Book Review: Managerial Accounting by Ray H Garrison

I was reviewing my old text books to get a grasp on an accounting concept and this is the book that ended up helping me find the information I needed. Unfortunately, for me I do not have to do a lot of managerial accounting and I had grown rusty on some of the more basic concepts. Specifically, using the standard cost method. Okay, okay I'll shutup. The point of this review is that I was surfin the Internet and I found that this book had not recieved the greatest reviews. I've gone back and I have reviewed bits and pieces of this book and I think it is a great book.

I discovered when I was in college that the less a class was recommended by other students the more there was to learn. My Cost and Managerial Accounting classes were two of the hardest classes I have ever taken. I struggled to get an A in managerial accounting and the B+ I recieved is Cost Accounting was hard fought as well. I will say my cost accounting book was better but I would not have been able to do well is Cost Accounting if I didn't have the knowledge taught from this book in Managerial Accounting. The book problems really increased my analytical skills.

In addition, I have been able to directly apply the knowledge in this book to my work. I have been able to quickly reference the information I needed and used it in my research. I properly applied the knowledge to my work problem and it the information was reliable (i.e. The auditors didn't ding me for the cost work). I really recommend this book to students or to simply use as a work tool.

I think I am going to review all the books I have read and use in the course of my work. Please, keep in mind that I do not typically use these books to their full potential. Large portions are left unread, but when you are in a profession books are tools not entertainment. You pick your tool up when needed and set it down immediately after your done fixing the problem.