Accounting Book

Download CFI's free accounting book

Over 1.8 million professionals use CFI to learn accounting, financial analysis, modeling and more. Start with a free account to explore 20+ always-free courses and hundreds of finance templates and cheat sheets.

Start Free

Written by Tim Vipond

Accounting Book – Bookkeeping, Principles, and Statements

CFI’s Principles of Accounting book is free and available for anyone to download as a pdf. Learn about the most important accounting concepts, such as bookkeeping, the double entry system, accruals and matching principles, how to prepare financial statements, and more!

Welcome to the official accounting eBook from the Corporate Finance Institute. In this 66-page summary, we walk through all the important bookkeeping and accounting principles. From general transaction keeping conventions to the full accounting cycle and finally to important accounts in the financial statements, this Accounting Book touches on all the major topics in accounting and managing a company’s financials. We hope you find this book useful in reaching your future goals.

CFI’s book on accounting is divided into three chapters: bookkeeping, accounting principles, and financial statements. Below is a detailed breakdown of what’s included in each chapter.

accounting book cover

Accounting Book – Bookkeeping (chapter 1)

The bookkeeping section of CFI’s accounting eBook includes:

What is Bookkeeping?
Accrual vs Cash Basis of Accounting
Accounts
The Accounting Equation
Debits and Credits
Journal Entries
T-Accounts
Adjusting Entries
General Ledger
Summary of the Accounting Cycle
Petty Cash
Bank Reconciliations

Accounting Principles (chapter 2)

The accounting book includes:

What is Bookkeeping?
Financial Accounting Theory
Financial Accounting vs Cost Accounting
Assets
Accounts Receivable
Inventory
PPE Accounting
Depreciation of Assets
Revenue Recognition
Liabilities – Current & Non-Current
Shareholder’s Equity

Accounting Book – Financial Statements (chapter 3)

The financial statements section of the accounting book includes:

Balance sheet
Income statement
Statement of cash flows

Book Review

Below is one of many reviews CFI received from satisfied readers of the Principles of Accounting Book:

“This accounting book breaks down everything you need to know to have a solid foundation in simple, plain language. Even though I studied the subject extensively in school, I found the recap of foundational topics refreshing and learned several new things as well.” – Jihoon Hahn

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide on Accounting Book. To keep learning and advancing your career, the following resources will be helpful: