This book is intended to help readers to understand financial accounting and to see how it can be used in practice, particularly in the interpretation and management of company finances. It should appeal to future managers, rather than to those who want to become accountants. It is intended to be 'user friendly' for those who are put off by conventional presentations of the subject based on arcane rules and procedures. Students from an arts background, for whom figures are sometimes a painful necessity, will probably find that this is as good as it gets with accounting textbooks.