Enhance Your

Financial Knowledge

Providing in-depth Information on Basic Accounting and Payroll Tax

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Who We Are

Providers of Basic Financial Accounting Content

Worthy and James Publishing is a company created from the concept that introductory financial accounting and related learning resources should and can be made available at moderate cost without sacrificing academic-quality, comprehensive content. This means content that is clearly written, addresses different learning styles, contains extensive practice with detailed solutions, and includes all necessary ancillary materials required for an introductory study of financial accounting.

If you are a student, accounting staff employee, accounting or non-accounting manager, entrepreneur, investor, jobseeker, teacher, or information resource professional, we think that you will find our resources to be of interest. These resources include innovative book publications, special purpose reports for accounting self-study, and basic accounting and essential business math assessment systems. The links above will guide you to learning resource details.

Worthy and James also offers ‘The Payroll Process’ for a full review of the payroll process with examples, plus over 500 Certified Payroll Practitioner exam review questions and solutions.  (Click here or here to view the books on Amazon.)

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Solutions, Volume 1, 2nd Edition

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Math in Accounting? Not as Much as You Think

Everyone has heard that accounting is all about numbers, or sometimes that you should have a lot of math to take accounting. Unfortunately, for many people, just the mention of the word "numbers" can elicit childhood memories of struggling with long division and fractions, putting off geometry homework, and later avoiding math in general as much as possible. Usually, this is the result of a few bad experiences in elementary or high school. For accounting students, the unfortunate result of this is that some students are all too ready to be discouraged before even beginning an accounting class and learning what accounting is all about and why it is so important in business.

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What is Basic Accounting Content?

Basic accounting education consists of two fundamental elements:

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Learning to Prepare
Accounting Information

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Learning to Use
Accounting Information

Preparing accounting information requires an understanding of the complete accounting cycle, which in turn means developing good skills in event (transaction) analysis, recording in a traditional accounting system (use of debits and credits, journals, ledgers), periodically adjusting and closing the accounting records, and the ability to correctly apply generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) throughout the process. The culmination of these skills is the ability to prepare financial statements that properly and fairly report financial conditions and the results of operations.

Learning to use accounting information means developing the ability to interpret and apply financial information, particularly as reported in financial statements such as the balance sheet, income statement, statement of owner's or stockholders' equity, and statement of cash flows. For example, using financial ratios to analyze key relationships in the balance sheet and income statement is an important skill.

The ability to properly prepare accounting information (above) greatly enhances the ability to use accounting information; in fact, both skills are mutually reinforcing and intimately related. A complete introduction to financial accounting develops both of these skills.

Finally, two key components of basic accounting education always require inclusion in the accounting skill set:

  • The ability to understand and apply a system of internal control (a process that helps safeguard assets from theft and error — for example, preparing a bank reconciliation)
  • An appreciation of the importance of high ethical standards that ensure reliable and fair reporting (without which accounting would have little practical use.)
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