For a modern-day firm owner like you, most of your time in the digital space is spent immersed in a sea of data.
You’d often find yourself looking at news, trends, and figures in accounting, like updates in GAAP or IFRS from a LinkedIn post or an Instagram carousel of the ways AI helps your blogs convert faster.
Moving at lightning speed, this influx of information can put firm owners like you at a crossroads: Should you lean towards current accounting trends and approaches you see online? Or should you anchor your goals and strategies on time-tested methods?
Well, the answer isn’t black-and-white.
If you believe in striking a healthy balance between old and new (like we do) then you can start by stocking up on trusty accounting books that don’t only bring value to your firm, but to the field as a whole, too.
From tried-and-true accounting business practices to insightful marketing strategies, these accounting books are jampacked with invaluable ideas and insights that everyone can benefit from and add to their reading list.
Accounting Basics and Compliance: Tax, Finance, and Legal Systems
We’re kicking off this list with the fundamentals. From the basics like accounting tools and phraseology all the way to more complex accounting concepts, these resources are an excellent knowledge base for accounting terms, ideas, acronyms, organisations, and the like.
Accounting Made Simple - Mike Piper
What It's About
Accounting Made Simple uses easy to understand language to help even those without a background in accounting. Written with no technical jargon, it breaks down complex accounting concepts into bite-sized, digestible pieces. We believe it’s a great resource for firm owners, professionals, students, or just anyone who’s interested in accounting.
About the Author
Similar Books
- The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand by Darrell Mullis and Judith Orloff
- The Joy of Accounting by Peter Frampton and Mark Robilliard
- Wiley GAAP 2025: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Warren Buffett Accounting Book: Reading Financial Statements for Value Investing - Stig Brodersen and Preston Pysh
What It's About
It takes a certain set of skills and techniques to properly read financial statements, and Warren Buffett Accounting Book gives you just those and more. This book teaches you how to calculate important ratios, determine a company’s value, and navigate documents and references like income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements with ease.
About the Author
Stig Brodersen is a former college professor turned author and investor, while Preston Pysh is an entrepreneur, author, and investor who champions cryptocurrency. Both authors founded The Investor’s Podcast.
Similar Books
The Tax and Legal Playbook: Game-Changing Solutions to Your Small Business - Mark J. Kohler
What It's About
Be it for new or established firm owners, navigating both tax compliance and the broader system of law will get complicated and overwhelming. This is where The Tax and Legal Playbook comes to your rescue, offering practical solutions to business concerns raised by small business owners.
About the Author
With expertise in both law and accounting, CPA/lawyer Mark Kohler offers tried-and-tested tax and legal advice for small business owners looking to break into the industry. He also authored other books like 8 Steps to Start and Grow Your Business: Interactive Workbook with Digital Content.
Similar Books
- Tax Accounting: A Guide for Small Business Owners by Greg Shields
- What Your CPA Isn’t Telling You by Mark Kohler
The Why and How of Auditing: Auditing Made Easy - Charles B. Hall
What It's About
The Why and How of Auditing can answer all your auditing-related questions. As you are walked through the whole audit process, the book also offers best practices and invaluable insights on client acceptance, as well as topics revolving the issuance of audit opinion and completion of audit engagement.
About the Author
Similar Books
- Internal Auditing in Plain English: A Simple Guide to Super Effective ISO Audits by Craig Cochran
- Auditing for Dummies by Maire Loughran
Business as Usual: Books on Building and Growing Accounting Firms
This part is what you came for.
To help you reach your growth capstones, these books can serve as your North Star for building, developing, and expanding your firm. With actionable scaling strategies for your practice, you can evaluate, recalibrate, and set your firm’s goals in stone with these comprehensive playbooks.
Accounting for Small Business 2025 - Martin J. Kallman
What It's About
Made for small business owners, Accounting for Small Business 2025 is an excellent resource to get started with building your dream firm. A comprehensive guide for small business owners, this book covers basic accounting principles, simplified accounting tips for sales and purchases, keeping track of cash flow properly, budget planning, profit/sales ratio concept, and your overall business plan.
About the Author
Martin J. Kallman makes books specifically for small business owners, including the Taxes, Accounting, Bookkeeping Bible for tips on saving money and preventing IRS penalties, as well as Bookkeeping for Small Business 2025 and Small Business Taxes.
Similar Books
- The Essential Small Business Guide to Financial Management by DBR Publishing
- Accounting for Small Business Owners by Tycho Press
The Wealthy Accountant - Rob Nixon
What It's About
Created especially for accounting businesses, The Wealthy Accountant promises to bring a multi-disciplinary approach to breaking the “more money = more work” connection. It also provides actionable ideas for building substantial wealth, including targets and goal setting, designing your firm’s offerings, optimising your pricing, leveraging systems and technology, and driving profits, among others.
About the Author
Rob Nixon is the man behind Profitable Partners, a coaching program for established accounting businesses. From accounting software to networks to strategies, his Boardroom program offers comprehensive business coaching for accounting practices.
Similar Books
- Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- $100M Leads by Alex Hormozi
Double Your Accounting Firm - David Cristello and Joe Cassandra
What It's About
Packed with lessons on how the most successful firms grow faster, Double Your Accounting Firm can help keep your business from stagnating through a threefold action plan: securing the right clients, building stronger teams, and boosting profitability with well-developed workflows.
About the Author
David Cristello is the CEO and founder of Jetpack Workflow, a workflow automation software company especially created for accounting professionals, while Joe Cassandra is a former accounting professional turned finance copywriter, running the firm JC Copy.
Similar Books
- How to Build a Multimillion Dollar Firm by Chris Stamos, CPA
Read More: Top 8 Advisory Services Offered by CPA Firms
Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire - Dan Martell
What It's About
Speeding up your firm’s growth while reclaiming your freedom is something that most firm owners like you are working towards. Buy Back Your Time offers practical ways to do just that — by helping you to delineate between low-value and high-value tasks, re-shift your focus on core business strategies, and prioritise your personal time and overall health as well.
About the Author
Known as an in-demand coach in the SaaS industry, Dan Martell is an author, entrepreneur, and angel investor. He also co-authored the book Software as a Science: Unlock Limitless Recurring Revenue Without Losing Control.
Similar Books
- The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard
- The Four Pillars by Reza Hooda, FCA CTA
Scaling Your Cloud Accounting Practice - Brannon Poe, CPA
What It's About
Future-proofing your firm means adopting process changes. As opposed to otherwise traditional business setups, firm owners have been turning to growing virtual accounting practices. So, for whatever profit or revenue goal you’d want to target, Scaling Your Cloud Accounting Practice can help get your firm through the challenges of building powerhouse virtual teams that give you cost-effective and high-quality output.
About the Author
A former EY auditor, Brannon Poe, CPA helps facilitate accounting practice transitions since 2003. Having founded Poe Group Advisors, he champions coaching and training firm owners through consultancy services.
Similar Books
- Smartsourcing: Driving Innovation and Growth Through Outsourcing by Thomas M. Koulopoulos and Tom Roloff
- Nine Keys to World-Class Business Process Outsourcing by Mary Lacity and Leslie Willcocks
Accounting Operations: Sales, Marketing, and Beyond
Every business move you make adds up — and these operations, sales, and marketing playbooks can help inch your firm closer to the milestones you’re set to achieve. Integrate fresh and innovative ideas into your day-to-day processes by squeezing these books into your reading rotation.
Accounting Practices Don't Add Up! - Rob Nixon
What It's About
Accounting Practices Don’t Add Up! helps firms transition from outdated, traditional practices into more efficient, up-to-current ones. This book provides measures against potential time sinks and/or bottlenecks in your firm’s daily operations, as well as data-driven prescriptions for process improvement.
Similar Books
- The Automated Accountant by Geoff Plourde EA, CPA
- Accounting Technology by Xavier Dias
Selling to Serve: The Breakthrough Sales System for Accountants - Josh Ashford
What It's About
Specifically made for accountants and bookkeepers, Selling to Serve can also be a highly valuable resource for firm owners to gain insider knowledge on sales systems for accounting staff to adopt and apply to their line of work — and most importantly, you’ll discover what makes your clients want to say yes to you.
About the Author
James Ashford is an investor, entrepreneur, speaker, and author who helps businesses with strategies and industry best practices. He also has a podcast called Built to Sell where he tackles a diverse range of business topics, from 8-figure acquisitions to creating the best customer experiences.
Similar Books
- Winning at Sales by Taylor Welch
- Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson
The Accountant Marketer - Karen L. Reyburn, CPA
What It's About
Providing structure to your client acquisition approach,The Accountant Marketer can help you know the inner workings of your marketing machine better. This resource can provide the scaffolding for your firm’s processes that build, maintain, and secure client relationships.
About the Author
Karen L. Reyburn, CPA is an accountant and author who runs the accounting-focused marketing agency PF.
Similar Books
- 101 Marketing Strategies for Accounting, Law, Consulting, and Professional Services Firms by Troy Waugh
- Accounting for Marketing by Richard Wilson
General Accounting and Business Books
There’s no such thing as minutiae in accounting: the best firm owners strive to study their craft down to the last detail. So, whether it’s enhancing your accounting parlance or learning more industry trade secrets, these materials can help with boosting your overall accounting business expertise.
The Complete Beginner's Guide to the Big 4 Accounting Firms
What It's About
Having run the accounting game from time immemorial, the Big 4’s best (and worst) practices are excellent cases to either study, replicate, and/or tweak. The Complete Beginner’s Guide to the Big 4 Accounting Firms gives you essential bits and pieces from accounting giants Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG in leadership, longevity, and business acumen beyond the boundaries of accounting.
About the Author
Christian Wolfe is a private accountant and contributor to big4accountingfirms.com, analysing the latest news on the top four accounting firms and unpacking their policies as well.
Scaling Up - Verne Harnish
What It's About
If your firm has gone past its startup phase, then it’s ready for growth. Scaling Up helps firms like yours address key challenges like attracting and keeping the right people, offering diverse ranges of services to your clients, executing tasks, operations, and overall business processes the right way, and building your financial safety nets against foreseeable potential losses or otherwise.
About the Author
Verne Harnish is a keynote speaker, author, and private investor advocating for the Rockefeller approach to business habits. He also authored books like The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time and Start to Scale.
Start with Why - Simon Sinek
What It's About
One of the most popular books on leadership today, Start with Why helps you crystalise your firm’s purpose. This book encourages owners to identify, solidify, and market their firm’s unique value from its competitors, shift their clients’ perception of the services they offer (from mere commodities to invaluable resources), and keep these clients coming back beyond business transactions.
About the Author
Simon Sinek is a trained ethnographer, author, and speaker who has also authored bestselling books like Leaders Eat Last and The Infinite Game. He has also founded The Optimism Company and secured a publishing partnership with Penguin Random House named Optimism Press.
