Sometimes the “waters” can be rough for today’s college student...finding a beacon to help them navigate through is key. That’s why we have chosen a lighthouse for the cover of this 12th edition. The lighthouse with its beacon has guided seafarers to safety for centuries and is the embodiment of guidance, reliability, and truth. Much like the lighthouse, Garrison/Noreen/Brewer has successfully guided hundreds of thousands of students through managerial accounting, helping them sail smoothly through the course. This edition is no exception. It brings the same quality content that instructors everywhere have come to know and trust along with new features and content to fit the needs and learning styles of today’s students.

New material includes coverage of cutting-edge topics that affect today’s business world such as Lean Production, Six Sigma, corporate governance, enterprise risk management, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Research and Application cases focusing on the 10–K reports of leading companies such as Target, Whole Foods Market, and FedEx have been added to pique the interest of students who appreciate seeing textbook concepts applied to the real world. This edition also brings rich content developed for use with the Apple iPod or comparable mp3/mp4 players. This innovative approach allows students to download audio and video lecture presentations along with interactive quizzes directly into their iPod, allowing them to take learning materials with them wherever they go.…but most importantly, Managerial Accounting, 12/E focuses now, as in the past, on three qualities:

RELEVANCE. Every effort is made to help students relate the concepts in this book to the decisions made by working managers. With insightful chapter openers, the popular Managerial Accounting in Action segments within the chapters, and stimulating end-of-chapter exercises, a student reading Garrison should never have to ask “Why am I learning this?”

BALANCE. There’s more than one type of business, and so Garrison covers a variety of business models, including not-for-profit, retail, service, and wholesale organizations as well as manufacturing. Service company examples are highlighted with icons in the margins of the text.

CLARITY. Generations of students have praised Garrison for the friendliness and readability of its writing, but that’s just the beginning. Technical discussions have been simplified, material has been reordered, and the entire book carefully retuned to make teaching—and learning—from Garrison as easy as it can be. In addition, the key supplements were written by Garrison, Noreen, and Brewer, ensuring that students and professors will work with clear, well-written supplements that employ consistent terminology.

The authors’ steady focus on these three core elements has led to tremendous results. Managerial Accounting has consistently led the market, being used by over two million students and earning a reputation for reliability that other texts aspire to match. As seafarers looked to the lighthouse for direction along an unfamiliar shore, so too can Garrison act as a crucial compass for students seeking to master the challenges of managerial accounting. It is a responsibility that has consistently brought out the best in the Garrison team, and will continue to do so for many years to come.