Introduction to financial accounting

This textbook presents the fundamentals of financial accounting in an international approach, focusing on explaining accounting concepts and applying the double-entry system to different transactions pertaining to the company’s operations. In the presentation of concepts and methods we have opted for a comparative approach, which relates both to the economic and juridical perspectives on accounting, an approach which seems to also gain ground in IFRS. Transaction analysis, grouped into the three main business activities (operating, investing and financing), is aimed at infusing the spirit of IFRS, i. e., the Anglo-American understanding of concepts and events, into what is, in essence, a traditional Continental European accounting system.

This textbook is intended for university students initiating in accounting, but also for anyone who needs training to work in accounting or accounting information technology related services in an international business environment. The textbook draws on the authors’ long experience in teaching at the university level, their previous publications, as well as on some of their own theoretical reflections.

The authors