Accounting In A Business Context

This is the second edition of an introduction to all the financial and management accounting concepts and techniques required by the general business student.

"Financial Accounting, 10th Edition, by Jamie Pratt and Michael Peters, provides students with a clear understanding of financial accounting by framing accounting processes in the context of real world business practices. It builds solid foundations in the mechanics of preparing the financial statements and the theories underlying the accounting measures of performance so that students can clearly understand the economic consequences associated with financial accounting choices. Pratt & Peters Financial Accounting explores key themes of measurement, decision-making, and economic factors."--Publisher description

This work concentrates on the needs of internal and external users of accounting information, rather than the needs and interests of preparers.

Beyond the Box Motivating Tomorrow2s Managers Updated Text. Chapter Three has been rewritten to include new material on a framework for using financial statements to predict future earnings and cash flows. Coverage of leverage ratios and market ratios has also been added. Improved End-of-Chapter Material. An Internet research exercise has been added at the end of each chapter. New brief exercises and discussion problems based on real company information and identified by a "Real Data" icon are now included. Reverse Transactional Analysis. First introduced in the third edition, this enhanced two-part decision-making dimension now appears early in the text and is integrated throughout, providing a more user-friendly orientation that allows students to better understand the mechanical process that links financial statements back to the original transactions. Ethics in Action. Located at the end of each chapter, an ethical dilemma and relevant, open-ended questions drawn from the examples of actual companies challenge students2 critical-thinking abilities. Two Comprehensive Case Studies. Presented in appendix C, these thorough case studies provide a timely, well-placed opportunity to examine the real-world application of accounting principles in action.

By focusing on three elemental themes--economic factors, measurement issues, and decision-making perspective--Jamie Pratt's book provides an enlightening coverage of financial accounting from an economic perspective, at once tightening the conceptual framework while enriching the essential contextual relevance of principles every business manager needs to understand.

Underlying this book, first published in 1988, is the belief that it is insightful to examine accounting not as merely a technical process, nor as a technical process with social and political consequences, but as an activity which is both social and political in itself. One way of illuminating the social nature of accounting is through studying its cultural variations, for although accounting is a feature of modern industrial society the extent of its use varies across cultures. This book examines the history of accounting and explores the complicated relationship between accounting and society.