I will be starting ICB Level 1 shortly, followed by the two Level 2 papers.
A lot of books have been mentioned/ recommended on the forum, but if I were to buy only one book for the bookkeeping papers which one should it be?
I am studying with Kaplan.
The reason I ask is I would prefer to have one additional reliable text, that I can get to know well, rather than buying a variety of books, each slightly different and potentially confusing.
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.................just an ICB student, at the moment.
It's a good idea to have more than one source of reference for you studies.
I used Ideal Schools, and although their course texts were generally very clear, occasionally i needed to see things from a different angle, or written differently.
My weapon of choice is Frank wood's (Sheila Robinson) Book-Keeping and Accounts ISBN 0-273-68548-1 (I am an 6th edition but there is a newer one). Still use it now for the odd reference.
I used to read (and write) fiction quite a lot but since taking this career path if the book is not related to accountancy I find myself questioning the cost effectiveness of spending time reading it!
Must admit to having some texts that I've never found the time to read so it's a case that you can have too many books... If only these Amazon resellers didn't keep selling their old stock off so cheaply!
One of my best buys was Waterstones Edinburgh having a stock clearance and I bought 10 BPP HND qaccountancy text books for £1 each. Think my arms were about four inches longer by the time that I had managed to carry them back to the flat.
Books that I find excellent are AAT workbooks for levels III and IV that you can just sit down and do like normal people do suduku's.
On the book front for ICB level I and II if I only had one book that I could buy it would be... Much as I want to say the David Cox book (Business accounts for bookkeeping and fiancial accounting courses) I'm actually going to go for BPP ACCA paper 1.1 Preparing financial Statements (my version is ISBN 07516702307) as it's the only book that I used to get 99% and 98% in the two manual papers with ICB.
Your still going to need another book for the computerised side though. And a copy of Sage Instants or Line 50.
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Hi, I saw yesterday someone advertising a book that was ICB recognised but not widely known..I can't find the post..my head is bashed today! can someone help please? thanks
Mastering Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall is recommended (or accredited) by the ICB I bought it but didn't really like it. Just to get a different way of looking at things. It does have past papers for the ICB exams - although this was when the exams appeared slightly easier (compared to the latest mock exam available).
I also bought Business Accounting by Frank Wood & Alan Sangster. Probably bought that by mistake as I was more likely meant to buy the Bookkeeping & Accounts book.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
I've got the two volume Woods and Sangster books and don't really like them at all. Much prefer David Cox's book.
Did you notice with the Peter Marshall book (assume that you are talking about the computerised bookkeeping version?) that the ICB exam doesn't come with the answers! It did redeem itself though by having the questions and answers for all three levels of the IAB papers.
I think that the only book that I know of that's ICB accredited but not really pushed as such are the two Dr Peter Marshall books. Maybe those were the one's that you were thinking of Andrina?
Another book worth checking out if your looking at the manual version of the Dr Peter Marshall book is Mastering Accounting Skills by Margaret Nicholson (I think that one's OCR rather than ICB accredited). I find that one really dry reading and I don't always agree with her double entries. However, one should still take a look at it as for some people (thinking about my eldest boy here) it does work.
And of course, there are always Kaplans study texts for Beginner/ Intermediate and Advanced. Again I didn't like them but I think that it's because I can see that they are just very cut down ACCA texts and I'm very much a more info is always better sort of person.
If you want to check out the read inside version of the beginner / Intermediate text go here :
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Oh dear, I don't know if I bought the right text then.
I have the Kaplan book which covers ICB Manual L1 and L2 as I am studying with Kaplan already. But I was looking for one additional reliable text. In the end I bought Mastering Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall. Mainly because it is recommended by the ICB and because it has been mentioned on the forum a few times.
Hopefully, it will be OK.
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.................just an ICB student, at the moment.
it's a good book and many people have used that one as their main text.
The book that I was talking about in my reply was Computerised Bookkeeping by Dr Peter Marshall which is the sister volume to his mastering bookkeeping book. I personally prefer some other books which work better with my learning style which is very much the traditional half a dozen books covering the same subject matter all open at the same time.
If you go with any of the regularly spoken about texts you will be fine but everyone has their own personal preferences.
You'll read it in lots of threads that Bill likes the Woods/Robinson text and I like the Cox book. However, the reality is that there is little to choose between the two and in an ideal world people would actuallly have both.
For just one book either stick with your Dr Peter Marshall book or go for one of those two, or even take a look at a second hand copy of the ACCA text for paper 1.1 (it's an old book not available anymore except via resellers).
If you hit problems using any book just post on here and we're always happy to fill in any gaps in the chosen text.
All the best,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
