Accountants' Handbook, Volume Two, Special Industries and Special Topics, 12th Edition

Preface

The twelfth edition of Accountants' Handbook continues the tradition established in the first edition nearly 90 years ago of providing a comprehensive single reference source for understanding current financial statement and reporting issues. It is directed to accountants, auditors, executives, bankers, lawyers, and other preparers and users of accounting information. Its presentation and format facilitates the quick comprehension of complex accounting-related subjects updated for today's rapidly changing business environment.

This edition of the Handbook continues the presentation of two soft-cover volumes; this edition contains a total of 43 chapters. To provide a resource with the encyclopedic coverage that has been the hallmark of this Handbook series, this edition again focuses on financial accounting and related topics, including those auditing standards and audit reports that are the common ground of interest for accounting and business professionals.

A few years make quite a difference in the modern accounting and auditing world. Sarbanes-Oxley is part of the fabric of today's business environment, but we wrestle with a codification of generally accepted accounting principles that has reoriented our approach to citing the accounting literature and day-to-day updates on U.S. and Securities and Exchange Commission progress toward adopting International Financial Reporting Standards in the United States. Auditors of public companies continue to follow the growing Standards ...