Reddit reviews The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand

Honestly this book is made specifically for people like me and you doing retail business first time. When I was half way I was already doing P&L, Balance sheet etc.
Here is the link to the book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1402211864/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_C48IwbSD00AV2

I was hoping you'd know! I say we start with the very basics, we can model our course off of what would normally be covered in a financial accounting I class. 2 books were recommended to me.

The first is Financial Statements which gives a nice overview of the 4 financial statements including a brief description of what each line means.

The second was The Accounting Game

I personally learn better from a systematic approach like what is used in "Financial Statements" but I suspect a better approach for reddit would be something like "The Accounting Game." I anticipate that most of our students would be entrepreneurs or other users of accounting information rather than hopeful accountants. In that vein we could go through the process of starting a small business and show how the basic transactions would be recorded. Including how to set up spreadsheets as was ops original request.

What are your thoughts, would you be interested in taking the lead on something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Game-Basic-Fresh-Lemonade/dp/1402211864

Quickbooks is just a tool. You will be better served learning basic accounting principles, and for that I recommend this excellent book:

[The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1402211864/)

Check out the book The Accounting Game (non-affiliate link). It's really simple, keeps your interest, and has good practice worksheets. I was someone who hated accounting/finance in college. After reading that book I had a new appreciation for it and a much better understanding of business as a whole.

Also, check out this video on youtube. It's a top hedgefund investor who explains accounting/finance in basic terms in under an hour.

My background: I'm a business attorney working in part with small businesses and also an entrepreneur in my own right for a marketing services company separate from my practice of law.

I often see people pursuing startups going after the flashy book titles that are on the less technical side.

While this can be fine, I'd really recommend doing as much research as you can stomach into the nitty gritty, often un-fun things that people don't care for. As a lawyer, plenty of this is fun for me, but I appreciate that it's hard to hold one's attention on legal issues or accounting.

For example, I always hear people say good things about that Lemonade Stand accounting book: https://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Game-Basic-Fresh-Lemonade/dp/1402211864. You may not need to do the accounting yourself when you start a business, but you probably will, and even if you don't, it's better to have some sort of handle on it to oversee whoever's doing it.

So learn the basics of accounting and try to put them in to practice in your personal life. Plot out your personal budget, if you don't already. Practice with tracking and sorting your expenses. You can even do this with the free accounting apps out there like Wave. Fundamentally, business accounting isn't all that different than personal, so read the basics then practice!

I wish I could think of some valuable books that explain some basics of the legal side of small business formation and operation, but I guess since I do it myself I don't really know of any offhand, go figure.

I'm also a big advocate for branding. This isn't just logo design, it's a ton of stuff, and not always the obvious stuff. Branding is especially important for a newcomer, because you don't have the history...so you might as well try and brand like you're established! My go to here is: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Brand-Identity-Essential-Branding/dp/1118099206

I highly recommend this book, simplifies accounting really well.

https://www.amazon.com/Accounting-Game-Basic-Fresh-Lemonade/dp/1402211864