21 best books for accountants and bookkeepers

Stuffocation: Living More With Less

By James Wallman

“The book explains how we end up with too much clutter in life and how a different approach of working smarter and valuing experiences more in life rather than owning things improves our happiness and productivity.”

The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck

By Mark Manson

“Helps keep you calm and focused on the bigger picture.”

Selling To Serve

By James Ashford

“Provides insight into how to give more value to your clients and get them buying more from you. It’s helped us think about how we sell to our clients, our pricing and service.”

How to Win Friends and Influence People

By Dale Carnegie

“This book changed how I talk and work with people and helped shape my interactions in a way that helps others and myself.”

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

By Phil Knight

“This is a true testament to the struggles and emotions you go through as a business owner.”

Start With Why

By Simon Sinek

“It really helped me focus on my values and why we’re in business rather than what we do. This helped us look at the direction of our firm and how we want to grow in the future.”

The Numbers Business

By Della Hudson

“Has helped so many novice bookkeepers/ accountants set up their own practice. Good advice throughout.”

The Lean Startup

By Eric Ries

“Many of my clients, including myself, are currently or have been a start-up. This is a great introduction to business.”

The 4-Hour Workweek

By Timothy Ferriss

“Inspired me to become selfemployed and realise that it’s all about the small victories that get you to where you want to go. This #1 New York Times best-selling author shows you how to live anywhere and escape the 9-5.”

The E-Myth and The E-Myth Revisited

By Michael Gerber

“It gave me a true understanding about what I needed to focus on and how to build a business. This book modelled how to set up our firm in a franchisetype scenario. When I read it back in 2008, it changed the trajectory of our firm moving forwards.”

Profit First

By Mike Michalowicz

“While the concept of the book isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, one concept stood out. I’ve used it in helping talk with many clients. Do you have a business or a job? If it’s a job, you might as well do it for someone else without all the stress of running a business.”

The Power of Habit

By Charles Duhigg

“It has helped to reshape the way I approach a behaviour that I want to change (or start). How to make starting (or stopping) habits easy.”

Traction

By Gino Wickman

“We have implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System discussed in the book and have experienced some really positive signs since establishing this.”

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

By Tim Grover

“I really liked this book because it explains that there are steps to becoming the best you. And it requires you to push yourself beyond what others are doing to get you there.”

Principles

By Ray Dalio

“Ray Dalio does a great job explaining how continuous improvement can be implemented in an organisation, and how criticism can be used to build rather than break down.”

Flying Solo: How To Go It Alone in Business

By Robert Gerrish and Sam Leader

“After deciding to leave the security of a corporate life or go it alone, I had a reasonably clear idea of what I wanted to do but no plan on how to do it. I found Flying Solo at the perfect time to help visualise my goals.”

Value-Based Pricing

By Harry Macdivitt

“It helped me learn about how adding value to clients is key in pricing.”

You Can Heal Your Life

By Louise Hay

“She taught me that I have choice, choice to even get out of bed in the morning. So if I am choosing everything why would I choose anything but being positive.”

The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

By Pietra Rivoli

“By focusing on one white T-shirt, this is a great illustration of the people and places involved in international trade.”

The Digital Firm

By Will Farnell

“Some great ideas and inspiration.”

The Chimp Paradox

By Steve Peters

“It is mentally challenging when running a business, therefore if you can control your own emotions and responses, you can then proceed to control your business.”

by Daniel Collier B2B community manager, Receipt Bank