Understanding company accounts - Peter A Bird

"Someone with no previous technical knowledge of accounting should be able, after studying this volume, to pick up a set of published accounts and get out of it a high proportion of the information that is available. And - probably of at least equal importance - he or she should also be able to avoid reading into the accounts more than is really there". Such is the aim of this book.;Most of the text is concerned with the published accounts of large British companies following the Companies Act 1985 and accounting standards. However, even if you are particularly interested in the accounts of other types of organizations this is probably the best place to start since most other organizations produce accounts in forms which are adaptions of company accounts to the circumstances of their operations.;Topics covered include how the historical basis of accounting works with details of the four main factors wich make company accounts what they are today: the technical framework, the rules for pricing assets, the rules for determining profit and the legal and professional regulations.;The impact of changing prices on organizations and hence on the reliability of accounts prepared on the historical cost basis is covered as well as the principal tools for the analysis of accounts. Finally, future developments and organizations outside the company sector are discussed.