College Accounting, 5th was written to introduce you to accounting, a dynamic tool of business. What is accounting, and why will you find it useful? Accounting is a planned and orderly way of keeping records for the purpose of seeing how a business is performing. It answers such questions as: Is the business profitable, or is it losing money? Which business activities are contributing most to profits, and which to losses? Which resources are well employed, and which are being wasted? Who owes the business money, and how much? What does the business owe Accounting is also important for regulatory and tax purposes. You will be surprised at how often your understanding of accounting will work for you on the job. Learning accounting means familiarizing yourself with many new terms and concept. Don´t be tempted to cut corners and take shortcuts; you will get the most out of your study of accounting if you follow the detailed, step-by-step directions provided in this text. Once you have learned the basic terms and concepts, the rest will quickly fall into place. Be sure to review the appendix, Accounting Forms Sampler. It will be a great help to you during the course.