7 Accounting and Finance Books You Should Read in 2024

2024 has the potential to be the year to take your finance career to the next level.

While there’s no shortage of networking events and professional qualifications to embark on, there are simpler ways to boost your progress.

Inspired by AAT’s list of must-read accountancy books we’ve put together a list of incredible finance reads to complement your formal training and help you become a more strategic accounting professional. 

Here are the top 7 accounting and finance books that you should be reading this year.

1) How to Build a Better Business Plan: A hands-on action guide for business owners

Author: Alastair Thomson

When it comes to building your own business from scratch, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start off from. Having been a CFO for over 30 years, Alastair Thomson provides a comprehensive and realistic guide on how to create a thriving business. Essentially, the How to Build a Better Business Plan: A hands-on action guide for business owners book, helps you create an evidence-based business plan which instils in investors and lenders the confidence to back your business.

This book provides readers with the necessary skills and knowledge they require to identify their biggest source of competition, the significance behind preparing a business plan and how to navigate through it, and how investors and lenders actually read a business plan. 

2) Accounts Demystified: The Astonishingly Simple Guide To Accounting 

Author: Anthony Rice 

Written specifically for finance professionals, this book acts as a simple guide to the fundamental accounting principles. It focuses on all the major concepts accounting professionals should be aware of, while teaching them how to master their company’s accounts, gain an understanding of balance sheets, profit and loss accounts as well as the cash flow systems. 

All in all, whether you’re managing a small company, are an entrepreneur or are working towards becoming an accountant, this reader-friendly guide will equip you with all the essential principles of accounting you should be aware of, along with the newest accounting regulations and advice on how to keep personal accounts

3) The Finance Book: Understand the numbers even if you’re not a finance professional

Authors: Stuart Warner and Si Hussain

Often finance books are quite difficult to read, being quite terminology-heavy, which requires readers to have at least some knowledge of finance concepts and terms. 

The premise of this book is to provide useful financial information in a concise format, in an effort to help readers gain a better understanding of business finance terminology and concepts. You can make sense of the concepts explored in this book, without having any previous knowledge in finance. 

Shortlisted in the ‘Practical Manager’ category for the 2018 Management Book of the Year prize, by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the British Library, it really is no surprise why this book made the list. 

A focal point of this book is that each chapter is a standalone topic, which means you don’t need to read the book from start till end to understand the concepts. You can pick and choose which chapters to explore.

4) The Weird and Wonderful World of Accountancy 

Authors: Holly Close and Marvin Close

This book is unlike any other. From exploring Ancient Rome and the French Revolution, to Al Capone and the invention of the bubble this eccentric book takes on an alternative approach in the way all things finance are explored. 

Learn about the origins of The Great Stork Derby, explore why you may find the IRS at rock gigs and find out which celebrities can also do double-entry bookkeeping, with enough jokes and quotes to keep you entertained. 

The Weird and Wonderful World of Accountancy pushes against the notion that accounting is boring, by exploring stories, facts and quotes that will undoubtedly intrigue accountants and non-accountants alike. 

One thing’s for sure. After reading this book you’ll never look at a balance sheet or auditing in the same way again.

5) Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean (Revised Edition)

Authors: Karen Berman and Joe Knight, with John Case

Called “the best, clearest guides to the numbers” by Inc. magazine, this must-read book was written specifically for decision makers who don’t have any expertise or wider knowledge in finance. 

A favourite amongst managers, this jargon-free guide teaches managers the basics of finance in order to help them drive their business. Along with that, not only does this book help managers understand what the numbers mean, but also why they matter. 

This helpful guide comes complete with engaging stories from real-life companies and addresses questions around the financial crisis, ultimately giving managers the confidence to navigate through the complexities of numbers. 

6) The Psychology of Money

Author: Morgan Housel

With over 30,000 reviews on Amazon, out of which 93% of those reviews rating it 4 or 5 stars, it really comes as a no-brainer as to why this book has made the list. 

This book adopts a unique perspective on money through the eyes of human psychology, suggesting a clear and comprehensive method about how to have a positive outlook in an increasingly challenging and complex financial world. 

While money investing, personal finances and financial business decisions are typically taught under the maths umbrella, real world people don’t tend to make their financial decisions on spreadsheets.

So, this book serves as a guide of how to navigate through the strange ways people tend to think of money and how to make sense of finance.

7) How Finance Works: The HBR Guide to Thinking Smart About the Numbers

Author: Mihir Desai 

If you’re a newcomer in the world of finance then this book is for you!

Acting as an introductory course into the world of financial systems, this book guides readers through how to conduct financial analysis, explains key concepts in the market and explores valuation.

Diving into engaging case studies, interactive exercise, colourful visuals and a conversational style of tone, Desai covers a range of topics that will equip you with the knowledge and skills you require to understand how finance works. 

Reading about accounting and finance doesn’t have to be dry or dull! With these interesting books on your side, you’ll be excited to dive in and learn new skills that will boost your finance career. 

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