In This Guide:

Why background?

Background sources (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, etc.) provide well established summary and factual information. Useful for:

basic concepts and established viewpoints
historical context and relationships to other topics
specialized terms and definitions
data, facts, formulas

Accounting: Encyclopedias...

A guide to resources for accounting and auditing.

Online reference collections

I suggest starting with these online reference collections. But below there are titles of individual encyclopedias and dictionaries ... and links to some of them.

Gale eBooks from Gale
Full-text access to 400+ resources covering a broad selection of topics.

Covers arts, business, communication, drama, history, medicine, religion, social science and more.

Encyclopedias and handbooks

I suggest starting with the first volume of the Blackwell Encyclopedia ... if you're new to the field. The two volumes of the Accountants' Handbook will provide far more detail!

Accountants' Handbook, Volume 1:
Financial Accounting and General Topics
by D. R. Carmichael; O. Ray Whittington CPA PhD; Lynford Graham
Call Number: Ref HF 5621 .A22 2007

11th edition.
Accountants' Handbook, Volume 2:
Special Industries and Special Topics
by D. R. Carmichael; O. Ray Whittington CPA PhD; Lynford Graham
Call Number: Ref HF 5621 .A22 2007

11th edition.
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management. Volume 1: Accounting by Colin Clubb (ed.)
Call Number: Raynor Ref HD 30.15 .B455 2005
"Accounting".
Chapter 23 of the Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies
by Mahmoud Ezzamel, Keith Robson
This chapter on Accounting provides a brief, good overview of research in the discipline.

Dictionaries

Dictionary of Accounting
Call Number: HF 5621 .D53 2010
Auditor's Dictionary: terms, concepts, processes, and regulations by David O'Regan
Call Number: Raynor Ref HF 5667 .O6728 2004
Dictionary of Accounting Terms by Joel G. Siegel
Call Number: Raynor Ref HF 5621 .S54 2005