, and some other various things. This is the textbook I had and I thought it was pretty good at explaining things.

Advanced Accounting

Hope that helps!

Ok, well a lot of Introductory Accounting books are really more about bookkeeping than anything else. I'd avoid those. If you want to get a head start, the Phillips and Libby one is good. I teach it in my Intro Accounting class. This is an older edition, but you can get a used version for $3.00 on Amazon so that's a plus. Everything builds on the concepts in this book. To succeed in Accounting, you have to master debits/credits and journal entries. There are lots of great YouTube videos on Accounting concepts too so if there's something in the book that's not making sense, see if you can find a good video on the topic.

Here's a link to purchase the Phillips and Libby book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0078025370/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1465504702&sr=8-1&keywords=fundamentals+of+financial+accounting+book+libby

Also, I haven't read this book, but it sounds like it covers all the basics well.

https://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Made-Simple-Explained-Pages/dp/0981454224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465504552&sr=8-1&keywords=intro+accounting+book

Best of luck!

I really enjoyed the book Never Eat Alone which is a great guide to making meaningful and lasting connections.

Another one that really clicked with me is The Charisma Myth which argues that charisma isn't something you're either born with or not, it's something that can be practiced and focused in a way that is incredibly useful. Highly recommend this one.

And finally, I recommend The Like Switch which has some really useful guidance for communicating in a way that makes everyone involved in the conversation feel better, which makes people like you, which makes them more receptive to you.

I also have a 1 hour commute and don't have the attention span to follow along with fiction when I'm driving so I listen to a lot of non-fiction like this.

I'm not aware of a whole lot of books specifically about accounting, but here are a few recommendations of books about finance, economics, business or that I just think might appeal to /r/accounting.

Anything by Michael Lewis. Liar's Poker has been mentioned elsewhere, but The Big Short is excellent as well.

Ben Mezrich has written some good books about business, but not really accounting specifically. He's most famous for The Accidental Billionaires which is about Facebook (I believe it, along with The Facebook Effect were the main sources for the movie The Social Network) and Bringing Down the House which was about the MIT card counting team and inspiration for the movie 21. You might be interested in Ugly Americans or Rigged though.

Here's a few more that are a little less fiction-y:

Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin

Traders, Guns and Money by Satyajit Das

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay

Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It) by William Poundstone

EDIT: Now with links!

Take a break from accounting and finance books. I have a few recommendations from my recent reading:

The Intelligence Paradox

The Evolution of Everything

Delusions of Power

Equal is Unfair

The Feminine Mystique

How an Economy Grows - And Why It Crashes

Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York's Underground Economy

Buddha's Brain

The Red Queen

Obviously there's a political bend in some of those choices, but I can suggest others (it's always important to challenge your beliefs).

I love to read, can provide some other recommendations, but those were just some recent books I just pulled off my Nook. There's some fiction as well.

"You have the rest of your life to work, so have some fun."
I feel that this statement implies that I will be working, working, and working after college. On the contrary, I am looking forward to apply the principles found in the book and live the life of people who are retired sooner. Pretty interesting book..you should check it out..

Was that friend of yours who graduated early working/studying constantly when he/she was in school? In another words, did he/she have a life outside of class? what was his/her motivation to do so?

Also..thanks for the suggestion

Thank you for your kind words - for more understanding of the 1st notion, I recommend reading Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential

https://www.amazon.com/Compelling-People-Hidden-Qualities-Influential/dp/0142181021

There's a whole book about creative accounting: https://smile.amazon.com/Detecting-Accounting-Fraud-Analysis-Ethics/dp/0133078604?sa-no-redirect=1 (written by my professor)

• Try this for working capital: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071635319/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
• And this for inventory analysis: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071762523/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  
  Make sure you look through the table of contents before purchasing...it might not be what you need.

If you have the choice you should start with a Big 4 firm. As you have seen from the other comments, there are plenty of reasons to stay or leave once you have worked at it for a few years. But you are going develop skills, learn technical issues and a way of thinking that is unlikely to happen outside of the national firms.

As for becoming a partner, the main issue is whether you can develop clients. Obviously, you need the technical skills as well. But the reason most people that get stuck at senior manager is due to the practice development issue. As a practice development primer for CPAs, I would recommend Gale Crosley's book At the Crossroads.

https://www.amazon.com/Milylove-Non-slip-Wrinkle-Bandage-Formal/dp/B07T95GCW2/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_193_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=886N1PBP78A8BHKQKAYY

Not as violent as the ones that hook to your socks

Here is the link - http://www.amazon.com/Financial-Accounting-Student-Value-9th/dp/0132751216

Try an old textbook: $5 used

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0132109174?cache=87c7d027d23110046d33de03da2ccaf9&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1407185244&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1


But it's expensive. You can torrent a few cost accounting books. They don't change much from edition to edition. Literally anything with cost accounting as the book title will be enough for you

I haven't had a chance to look through it yet but I found this a couple weeks ago when I was looking for review material. They have several books that cover the full range of accounting and they're affordable.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0071762507?pc_redir=1408428804&robot_redir=1

Trial and error, baby!

http://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Dummies-John-Tracy/dp/1118482220/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415466105&sr=8-1&keywords=accounting+for+dummies

http://www.amazon.com/Internal-Controls-Policies-Procedures-Hightower/dp/0470287179/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415466141&sr=8-1&keywords=internal+controls

You'll definitely want to learn some basis in accounting theory. If you have a working knowledge of the framework, you will be able to apply those basics to somewhat more complex situations with guidance from the codification.

Also, get learned on internal controls. As the controller you're going to be more-or-less responsible for ensuring that there are policies and procedures in place to mitigate the risk of fraud. If it happens, it will be your head. Don't let that shit happen!

Other than that, my only worry would be if you have to report to any creditors, etc. They may be weary of you having little accounting knowledge outside of quickbooks on-the-job training. Have a good CPA in your back pocket.

This is the book that my university used to teach us intermediate accounting. The term "intermediate" can be a bit of a misnomer because it's a fairly difficult class for many people.

Intermediate Accounting, Reporting and Analysis (2nd edition) by Wahlen, Jones, and Pagach

https://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Accounting-Reporting-James-Wahlen/dp/1285453824



And this is a book that my university used to teach us about managerial accounting. Managerial could likely resemble the operations rotation.

https://www.amazon.com/Managerial-Accounting-Decision-Motivating-Performance/dp/0137024878



Practice problems helped me understand harder stuff.