CPDbox Recommends: Why and What to Read
I am a passionate reader. I read A LOT.
I read EVERY SINGLE DAY, usually 1 or 2 hours (I almost never watch TV though).
It makes about 100+ books plus tons of articles each year.
I started to read when I was 4. That time, I read only fairy tales and stories in my native language.
When I was 15, I started to read in English and ever since then, I read books in 3 different languages.
Why am I telling you this?
Sometimes I get questions like “How can I master IFRS like you?” Or, “How can I learn fast? How can I figure the things out?” or even “What can I do in my life? Do you think I can change my career?”
Hmmm, I’m probably not qualified enough to give you a full and comprehensive psychological or developmental counseling, but my first and biggest advice is:
READ.
Believe me – you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Everything is in the books – you just have to go and grab them.
Except for learning a lot, here is what you can achieve with regular reading:
- Your literacy and expressing skills dramatically improve;
- Your creativity becomes flourishing;
- Your imagination develops;
and as a result, your problem-solving skills and idea generation abilities sharpen. That can add value to YOU as a person, an employee, a colleague, a student, whatever.
Where to start? What should you read?
In this article, I’d like to make a few suggestions for you.
The books I describe in this article made a profound impact on my life, both professional and personal and therefore, from the bottom of my heart, I recommend checking them out!
You will find not only IFRS books down there, so don’t be discouraged by my first 2 choices and go ahead reading!
Note: All links to books listed below are my affiliate links. It means that if you buy any of these books by clicking the links below, I’ll receive a few cents from Amazon and I can get another book. Just to be totally honest with you!
Book #1: International GAAP 2016 (EY & Wiley)
I love this book. Really, love it.
I’ve read a number of books with the focus on IFRS, but not a single one comes even close. Great job, Ernst&Young!
The book consists of 3 volumes with 4 000+ pages, so it looks pretty intimidating, I know.
It contains the guidance on almost every single IFRS principle you can think of, illustrated with lots of practical examples and even the extracts from the real financial statements.
If you know IFRS and want to solve some of your troubles, then this book is a really good investment.
Warning: If you are just starting with IFRS or you are preparing yourself for your exams, then do not buy it (instead, check out my IFRS Kit then 😉 ).
It’s not written in a simple language and therefore it can be quite hard to read, especially when you are not well versed in the main IFRS rules or its basic terminology.
Also, it’s not printed on a high-quality paper – I understand why; 4 000 pages weight about 5 kg even on a thin paper, plus we protect and save our environment. But, it’s not very easy to manipulate.
Book #2: A Students Guide to International Financial Reporting Standards (Clare Finch)
While the above book is for professionals and advanced IFRS preparers, this book contains elementary knowledge for students.
I got this book as a present from one of my subscribers and friends (thank you, Mohammed R., but the next time, please do me a favor and write a nice note to me inside! :)).
The book describes the basic IFRS rules and tells you why. Plus, it’s colorful and fun. It is really great as your quick and low-cost starting point. If you like my videos and articles, then you will like the style of this book as well.
On the other hand, don’t expect to learn everything here, as there’s only a limited number of very basic examples. For illustrating the point it’s very fine though!
There are a couple of more books in this series that are worth to check out:
- A Students Guide to Group Accounts
- A Students Guide to Auditing
- A Students Guide to Corporate Finance and Financial Management
Book #3: Mindset (Carole Dweck)
Be totally honest with yourself now: When you face some challenging and difficult task, do the following thoughts sometimes come accross your mind?
“I will not make it! I am not smart enough!”
“I can’t pass this exam, because I have no accounting bones. I am not intelligent enough.”
“I can’t be promoted in my job, because these reports are so difficult and I will never learn it!”
“My English is bad and it will never improve!”
My dear, these thoughts are for losers and you need to get rid of them.
This books explains that you can select one of two approaches to anything in your life:
- Either you chose fixed mindset (the above thoughts are typical examples), or
- You can chose growth mindset (for example: “OK, my English is not good right now, but I can focus on it, work on it and improve it!”).
You will learn that YOU CAN GROW if you are willing to.
This book will show you not only how to improve yourself and your skills, but also how to speak to your children, what kind of feedback they need and how to encourage them so that they can turn into self-confident and successful adults.
For this reason, I strongly recommend this book for every single teacher, tutor, professor, coach, trainer and – a parent.
Book #4: The One Thing (Gary Keller)
Everyone wants to be successful, right?
But, the problem is, that in today’s world, the success is quite hard to achieve.
Why?
Because, you have so much to do!
Killer deadlines, e-mail overload, social network updates, pressure from your boss, and then you go home and need to spend some time with your family.
I felt so lost a few years ago, because I was simply flooded by small tasks and did not know what to do first.
And, I always believed that my time management was poor, so all I needed to do was to get some good time planner and stick with it.
Then I came across this book and realized that I did it all wrong.
I read this book some time ago, but I still remember my “take-away”:
You need to find out what’s the ONE THING that makes you move further and then stick with it no matter what.
The book is packed with inspirational stories, practical advices and it has a potential to change your mind and the way you view your life and your time allocation.
Maybe you’ll realize that you waste a lot of your time (and life) now, but that’s a good thing. Then you can start working on improvement.
There’s a powerful message delivered by this phenomenal book and I strongly recommend!
Book #5: Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life (Lisa Chaney)
Sometimes I read autobiographies of famous people and I strongly recommend this one, even if you are not interested in fashion and designers.
We all know that Coco Chanel was a famous designer in 20th century who profoundly influenced the way women in today’s Western culture dress.
Maybe you also know that it was Coco who introduced trousers for women and invented probably the most successful perfume in history – Chanel N.5.
What you probably don’t know is that Coco Chanel was born in a poor family and her childhood was very sad and unhappy.
But, she was very ambitious and powerful, and she pursued her own goal to get out of poverty and create something wonderful.
On her journey, she always surrounded herself with the right people and worked very hard.
I recommend this book because it can inspire you, entertain you and teach you a lot about the life of “high society” in the 20th century.
Other books
Selecting only 5 books out of hundreds is extremely difficult and therefore, let me list a few other books that impressed me and are worth reading:
- The Power of Full Engagement (Tony Schwartz)
This book shows you how to balance stress and recovery while sustaining absolutely high performance. Many successful athletes and top performers applied principles described here in their lives. Full of inspirational stories and fun. - Give and Take (Adam Grant)
The subtitle of this book is “Why helping others drives our success”. I’ ve been reading this book for a few days and I can strongly recommend it because it can change the way you operate to push you towards success and feel great about it. Thank you, Richard, for suggesting this book to me! - The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion)
I read a lot of novels and fiction works, too. The Rosie Project tells a story about an odd, but somehow charming professor Don (with Asperger syndrome) seeking love. This is an incredibly humorous and hearty story (not “chick-lit” or “harlequin style” book, even my husband enjoyed it).
What do you read?
Please, please, please – do me a favor!
If you have some favorite book, please share it with us in a comment below. Whether it’s an IFRS book, a self-development book or a fiction book, it does not matter. If it’s worth to check out, then share – thank you!
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I like the books: Great Controversy,Desire of Ages and healthful living,written by Ellen G White,an American Author whose qrittings have been translated to more than 50 languages.
Thanks for your tips, Njabulo, I’ll check them out!
Wow!!! Just made a list of books I have to get for my reading and library. Thanks a million Silvia for the great impact you making on my life.
Thanks for your kind words 🙂 If you have some good recommendation, put it in here 🙂
Thanks a lot .May God bless you indeed.
Hi Silvia,
Based on your experience and preference, if I want to buy one of the big 4 accounting books, what did you recommend for me:
1- EY International GAAP,
2- DTT IGAAP,
3- PWC Manual of Accounting, or
4- KPMG Insights for IFRS.
Thanks much!
Omar
Dear Omar,
I think all 4 are good, but I really love n. 1 – EY International GAAP. It’s huge, 3 volumes of 4 000 pages, but for me, great read. If you look for something lighter, then look at those remaining three (I don’t have a preference here). S.
Thanks a lot Silvia!
Excellent post!
I`m reading the book -The One-, a great book!
Thanks again Silvia,
Bregards, from Colombia, South America
Excellent work and please keep it up. Please take a look of my favorite i.e. “THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI – Robin Sharma”. Hope you’ll enjoy it.
Regards,
I wrote this piece sometime ago. Dedicating it to you.
Books that Ask…
Like a book? Borrow it or buy it, you do not even have to even read it because we are all so busy; simply toss them in a corner and forget it! They are going nowhere.
Thankfully books do not protest, no matter what you do with them, they don’t ask: “when will you find time for me?”.
The other day I was the last person in a huge library when I think I heard a soft voice whispering: “Look at me”.
I was so immersed in my work that there was hardly any time for me to to be startled.
“Look at me”, this time the tone was soft but many voices, all of them descending from everywhere.
I raise my head instinctively and see all the books in the shelves come live. They…They are coming out of the locked shelves one by one and floating in the air as if some on invisible hands.
“Look at me, I am so beautiful because so many people put in so much time and effort to give me this form, I have so much to share with you because I contain the scholarship and sacrifice of my author”.
“And look at you! You think of me as your property which entitles you to do with me as you please. How sad that you have locked me in these shelves. Nobody has the time to wipe the dust and keep us clean, or to even flip through some pages once in a blue moon. Will I ever find the reader for which I was written?”
It is as if all books are now out of the shelves and giving an expression to the voices with their movements. Their covers look so live, and the colours so bright, the text on them illuminating.
I watch this parade of books with eye popping amusement, guilty of how unfair and irresponsible I have been in buying books but not giving them a fair read, not even caring from them. Every book is worth more than the a piece of paper it is written on.
S.C. Lewis books.
It has been always like very interesting and trustful conversation for me, he opens his thoughts to a reader without any pressing or passion to change his mind.
Wonderful work there. Keep it up.
Hi Silvia,
I have ordered a book Wiley on IFRS as per recommendation of my friend who did Dip in IFRS. Is it good book and can it give me a clear picture of application of IFRS
Dear Silvia,
i had came to learn about you,when am started studying IFRS, and now I had completed my IFRS .Its great to follow your videos and lecturing like a mother pampering her children…including this reading also…thank you very much.
Thank you, Raphael, for your kind words 🙂 I have so many children! 🙂
Thanks for the guidance. I have recently read “Becoming a servant leader” and “Power of positive thinking”. Please do not stop giving out IFRS guidance.
Dear Tendai, thanks for your suggestion. I’ve read “Power of positive thinking” already, but will check the second book. S.
Dear Silivia,
I would wish to know your views regarding SIMPLIFYING IFRS to suite for Micro entities. There some countries that have simplified them, like Zambia in Africa. Is this project applicable as far as IFRS and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are concern? If yes what are the implications?. How about the concept of comparability of financial information? Please advice as an experienced guy in this field. Thanks!
Dear Gerini, I’m not sure what Zambia did, but IASB came up with IFRS for SMEs – this is basically a standard containing simplified rules for smaller and medium enterprises (it would fit to micro entities as you named it). IFRS for SMEs are derived from IFRS, but they contain lots of exceptions or simplifications and SMEs are encouraged to report under them. I plan to write something about it in the future, to give a hint. S.
Dear Silvia,
Greetings from Brazil! Thank you a lot for your article. Very inspiring. I’ve shared it with all my IFRS team. We’ve been using your website as an excellent source of information. Congratulations! Regards, Pedro.
Thank you, Pedro, for spreading a word about my website, I really appreciate it!
Dear Silvia, You may be interested too read Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It may mature your appetite for reading. NNT has also authored “The Black Swan and Antifragile” books that extend the same theme in a no nonsense way. Regards. Sobby
This sounds very interesting, Sobby – the first title immediately caught my attention. Thank you!
whao! i am very grateful and i really appreciate your skills and impact added to so many people career myself inclusive.
Thank you! 🙂
Thanks Silvia, you are dedicated and a caring person.
I recommend “The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Making and Breaking of Nations” byJacob Soll.
It discusses the role bookkeeping and accounting has had throughout history.
Also “The Ascent of Money” by Niall Ferguson is a great book which has later been made into a BBC documentary series. However if you have watched the series you should still read the book as it goes in much more detail.
Oh and finally Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Everything which I bought thinking it was about history of nation but instead it is about the universe and our planet. It is full of interesting facts, easy to read and although it is about 600 pages I went through it in record time as I couldn’t put it down.
I agree with Sylvia. READ! I started late in life, only embracing reading when I was around 24 and it is now one of my favourite things to do.
Dear Joakim, amazing and valuable suggestions, thanks a lot! I especially like reading about history, so I’m eager to read more about “everything” as well as “accounting”. When I’m tired from reading development books, I often take some book about English or other nation’s history, so this will be a nice twist. Thumbs up!
Silvia M. I hope i do not hurt you by stating some thing which is the most valuable book in the world! And Yes if you can get it in English Translation it would be very good for you to read, or you will find it in your own language! The Name of the Book is Quran Kareem. Please make sure to read/recite it, i give you guarantee you will not regret!
I recommend you to read “River of Fire” by Qurrat ul ain Haider
Hi ma’am
You are fabulous woman.
Thanks a lot
Ayman
Hi Silvia. Great article. I have realized many successful people do really read technical as well as success books. My recommendations will be Influence by Robert Cialdini, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy (just started this one by already love it), Mind Power by John Kehoe and Power thoughts by Joyce Meyer. Obviously that’s not the whole list there are lots of other books!
Dear Collins,
thank you for your recommendations. Wow, I need to praise myself for an awesome idea to ask my readers for the tips – and you contributed nicely, thank you! It’s sometimes difficult to find the right books.
And yes, I agree that successful people read a lot of motivation and self-development books. They helped me personally to get rid of wrong beliefs about myself&people around me, plus focus on going on. Thank you!
Hi silvia
Now I got the secret of what has taken you to this level. Thanks for recommending the books. I got inspired and get back with my review of these books. My recommendation would be who will die when you cry from Robin Sharma. I liked it for its simplicity and no nonsense tone.
Thank you for your recommendation, Latha! Hm, I truly think that it’s the man’s desire and will to take himself up, but I agree that reading is by far the easiest and cost-effective method to do so 🙂 I will eagerly wait for your reviews!
Hi Silvia,
Further to my email today morning, I am inspired reading the comments come through for your newest article:-)
Thanks to all good people around who commented (or simply appreciated and wish) and encouraging Silvia to continue what she was doing for all of us in the past.
I always believe engaging with people, understanding what they need and delivering it with a passion and strong note…that’s all about Success…
Thanks Silvia for all the books and sure I will soon look for it:-) Thanks Im originally from EY and you recommended IGAPP of EY, yes I know a lot of IFRS secrets are there:-)
In 1999, my good friend recommended me the book called “How to win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie”.. After 17 years, now I started again reading that book…worth scan through and it will make a BIG impact…Thanks
Dear Jerad,
thank you for both your e-mail (I will respond a bit later, because your generous offer grabbed my interest and I want to think about it) and this comment. I really appreciate that you find some time in your busy schedule to contribute and yes, everyone (not just me) can benefit from all these wonderful comments. In moments like this, we can all feel we do some good for others – just to do any good, for no other particular reason. It’s a little bit, but counts!
I read Dale Carnegie’s book about 10 years ago and it still has its honourable place in my library. It’s old wisdom that still applies. One of the first development books I’ve ever read. Thank you for reminding me!
Well done Silvia. Great job
Hi Silvia,
What a big breath of fresh air ! much appreciated !
i am reading Corporate Governance by MOnks and Minow, lots of examples of corporate failures.
Next week i am getting rid of my cable tv, so much money, time, lost in this and the opportnity cost of reading and learning is so high, appreciate this article a lot !
thank you !
Dear Francois, thank you for the hint to the book, will check that out.
And – congrats to your decision to get rid of TV. I still have one, but I don’t watch. None of it. My kids watch a little bit, but I prefer to hear news from my car radio (when driving kids to school) and that’s it. I can’t really say how much time I saved for my beloved reading 🙂 Thumbs up!
Hi Silvia (who is my hero and inspiration),
I suspect you might have read this book already: The Holy Bible.
In my humble opinion, anyone who is or is not a believer should read from cover-to-cover: The Old and New Testaments.
I did not become a believer until I was 51. It is a book full of wisdom of and for life.
Kind regards,
Jun
Dear Jun,
yes, I’ve read the Holy Bible, mainly the Old Testament. And yes, the stories are very mindful in there. By the way, what made you became a believer in 51? S.
Gracias Silvia! tengo una lista larga de libros por leer… con los que nos diste… tengo como 2 o 3 más!! tendré que sacar tiempo!
Un saludo!!
(Espero que español sea uno de tus tres idiomas)
Saludo, Liz y gracias 🙂 No, Spanish is unfortunately not one of my 3 languages 🙂 But I started to learn it, because I love it. Thanks again!
Dear Silvia
Fantastic article. Thank you.
Kind regards
Ruth
Thanks 🙂
Hello Silvia,
I like very much your articles about IFRS. Thank you to share with us your knowledge and opinions.
I am also grateful because you share other information, as the books that you think are interesting.
One book that I recommend (I read it and I maintain in my bedside table to read again some chapters or paragraphs) is the follow:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, by Stephen R. Covey (Author)
(it’s a classic of leadership but, in particular, I think it is about personal development)
and also, from the same author: The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness
Best regards.
Dear Fernanda, thank you very much for your kind words and recommendation. I especially like reading development and self-help books, so definitely, I’ll take your advice. By the way, have you had any chance to check out Steve Pavlina’s blog? He is a former prisoner and now very successful blogger, I really read a lot of his articles. I think you would like it, it’s here: Steve Pavlina’s blog
I will check. I didn’t know this blogger. Thank you again.
Your recommendation is great, I’m looking for an audio articles like that. Thanks so much. Wish you the best, Silva!
Glad to help, Minh!
Thanks for your list of favourite books. My favourite inspirational book is ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ by David SChwartz
Dear Chintan, thank you! Actually, I’ve read this book several years ago – I needed some encouragement before I started this website. Highly recommended!
Thnx Silva.
You can choose to read book called “Exponential Organisation” by Salim Ismile. One of the very good book on todays fast changing world
Thank you, Sachin, I’ll check that out 🙂
Silva
You’re a blessing….
Thank you, Seyi, don’t you have some books to recommend? 🙂
A very good guide to reading especially – Mindset (Carole Dweck). | look forward to ordering a copy soon. Pleas keep up the good work.
Believe me, Aminu, Dweck’s book will empower you in believing yourself and persuade you that just a little switch in your mindset makes wonders 🙂
Down spirited but now inspired to move on without age barrier. Best regards and good job
Dear Edmund, thank you, I’m very glad I helped a bit to inspire you. Also, please, check Leo Babauta’s blog if you feel down and like living without mindfulness. He will definitely show you how to live simply, but still mindfully and have a rich life: Zen Habits (Leo Babauta’s blog)
Dear Silvia,
You are ruling not only my accounting skills in a right way, from now on socials as well.
Thanks a lot.
Dear Mamuka,
thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate it from you, because I know you have been my loyal subscriber and follower for years. For me, it’s very rewarding to know that I can still inspire you after these years. Take care! S.
Many thanks for your good job.
Thank you, Ibrahima 🙂