Top 10 Best Bookkeeping Books

Top Best Bookkeeping Books – Bookkeeping is the art of recording, storing, and retrieving financial affairs of an individual, company or a non-profit organization.

What if you feel the need to maintain your books, but don’t know how? The easy way out is, of course, to reach out to the Top 10 Best books on bookkeeping and become an autodidact. As a result, all your issues will be solves and you will be able to save cost on an additional employee as well.

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Let’s have a look at the best bookkeeping books through which you can teach yourself about how to keep and maintain books.

#1 – Bookkeeping All-In-One For Dummies

by Lita Epstein

 

If you are new to bookkeeping, this is exactly what you need.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

This book is the combination of 5 books on Bookkeeping – bookkeeping for dummies, bookkeeping kit for dummies, accounting for dummies, reading financial reports for dummies, and accounting workbook for dummies. So you can use this book as a text book for bookkeeping and you will also learn the basic of accounting. The best part of this book is it is very lucidly written and there are no technical jargons which will veer you off from your task of self-learning. Many readers who have gone through this book have mentioned that this book is the thing they were searching for. In over 550 pages, this book teaches the readers the lessons they need to learn in bookkeeping with many, many references and illustrations.

Key Takeaways from this Best Bookkeeping Book

• This best bookkeeping book will teach you fundamentals. That’s why this book is written with the average reader in mind and the author has taken a detailed approach to explain each concept.
• You will not only learn to deal with your daily finances, you will also learn about double entry bookkeeping, managing your taxes, reporting profits, making sense of financial statements and so on and so forth.
• This book is the ultimate textbook in bookkeeping.

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#2 – Alpha Teach Yourself Bookkeeping in 24 Hours

by Carol Costa

 

Well, no, you will not learn all of it in a day, but if you keep reading and implementing what you learn from this book, you will be good enough in few short days.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

The best part of this best bookkeeping book is its arrangement. Now, there are many bookkeeping books in the market. But to appeal to someone who knows nothing about bookkeeping isn’t easy. This book is arranged in a logical order so that you never get confused about “how” and “why” of bookkeeping. This book is also very comprehensive keeping in mind the average reader. Every chapter is written in so much detail that one would take around 1.5-2 hours to cover up. And after reading each chapter, you can literally put the lessons into practice and start taking care of your books immediately.

Key Takeaways from this Top Bookkeeping Book

• If you want to learn bookkeeping all by yourself, this is the book you should start with. This book is just 368 pages and at the same time very comprehensive. This is a perfect bookkeeping book for small business owners.
• If you want to train your stuff (who is unaware of how to manage your books, if at all), present her this book and you will save up a lot of costs on training. This top bookkeeping book is easy to read and perfect for DIY people.

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#3 – E to Z Bookkeeping (Barron’s E-Z Series)

by Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Wallace W. Kravitz

 

This book can be a good refresher if you already know bookkeeping.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

This book can work as a great supplementary to any text book you choose. It is not very comprehensive, but it only highlights the most important snippets of bookkeeping which you need to use on daily basis. The best part is this book doesn’t only talk about significant concepts; it also uses lots of examples and loads of useful problems. This book is not written like an instruction manual; rather this book is written as a workbook to use and implement all that you learn in this book. The only pitfall of this book is few answers are given wrong. The author/editor needs to look at them to make this book completely error free and easily digestible.

Key Takeaways from this Best Textbook on Bookkeeping

• In this best bookkeeping book, you will learn about journal, ledger, financial statements, special journal entries, and how to apply bookkeeping fundamentals in business scenarios.
• This book also comes up with quizzes at the end of each chapter which helps you judge how much you have learned and assists you in handling bookkeeping in business functions.

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#4 – Full Charge Bookkeeping, HOME STUDY COURSE EDITION

by Nick J. DeCandia CPA

 

If you want to read a bookkeeping manual without putting in a lot of hours, this book is for you.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

This book acts as a bridge between bookkeeping knowledge and bookkeeping functions in a job. If you want to be hired for a bookkeeping job, read this book, apply its lessons and the job would become much easier to you. But this book is not a text book and you will be disappointed if you want that sort of comprehensive detail of every concept. So read this book once you are thorough with all the bookkeeping concepts. As per the readers, this book is also not for advanced bookkeepers. It’s for those who have knowledge in bookkeeping and who are at beginner or intermediate level. However, this book does a good job and provides many forms, schedules, and a brief overview of every topic.

Key Takeaways from this Best Bookkeeping Book

• This best bookkeeping book provides checklists like “new job checklists”, “master calendar” etc. and also all forms a bookkeeper would need while maintaining the books of a company.
• This book is organized in a proper way – first 112 pages are arranged to include bookkeeping concepts and appendices, next 40 pages are kept for study outline and the final 20 page is articulated to test the readers on the concepts. This book is short and serves the purpose of learning and applying professional bookkeeping.

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#5 – Bookkeeping Made Simple: A Practical, Easy-to-Use Guide to the Basics of Financial Management

by David A. Flannery

 

If you’re scared of numbers, this book will aid you in understanding bookkeeping.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

This textbook on bookkeeping is approached from a different point of view. It will teach you bookkeeping in a way so that you can understand the basics of financial management. This book has received mixed reviews. The main pitfall of this book is “typos” and “wrong answers”. But still this book is a good book for people who would like to understand the basics of bookkeeping and ease their way up to financial management. This book should be read as a supplementary and not as a text book. The author has good ideas about bookkeeping and financial management, but the layout should be improved. This book will teach you a complete accounting cycle and it is comprehensive enough to master the math in bookkeeping and accounting.

Also, check out this – Learn Basic Accounting in Less than 1 Hour

Key Takeaways from this Top Bookkeeping Book

• You will learn about assets, equities, journal entries, adjustments in accounts, preparing financial statements, petty cash statement, payroll, partnership, and finally how to close the books.
• Many teachers have used this book as their text book and created practice tests for their students. This book is pretty good in terms of representation of fundamentals, but it is still recommended as a reference book.

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#6 – Keeping the Books: Basic Recordkeeping and Accounting for Small Business

by Linda Pinson

 

As the title suggests, this book is perfect for small business owners.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

If you are looking for a book for your start-up/small business, grab this book and start learning. This book will teach you step-by-step how to keep books without being too bogged down. This book is not for advanced bookkeepers and specially written for those who need to help in learning bookkeeping from scratch. From the first chapter to last, it will hand hold you and will show you basic journal entries, ledger entries and teach you the basic bookkeeping system. However, you can’t expect too much from this book. You will not learn much of finance/accounting here. This book is an introductory course just for people who have no ideas about bookkeeping/accounting.

Key Takeaways from this Best Bookkeeping Book

• This top bookkeeping book is not only useful for small businesses, as an individual you can read this book and teach yourself basic bookkeeping.
• The scope of the book is limited; that’s why it’s focused on delivery. From preparing journal, ledger, analyzing financial statements to setting up bookkeeping system, planning for taxes, you will learn all the basics you need to learn. Plus, you will also get a fundamental knowledge in cash accounting, accrual accounting, and independent contracting along many work-sheets, forms, and formats.

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#7 – Bookkeeping the Easy Way (Easy Way Series)

by Wallace W. Kravitz

 

Amid the many “how-to-do-bookkeeping”, this one stands out.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

How a beginner learns better? When she is presented with short lessons, easy to understand language, and a way to implement immediately what she has been learning. This bookkeeping book will do exactly that. Written in short chapters, this book will teach you double-entry bookkeeping system like no other in the market. Before you ever use Quickbook software, this book is a must. Without understanding fundamentals, no software will be able to help you. This book also covers topics like merchandising/retailing which makes it more comprehensive. If you want to learn the fundamentals of bookkeeping, this book is a must read.

Key Takeaways from this Best Textbook on Bookkeeping

• This bookkeeping book is not only applicable for beginners; you can also read through this book if you know bookkeeping and want to use this book as a refresher course.
• This book is not only recommended by accounting/bookkeeping professionals, but also CPAs and business owners who often need to train their subordinates in bookkeeping.
• This book can be a perfect partner if you take a class and use this book as a textbook.

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#8 – Bookkeeping Essentials: How to Succeed as a Bookkeeper

by Steven M. Bragg

 

It’s not a book for beginner, but for those who are already practicing bookkeeping professionally.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

So if you are a beginner, do not start with this book. However, if you are an integral part of a team and doing bookkeeping on a regular basis, then this is the book that can guide you and help you become a better book-keeper. Every bookkeeper knows the feeling of being compared with a data entry operator. This book will help you understand your tasks and make you feel important about your job.  This is an excellent book if you want to go in advanced level and understand the pros and cons of bookkeeping. Readers have not only liked this book so much, they also use this book for reference and for creating SOP (standard operating procedures) manuals.

Key Takeaways from this Best Bookkeeping Book

• You will not only learn the rules of thumbs that you can apply quickly, you will also learn practical techniques to analyse, evaluate, and solve daily issues in bookkeeping and accounting.
• In this age of constant change, this top bookkeeping book will help you pinpoint what you should look for, what to solve, and how to solve them.
• Along with that you will get loads of examples, ratios, charts and explanations.

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#9 – Bookkeeping Basics: What Every Nonprofit Bookkeeper Needs to Know

by Debra L. Ruegg & Lisa M. Venkatrathnam

 

If you want to learn “bookkeeping for non-profits”, this book should be the first book you should read.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

There are very few books on non-profit bookkeeping. But among all, this book stands out. According to the readers of this book, it is a great resource for people who don’t have any background in bookkeeping/accounting and who would like to start/run a small non-profit. With the use of this book, you can set up a bookkeeping system and solve all of your bookkeeping issues. Moreover, this book is written in a very lucid language and the concepts are chunked down in smaller parts so that you can understand better. This book will also help you if you apply for a position in a non-profit as a bookkeeper. Just read this book, learn the concepts, and start applying what you learn. You will be good to go.

Key Takeaways from this Top Bookkeeping Book

• Many non-profits don’t have the funds to hire a trained bookkeeper to take care of their books. This book will save you cost and teach you how you can take care of your books in your spare time.
• Along with fundamentals and concepts, you will also receive accounts receivable and accounts payable register, general ledger & financial summary form, and also grant tracking form.
• This best bookkeeping book is pretty short compared to other bookkeeping books for non-profits. It is just of 128 pages and you can read it as you go along and apply what you learn when you have time.

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#10 – The E-Myth Bookkeeper

by Michael E. Gerber, Roberts Debbie and Peter Cook

 

This book will teach you how to start a bookkeeping business without any hassle.

Bookkeeping Book Review:

Till now we have only looked at books that allow you to be good in bookkeeping. But this book is different. This book will teach you how to start a bookkeeping business if you are interested. Readers have mentioned that this book is the most practical book for self-employed bookkeepers. This book has outlined a system for building a bookkeeping practice from scratch. And you can read this book in two ways. First, you can read it as a text book, reading, highlighting the important areas, and implementing the most relevant ideas. Second, you can read it as a reference system. You can read a chapter, implement the ideas, and then go back, read another chapter, and do the same. No matter whatever method you choose to read the book, this book is an invaluable resource to build a bookkeeping business from start.

Key Takeaways from this Best Bookkeeping Book

• This book is a comprehensive guide on bookkeeping practice. If you read one book on bookkeeping practice, this is it.
• This top bookkeeping book is very easy to read. And it is full of practical advice. The authors are experts in the field and know what they’re talking about.
• With this book, you can take your bookkeeping business to its next level. Read this book as your go-to-guide and implement all that you learn. And you will see that your bookkeeping business is thriving within months.

Among these 10 bookkeeping books, you can pick up any book that you like. But if you are new in bookkeeping, start with the basic books that we have mentioned. Otherwise, you can start reading any advanced or focused books on bookkeeping from the above list. Learning is pretty easy when you have the right resources. Don’t you think?

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