Accounting Best Practices (Wiley Best Practices) by Steven M. Bragg

Product Description

Adopting accounting best practices can improve efficiency and reduce error rates in the accounting department, but less obvious are the benefits gained from better reporting of information to other parts of the company. More accurate data, reported faster, can play an integral role in both short- and long-term strategic planning. Accounting guru Steven Bragg explains how to leverage this and other opportunities in Accounting Best Practices, Fourth Edition. This revised and updated text features numerous new best practices in such critical areas as accounting management, inventory, billing, and payroll. This Fourth Edition highlights the dos and don’ts of best practices implementation, and a new reference system renders the expansive collection of best practices readily accessible. Accounting and financial managers, internal and external auditors, and consultants will find it to be a peerless resource.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #206116 in Books
Published on: 2005-07-29
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
464 pages
Editorial Reviews

Book Info
Provides the most advanced techniques and strategies available today to help your business cut costs and improve accounting operations-regardless of your company's size or holdings. DLC: Accounting.

From the Inside Flap
Accounting Best Practices

Fourth Edition

Adopting best practices can bring about a wealth of benefits for any accounting department, including improved customer service, cycle times, product quality, and profitability, as well as reduced error rates. Continuing the long tradition of his cornerstone resource, renowned accounting authority Steven Bragg has added numerous new best practices to Accounting Best Practices, Fourth Edition, including twenty new best practices in each chapter on payroll, billing, and inventory, as well as fifteen in the new chapter on accounting management.

This seminal reference comprises more than 330 best practices, making it the most comprehensive collection available. As with its predecessors, Accounting Best Practices, Fourth Edition covers a wide variety of accounting functions, including:
Accounts payable
Billing
Budgeting
Cash management
Finance
Financial statements
Inventory
Payroll

Accounting Best Practices, Fourth Edition also features a new chapter packed with more than thirty successful policies that support the implementation of best practices. Also, a new Appendix B lists contact information for fifty-six suppliers whose products and services are mentioned in the book.

As the scope of Accounting Best Practices continues to expand, the need for a quick and simple index system becomes increasingly apparent. Answering this call, the author has created a table at the beginning of each chapter, itemizing and enumerating the best practices contained within. The tables also graphically describe the cost and duration of implementation required for each item, and, for easy reference, all tables are collected in an appendix.

This Fourth Edition shows how to use contract management software to avoid revenue recognition violations and notes best practice implementation pitfalls, so managers can troubleshoot in advance. It not only shows how to improve efficiency and reduce error rates, but also how to deliver better information to other parts of the company. It remains the perfect do-it-yourself book for the accounting manager who wants to improve his or her department.

From the Back Cover
"In Accounting Best Practices, Fourth Edition, Steve has provided an excellent step-by-step manual of best practices to enable the CFO or head of accounting to have a major positive impact on his or her organization. The implementation of accounting best practices optimizes accounting expenditures while providing the information and control foundation, which provides management with the information it needs to position the organization to fulfill its goals and objectives."
—Richard V. Souders, President and CEO Premier Data Services

Everyone knows that adopting accounting best practices can improve efficiency and reduce error rates in the accounting department, but less obvious are the benefits gained from better reporting of information to other parts of the company. More accurate data, reported faster, can play an integral role in both short- and long-term strategic planning. Accounting guru Steven Bragg explains how to leverage this and other opportunities in his authoritative Accounting Best Practices, Fourth Edition.

This revised and updated Fourth Edition features numerous new best practices in such critical areas as:
Accounting management
Inventory
Billing
Payroll

Accounting Best Practices, Fourth Edition highlights the dos and don'ts of best practices implementation, and a new reference system renders the expansive collection of best practices readily accessible. Accounting and financial managers, internal and external auditors, and consultants will find it to be a peerless resource.
Customer Reviews

For every business executive
This book has so many great accounting best practices it should serve as a goal for every company. It is an invaluable reference guide to anyone who is just starting a business, or needing to improve the efficiency of their accounting functions.
I most liked the fact that the book is so easy to read. You won't have to be a CPA to understand this book.
My only suggestion is that the book should have a companion CD or web site with all of the best practices already in an electronic format.

A 10,000% return on the investment.
This book has the right idea of putting the main points in the tables for quick reference and the narrative for each point. In addition, I like the Ease, Duration and Cost of implementation of each best practice which gives me an idea for prioritization. Ordered more copies for the departments. Wish they had more books like these that give practical suggestions instead of theory.

A Valuable Resource
I found Accounting Best Practices a valuable resource for objectively evaluating my accounting department's business practices and procedures. Mr. Bragg has identified the specific tasks of each of the accounting departments's functions and has made suggestions for efficiencies. The author states the key factors in the successful implementation of the best practices in accounting.

Each chapter presents an exhibit of "Implementation Issues Best Practices" describing the implementation costs, ease and duration of each suggested practice change. This information allowed me to implement the easiest and least costly changes to my accounting department's procedures, thus gaining credibility with upper managment to support the changes involving addional resources.

As a Controller, Best Practices assisted me to focus on the value-added tasks of my department and identifying where my staff's efforts are best utilized to support the corporate objectives. My department has become more efficient, allowing for individual growth opportunities. I highly recommend this book for anyone managing an accounting department. A very concise book that is easy to read and use.

Divisional Controller, CMA