The terms accounting and bookkeeping do not mean quite the same thing. Rather, bookkeeping is a subdivision within the modern field of accounting, which can be defined as the art of devising a system for recording and keeping track of financial transactions. The accountant creates such a system, whereas the bookkeeper does the actual work of noting down each transaction as it occurs.

Accounting is widely taught in both high schools and colleges, with the various branches, including managerial and financial accounting, being offered as separate courses at the college level. Contemporary Issues in Accounting, 1st edition, is a textbook for college accounting. It was written by Michaela Rankin, Patricia Stanton, Susan McGowan, Kimberly Ferlauto and Matthew Tilling. Its primary goal is to apply the most advanced concepts and policies in accounting to a large range of contemporary situations.

Since the field of accounting is not a static one but is continually evolving to suit the changing needs of businesses. During the nineteenth century, for instance, the rise of the limited liability company and the expansion of management and logistics resulted in a higher demand for accountants who had enough technical proficiency to be able to handle the increasing number of global transactions as well as calculate inventory valuation, asset depreciation and other complex figures. Textbooks that teach accounting must therefore be constantly kept up to date. In Contemporary Issues in Accounting, 1st edition, topics are discussed that reflect issues that are of current interest to the accounting practitioner. Among these issues are:

• fair value accounting: This involves accounting for the “fair value” of an asset, which is a “rational and unbiased” estimate of the market value that an asset, good or service can potentially have.
• approaches to measurement
• environmental accounting and sustainability

The textbook includes many novel features, which include:

• contemporary issue vignettes: These are actual accounting and corporate incidents that were carefully chosen by the authors to encourage debate and analysis.
• Each of the chapter opens with a Mind Map in which the key topics to be discussed in that chapter are summarized in a schematic way.
• professional application questions: These reflect issues in accounting and financial reporting for both Australia and the international community.

The authors

All of the five authors of the book are lecturers at major Australian universities. Michaela Rankin serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Accounting and Finance Department at Monash University in Melbourne. Patricia Stanton and Susan McGowan are senior lecturers in financial accounting at the University of Newcastle and the School of Commerce at the University of South Australia respectively.

Contemporary Issues in Accounting, 1st edition is definitely the kind of textbook that every college business department should consider acquiring. It can be viewed in its e-text version on a computer, smartphone or iPad or other tablet.