Survey of Accounting, 4th edition, is designed to cover both financial and managerial accounting in a single 16-week course, presenting the material in a style easy for non-accounting majors to grasp. It incorporates the same pedagogical innovations that have made Edmondsș financial and managerial titles such fast-growing successes in the marketplace, including his unique Horizontal Financial Statements Model and a multiple accounting cycle approach that demonstrates the impact of related events over a series of accounting cycles.

About the Author

Thomas P. Edmonds, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Accounting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He has been actively involved in teaching accounting principles throughout his academic career. Dr. Edmonds has coordinated the accounting principles courses at the University of Houston and UAB. He has taught introductory accounting in mass sections and in distance learning programs. He has received five prestigious teaching awards, including the Alabama Society of CPAs Outstanding Educator Award, the UAB President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and the distinguished Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for excellence in classroom teaching. He has written numerous articles that have appeared in many publications, including Issues in Accounting, the Journal of Accounting Education, Advances in Accounting Education, Accounting Education: A Journal of Theory, Practice and Research, the Accounting Review, Advances in Accounting, the Journal of Accountancy, Management Accounting, the Journal of Commercial Bank Lending, the Banker’s Magazine, and the Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance. Dr. Edmonds has served as a member of the editorial board for Advances in Accounting: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations and Issues in Accounting Education. He has published five textbooks, five practice problems (including two computerized problems), and a variety of supplemental materials including study guides, work papers, and solutions manuals. Dr. Edmonds’s writing is influenced by a wide range of business experience. He is a successful entrepreneur. He has worked as a management accountant for Refrigerated Transport, a trucking company. Dr. Edmonds also worked in the not-for-profit sector as a commercial lending officer for the Federal Home Loan Bank. In addition, he has acted as a consultant to major corporations, including First City Bank of Houston (now Citi Bank), AmSouth Bank in Birmingham (now Regions Bank), Texaco, and Cortland Chemicals. Dr. Edmonds began his academic training at Young Harris Community College in Young Harris, Georgia. He received a B.B.A. degree with a major in finance from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. He obtained an M.B.A. degree with a concentration in finance from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. His Ph.D. degree with a major in accounting was awarded by Georgia State University. Dr. Edmonds’s work experience and academic training have enabled him to bring a unique user perspective to this textbook.



Christopher T. Edmonds, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance at the UAB Collat School of Business.  He coordinates the mass section face-to-face and online principles of accounting courses. Dr. Edmonds specializes in developing flipped and online accounting courses and frequently speaks on these topics at universities and conferences. His passion for helping students learn inspired him to create hundreds of short videos teaching the fundamental concepts of accounting. Dr. Edmonds has received six prestigious teaching awards including the UAB Faculty Student Success Award, UAB Transformative Online Course Award, UAB Loudell Ellis Robinson Classroom Teaching Award, UAB Disability Support Recognition Award, and the Virginia Tech Favorite Faculty Award. He has published three textbooks where he is the lead video author and has written numerous articles that have appeared in publications including The Accounting Review, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Issues in Accounting Education, Advances in Accounting Education, Advances in Accounting, and Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting. Dr. Edmonds began his academic training at Colorado State University. He obtained an M.B.A. degree from UAB. His Ph.D. degree with a major in accounting was awarded by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.



Professor Olds, PhD, is associate professor of accounting at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He serves as the coordinator of the introduction to accounting courses at VCU. Professor Olds received his AS degree from Brunswick Junior College in Brunswick, Georgia (now College of Coastal Georgia). He received a BBA in accounting from Georgia Southern College (now Georgia Southern University); his MPA and PhD degrees are from Georgia State University. After graduating from Georgia Southern, he worked as an auditor with the U.S. Department of Labor in Atlanta, Georgia. A former CPA in Virginia, Professor Olds has published articles in various professional journals and presented papers at national and regional conferences. He also served as the faculty adviser to the VCU chapter of Beta Alpha Psi for five years. In 1989, he was recognized with an Outstanding Faculty Vice-President Award by the national Beta Alpha Psi organization. Professor Olds has received both the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Distinguished Service Award from the VCU School of Business. Most recently he received the university’s award for maintaining High Ethical and Academic Standards While Advocating for Student-Athletes and Their Quest Towards a Degree.


Frances M. McNair, PhD, CPA, holds the KPMG Peat Marwick Professorship in Accounting at Mississippi State University (MSU). She has been involved in teaching principles of accounting for the past 12 years and currently serves as the coordinator for the principles of accounting courses at MSU. Dr. McNair was selected as Accounting Educator of the year by the Mississippi Society of CPAs in 2014. She joined the MSU faculty in 1987 after receiving her PhD from the University of Mississippi. The author of various articles that have appeared in the Journal of Accountancy, Management Accounting, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, The Practical Accountant, Taxes, and other publications, she also coauthored the book The Tax Practitioner with Dr. Denzil Causey. Dr. McNair is currently serving on committees of the American Taxation Association, the American Accounting Association, and the Institute of Management Accountants as well as numerous School of Accountancy and MSU committees.


Bor-Yi Tsay, PhD, CPA, is professor of accounting at Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw). He has taught principles of accounting courses at the University of Houston and University of Alabama at Birmingham. He currently teaches principles of accounting courses in Kennesaw. Dr. Tsay received the 1996 Loudell Ellis Robinson Excellence in Teaching Award. He has also received numerous awards for his writing and publications, including the John L. Rhoads Manuscripts Award, John Pugsley Manuscripts Award, Van Pelt Manuscripts Award, and three certificates of merit from the Institute of Management Accountants. His articles have appeared in Journal of Accounting Education, Management Accounting, Journal of Managerial Issues, CPA Journal, CMA Magazine, Journal of Systems Management, and Journal of Medical Systems. Dr. Tsay received a BS degree in agricultural economics from National Taiwan University, an MBA degree from Eastern Washington University, and a PhD degree in accounting from the University of Houston.