If there are 10,000 accounting professors in the United States, what is the likelihood that the one chosen to write Accounting for Dummies would be from the University of Colorado at Boulder?
If the professor has logged more than 35 years of teaching and written eight books on finance and accounting, the likelihood is 100 percent.
John Tracy, a C.P.A. and faculty member at the College of Business and Administration at CU-Boulder, was approached by IDG books the Dummies people to write the accounting volume of their successful series. The publisher was taken with Tracys How to Read a Financial Report because of its readability and concise nature.
Some people fear numbers, Tracy said. In business, you have to know what your numbers are. You have to know if youre making a profit, if youre solvent and if you have cash flow. You have to know what kind of capital it will take to grow.
Tracy said the book is written for people who need a good lesson in finance and accounting. Its very down-to-earth. Its the yellow pages of accounting books in that its meant to be used, Tracy said.
The book, already heading into its second printing, is ideal for managers of large and small companies, entrepreneurs, investors and students needing clarification in the numbers world.