Accounting Learning Resources

“You have to understand accounting and you have to understand the nuances of accounting.”

Warren Buffett (taken from Wise Old Sayings: https://www.wiseoldsayings.com/accounting-quotes/.)

This website provides resources for learning accounting. The focus is on how accounting works starting from the most basic level. By doing so, we are able to develop an understanding of the common accounting practices that underlie the accounting for for-profit companies, not-for-profit organizations, and governmental  units, regardless whether the purpose is reporting to creditors or shareholders using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States or International Financial Reporting Standards, determining income taxes payable, reporting to regulators, or reporting to the donors of a not-for-profit.

Of course, different organizations using accounting for different purposes are often subject to a host of detailed accounting rules tailored to the specifics of their organizational form, industry, transactions, etc. We do not aim to explore the nuances of these different rules or the frontier of evolving practice. Rather, we aim to help you get a foundation of understanding that makes the absorption of detailed rules more efficient. Given the breadth of types of organizations, number of accounting rule makers and jurisdictions, and rapidly increasing complexity of financial transactions in a modern economy, an investment in acquiring a solid foundation of understanding how accounting works will be well worth the time spent.

Start with the Basics of Accounting and go through the site in the order of the sections.