Financial Accounting: A Bridge to Decision Making - Hardcover

Ingram, Robert W.; Albright, Thomas L.; Baldwin, Bruce A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0324183984 ISBN 13: 9780324183986

Publisher: South-Western College Pub, 2003

Synopsis

Now in its fifth edition, the primary goal of this text remains the same-teaching students to understand the impact of accounting information on a company's financial statements. The authors illustrate accounting not as a set of technical procedures, but as a way of identifying and understanding business problems and a means for evaluating alternative solutions. By organizing the text around the flow of information through a business, the authors provide students with a sound understanding of first, the accounting information system and then, an analysis of the financial, investing and operating activities of the firm. This approach is especially ideal for students who will become users of accounting information because concepts-not procedures---are emphasized.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert W. Ingram is the Ross-Culverhouse Chair in the Culverhouse School of Accountancy at the University of Alabama. He teaches courses in financial accounting and has been actively involved in course curriculum development. He has served as Director of Education for the American Accounting Association, as a member of the Accounting Education Change Commission, and as editor of Issues in Accounting Education, a journal dedicated to accounting education research. Professor Ingram is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Alabama, he held positions at the University of South Carolina and the University of Iowa, and a visiting appointment at the University of Chicago. His research, which examines financial reporting and accounting education, has been published widely in accounting and business journals. He is the recipient of the National Alumni Association Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award and the Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement in Research Award at the University of Alabama. He has also received the Notable Contribution to Literature Award of the Government and Nonprofit Section of the American Accounting Association and the Award for Excellence and Professional Contributions of the Alabama Association for Higher Education in Business. Professor Ingram is married and has two children. He and his family enjoy sports, travel, reading, music, and art. They live contentedly in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Review:

I very much like the user orientation of the text. ...I also appreciate the quantity and variety of the assignment material in each chapter. ...The text is well written and seems to be at a level appropriate for sophomores and freshmen. The layout of the text is attractive and the exhibits and illustrations are well done and do a good job of reinforcing the text material.

Overall, I think this is one of the best texts we have used (we have tried about four different texts in the past eight years). ... It is challenging for the students and it requires them to think and use what they've learned.

I really like the over all presentation of the material in the book. The user-oriented exhibits and problems in the book help my students understand why the accounting concepts are important. Because some of the procedural material is cut back, my students have time for projects that are interesting to them.

I believe the user-based conceptual/critical thinking approach is appropriate for all students including accounting majors. Accounting majors can sharpen their procedural skills in later courses (intermediate). I also believe debits and credits should be taught late in the first semester and not in depth.....I definitely like the approach this Ingram text takes; that is, user based and lighter on procedures.

I strongly believe that the reordering of chapters one through six in the revised fifth edition ... is an improvement over the presentation in the fourth edition of the textbook (and I note that I am intimately familiar with the fourth edition). I particularly like chapter one being changed from an introduction to organization's as in the fourth edition to an introduction to organization is business activities. The change makes the chapter are much more focused and makes a much more focused transition into the chapters which follow and introduce accounting procedures and processes such as accruals and deferrals.

About this edition

• Publisher: South-Western College Pub
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0324183984
• ISBN 13: 9780324183986
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 672