No comments about National Environmental Accounting: Bridging the Gap between Ecology and Economy.

No comments about Asia-Pacific in Figures 2006 (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific).

No comments about The Federal Budget and Financial System: A Management Perspective.

No comments about Independence and Revolution in Spanish America: Perspectives and Problems (Nineteenth-century Latin America).

No comments about The New Bilateralism: The Uk's Relations Within the Eu.

1 comments about Wiley GAAP for Governments 2006: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for State and Local Governments (Wiley Gaap for Governments).

1. I received the book in time as promised, and it was in excellent condition.
   Great services!

1 comments about How to Build a New Iraq After Saddam.

1. To start, the organization that put this book out is the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Some of the more well-known members of this group include Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, both of whom serve(d) on the Board of Advisors. Think about the logic that people like these two put out there before the war and you'll have a pretty good idea about this book.
   
   This book was written before the invasion happened and looking back, I imagine it would be somewhat embarrassing to have written some of these pieces.
   
   Some key exerpts:
   
   "The country's ethnic groups are not necessarily the key social actors to watch." page 5
   
   "Owing to the regime's propaganda and to the material conditions of their lives, many Iraqis do not appreciate the nuances of Western sanctions policies, and they may have formed political views that are based on supposed Western ill will toward their country." page 12
   
   "...the physical repair of Iraq will be relatively easy. Iraq is a country of engineers and builders, people who quickly restored bridges and roads after the Iran-Iraq and Gulf Wars." page 12
   
   The problem I have with this book is not that they argued for the war. I do on many different levels. I'm upset about the blind optimism and complete disregard for what should be very obvious for anyone that has read much about Iraq. Also troubling is the underlying theme that Iraq is a problem solely because of Saddam. To be sure, he is partly to blame, but these authors do nothing to acknowledge the fact that the U.S. has done more than its fair share to make Iraq into the mess it was when the U.S. invaded it. My conclusion is that the material presented in this book is done so with the spirit of ideology rather than the desire to contribute to a realistic, educational discussion about Iraq.

No comments about Biological Resource Centers: Knowledge Hubs for the Life Sciences.

5 comments about Starting and Building Your Own Accounting Business (Wiley/National Association of Accountants Professional Book Series).

1. Having been recently laid off, I am now looking into starting my own accounting practice. I am a CPA, but have no public accounting experience. I bought this book as part of a CPE course and was truly amazed at the wealth of information it contains, especially on marketing. It gave me some great ideas on areas to pursue and I know I will refer back to it many times over the next few months and even beyond.



2. This book is an excellent source for starting an accounting practice. It is very heavy on the aspects of technology and working that into your business to grow clients and business partners.

   The caveat here is this. Mr. Fox discusses Arthur Anderson a great deal in this book when referring to ways consulting is performed and how to sell clients. In addition, he refers to his own "Accounting Guild." Unfortunately, the web site for this guild no longer exists, his Yahoo message board is inactive and he does not answer email requesting information on solvency of his own business. Although I am reading this book 3 years after it was published I find it disturbing that the book is still in print yet very out of date and no longer factually correct. i.e Offering services in the Accounting Guild.

   It would be nice to at least get an explanation or have the book removed as a valid and complete source, which it no longer is.




3. This book is nothing more than a template or a compilation of numerous other books that deal with marketing, prospecting, and selling. In fact the title is disingenuous. The book should be renamed to "Building, Marketing and Selling Your Business." The fact that the word Accounting appears in the title is misleading as this book could and does discuss the things necessary to starting and building any business.

   The book also includes a glossary of accounting terms which is insulting. If you are an accountant purchasing this book you should already know them hands down or seek a refund from the institution of higher learning that gave you your education in accounting or ask your state accountancy board to revoke your CPA certificate.

   This book is full of checklists and numerous discussions of what to do but rarely gets to "How" as the outside of the back cover states. While the information is useful it is again generic to any business and not specific to accounting.

   The author bets to death the value of using Microsoft products (to the exclusion of others) and goes though a litany of the things that Microsoft uses/provides. I am certified by Microsoft in almost all the things that the author mentions in the beginning of his book and I found the authors marketing plug for Microsoft quite humorous but also very wrong. The author almost gave the impression that he is "in bed" with Microsoft and may even be a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider himself but never really states his relationship to Microsoft. This diatribe should have been in an appendix and not part of the main body of the book.

   Another grating plug is the constant mention of the Accounting Guild that the author is involved with. It would have been far more professional to discuss this at length in an appendix rather than constantly marketing it to his readers by repetitive mention of it in the text. One more grate was his constant mention of the Goldmine software for tracking clients without explaining why he thinks it is the best and what is his involvement with it and more importantly why he mentions no other PIM software when he goes though a many page discussion of the various software packages available. It makes me very suspicious.

   Also unless you are a firm with at least two or more accountants, two or more marketing people, two or more sales people and the accompanying support staff you are reading the wrong book. You will also have no life.

   The author implicating states that unless you are dealing with businesses that are $500,000 to $10,000,000 you are not dealing with a small to medium sized business nor are you one yourself. What a grave insult to small business in general.

   I am not attempting to slam the author at a personal level in my review but having read the third edition I am left with the begging question as to what was so wrong with the first two that there is in fact a third edition. After all I was the one that paid for it and I feel that I was stung and strongly so.

   This book is basically a written seminar on how to build, market and sell your (any) business accompanied with numerous plugs for the authors products (at least it smells like it). The author did not follow his own advice....be honest with your clients.

   I also found his web site for the Accounting Guild inactive and email is not there.

   If you are looking for a book to help you build your accounting business this is not it unless you have $$$$$$ capital and staff to do so. The book is definitely not intended for the true small business person.

   Save your money.




4. This book is awful. I have read the entire thing, and it says nothing that is useful. I have been in public accounting for 10 years, and i am now ready to start my own firm. I wasted my money on buying this book. I know it is tempting to buy, since the title is exactly what i was looking for, but trust me, choose another book. The accounting Guild website that the author constantly refers to is no longer in existence.



5. Like most books you do get some information. Pricing was good, but his web-site is unavailable, so who knows

No comments about Study in Public Finance.