Libby/Libby/Short wrote this text based on their belief that the subject of financial accounting is inherently interesting, but financial accounting textbooks are often not. They believe most financial accounting textbooks fail to demonstrate that accounting is an exciting field of study and one that is important to future careers in business. When writing this text, they considered career relevance as their guide when selecting material, and the need to engage the student as their guide to style, pedagogy, and design.Libby/Libby/Short is the only financial accounting text to successfully implement a real-world, single focus company approach in every chapter. Students and instructors have responded very favorably to the use of focus companies and the real-world financial statements. The companies chosen are engaging and the decision-making focus shows the relevance of financial accounting regardless of whether or not the student has chosen to major in accounting.

Robert Libby is the David A. Thomas Professor of Management at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, where he teaches the introductory financial accounting course. He previously taught at the University of Illinois, Pennsylvania State University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Chicago, and University of Michigan. He received his B.S. from Pennsylvania State University and his M.A.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois; he is also a CPA.Bob is a widely published author specializing in behavioral accounting. He was selected as the AAA Outstanding Educator in 2000. His prior text, Accounting and Human Information Processing (Prentice Hall, 1981), was awarded the AICPA/AAA Notable Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award. He received this award again in 1996 for a paper. He has published numerous articles in the Journal of Accounting Research; Accounting, Organizations, and Society; and other accounting journals. He is past Vice President-Publications of the American Accounting Association and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the editorial boards of The Accounting Review; Accounting, Organizations, and Society; Journal of Accounting Literature; and Journal of Behavioral Decision Making.Patricia Libby is Chair of the Department of Accounting and Associate Professor of Accounting at Ithaca College, where she teaches the undergraduate financial accounting course. She previously taught graduate and undergraduate financial accounting at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Texas. Before entering academe, she was an auditor with Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and a financial administrator at the University of Chicago. She received her B.S. from Pennsylvania State University, her M.B.A. from DePaul University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan; she is also a CPA.Pat conducts research on using cases in the introductory course and other parts of the accounting curriculum. She has published articles in The Accounting Review, Issues in Accounting Education, and The Michigan CPA. She has also conducted seminars nation-wide on active learning strategies, including cooperative learning methods.Dan Short is the Dean of the M.J. Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Prior to that he was Dean at Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University and Dean of the Business School at Kansas State University. Before entering adminstration, Dan taught at the University of Texas-Austin and the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He has won numerous teaching awards during his career teaching both undergraduate and MBA financial accounting courses.

1. Financial Statements and Business Decisions

2. Investing and Financing Decisions and the Balance Sheet

3. Operating Decisions and the Income Statement

4. Adjustments, Financial Statements, and the Quality of Earnings

5. Communicating and Interpreting Accounting Information

6. Reporting and Interpreting Sales Revenue, Receivables, and Cash

7. Reporting and Interpreting Cost of Goods Sold and Inventory

8. Reporting and Interpreting Property, Plant and Equipment; Natural Resources; and Intangibles

9. Reporting and Interpreting Liabilities

10. Reporting and Interpreting Bonds

11. Reporting and Interpreting Owners' Equity

12. Reporting and Interpreting Investments and Other Corporations

13. Statement of Cash Flows

14. Analyzing Financial Statements

Appendix A: Present and Future Value Tables

Appendix B: Pacific Sunwear Annual Report

Appendix C: American Eagle Outfitter Annual Report

Appendix D: Industry Ratio Report

Appendix E: The Formal Recordkeeping System at www.mhhe.com/business/accounting/libby5