Payroll Accounting by Bernard Bieg and Judith Toland

Bernard Bieg and Judith Toland, Payroll Accounting (Cengage Learning; Independence, KY; 2014) 496 pages.

This is a college textbook for students of payroll accounting. It covers all of the topics related to the subject of payroll accounting, as it applies in the United States. The topics covered include:

• Social Security taxes
• Medicare taxes
• Federal and State unemployment taxes, and
• Federal individual income tax withholding.

Also included with this book is a CD-ROM with payroll templates, and the relevant templates students can use to complete a payroll project. Some editions of this book come with an electronic key for on-line assignments and graded quizzes. Be careful if you buy this book to ensure that the electron key is included, and if your particular course requires it. In short, this is a good example of a comprehensive textbook on United States payroll accounting..

A virtue of this book is that all chapters are of a similar length with each devoted to a specific topic. All topics are covered in sufficient detail for a college level payroll accounting class. He explanations of concepts are clear. Each chapter has a useful review section. The on-line grading and assessment consisted of weekly quizzes, plus med-term and end of term exams. The quizzes were straight forward application of material covered in the text. Quiz and exam format comprised true/false questions and multiple choice questions. Some of these questions used imprecise language that are likely to confuse students who struggle with English grammar, or have a first language other than English. The exams can be a source of frustration confuse due to their reliance on grammar, double-negatives and deliberately imprecise language.

Overall, this is an adequate entry-level payroll accounting textbook, even if it is somewhat expensive. But what textbook isn't expensive these days?

New Ideas From Dead CEOs by Todd Buchholz

New Ideas From Dead CEOs: lasting Lessons from the Corner Office by Todd Buchholz, (New York: MJF Books; 2007), 300 pages.

We all believe that the present time is the peak time for knowledge and wisdom. This book explicitly challenges that proposition or belief by suggesting that iconic business leaders and business founders from the past can provide valuable life and business lessons to people today. In this short book, Buchholz examines the lives and and business challenges of a dozen business leaders. The people he examines are self-made successes that faced numerous ups and owns on their way to making business history. The book is divided into chapters that, for the most part, chronicle one business leader and the business they built. For example, he reviews the life of A.P. Giannini and how he built the Bank of America, Sam Walton and Walmart, Ray Croc at McDonalds, Walt Disney at Disney, Akio Morita at Sony, and Estee Lauder at the company that bears her name. Two chapters cover two people: one covers Thomas Watson Sr. and Jr. at IBM, and another covers Mary Kay Ash and Estee Lauder before he writes a separate chapter on both women. Each chapter provides biographic material including their upbringing, their early careers, decisions they made., and events that forged their distinct goals and aspirations, as well as challenges they faced during the establishment of their business and how they overcame obstacles.

The strength of this book is the wide range of lessons it covers. For example, the story of Walt Disney's loss of ownership of his creative content in the 1920s as an animator formed his resolve to retain ownership of Mickey Mouse, the character the built the Disney corporation. By contrast, the author also shows the importance of concentrating on low prices to the development of Walmart, the use of research and development in the growth of Sony, and the willingness for franchisees to experiment in the development of McDonalds.

This short book is a good introduction in to the lives of successful business founders, and their unique and varied experiences that led to their growth and ability to dominate their various industries.  The book contains a useful end notes section for readers interested in getting more detailed works of the people covered in this book, for example, biographies, autobiographies and studies. It is a book suitable for the curious reader and business owner alike, or student interested in the factors that led to some major businesses becoming what they are today.