Page 9 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Preface

Business is the backbone of American society and is one of the keys to making our system
work as well as it has for over two hundred years. Yet as a body of knowledge, business is
much younger, and in its brief history, there have been few attempts to present the disci-
pline of business in a single place. The major purpose of the Encyclopedia of Business and
Finance, Second Edition is to summarize the body of knowledge that we know as business in
one place and in language appropriate to the layperson.
This two-volume collection of over 315 articles presents a wealth of information about
the major functional areas of business: accounting, economics, finance, information sys-
tems, law, management, and marketing. Articles vary in length and depth, in bibliographic
support, and in writing style. Thus, the reader will encounter a variety of approaches to and
perspectives about business. Some articles are quantitative, since some aspects of business
are numerically based. Other articles tend more toward the qualitative to accommodate the
more descriptive aspects of business. Some of the articles present an historical perspective,
incorporating long-validated knowledge, while other articles focus on current concepts and
more recent data. Other articles provide “how-to” advice. Regardless of the approach, avail-
able data are accurate to the best of each writer’s knowledge as of 2006. All articles have the
same goal: to provide useful knowledge about the business and financial world.
Because of their importance, special treatment has been given to two subject areas:
careers and ethics. In each area, an overview article is followed by an article about that topic
in each functional area of business. Thus, there are articles about careers in accounting,
careers in economics, and so forth. There is a similiar series of articles about ethics.
There is also a strong emphasis on organizations in the fields of business and govern-
ment. Wherever an organization is discussed, the article provides contact information about
it, including a Web site.
Relevant business-related federal legislation is included in this work. Articles on all acts
that have had a major impact on business and the government agencies that regulate them
are included in the Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia of Business and Finance, Second Edition includes 32 new articles. The major
areas of these new contributions are in the applications of technology to business (such as
cyber crime, e-marketing, identity theft, and online education), new areas of business
knowledge (including agency theory, earnings management, forensic accounting, green

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