Rating: 
Summary: An excellent book for those who wish to start finance
Review: After having read many financial textbooks, I think this book is amazing. The author did an excellent and remarkable work. To begin with, he took in very serious consideration his audience, which is people with poor knowledge in finance. Thus, his book is very easy-to-read and its content very explicit. Every single financial term is clarified with a layman's language. Moreover, for every single term, there is a very understandable example. Likewise, in every page there is a sheet explaining all the transactions. I strongly believe that this book is a masterpiece for non financial managers.
Rating:
Summary: A very useful book
Review: As I have had the occassion to prepare financial statements and reports on spreadsheet, I frequently found that when I had a basic (i.e., elementary) question about how to prepare the accounting entries, the chances were good that I would find the answer in this book. The last time I had such an accounting question, I promised myself that if this book would have the answer that I would write a review on Amazon. Sure enough it did!
While the book gets only skin deep on accounting concepts, it does an excellent job in deconstructing how the Income Statement, Statement of Cash Flows, and Balance Sheet are changed. It literally shows the statements before the change, the individual line item changes, and the statements after the change. It does this case by case for about thirty or so, commonly occuring accounting entries during the regular business cycle.
Very few accounting related books make explicit what happens the way this book does. While the book skips a lot of details, it has proven very useful and is well worth the price. I highly recommend it.
Incidently, another book which covers practical presents techniques that can be used in accounting and financial related spreadsheets is "Excel Best Practices for Business".
Rating: 
Summary: i didn't like this book
Review: I bought this book and I'm not happy with it because first of all, it is not written by an accountant, and second of all, it is just too confusing for people like me, who are starting out in the small business adventure. I read a lot of books but this one is not worth your money.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I purchased this book for an MBA course and ended up using it more than the assigned text. The author makes a complicated subject seem like childs play! Thanks to this book, I am confident that my MBA case analysis for future courses are on target!
Rating:
Summary: Want to understand financial statements?
Review: I took an accounting class...and I had difficulty interpreting the financial statements. So I gambled to buy this book with a hope to unravel the mystery on financial statements. It really worked!!! I read half of the book in less than a day. The information was methodically presented in a concise and clear manner. There are hands-on examples that systematically connect financial statements to business transactions. Overall, the knowledge gained exceeds multiple folds of the time and money invested on this book!
Rating:
Summary: WOW Incredible
Review: I took an accounting cource at University, i now wish that my professor used this book in the cource. So easy to understand and with great examples. Suitable for anyone who wants to lear accounting the fast and easy way.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for budding entrepreneurs!
Review: I would like to thank the author for writing such an insightful and intuitive book on accounting. I highly recommend it to budding entrepreneurs who want to quickly understand financial statements.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Basic Book to Understanding Financial Statements
Review: I would recommend this book to anyone whom needs to acquire a basic understanding. It was a little basic for me, but its a great review of vocab, and how changes in the statements affect one another.
Rating:
Summary: Financial Statements for Dummies!
Review: I've been buying from Amazon.com for at least 5 years but this is my first review. I am 3/4 of the way through Ittelson's book and I want to write this review while my enthusiasm is still burning white hot. Ittelson has a gift that few experts have. He anticipates all my newbie/beginner stupid questions. Here I am on page 169 wondering why paying payroll taxes doesn't show up on the Income Statement. Sure enough, right after I've wondered to myself why there is no transaction on the Income Statement, I see his note explaining that these payroll tax expenses were put on the Income Statement when the goods were shipped, "not when the actual payment is made." As soon as the little voice in my head asks, "But why did they do it *this* way?" Ittelson gives me the answer. I give Ittelson a lot of credit for this. After you've studied something for years, as he clearly has, it's often almost impossible to see the subject with the eyes of a beginner. Believe me, I'm a teacher, I know how difficult it can be. The first part of the book examines the three basic statements line-by-line: Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet. The largest part of the book sounds incredibly dry and dull. Each even-numbered page displays all three financial statements: Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet. The odd-numbered page explains a business transation: paying payroll taxes, for example. The transaction's impact on the three financial statements is displayed on the even-numbered page. Believe it or not, Ittelson makes it interesting to read about these business transactions. He creates a narrative about starting a business and running it. Along the way, he offers a few humorous pearls of business wisdom. This is dry, technical stuff but he makes it entertaining without ever sacrificing explanatory precision. This is a great book for anyone who feels they need to sharpen their skills with financial statements. I've read short descriptions of financial statements before but it never sank in. What's great about Ittelson's book is that first he gives very clear definitions of key terms and then he takes you step-by-step through each business transaction and how it is reflected on the financial statements. I wish I had read this book more than 10 years ago when I first started in the business world. I assume that you learn this stuff if you have an MBA. But I didn't. This gives one a solid grounding in the brass tacks of the business world. This book has been of enormous value to me. It is an essential reference for anyone who needs to understand what business finances are about.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent buy it!!
Review: If you are in the finance business, of any kind, and you are not an accountant, this book is for you.
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