Sidney Kess’s Book Review 

Basic Accounting Simplified  

By Alvin L. Lesser, PA, and Gary S. Lesser, JD 

Accounting technology has changed the way accountants, bookkeepers, and business owners create and maintain financial records. However, technology itself can not impart an understanding of basic accounting concepts or the principles needed to prepare and understand a set of financial statements. A new and fully illustrated book, Basic Accounting Simplified, bridges that gap. 

The authors actually explain the basics of accounting in a way that makes the mystery easy to unravel. So if all you do is read this book, you will know the fundamentals and you will be able to understand a complete set of accounting books. Basic Accounting Simplified explains with humor and fun, why ledgers and journals need to be understood when learning about financial statements. If you’re rowing into advanced accounting waters, this book will help you glide through more complex problems with a full grasp of the principles underlying the accounting process, how the tools work, and how to use them more effectively. 

The authors’ presentation is ingenious—and very effective. They begin their “primer” with the first element of the accounting method, the journal entry. The last component, the trial balance, is discussed next. This organization makes it easier to grasp the essentials of accounting and to understand financial statements. Finally, the authors finish up by integrating and clarifying the middle steps—creation of the journals and ledger—so the whole process makes sense. The result is a faster, much clearer comprehension that demystifies accounting concepts and terms for the reader in an engaging way. This primer is concise and full of useful illustrations. 

If you have started your own business or are self-employed, this book will help you to analyze financial statements efficiently and more effectively so that you can manage your business successfully. If you are a student of accounting, Basic Accounting Simplified will help you to process, understand, and master the more difficult concepts that will be taught as your accounting education progresses. 

Where was this book when I was in school studying accounting? It really is “Basic Accounting Simplified.” 

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[March 23, 2011] 

Sidney Kess, CPA, JD, LLM, is a nationally renowned tax expert and author/coauthor of hundreds of tax books on financial and estate planning and was recently selected “Most Influential Practitioner” by CPA Magazine. Having lectured to more than 700,000 practitioners on tax, financial and estate planning, Sidney Kess is one of the nation's best known lecturers in continuing professional education. He is consulting editor of CCH Incorporated's Financial and Estate Planning Reporter, and consultant for the CCH Estate Planning Guide. He was also the editor of CCH newsletters and author of numerous CCH books and audiocassettes. Sidney Kess received his JD from Harvard University School of Law and LLM from New York University Graduate School of Law.  

Sidney Kess, CPA, JD                            (212) 489-7670 

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