Accounting for Lawyers

This sixth edition of the most widely adopted text in the field continues to introduce law students with no accounting background to financial statements and the ways that accounting concepts and issues arise in transactional work and litigation. Designed for either two- or three-hour courses, this text uses a "learn by doing" approach, including:


Illustrative financial statements from Starbucks Corporation; and
Multiple problems using the financial statements from Amazon.com, Inc., Google Inc., and United Parcel Service, Inc.


The first section of each chapter, entitled "Importance to Lawyers," explains how the topics discussed in that chapter affect the practice of law. The text empowers students:


To work backwards through the bookkeeping process and, when necessary, to trace an amount that appears on the financial statements through the accounting records to the ledgers, journals, and supporting documentation;
To negotiate agreements or other legal documents containing accounting terminology or concepts;
To recognize "red flags" that suggest financial difficulties--or even financial fraud; and
To understand--and, when necessary, defend against--the opportunities to obtain accounting-related information about an underlying lawsuit and then to use that information during litigation.


The sixth edition incorporates numerous developments since the fifth edition, most significantly discussions about the new generally accepted accounting principles governing revenue recognition, lease accounting, and credit losses. Often collectively referred to as "new GAAP," these rules mark the most significant changes to financial accounting in at least a generation. The sixth edition also identifies and discusses various financial accounting issues that lawyers should keep in mind during the pandemic and its aftermath.