Download and Read online, DOWNLOAD EBOOK, [PDF EBOOK EPUB ], Ebooks

download, Read Ebook EPUB/KINDE, Download Book Format PDF

(Original PDF) Accounting Principles, 13th Edition

by Jerry J. Weygandt

OR CLICK LINK
http://ebooksecure.com/product/original-pdf-
accounting-principles-13th-edition-by-jerry-j-
weygandt/

Download More ebooks [PDF]. Format PDF ebook download PDF KINDLE.
Full download test bank at ebooksecure.com
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

(eBook PDF) Accounting Principles 12th Edition by Jerry

J. Weygandt

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-accounting-
principles-12th-edition-by-jerry-j-weygandt/

(eBook PDF) Financial Accounting 11th Edition by Jerry

J. Weygandt

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-financial-
accounting-11th-edition-by-jerry-j-weygandt/

(eBook PDF) Financial Accounting 10th Edition by Jerry

J. Weygandt

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-financial-
accounting-10th-edition-by-jerry-j-weygandt/

(eBook PDF) Financial Accounting 9th Edition by Jerry

J. Weygandt

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-financial-
accounting-9th-edition-by-jerry-j-weygandt/
(eBook PDF) Financial and Managerial Accounting 2nd by
Jerry J. Weygandt

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-financial-and-
managerial-accounting-2nd-by-jerry-j-weygandt/

(eBook PDF) Financial and Managerial Accounting 3rd

Edition by Jerry J. Weygandt

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-financial-and-
managerial-accounting-3rd-edition-by-jerry-j-weygandt/

(eBook PDF) Accounting Principles 11th Edition by

Weygandt

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-accounting-
principles-11th-edition-by-weygandt/

(eBook PDF) Fundamental Accounting Principles 21st

Edition by John J Wild

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-fundamental-accounting-
principles-21st-edition-by-john-j-wild/

(eBook PDF) Macroeconomics: Principles and Policy 13th

Edition by William J. Baumol

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-macroeconomics-
principles-and-policy-13th-edition-by-william-j-baumol/
Author Commitment

Jerry Weygandt Paul Kimmel Don Kieso

J ER RY J. W EYGA N D T , P h D, PAU L D. K I M M E L , PhD, CPA, DONALD E. KIESO, PhD, CPA,
C PA , is Arthur Andersen Alumni Emeritus received his bachelor’s degree from the Uni- received his bachelor’s degree from Aurora Uni-
Professor of Accounting at the University of versity of Minnesota and his doctorate in ac- versity and his doctorate in accounting from the
Wisconsin—Madison. He holds a Ph.D. in counting from the University of Wisconsin. University of Illinois. He has served as chairman
accounting from the University of Illinois. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin— of the Department of Accountancy and is currently
Articles by Professor Weygandt have appeared Milwaukee, and has public accounting expe- the KPMG Emeritus Professor of Accountancy
in The Accounting Review, Journal of Account- rience with Deloitte & Touche (Minneapolis). at Northern Illinois University. He has public
ing Research, Accounting Horizons, Journal of He was the recipient of the UWM School of accounting experience with Price Waterhouse
Accountancy, and other academic and profes- Business Advisory Council Teaching Award, & Co. (San Francisco and Chicago) and Arthur
sional journals. These articles have examined the Reggie Taite Excellence in Teaching Award Andersen & Co. (Chicago) and research experi-
such financial reporting issues as accounting for and a three-time winner of the Outstanding ence with the Research Division of the American
price-level adjustments, pensions, convertible Teaching Assistant Award at the University of Institute of Certified Public Accountants (New
securities, stock option contracts, and interim Wisconsin. He is also a recipient of the Elijah York). He has done post doctorate work as a
reports. Professor Weygandt is author of other Watts Sells Award for Honorary Distinction for Visiting Scholar at the University of California
accounting and financial reporting books and his results on the CPA exam. He is a member of at Berkeley and is a recipient of NIU’s Teach-
is a member of the American Accounting the American Accounting Association and the ing Excellence Award and four Golden Apple
Association, the American Institute of Cer- Institute of Management Accountants and has Teaching Awards. Professor Kieso is the author
tified Public Accountants, and the Wiscon- published articles in The Accounting Review, of other accounting and business books and is a
sin Society of Certified Public Accountants. Accounting Horizons, Advances in Manage- member of the American Accounting Associa-
He has served on numerous committees of ment Accounting, Managerial Finance, Issues tion, the American Institute of Certified Public
the American Accounting Association and in Accounting Education, Journal of Account- Accountants, and the Illinois CPA Society.
as a member of the editorial board of The ing Education, as well as other journals. His He has served as a member of the Board of
Accounting Review; he also has served as Pres- research interests include accounting for finan- Directors of the Illinois CPA Society, then
ident and Secretary-Treasurer of the American cial instruments and innovation in accounting AACSB’s Accounting Accreditation Commit-
Accounting Association. In addition, he has education. He has published papers and given tees, the State of Illinois Comptroller’s Commis-
been actively involved with the American numerous talks on incorporating critical think- sion, as Secretary-Treasurer of the Federation
Institute of Certified Public Accountants and ing into accounting education, and helped pre- of Schools of Accountancy, and as Secretary-
has been a member of the Accounting Standards pare a catalog of critical thinking resources for Treasurer of the American Accounting Associa-
Executive Committee (AcSEC) of that organ- the Federated Schools of Accountancy. tion. Professor Kieso is currently serving on the
ization. He has served on the FASB task force Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of
that examined the reporting issues related to Aurora University, as a member of the Board of
accounting for income taxes and served as a trus- Directors of Kishwaukee Community Hospital,
tee of the Financial Accounting Foundation. Pro- and as Treasurer and Director of Valley West
fessor Weygandt has received the Chancellor’s Community Hospital. From 1989 to 1993 he
Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Beta served as a charter member of the national Ac-
Gamma Sigma Dean’s Teaching Award. He is on counting Education Change Commission. He
the board of directors of M & I Bank of Southern is the recipient of the Outstanding Accounting
Wisconsin. He is the recipient of the Wisconsin Educator Award from the Illinois CPA Society,
Institute of CPA’s Outstanding Educator’s Award the FSA’s Joseph A. Silvoso Award of Merit,
and the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001 the NIU Foundation’s Humanitarian Award for
he received the American Accounting Associa- Service to Higher Education, a Distinguished
tion’s Outstanding Educator Award. Service Award from the Illinois CPA Society,
and in 2003 an honorary doctorate from Aurora
vi University.
 Hallmark Features
Accounting Principles, Thirteenth Edition, provides a simple and practical introduction to the
fundamentals of accounting. It explains the concepts you need to know. This edition continues
this approach by offering even more explanations, illustrations, and homework problems to
help students get a firm understanding of the accounting cycle.

DO IT! Exercises
DO IT! Exercises in the body of the text prompt students to stop and review key concepts. They
outline the Action Plan necessary to complete the exercise as well as show a detailed solution.

c04CompletingTheAccountingCycle.indd Page 4-34 18/08/17 3:54 PM f-0162 /208/WB02197/9781119411017/ch04/text_s

DO IT! 3 Correcting Entries ACTION PLAN
• Compare the incorrect
Sanchez Company discovered the following errors made in January 2020.
entry with correct entry.
1. A payment of Salaries and Wages Expense of $600 was debited to Supplies and credited to Cash, • After comparison, make
both for $600. an entry to correct the
2. A collection of $3,000 from a client on account was debited to Cash $200 and credited to Service accounts.
Revenue $200.
3. The purchase of supplies on account for $860 was debited to Supplies $680 and credited to Ac-
counts Payable $680.
Correct the errors without reversing the incorrect entry.

Solution
c15LongTermLiabilities.indd
1. Salaries and WagesPage 15-26 10/9/17 11:15 PM user
Expense 600 /208/WB02197/9781119411017/ch15/text_s
Supplies 600
2. Service Revenue 200
Cash 2,800
Accounts Receivable 3,000

Review and Practice

Each chapter concludes with a Review and Practice section which includes a review of learn-
ing objectives, key terms glossary, practice multiple-choice questions with annotated solu-
tions, practice brief exercises with solutions, practice exercises with solutions, and a practice
problem with a solution.

Practice Brief Exercises

Prepare the current assets section of a 3. (LO 4) Financial Statement The balance sheet debit column of the worksheet for Miguel
balance sheet. Company includes the following accounts: Accounts Receivable $25,000, Prepaid Insurance $7,000,
Cash $8,000, Supplies $11,000, and Stock Investments (short-term) $14,000. Prepare the current
assets section of the balance sheet, listing the accounts in proper sequence.

Solution
3.

Miguel Company
Partial Balance Sheet

Current assets
Cash $ 8,000
Stock investments 14,000
Accounts receivable 25,000
Supplies 11,000
Prepaid insurance 7,000
Total current assets $65,000

vii
 c02TheRecordingProcess.indd Page 2-3 27/09/17 9:42 PM f-0162 /208/WB02197/9781119411017/ch02/text_s

viii Hallmark Features

Infographic Learning
c04CompletingTheAccountingCycle.indd Page 4-26 18/08/17 3:54 PM f-0162 /208/WB02197/9781119411017/ch04/text_s

Over half of the text is visual, providing students alternative ways of learning about accounting.
In addition, a new interior design promotes accessibility.

ILLUSTRATION 2.1
Title of Account Basic form of account
Left or debit side Right or credit side

c04CompletingTheAccountingCycle.indd Page 4-19 18/08/17 3:54 PM f-0162 /208/WB02197/9781119411017/ch04/text_s

Real-World Decision-Making
Real-world examples that illustrate interesting situations in companies and how accounting
information is used are integrated throughout the text, such as in the opening Feature Story as
well as the Insight boxes.

People, Planet, and Profit Insight

Regaining Goodwill with the five corporations that ranked highest within each, are as
follows.
After falling to unforeseen lows
• Social Responsibility: (1) Whole Foods Market, (2) Johnson &
amidst scandals, recalls, and eco-
Johnson, (3) Google, (4) The Walt Disney Company, (5) Procter
nomic crises, the American pub-
& Gamble Co.
lic’s positive perception of the
reputation of corporate America • Emotional Appeal: (1) Johnson & Johnson, (2) Amazon.com,
is on the rise. Overall corporate (3) UPS, (4) General Mills, (5) Kraft Foods
reputation is experiencing reha- • Financial Performance: (1) Google, (2) Berkshire Hathaway,
bilitation as the American public (3) Apple, (4) Intel, (5) The Walt Disney Company
gives high marks overall to cor- • Products and Services: (1) Intel Corporation, (2) 3M Company,
porate America, specific indus- (3) Johnson & Johnson, (4) Google, (5) Procter & Gamble Co.
tries, and the largest number of
individual companies in a dozen
Source: www.harrisinteractive.com.
© Gehringi/iStockphoto years. This is according to the
findings of a Harris Interactive
RQ Study, which measures the reputations of the 60 most visible Name two industries today which are probably rated low on
companies in the United States. the reputational characteristics of “being trusted” and “having
The survey focuses on six reputational dimensions that influence high ethical standards.” (Go to WileyPLUS for this answer and
reputation and consumer behavior. Four of these dimensions, along additional questions.)

Additional Guidance
Throughout the text, marginal notes, such as Helpful Hints, Alternative Terminology, and
Ethics Notes, are provided as additional guidance. In addition, more than 100 new solution
walkthrough videos are now available in WileyPLUS.

Correcting Entries—An Avoidable Step

ETHICS NOTE
Unfortunately, errors may occur in the recording process. Companies should correct errors, as When companies find errors
soon as they discover them, by journalizing and posting correcting entries. If the account- in previously released
ing records are free of errors, no correcting entries are needed. income statements, they
You should recognize several differences between correcting entries and adjusting en- restate those numbers. Per-
tries. First, adjusting entries are an integral part of the accounting cycle. Correcting entries, haps because of the in-
on the other hand, are unnecessary if the records are error-free. Second, companies journalize creased scrutiny caused by
and post adjustments only at the end of an accounting period. In contrast, companies make Sarbanes-Oxley, in a recent
correcting entries whenever they discover an error (see Ethics Note). Finally, adjusting year companies filed a re-
entries always affect at least one balance sheet account and one income statement account. In cord 1,195 restatements
 Contents
Summary Illustration of Journalizing and Posting 2-19
1 Accounting in Action 1-1
The Trial Balance 2-21
Limitations of a Trial Balance 2-22
Knowing the Numbers: Columbia Sportswear 1-1
Locating Errors 2-22
Accounting Activities and Users 1-3
Dollar Signs and Underlining 2-22
Three Activities 1-3
A Look at IFRS 2-46
Who Uses Accounting Data 1-4
The Building Blocks of Accounting 1-6
Ethics in Financial Reporting 1-6
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles 1-8 3 Adjusting the Accounts 3-1
Measurement Principles 1-8
Assumptions 1-9 Keeping Track of Groupons: Groupon 3-1
The Accounting Equation 1-11 Accrual-Basis Accounting and Adjusting Entries 3-2
Assets 1-11 Fiscal and Calendar Years 3-3
Liabilities 1-11 Accrual- versus Cash-Basis Accounting 3-3
Owner’s Equity 1-12 Recognizing Revenues and Expenses 3-3
Analyzing Business Transactions 1-13 The Need for Adjusting Entries 3-5
Accounting Transactions 1-14 Types of Adjusting Entries 3-5
Transaction Analysis 1-14 Adjusting Entries for Deferrals 3-6
Summary of Transactions 1-19 Prepaid Expenses 3-6
The Four Financial Statements 1-20 Unearned Revenues 3-10
Income Statement 1-20 Adjusting Entries for Accruals 3-13
Owner’s Equity Statement 1-22 Accrued Revenues 3-13
Balance Sheet 1-22 Accrued Expenses 3-14
Statement of Cash Flows 1-23 Summary of Basic Relationships 3-17
Appendix 1A: Career Opportunities in Accounting 1-24 Adjusted Trial Balance and Financial Statements 3-20
Public Accounting 1-24 Preparing the Adjusted Trial Balance 3-21
Private Accounting 1-25 Preparing Financial Statements 3-21
Governmental Accounting 1-25 Appendix 3A: Alternative Treatment of Deferrals 3-24
Forensic Accounting 1-25 Prepaid Expenses 3-25
“Show Me the Money” 1-25 Unearned Revenues 3-26
A Look at IFRS 1-47 Summary of Additional Adjustment Relationships 3-27
Appendix 3B: Financial Reporting Concepts 3-28
Qualities of Useful Information 3-28
Assumptions in Financial Reporting 3-28
2 The Recording Process 2-1
Principles in Financial Reporting 3-29
Accidents Happen: MF Global Holdings 2-1 Cost Constraint 3-30
Accounts, Debits, and Credits 2-2 A Look at IFRS 3-58
The Account 2-2
Debits and Credits 2-3
Summary of Debit/Credit Rules 2-6 4 Completing the Accounting
The Journal 2-7 Cycle 4-1
The Recording Process 2-7
The Journal 2-8 Everyone Likes to Win: Rhino Foods 4-1
The Ledger and Posting 2-10 The Worksheet 4-2
The Ledger 2-10 Steps in Preparing a Worksheet 4-3
Posting 2-12 Preparing Financial Statements from a Worksheet 4-10
Chart of Accounts 2-13 Preparing Adjusting Entries from a Worksheet 4-11
The Recording Process Illustrated 2-13 Closing the Books 4-11
ix
x Contents

Preparing Closing Entries 4-12 Recording Purchases of Merchandise 5-26

Posting Closing Entries 4-14 Recording Sales of Merchandise 5-27
Preparing a Post-Closing Trial Balance 4-16 Journalizing and Posting Closing Entries 5-28
The Accounting Cycle and Correcting Entries 4-19 Using a Worksheet 5-29
Summary of the Accounting Cycle 4-19 A Look at IFRS 5-54
Reversing Entries—An Optional Step 4-19
Correcting Entries—An Avoidable Step 4-19
Classified Balance Sheet 4-23 6 Inventories 6-1
Current Assets 4-24
Long-Term Investments 4-25 “Where Is That Spare Bulldozer Blade?”:
Property, Plant, and Equipment 4-25 Caterpillar 6-1
Intangible Assets 4-25 Classifying and Determining Inventory 6-2
Current Liabilities 4-26 Classifying Inventory 6-3
Long-Term Liabilities 4-27 Determining Inventory Quantities 6-4
Owner’s Equity 4-28 Inventory Methods and Financial Effects 6-7
Appendix 4A: Reversing Entries 4-29 Specific Identification 6-7
Reversing Entries Example 4-29 Cost Flow Assumptions 6-8
A Look at IFRS 4-59 Financial Statement and Tax Effects of Cost Flow
Methods 6-12
Using Inventory Cost Flow Methods Consistently 6-14
5 Accounting for Merchandising Effects of Inventory Errors 6-15
Income Statement Effects 6-15
Operations 5-1
Balance Sheet Effects 6-16
Inventory Statement Presentation and Analysis 6-17
Buy Now, Vote Later: REI 5-1
Presentation 6-17
Merchandising Operations and Inventory Systems 5-3
Lower-of-Cost-or-Net Realizable Value 6-17
Operating Cycles 5-3
Analysis 6-18
Flow of Costs 5-4
Appendix 6A: Inventory Methods and the Perpetual
Recording Purchases under a Perpetual System 5-6
System 6-20
Freight Costs 5-8
First-In, First-Out (FIFO) 6-20
Purchase Returns and Allowances 5-9
Last-In, First-Out (LIFO) 6-21
Purchase Discounts 5-9
Average-Cost 6-22
Summary of Purchasing Transactions 5-10
Appendix 6B: Estimating Inventories 6-22
Recording Sales Under a Perpetual System 5-11
Gross Profit Method 6-23
Sales Returns and Allowances 5-12
Retail Inventory Method 6-24
Sales Discounts 5-13
A Look at IFRS 6-48
The Accounting Cycle for a Merchandising
Company 5-15
Adjusting Entries 5-15
Closing Entries 5-15 7 Accounting Information
Summary of Merchandising Entries 5-16 Systems 7-1
Multiple-Step and Comprehensive Income
Statements 5-17 QuickBooks® Helps This Retailer Sell Guitars: Intuit 7-1
Multiple-Step Income Statement 5-18 Overview of Accounting Information Systems 7-2
Single-Step Income Statement 5-20 Computerized Accounting Systems 7-3
Comprehensive Income Statement 5-21 Manual Accounting Systems 7-5
Classified Balance Sheet 5-21 Subsidiary Ledgers 7-5
Appendix 5A: Worksheet for a Merchandising Subsidiary Ledger Example 7-6
Company 5-23 Advantages of Subsidiary Ledgers 7-7
Using a Worksheet 5-23 Special Journals 7-8
Appendix 5B: Periodic Inventory System 5-24 Sales Journal 7-9
Determining Cost of Goods Sold Under a Periodic Cash Receipts Journal 7-11
System 5-25 Purchases Journal 7-15
Recording Merchandise Transactions 5-25 Cash Payments Journal 7-17
 Contents xi

Effects of Special Journals on the General

Journal 7-20
10 Plant Assets, Natural Resources,
Cyber Security: A Final Comment 7-21 and Intangible Assets 10-1
A Look at IFRS 7-44
How Much for a Ride to the Beach?: Rent-A-Wreck 10-1
Plant Asset Expenditures 10-2
Determining the Cost of Plant Assets 10-3
8 Fraud, Internal Control, Expenditures During Useful Life 10-5
and Cash 8-1 Depreciation Methods 10-7
Factors in Computing Depreciation 10-7
Minding the Money in Madison: Barriques 8-1 Depreciation Methods 10-8
Fraud and Internal Control 8-3 Depreciation and Income Taxes 10-13
Fraud 8-3 Revising Periodic Depreciation 10-13
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 8-3 Impairments 10-13
Internal Control 8-4 Plant Asset Disposals 10-14
Principles of Internal Control Activities 8-4 Retirement of Plant Assets 10-15
Limitations of Internal Control 8-10 Sale of Plant Assets 10-15
Cash Controls 8-11 Natural Resources and Intangible Assets 10-17
Cash Receipts Controls 8-12 Natural Resources 10-17
Cash Disbursements Controls 8-14 Depletion 10-17
Petty Cash Fund 8-16 Intangible Assets 10-18
Control Features of a Bank Account 8-19 Accounting for Intangible Assets 10-18
Making Bank Deposits 8-19 Research and Development Costs 10-21
Writing Checks 8-20 Statement Presentation and Analysis 10-21
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) System 8-21 Presentation 10-21
Bank Statements 8-21 Analysis 10-22
Reconciling the Bank Account 8-22 Appendix 10A: Exchange of Plant Assets 10-23
Reporting Cash 8-27 Loss Treatment 10-24
Cash Equivalents 8-27 Gain Treatment 10-24
Restricted Cash 8-27 A Look at IFRS 10-46
A Look at IFRS 8-48

11 Current Liabilities and Payroll

9 Accounting for Receivables 9-1 Accounting 11-1

A Dose of Careful Management Keeps Receivables Healthy: Financing His Dreams: Wilbert Murdock 11-1
Whitehall-Robins 9-1 Accounting for Current Liabilities 11-2
Recognition of Accounts Receivable 9-2 What Is a Current Liability? 11-2
Types of Receivables 9-3 Notes Payable 11-3
Recognizing Accounts Receivable 9-3 Sales Taxes Payable 11-4
Valuation and Disposition of Accounts Receivable 9-5 Unearned Revenues 11-4
Valuing Accounts Receivable 9-5 Current Maturities of Long-Term Debt 11-5
Disposing of Accounts Receivable 9-11 Reporting and Analyzing Current Liabilities 11-6
Notes Receivable 9-13 Reporting Uncertainty 11-6
Determining the Maturity Date 9-14 Reporting of Current Liabilities 11-7
Computing Interest 9-15 Analysis of Current Liabilities 11-8
Recognizing Notes Receivable 9-15 Accounting for Payroll 11-9
Valuing Notes Receivable 9-16 Determining the Payroll 11-10
Disposing of Notes Receivable 9-16 Recording the Payroll 11-13
Presentation and Analysis 9-18 Employer Payroll Taxes 11-16
Presentation 9-19 Filing and Remitting Payroll Taxes 11-18
Analysis 9-20 Internal Control for Payroll 11-19
A Look at IFRS 9-41 Appendix 11A: Additional Fringe Benefits 11-20
xii Contents

Paid Absences 11-21 Dividend Preferences 14-4

Postretirement Benefits 11-21 Stock Dividends 14-7
A Look at IFRS 11-41 Stock Splits 14-9
Reporting and Analyzing Stockholders’ Equity 14-11
Retained Earnings 14-11
12 Accounting for Partnerships 12-1 Statement Presentation and Analysis 14-13
Corporate Income Statements 14-16
From Trials to the Top Ten: Razor & Tie 12-1 Income Statement Presentation 14-16
Forming a Partnership 12-2 Income Statement Analysis 14-16
Characteristics of Partnerships 12-3 Appendix 14A: Stockholders’ Equity
Organizations with Partnership Characteristics 12-3 Statement 14-18
Advantages and Disadvantages of Partnerships 12-5 Appendix 14B: Book Value per Share 14-18
The Partnership Agreement 12-6 Book Value per Share 14-18
Accounting for a Partnership Formation 12-6 Book Value versus Market Price 14-20
Accounting for Net Income or Net Loss 12-8 A Look at IFRS 14-38
Dividing Net Income or Net Loss 12-8
Partnership Financial Statements 12-11
Liquidation of a Partnership 12-12 15 Long-Term Liabilities 15-1
No Capital Deficiency 12-13
Capital Deficiency 12-15 And Then There Were Two: Chrysler 15-1
Appendix 12A: Admissions and Withdrawals Major Characteristics of Bonds 15-2
of Partners 12-18 Types of Bonds 15-3
Admission of a Partner 12-18 Issuing Procedures 15-3
Withdrawal of a Partner 12-21 Bond Trading 15-4
Determining the Market Price of a Bond 15-5
Accounting for Bond Transactions 15-6
13 Corporations: Organization and Issuing Bonds at Face Value 15-7
Capital Stock Transactions Discount or Premium on Bonds 15-7
13-1
Issuing Bonds at a Discount 15-8
Oh Well, I Guess I’ll Get Rich: Facebook 13-1 Issuing Bonds at a Premium 15-9
Corporate Form of Organization 13-2 Redeeming Bonds at Maturity 15-11
Characteristics of a Corporation 13-3 Redeeming Bonds before Maturity 15-11
Forming a Corporation 13-5 Accounting for Long-Term Notes Payable 15-12
Stockholder Rights 13-6 Reporting and Analyzing Long-Term Liabilities 15-14
Stock Issue Considerations 13-6 Presentation 15-14
Corporate Capital 13-9 Use of Ratios 15-14
Accounting for Stock Transactions 13-10 Debt and Equity Financing 15-15
Accounting for Common Stock 13-10 Lease Liabilities 15-16
Accounting for Preferred Stock 13-12 Appendix 15A: Straight-Line Amortization 15-17
Accounting for Treasury Stock 13-14 Amortizing Bond Discount 15-17
Statement Presentation of Stockholders’ Amortizing Bond Premium 15-19
Equity 13-17 Appendix 15B: Effective-Interest Amortization 15-20
A Look at IFRS 13-36 Amortizing Bond Discount 15-20
Amortizing Bond Premium 15-22
A Look at IFRS 15-41

14 Corporations: Dividends,
Retained Earnings, and Income 16 Investments 16-1
Reporting 14-1
“Is There Anything Else We Can Buy?”:
Owning a Piece of the Action: Van Meter Inc. 14-1 Time Warner 16-1
Accounting for Dividends and Stock Splits 14-2 Accounting for Debt Investments 16-2
Cash Dividends 14-3 Why Corporations Invest 16-2
 Contents xiii

Accounting for Debt Investments 16-4 Quality of Earnings 18-7

Accounting for Stock Investments 16-6 Horizontal Analysis and Vertical Analysis 18-9
Holdings of Less than 20% 16-6 Horizontal Analysis 18-10
Holdings Between 20% and 50% 16-7 Vertical Analysis 18-12
Holdings of More than 50% 16-8 Ratio Analysis 18-14
Reporting Investments in Financial Statements 16-10 Liquidity Ratios 18-15
Debt Securities 16-11 Solvency Ratios 18-16
Equity Securities 16-14 Profitability Ratios 18-16
Balance Sheet Presentation 16-15 Comprehensive Example of Ratio Analysis 18-17
Presentation of Realized and Unrealized A Look at IFRS 18-51
Gain or Loss 16-16
A Look at IFRS 16-35
19 Managerial Accounting 19-1

Just Add Water . . . and Paddle: Current Designs 19-1

17 Statement of Cash Flows 17-1
Managerial Accounting Basics 19-3
Comparing Managerial and Financial Accounting 19-3
Got Cash?: Microsoft 17-1
Management Functions 19-3
Usefulness and Format of the Statement of
Organizational Structure 19-5
Cash Flows 17-3
Managerial Cost Concepts 19-7
Usefulness of the Statement of Cash Flows 17-3
Manufacturing Costs 19-7
Classification of Cash Flows 17-3
Product Versus Period Costs 19-8
Significant Noncash Activities 17-4
Illustration of Cost Concepts 19-9
Format of the Statement of Cash Flows 17-5
Manufacturing Costs in Financial Statements 19-10
Preparing the Statement of Cash Flows—
Income Statement 19-11
Indirect Method 17-6
Indirect and Direct Methods 17-7 Cost of Goods Manufactured 19-11
Indirect Method—Computer Services Cost of Goods Manufactured Schedule 19-12
Company 17-7 Balance Sheet 19-13
Step 1: Operating Activities 17-9 Managerial Accounting Today 19-14
Summary of Conversion to Net Cash Provided Service Industries 19-14
by Operating Activities—Indirect Focus on the Value Chain 19-15
Method 17-12 Balanced Scorecard 19-17
Step 2: Investing and Financing Activities 17-13 Business Ethics 19-17
Step 3: Net Change in Cash 17-14 Corporate Social Responsibility 19-18
Analyzing the Statement of Cash Flows 17-17
Free Cash Flow 17-17 20 Job Order Costing 20-1
Appendix 17A: Statement of Cash Flows—Direct
Method 17-19 Profiting from the Silver Screen: Disney 20-1
Step 1: Operating Activities 17-19 Cost Accounting Systems 20-3
Step 2: Investing and Financing Activities 17-24 Process Cost System 20-3
Step 3: Net Change in Cash 17-26 Job Order Cost System 20-3
Appendix 17B: Worksheet for the Indirect Method 17-26 Job Order Cost Flow 20-4
Preparing the Worksheet 17-27 Accumulating Manufacturing Costs 20-5
Appendix 17C: Statement of Cash Flows—T-Account Assigning Manufacturing Costs 20-7
Approach 17-31 Raw Materials Costs 20-8
A Look at IFRS 17-58 Factory Labor Costs 20-10
Predetermined Overhead Rates 20-12
Entries for Jobs Completed and Sold 20-15
18 Financial Analysis: The Big Assigning Costs to Finished Goods 20-15
Picture 18-1 Assigning Costs to Cost of Goods Sold 20-16
Summary of Job Order Cost Flows 20-17
It Pays to Be Patient: Warren Buffett 18-2 Job Order Costing for Service Companies 20-18
Sustainable Income and Quality of Earnings 18-3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Job
Sustainable Income 18-3 Order Costing 20-19
xiv Contents

Applied Manufacturing Overhead 20-20 Target Net Income 22-18

Under- or Overapplied Manufacturing Margin of Safety 22-20
Overhead 20-21 Appendix 22A: Regression Analysis 22-21

21 Process Costing 21-1 23 Incremental Analysis 23-1

The Little Guy Who Could: Jones Soda 21-1 Keeping It Clean: Method Products 23-1
Overview of Process Cost Systems 21-3 Decision-Making and Incremental
Uses of Process Cost Systems 21-3 Analysis 23-3
Process Costing for Service Companies 21-4 Incremental Analysis Approach 23-3
Similarities and Differences Between Job Order Cost How Incremental Analysis Works 23-4
and Process Cost Systems 21-4 Qualitative Factors 23-5
Process Cost Flow and Assigning Costs 21-6 Relationship of Incremental Analysis
Process Cost Flow 21-6 and Activity-Based Costing 23-5
Assigning Manufacturing Costs—Journal Entries 21-6 Types of Incremental Analysis 23-6
Equivalent Units 21-9 Special Orders 23-6
Weighted-Average Method 21-9 Make or Buy 23-8
Refinements on the Weighted-Average Method 21-10 Opportunity Cost 23-9
The Production Cost Report 21-12 Sell or Process Further 23-10
Compute the Physical Unit Flow (Step 1) 21-13 Single-Product Case 23-11
Compute the Equivalent Units of Multiple-Product Case 23-11
Production (Step 2) 21-13 Repair, Retain, or Replace Equipment 23-14
Compute Unit Production Costs (Step 3) 21-14 Eliminate Unprofitable Segment or
Prepare a Cost Reconciliation Schedule Product 23-15
(Step 4) 21-15
Preparing the Production Cost Report 21-15
Costing Systems—Final Comments 21-16
24 Budgetary Planning 24-1

Appendix 21A: FIFO Method for Equivalent What’s in Your Cupcake?: BabyCakes NYC 24-1
Units 21-17 Effective Budgeting and the Master
Equivalent Units Under FIFO 21-17 Budget 24-3
Comprehensive Example 21-18 Budgeting and Accounting 24-3
FIFO and Weighted-Average 21-22 The Benefits of Budgeting 24-3
Essentials of Effective Budgeting 24-3
22 Cost-Volume-Profit 22-1 The Master Budget 24-6
Sales, Production, and Direct Materials
Don’t Worry—Just Get Big: Amazon.com 22-1 Budgets 24-8
Cost Behavior Analysis 22-2 Sales Budget 24-8
Variable Costs 22-3 Production Budget 24-9
Fixed Costs 22-3 Direct Materials Budget 9-10
Relevant Range 22-5 Direct Labor, Manufacturing Overhead, and S&A
Mixed Costs 22-6 Expense Budgets 24-13
Mixed Costs Analysis 22-7 Direct Labor Budget 24-13
High-Low Method 22-7 Manufacturing Overhead Budget 24-14
Importance of Identifying Variable and Selling and Administrative Expense Budget 24-15
Fixed Costs 22-9 Budgeted Income Statement 24-15
Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis 22-10 Cash Budget and Budgeted Balance Sheet 24-17
Basic Components 22-10 Cash Budget 24-17
CVP Income Statement 22-11 Budgeted Balance Sheet 24-20
Break-Even Analysis 22-14 Budgeting in Nonmanufacturing
Mathematical Equation 22-15 Companies 24-22
Contribution Margin Technique 22-15 Merchandisers 24-22
Graphic Presentation 22-16 Service Companies 24-23
Target Net Income and Margin of Safety 22-18 Not-for-Profit Organizations 24-24
 Contents xv

Journal Entries 26-20

25 Budgetary Control and Ledger Accounts 26-22
Responsibility Accounting 25-1 Appendix 26B: Overhead Controllable
and Volume Variances 26-23
Pumpkin Madeleines and a Movie: Tribeca Grand Overhead Controllable Variance 26-23
Hotel 25-1 Overhead Volume Variance 26-24
Budgetary Control and Static Budget
Reports 25-3
Budgetary Control 25-3
Static Budget Reports 25-4 27 Planning for Capital
Flexible Budget Reports 25-6 Investments 27-1
Why Flexible Budgets? 25-7
Developing the Flexible Budget 25-9 Floating Hotels: Holland America Line 27-2
Flexible Budget—A Case Study 25-9 Capital Budgeting and Cash Payback 27-3
Flexible Budget Reports 25-11 Cash Flow Information 27-3
Responsibility Accounting and Responsibility Illustrative Data 27-4
Centers 25-13 Cash Payback 27-4
Controllable versus Noncontrollable Revenues Net Present Value Method 27-6
and Costs 25-15 Equal Annual Cash Flows 27-7
Principles of Performance Evaluation 25-15 Unequal Annual Cash Flows 27-8
Responsibility Reporting System 25-17 Choosing a Discount Rate 27-9
Types of Responsibility Centers 25-18 Simplifying Assumptions 27-9
Investment Centers 25-22 Comprehensive Example 27-10
Return on Investment (ROI) 25-23 Capital Budgeting Challenges and
Responsibility Report 25-23 Refinements 27-11
Judgmental Factors in ROI 25-24 Intangible Benefits 27-11
Improving ROI 25-24 Profitability Index for Mutually Exclusive
Appendix 25A: ROI vs. Residual Income 25-26 Projects 27-13
Residual Income Compared to ROI 25-27 Risk Analysis 27-14
Residual Income Weakness 25-27 Post-Audit of Investment Projects 27-15
Internal Rate of Return 27-16
Comparing Discounted Cash Flow
Methods 27-17
26 Standard Costs and Balanced Annual Rate of Return 27-18
Scorecard 26-1

80,000 Different Caffeinated Combinations: Starbucks 26-2 Appendix A Specimen Financial

Overview of Standard Costs 26-3
Distinguishing Between Standards
Statements:
and Budgets 26-4 Apple Inc. A-1
Setting Standard Costs 26-4
Direct Materials Variances 26-7
Analyzing and Reporting Variances 26-7
Calculating Direct Materials Variances 26-9 Appendix B Specimen Financial
Direct Labor and Manufacturing Overhead Statements:
Variances 26-11
Direct Labor Variances 26-11
PepsiCo, Inc. B-1
Manufacturing Overhead Variances 26-14
Variance Reports and Balanced Scorecards 26-16
Reporting Variances 26-16
Income Statement Presentation of Variances 26-16 Appendix C Specimen Financial
Balanced Scorecard 26-17 Statements: The Coca-
Appendix 26A: Standard Cost Accounting Cola Company C-1
System 26-20
xvi Contents

Using Financial Calculators G-15

Appendix D Specimen Financial Present Value of a Single Sum G-16
Statements: Present Value of an Annuity G-17
Amazon.com, Inc. D-1 Future Value of a Single Sum G-17
Future Value of an Annuity G-17
Internal Rate of Return G-18
Useful Applications of the Financial Calculator G-18
Appendix E Specimen Financial
Statements: Wal-Mart
Appendix H Just-in-Time Processing
Stores, Inc. E-1
and Activity-Based
Costing H-1
Appendix F Specimen Financial Just-in-Time Processing and Activity-Based Costing H-1
Statements: Louis Just-in-Time Processing H-1
Vuitton F-1 Activity-Based Costing H-3
Applying Activity-Based Costing H-4
Identify and Classify Activities and Assign Overhead to Cost
Pools (Step 1) H-5
Appendix G Time Value of Money G-1 Identify Cost Drivers (Step 2) H-5
Compute Activity-Based Overhead Rates (Step 3) H-6
Interest and Future Values G-1
Allocate Overhead Costs to Products (Step 4) H-6
Nature of Interest G-1
Comparing Unit Costs H-7
Future Value of a Single Amount G-3
Benefits of ABC H-8
Future Value of an Annuity G-5
Limitations of ABC H-8
Present Values G-7
Present Value Variables G-7
Cases for Managerial Decision-Making
Present Value of a Single Amount G-7
(The full text of these cases is available in WileyPLUS.)
Present Value of an Annuity G-9
Time Periods and Discounting G-11
Company Index I-1
Present Value of a Long-Term Note or Bond G-11
Subject Index I-4
Capital Budgeting Situations G-14
 Acknowledgments
Accounting Principles has benefited greatly from the input of focus group participants,
manuscript reviewers, those who have sent comments by letter or e-mail, ancillary authors,
and proofers. We greatly appreciate the constructive suggestions and innovative ideas of
reviewers and the creativity and accuracy of the ancillary authors and checkers.

Karen Andrews Cole Engel Yvonne Phang

Lewis-Clark State College Fort Hays State University Borough of Manhattan Community College
Sandra Bailey Larry Falcetto Brandis Phillips
Oregon Institute of Technology Emporia State University North Carolina A&T State University
Shele Bannon Gary Ford Mary Phillips
Queensborough Community College Tompkins Cortland Community College North Carolina Central University
Robert Barta Alan Foster Laura Prosser
Suffolk County Community College J.S. Reynolds Community College Black Hills State University
Ellen Bartley Dale Fowler La Vonda Ramey
St. Joseph’s College Ohio Christian University Schoolcraft College
LuAnn Bean George Gardner J. Ramos-Alexander
Florida Institute of Technology Bemidji State University New Jersey City University
Quent Below Willard Garman Michelle Randall
Roane State Community College University of California, Los Angeles Schoolcraft College
Lila Bergman Heidi Hansel Ruthie Reynolds
Hunter College Kirkwood Community College Tennessee State University
Jack Borke Coby Harmon Kathie Rogers
University of Wisconsin—Platteville University of California—Santa Barbara Suffolk Community College
Glen Brauchle Derek Jackson Kent Schneider
Dowling College St. Mary’s University of Minnesota East Tennessee State University
Douglas Brown Jospeh Jurkowski Nadia Schwartz
Forsyth Technical Community College D’youville College Augustana College
Ronald Campbell Randy Kidd Mehdi Sheikholeslami
North Carolina A&T State University Metropolitan Community College Bemidji State University
Elizabeth Capener Cindy Killian Alice Sineath
Dominican University of California Wilkes Community College University of Maryland University College
Beth Carraway Shirly Kleiner Bradley Smith
Horry-Georgetown Technical College Johnson County Community College Des Moines Area Community College
Jackie Caseu David Krug Emil Soriano
Cape Fear Community College Johnson County Community College Contra Costa College
Kim Charland Christy Land Teresa Speck
Kansas State University Catawba Valley Community College St. Mary’s University of Minnesota
Sandee Cohen Anita Leslie Lynn Stallworth
Columbia College Chicago York Technical College Appalachian State University
Suzanne Cory Lori Major John Stancil
St. Mary’s University Luzerne County Community College Florida Southern College
Paul Cox Charles Malone Linda Summey
Medgar Evers College North Carolina A&T State University Central Carolina Community College
Joseph Cunningham Ken Mark Joan Van Hise
Harford Community College Kansas City Kansas Community College Fairfield University
Kate Demarest Barbara Michal Dick Wasson
Carroll Community College University of Rio Grande Southwestern College
Richard Dugger Jill Misuraca Pat Wright
Kilgore College University of Tampa Long Island University
Bill Elliott Allison Moore Lori Grady Zaher
Oral Roberts University Los Angeles Southwest College Bucks County Community College
James Emig Barbara Muller Judith Zander
Villanova University Arizona State University Grossmont College

xvii
xviii Acknowledgments

We thank Benjamin Huegel and Teresa Speck of St. Mary’s editorial associate Margaret Thompson, product designer Matt Origoni,
University for their extensive efforts in the preparation of the assistant project manager Cyndy Taylor, designer Wendy Lai, photo
homework materials related to Current Designs. We also appreciate editor Mary Ann Price, indexer Steve Ingle, senior production editor
the considerable support provided to us by the following people at Elena Saccaro, and Denise Showers at Aptara. All of these professionals
Current Designs: Mike Cichanowski, Jim Brown, Diane Buswell, provided innumerable services that helped the text take shape.
and Jake Greseth. We also benefited from the assistance and sugges- We will appreciate suggestions and comments from users—
tions provided to us by Joan Van Hise in the preparation of materials instructors and students alike. You can send your thoughts and ideas
related to sustainability. about the text to us via email at: AccountingAuthors@yahoo.com.
We appreciate the exemplary support and commitment given to us
by editor Lauren Harrell Krassow, marketing manager Carolyn Wells, Jerry J. Weygandt Paul D. Kimmel Donald E. Kieso
lead product designer Ed Brislin, editorial supervisor Terry Ann Tatro, Madison, Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wisconsin DeKalb, Illinois
 CHAPTER 1

© My Good Images/Shutterstock

Accounting in Action
The Chapter Preview describes the purpose of the chapter and highlights major topics.

Chapter Preview
The following Feature Story about Columbia Sportswear Company highlights the importance
of having good financial information and knowing how to use it to make effective business
decisions. Whatever your pursuits or occupation, the need for financial information is inescap-
able. You cannot earn a living, spend money, buy on credit, make an investment, or pay taxes
without receiving, using, or dispensing financial information. Good decision-making depends
on good information.

The Feature Story helps you picture how the chapter topic relates to the real world of
accounting and business.

have to know the numbers—cold.” In business, accounting

Feature Story and financial statements are the means for communicating the
numbers. If you don’t know how to read financial statements,
Knowing the Numbers you can’t really know your business.
Many students who take this course do not plan to be accoun- Knowing the numbers is sometimes even a matter of cor-
tants. If you are in that group, you might be thinking, “If I’m porate survival. Consider the story of Columbia Sportswear
not going to be an accountant, why do I need to know account- Company, headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Gert Boyle’s
ing?” Well, consider this quote from Harold Geneen, the for- family fled Nazi Germany when she was 13 years old and
mer chairman of IT&T: “To be good at your business, you then purchased a small hat company in Oregon, Columbia Hat
1-1
1-2 CHA PT E R 1 Accounting in Action

Company. In 1971, Gert’s husband, who was then running the have participated in a project to increase health awareness of
company, died suddenly of a heart attack. The company was female factory workers in developing countries. Columbia was
in the midst of an aggressive expansion, which had taken its also a founding member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition,
sales above $1 million for the first time but which had also which is a group that strives to reduce the environmental and
left the company financially stressed. Gert took over the small, social impact of the apparel industry. In addition, it monitors
struggling company with help from her son Tim, who was then all of the independent factories that produce its products to en-
a senior at the University of Oregon. Somehow, they kept the sure that they comply with the company’s Standards of Manu-
company afloat. Today, Columbia has more than 4,000 em- facturing Practices. These standards address issues including
ployees and annual sales in excess of $1 billion. Its brands forced labor, child labor, harassment, wages and benefits,
include Columbia, Mountain Hardwear, Sorel, and Montrail. health and safety, and the environment.
Gert still heads up the Board of Directors, and Tim is the Employers such as Columbia Sportswear generally as-
company’s President and CEO. sume that managers in all areas of the company are “finan-
Columbia doesn’t just focus on financial success. The cially literate.” To help prepare you for that, in this textbook
company is very committed to corporate, social, and envi- you will learn how to read and prepare financial statements,
ronmental responsibility. For example, several of its factories and how to use basic tools to evaluate financial results.

The Chapter Outline presents the chapter’s topics and subtopics, as well as practice opportunities.

Chapter Outline
L EARNING OBJECTIVES

LO 1 Identify the activities and • Three activities DO IT! 1 Basic Concepts

users associated with accounting. • Who uses accounting data

LO 2 Explain the building blocks of • Ethics DO IT! 2 Building Blocks of

accounting: ethics, principles, and • GAAP Accounting
assumptions.
• Measurement principles
• Assumptions

LO 3 State the accounting equation, • Assets DO IT! 3 Owner’s Equity Effects

and define its components. • Liabilities
• Owner’s equity

LO 4 Analyze the effects of business • Accounting transactions DO IT! 4 Tabular Analysis

transactions on the accounting • Transaction analysis
equation.
• Summary of transactions

LO 5 Describe the four financial • Income statement DO IT! 5 Financial Statement

statements and how they are • Owner’s equity statement Items
prepared.
• Balance sheet
• Statement of cash flows
Go to the Review and Practice section at the end of the chapter for a review of key concepts
and practice applications with solutions.
Visit WileyPLUS with ORION for additional tutorials and practice opportunities.
 Accounting Activities and Users 1-3

Accounting Activities and Users

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1
Identify the activities and users associated with accounting.

What consistently ranks as one of the top career opportunities in business? What frequently
rates among the most popular majors on campus? What was the undergraduate degree chosen
by Nike founder Phil Knight, Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, former acting director
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Thomas Pickard, and numerous members of
Congress? Accounting.1 Why did these people choose accounting? They wanted to understand
what was happening financially to their organizations. Accounting is the financial information
system that provides these insights. In short, to understand your organization, you have to
know the numbers.
Accounting consists of three basic activities—it identifies, records, and communicates Essential terms are printed in
the economic events of an organization to interested users. Let’s take a closer look at these blue when they first appear, and
three activities. are defined in the end-of-chapter
Glossary Review.

Three Activities
As a starting point to the accounting process, a company identifies the economic events
relevant to its business. Examples of economic events are the sale of snack chips by
PepsiCo, the provision of cell phone services by AT&T, and the payment of wages by
Facebook.
Once a company like PepsiCo identifies economic events, it records those events in order
to provide a history of its financial activities. Recording consists of keeping a systematic,
chronological diary of events, measured in dollars and cents. In recording, PepsiCo also
classifies and summarizes economic events.
Finally, PepsiCo communicates the collected information to interested users by means
of accounting reports. The most common of these reports are called financial statements.
To make the reported financial information meaningful, PepsiCo reports the recorded data in
a standardized way. It accumulates information resulting from similar transactions. For exam-
ple, PepsiCo accumulates all sales transactions over a certain period of time and reports the
data as one amount in the company’s financial statements. Such data are said to be reported
in the aggregate. By presenting the recorded data in the aggregate, the accounting process
simplifies a multitude of transactions and makes a series of activities understandable and
meaningful.
A vital element in communicating economic events is the accountant’s ability to ana-
lyze and interpret the reported information. Analysis involves use of ratios, percentages,
graphs, and charts to highlight significant financial trends and relationships. Interpretation
involves explaining the uses, meaning, and limitations of reported data. Appendices
A–E show the financial statements of Apple Inc., PepsiCo Inc., The Coca-Cola Com-
pany, Amazon.com, Inc., and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., respectively. (In addition, in the
A Look at IFRS section at the end of each chapter, the French company Louis Vuitton
Moët Hennessy is analyzed.) We refer to these statements at various places throughout the
textbook. At this point, these financial statements probably strike you as complex and con-
fusing. By the end of this course, you’ll be surprised at your ability to understand, analyze,
and interpret them.

1
The appendix to this chapter describes job opportunities for accounting majors and explains why accounting is
such a popular major.
1-4 CHA PT E R 1 Accounting in Action

Illustration 1.1 summarizes the activities of the accounting process.

ILLUSTRATION 1.1 The activities of the accounting process

Communication

Identification Recording

CHIP CITY

DEL Prepare accounting reports

L

.. .
..
. .
.... ..

Select economic events (transactions) Record, classify, and summarize

Analyze and interpret for users

You should understand that the accounting process includes the bookkeeping function.
Bookkeeping usually involves only the recording of economic events. It is therefore just one
part of the accounting process. In total, accounting involves the entire process of identifying,
recording, and communicating economic events.2

Who Uses Accounting Data

The financial information that users need depends upon the kinds of decisions they make.
There are two broad groups of users of financial information: internal users and external users.

Internal Users
Internal users of accounting information are the managers who plan, organize, and run a
business. These include marketing managers, production supervisors, finance directors, and
company officers. In running a business, internal users must answer many important questions,
as shown in Illustration 1.2.

ILLUSTRATION 1.2 Questions that internal users ask

Questions Asked by Internal Users

ON ON
STRIKE ONSTRIKE
E
STRIK
STOCK
COLA

Snack chips Beverages

Finance Marketing Human Resources Management
Is cash sufficient to pay What price should Apple charge Can General Motors afford Which PepsiCo product line is
dividends to for an iPad to maximize the to give its employees pay the most profitable? Should any
Microsoft stockholders? company's net income? raises this year? product lines be eliminated?

2
The origins of accounting are generally attributed to the work of Luca Pacioli, an Italian Renaissance mathemati-
cian. Pacioli was a close friend and tutor to Leonardo da Vinci and a contemporary of Christopher Columbus. In his
1494 text Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportione et Proportionalite, Pacioli described a system to ensure
that financial information was recorded efficiently and accurately.
 Accounting Activities and Users 1-5

To answer these and other questions, internal users need detailed information on a timely
basis. Managerial accounting provides internal reports to help users make decisions about
their companies. Examples are financial comparisons of operating alternatives, projections of
income from new sales campaigns, and forecasts of cash needs for the next year.

Accounting Across the Organization Clif Bar & Company

Owning a Piece of the Bar ership plan (ESOP) in 2010. This plan gives its employees 20%
ownership of the company. The ESOP also resulted in Clif Bar
The original Clif Bar® energy enacting an open-book management program, including the
bar was created in 1990 after six commitment to educate all employee-owners about its finances.
months of experimentation by Armed with basic accounting knowledge, employees are more
Gary Erickson and his mother in aware of the financial impact of their actions, which leads to
her kitchen. Today, the company better decisions.
has almost 300 employees and
is considered one of the leading
Landor’s Breakaway Brands®.
One of Clif Bar & Company’s What are the benefits to the company and to the employees of
proudest moments was the cre- making the financial statements available to all employees? (Go
© Dan Moore/iStockphoto ation of an employee stock own- to WileyPLUS for this answer and additional questions.)

Accounting Across the Organization boxes demonstrate applications of accounting information in

various business functions.

External Users
External users are individuals and organizations outside a company who want financial in-
formation about the company. The two most common types of external users are investors and
creditors. Investors (owners) use accounting information to decide whether to buy, hold, or
sell ownership shares of a company. Creditors (such as suppliers and bankers) use accounting
information to evaluate the risks of granting credit or lending money. Illustration 1.3 shows
some questions that investors and creditors may ask.

ILLUSTRATION 1.3 Questions that external users ask

Questions Asked by External Users

Yeah!
What do we do
if they catch us?
BILL
COLLECTOR

Investors Investors Creditors

Is General Electric earning How does Disney compare in size Will United Airlines be able
satisfactory income? and profitability with Time Warner? to pay its debts as they come due?

Financial accounting answers these questions. It provides economic and financial in-
formation for investors, creditors, and other external users. The information needs of external
users vary considerably. Taxing authorities, such as the Internal Revenue Service, want to
know whether the company complies with tax laws. Regulatory agencies, such as the Secu-
rities and Exchange Commission or the Federal Trade Commission, want to know whether
the company is operating within prescribed rules. Customers are interested in whether a
company like Tesla Motors will continue to honor product warranties and support its product
lines. Labor unions, such as the Major League Baseball Players Association, want to know
whether the owners have the ability to pay increased wages and benefits.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bellarion the Fortunate: A
romance
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the
Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have
to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Bellarion the Fortunate: A romance

Author: Rafael Sabatini

Illustrator: Harold Brett

Release date: June 26, 2022 [eBook #68411]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: Houghton Mifflin co, 1926

Credits: Dagny and Laura Natal Rodrigues (Images generously made

available by The Internet Archive.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELLARION THE

FORTUNATE: A ROMANCE ***
 BELLARION
THE FORTUNATE

A Romance

BY
 RAFAEL SABATINI

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

The Riverside Press Cambridge

1926

COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY RAFAEL SABATINI

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CONTENTS
BOOK I
I. The Threshold
II. The Grey Friar
III. The Door Ajar
IV. Sanctuary
V. The Princess
VI. The Winds of Fate
VII. Service
VIII. Stalemate
IX. The Marquis Theodore
X. The Warning
XI. Under Suspicion
XII. Count Spigno
XIII. The Trial
XIV. Evasion
BOOK II
I. The Miracle of the Dogs
II. Facino Cane
III. The Countess of Biandrate
IV. The Champion
V. The Commune of Milan
VI. The Fruitless Wooing
VII. Manœuvres
VIII. The Battle of Travo
IX. De Mortuis
X. The Knight Bellarion
XI. The Siege of Alessandria
XII. Visconti Faith
XIII. The Victuallers
XIV. The Muleteer
XV. The Camisade
XVI. Severance
XVII. The Return
XVIII. The Hostage
BOOK III
I. The Lord Bellarion
II. The Battle of Novi
III. Facino's Return
IV. The Count of Pavia
V. Justice
VI. The Inheritance
VII. Prince of Valsassina
VIII. Carmagnola's Bridges
IX. Vercelli
X. The Arrest
XI. The Pledge
XII. Carmagnola's Duty
XIII. The Occupation of Casale
XIV. The Vanquished
XV. The Last Fight

BELLARION

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

THE THRESHOLD

Half god, half beast,' the Princess Valeria once described him, without
suspecting that the phrase describes not merely Bellarion, but Man.
Aware of this, the anonymous chronicler who has preserved it for us goes on
to comment that the Princess said at once too much and too little. He makes
phrases in his turn—which I will spare you—and seeks to prove, that, if the
moieties of divinity and beastliness are equally balanced in a man, that man will
be neither good nor bad. Then he passes on to show us a certain poor
swineherd, who rose to ultimate eminence, in whom the godly part so far
predominated that naught else was humanly discernible, and a great prince—of
whom more will be heard in the course of this narrative—who was just as the
beasts that perish, without any spark of divinity to exalt him. These are the
extremes. For each of the dozen or so intermediate stages which he discerns, our
chronicler has a portrait out of history, of which his learning appears to be
considerable.
From this, from his general manner, from the fact that most of his illustrations
are supplied by Florentine sources, and from the austerely elegant Tuscan
language in which he writes, a fairly definite conclusion is possible on the score of
his identity. It is more than probable that this study of Bellarion the Fortunate
(Bellarione Il Fortunato) belongs to that series of historical portraits from the pen
of Niccolò Macchiavelli, of which 'The Life of Castruccio Castracane' is perhaps
the most widely known. Research, however, fails to discover the source from
which he draws. Whilst many of his facts agree completely with those contained
in the voluminous, monkish 'Vita et Gesta Bellarionis,' left us by Fra Serafino of
Imola, whoever he may have been, yet discrepancies are frequent and
irreconcilable.
Thus, at the very outset, on the score of his name, Macchiavelli (to cling to my
assumption) tells us that he was called Bellarion not merely because he was a
man of war, but because he was the very child of War, born as it were out of the
very womb of conflict—'e di guerra propriamente partorito.' The use of this
metaphor reveals a full acquaintance with the tale of the child's being plucked
from the midst of strife and alarums. But Fra Serafino's account of the name is
the only one that fits into the known facts. That this name should have been so
descriptive of Bellarion's after life merely provides one of those curious instances
of homonymy in which history abounds.
Continuing his comments upon the Princess Valeria's phrase, Macchiavelli
states that Bellarion's is not a nature thus to be packed into a sentence. Because
of his perception of this fact, he wrote his biographical sketch. Because of my
perception of it, I have embarked upon this fuller narrative.
I choose to begin at a point where Bellarion himself may be said to make a
certain beginning. I select the moment when he is to be seen standing upon the
threshold of the secular world, known to him until that moment only from the
writings of other men, yet better known to him thus than it is to many who have
lived a lifetime among their fellows. After all, to view a scene from a distance is to
enjoy advantages of perspective denied to the actors in that scene.
Bellarion's reading had been prodigious. There was no branch of learning—
from the Theological Fathers to Vegetius Hyginus on The Art of War'—to which
he had not addressed his eager spirit. And his exhaustion of all immediately
available material for study was one of the causes of his going forth from the
peace of the convent of which he was a nursling, in quest of deeper wells of
learning, to slake his hot intellectual thirst. Another cause was a certain heretical
doctrine of which it was hoped that further study would cure him; a doctrine so
subversive of theological teaching that a hundred years later it must have made
him closely acquainted with the operations of the Holy Office and probably—in
Spain certainly—have brought him to the fire. This abominable heresy, fruit of
much brooding, was that in the world there is not, nor can be, such a thing as sin.
And it was in vain that the Abbot, who loved him very dearly, sought by argument
to convert him.
'It is your innocence that speaks. Alas, my child, in the world, from which
hitherto you have been mercifully sheltered, you will find that sin is not only real
but terribly abundant.'
Bellarion answered with a syllogism, the logical formula to which he had
reduced his doctrine. He presented it in the Socratic manner of inquiry, which was
the method of argument he ever preferred.
'Are not all things in the world from God? Is not God the fount of all goodness?
Can, therefore, any created thing be other than good?'
'And the devil, then?' quoth the Abbot.
Bellarion smiled, a singularly sweet smile that had power to draw men's love
and lead them into agreement with him.
'Is it not possible that those who invented the devil may have studied divinity
in Persia, where the creed obtains that powers of light and darkness, Ormuzd and
Ahriman, strive perpetually for mastery of the world? Surely, otherwise, they
would have remembered that if the devil exists, God must have created him,
which in itself is blasphemy, for God can create no evil.'
Aghast, the Abbot descended at a stride from the theological to the practical.
'Is it not evil to steal, to kill, to commit adultery?'
'Ah, yes. But these are evils between men, disruptive of society, and therefore
to be suppressed lest man become as the beasts. But that is all.'
'All? All!' The Abbot's deep-set eyes surveyed the youth with sorrow. 'My son,
the devil lends you a false subtlety to destroy your soul.'
And gently, now, that benign and fatherly man preached him a sermon of the
faith. It was followed by others in the days that ensued. But to all the weapons of
his saintly rhetoric Bellarion continued to oppose the impenetrable shield of that
syllogism of his, which the Abbot knew at heart to be fallacious, yet whose fallacy
he laboured in vain to expose. But when the good man began to fear lest this
heresy should come to trouble and corrupt the peace and faith of his convent, he
consented to speed its author to Pavia and to those further studies which he
hoped would cure him of his heretical pravity. And that is how, on a day of August
of the year of grace 1407, Bellarion departed from the convent of Our Lady of
Grace of Cigliano.
He went on foot. He was to be dependent for food and shelter mainly upon the
charity of the religious houses that lay on his way to Pavia, and as a passport to
these he bore in his scrip a letter from the Abbot of the Grazie. Beside it lay a
purse, containing for emergencies five ducats, a princely sum not only in his own
eyes, but in those of the Abbot who at parting had bestowed it upon him. The tale
of his worldly possessions is completed by the suit of coarse green cloth he wore
and the knife at his girdle, which was to serve all purposes from the carving of his
meat to affording him a means of defence from predatory beasts and men. To
fortify him spiritually in his adventurous pilgrimage through Lombardy he had the
Abbot's blessing and a memory of the fond tears in the eyes of that old man who
had reared him from the age of six. At the last the Abbot had again reminded him
of the peace of the convent and of the strife and unhappiness that distract the
world.
'Pax multa in cella, foris autem plurima bella.'
The mischief began—and you may account it symbolical—by his losing his
way. This happened a mile or two beyond the township of Livorno. Because the
peace of the riverside allured a mind that for seventeen years had been schooled
in peace, because the emerald meadows promised to be soft and yielding to his
feet, he left the dusty highway for the grassy banks of Po. Beside its broad waters
winding here about the shallow, pleasant hills of Montferrat, Bellarion trudged,
staff in hand, the green hood of his cape thrown back, the long liripipe trailing like
a tail behind him, a tall, lithe stripling of obvious vigour, olive-skinned, black-
haired, and with dark eyes that surveyed the world bold and fearlessly.
The day was hot. The air was laden with the heavy perfumes of late summer,
and the river swollen and clouded by the melting snows on distant Monte Rosa.
He wandered on, lost in day-dreams, until the sunlight passed with the sinking
of the sun behind the wooded heights across the river and a breeze came
whispering through the trees on his own bank. He checked, his dark eyes alert, a
frown of thought rumpling the fair smoothness of his lofty brow. He looked about,
became aware of a deep forest on his left, bethought him of the road,
remembered where the sun had set, and realised hence that for some time he
had been travelling south, and consequently in the wrong direction. In following
the allurements offered to his senses he had gone astray. He made some homely
philosophy upon that, to his infinite satisfaction, for he loved parallels and
antitheses and all such intellectual toys. For the rest, there was about him no
doubt or hesitation. He computed, from the time he had taken and the pace at
which he had come, the extent to which he had wandered from the road. It must
run too far beyond this forest to leave him any hope of lying that night, as he had
intended, with the Augustinian fathers at their house on the Sesia, on the frontiers
of the State of Milan.
Save for the hunger that beset him, he was undismayed. And what after all is
a little hunger to one schooled to the most rigid lenten fasts in season?
He entered the wood, and resolutely went forward in the direction in which he
knew the road to lie. For a half-mile or more he penetrated by a path growing less
visible at every step, until darkness and the forest swallowed him. To go on would
certainly be to lose himself completely in this maze. Better far to lie down and
sleep where he was, and wait for the morning sun to give him his orientation.
So he spread his cloak upon the ground, and this proving no harder as a
couch than the pallet to which he was accustomed, he slept soundly and
peacefully.
 When he awakened he found the sunlight in the forest and something else of
almost more immediate interest; a man in the grey habit of a minor friar. This
man, tall and lean, was standing beside him, yet half turned from him in a curious
attitude of arrested movement, almost as if the abrupt suddenness with which
Bellarion had sat up—a single heartbeat after his eyes had opened—had
checked his intention to depart.
Thus an instant, then the friar was facing him again, his hands folded within
the loose sleeves of his robe, a smile distending his countenance. He uttered a
benedictory greeting.
'Pax tecum.'
'Et tecum, frater, pax,' was Bellarion's mechanical answer, what time he
studied this stranger's villainous, patibulary countenance, marking the animal
looseness of mouth, and the craft peering from the little eyes that were black
beads thrust into a face of clay. A closer scrutiny softened his judgment. The
man's face was disfigured, ridged, scarred, and pitted from the smallpox. These
scars had contracted the skin about the eyes, thus altering their expression, and
to the ravages of the disease was also due the sickly pallor overspreading cheek
and brow.
Considering this and the habit which the man wore—a habit which Bellarion
had no cause to associate with anything that was not sweet and good—he
disposed himself to make amends for the hastiness of his first assumptions.
'Benedictus sis,' he murmured, and with that abandoned Latin for the vulgar
tongue. 'I bless the Providence that sends you to a poor traveller who has lost his
way.'
The friar laughed aloud at that, and the lingering apprehension left his eyes,
which thus relieved grew pleasanter to look upon.
'Lord! Lord! And I like a fool and coward, having almost trod upon you, was for
creeping off in haste, supposing you a sleeping robber. This forest is a very
sanctuary of thieves. They infest it, thick as rabbits in a warren.'
'Why, then, do you adventure in it?'
'Why? Ohé! And what shall they steal from a poor friar-mendicant? My beads?
My girdle?' He laughed again. A humorous fellow, clearly, taking a proper saintly
joy in his indigenous condition. 'No, no, my brother. I have no cause to go in fear
of thieves.'
'Yet supposing me a thief, you were in fear of me?'
The man's smile froze. This stripling's simple logic was disconcerting.
'I feared,' he said at last, slowly and solemnly, 'your fear of me. A hideous
passion, fear, in man or beast. It makes men murderers at times. Had you been
the robber I supposed you, and, waking suddenly, found me beside you, you
might have suspected some intent to harm you. It is easily guessed what would
have followed then.'
Bellarion nodded thoughtfully. No explanation could have been more
complete. The man was not only virtuous, but wise.
'Whither do you journey, brother?'
'To Pavia,' Bellarion answered him, 'by way of Santa Tenda.'
'Santa Tenda! Why, that is my way too; at least as far as the Augustinian
Monastery on the Sesia. Wait here, my son, and we will go together. It is good to
have a comrade on a journey. Wait but some few moments, to give me time to
bathe, which is the purpose for which I came. I will not keep you long.'
He went striding off through the grass. Bellarion called after him:
'Where do you bathe?'
Over his shoulder the friar answered him: 'There is a rivulet down yonder. But
a little way. Do not stray from that spot, so that I may find you again, my son.'
Bellarion thought the form of address an odd one. A minorite is brother, not
father, to all humanity. But it was no suspicion based on this that brought him to
his feet. He was a youth of cleanly habits, and if there was water at hand, he too
would profit by it. So he rose, picked up his cloak, and went off in the wake of the
swiftly moving friar.
When, presently, he overtook him, Bellarion made him a present of a proverb.
'Who goes slowly, goes soundly.'
'But never gets there,' was the slightly breathless answer. 'And it's still some
way to the water.'
'Some way? But you said ...'
'Aye, aye. I was mistaken. One place is like another in this labyrinth. I am
none so sure that I am not as lost as you are.'
It must have been so, for they trudged a full mile before they came to a brook
that flowed westward towards the river. It lay in a dell amid mossy boulders and
spreading fronds of ferns all dappled now with the golden light that came
splashing through the trees. They found a pool of moderate dimensions in a bowl
of grey stone fashioned by the ceaseless sculpture of the water. It was too
shallow to afford a bath. But the friar's ablutionary dispositions scarce seemed to
demand so much. He rinsed face and hands perfunctorily, whilst Bellarion
stripped to the waist, and displaying a white torso of much beauty and more
vigour, did what was possible in that cramped space.
 After that the friar produced from one of the sack-like pockets of his habit an
enormous piece of sausage and a loaf of rye bread.
To Bellarion who had gone supperless to bed this was as the sight of manna
in the desert.
'Little brother!' he cooed in sheer delight. 'Little brother!'
'Aye, aye. We have our uses, we little brothers of Saint Francis.' The minorite
sliced the sausage in two equal halves. 'We know how to provide ourselves upon
a journey.'
They fell to eating, and with the stilling of his hunger Bellarion experienced an
increasing kindliness to this Good Samaritan. At the friar's suggestion that they
should be moving so as to cover the greater part of the road to Casale before the
noontide heat, Bellarion stood up, brushing the crumbs from his lap. In doing so
his hand came in contact with the scrip that dangled from his girdle.
'Saints of God!' he ejaculated, as he tightened his clutch upon that bag of
green cloth.
The beady eyes of the minorite were upon him, and there was blank inquiry in
that ashen, corrugated face.
'What is it, brother?'
Bellarion's fingers groped within the bag a moment, then turned it inside out,
to reveal its utter emptiness. He showed his companion a face which blended
suspicion with dismay.
'I have been robbed!' he said.
'Robbed?' the other echoed, then smiled a pitying concern. 'My surprise is
less than yours, my son. Did I not say these woods are infested by thieves and
robbers? Had you slept less soundly you might have been robbed of life as well.
Render thanks to God, Whose grace is discernible even in misfortune. For no evil
befalls us that will not serve to show how much greater that evil might have been.
Take that for comfort ever in adversity, my child.'
'Aye, Aye!' Bellarion displayed ill-humour, whilst his eyes abated nothing of
their suspicious glance. 'It is easy to make philosophy upon the woes of others.'
'Child, child! What is your woe? What is the full sum of it? What have you lost,
when all is said?'
'Five ducats and a letter.' Bellarion flung the answer fiercely.
'Five ducats!' The friar spread his hands in pious remonstrance. 'And will you
blaspheme God for five ducats?'
'Blaspheme?'
 'Is not your furious frame of mind a blasphemy, your anger at your loss where
there should be a devout thankfulness for all that you retain? And you should be
thankful, too, for the Providence that guided my steps towards you in the hour of
your need.'
'I should be thankful for that?' Bellarion stressed the question with mistrust.
The friar's countenance changed. A gentle melancholy invested it.
'I read your thoughts, child, and they harbour suspicion of me. Of Me!' he
smiled. 'Why, what a madness! Should I turn thief? Should I imperil my immortal
soul for five paltry ducats? Do you not know that we little brothers of Saint Francis
live as the birds of the air, without thought for material things, our trust entirely in
God's providence? What should I do with five ducats, or five hundred? Without a
single minted coin, with no more than my gown and my staff I might journey from
here to Jerusalem, living upon the alms that never fail us. But assurances are not
enough for minds poisoned by suspicion.' He flung wide his arms, and stood
cruciform before the youth. 'Come, child, make search upon me for your ducats,
and so assure yourself. Come!'
Bellarion flushed, and lowered his head in shame.
'There ... there is not the need,' he answered lamely. 'The gown you wear is a
full assurance. You could not be what you are and yet the thing that for a moment
I ...' He broke off. 'I beg that you'll forgive my unworthiness, my brother.'
Slowly the friar lowered his arms. His eyes were smiling again.
'I will be merciful by not insisting.' He laid a hand, lean and long in the fingers
as an eagle's claw upon the young man's shoulder. 'Think no more of your loss. I
am here to repair it. Together we will journey. The habit of Saint Francis is wide
enough to cover both of us, and you shall not want for anything until you reach
Pavia.'
Bellarion looked at him in gratitude. 'It was Providence, indeed, that sent you.'
'Did I not say so? And now you see it for yourself. Benedicamus Domine.'
To which Bellarion sincerely made the prescribed answer: 'Deo gratias!'

CHAPTER II

THE GREY FRIAR

They made their way towards the road, not directly, but by a course with which
Fra Sulpizio—as the friar announced himself named—seemed singularly well
acquainted. It led transversely across the forest. And as they went, Fra Sulpizio
plied Bellarion with questions.
'There was a letter, you said, that was stolen with your gold?'
'Aye,' Bellarion's tone was bitter. 'A letter worth many times five ducats.'
'Worth many times ...? A letter?' The incredulity on the friar's face was
ludicrous. 'Why, what manner of letter was that?'
Bellarion, who knew the contents by heart, recited them word for word.
Fra Sulpizio scratched his head in perplexity. 'I have Latin enough for my
office; but not for this,' he confessed, and finding Bellarion's searching glance
upon him, he softened his voice to add, truly enough: 'We little brothers of Saint
Francis are not famed for learning. Learning disturbs humility.'
Bellarion sighed. 'So I know to my cost,' said he, and thereafter translated the
lost letter: 'This is our dearly beloved son Bellarion, a nutritus of this house, who
goes hence to Pavia to increase his knowledge of the humanities. We commend
him first to God and then to the houses of our own and other brethren orders for
shelter and assistance on his journey, involving upon all who may befriend him
the blessing of Our Lord.'
The friar nodded his understanding. 'It might have been a grievous loss,
indeed. But as it is, I will do the office of your letter whilst I am with you, and when
we part I will see you armed with the like from the Prior of the Augustinians on the
Sesia. He will do this at my word.'
The young man thanked him with a fervour dictated by shame of certain
unworthy suspicions which had recurred. Thereafter they trudged on a while in
silence, broken by the friar at last.
'And is your name Belisario, then? An odd name, that!'
'Not Belisario. Bellario, or rather, Bellarione.'
'Bellarione? Why, it is even less Christian than the other. Where got you such
a name?'
'Not at the font, you may be sure. There I was christened Ilario, after the good
Saint Hilary, who is still my patron saint.'
'Then why ...?'
'There's a story to it; my story,' Bellarion answered him, and upon slight
encouragement proceeded to relate it.
He was born, he told the friar, as nearly as he could guess, some six years
after the outbreak of the Great Schism, that is to say, somewhere about the year
1384, in a village of whose name, like that of his own family, he had no
knowledge.
 'Of my father and my mother,' he continued, 'I can evoke no mental picture. Of
my father my only positive knowledge is that he existed. Of my mother I know that
she was a termagant of whom the family, my father included, stood in awe.
Amongst my earliest impressions is the sense of fear that invaded us at the
sound of her scolding voice. It was querulous and strident; and I can hear it to this
day harshly raised to call my sister. Leocadia was that sister's name, the only
name of all my family that I remember, and this because I must often have heard
it called in that dread voice. There were several of us. I have one vivid memory of
perhaps a half-dozen tumbling urchins, playing at some game in a bare chill
room, that was yellow washed, lighted by an unglazed window beyond which the
rain was streaming down upon a narrow dismal street. There was a clang of
metal in the air, as if armourers were at work in the neighbourhood. And we were
in the charge, I remember, of that same Leocadia, who must have been the
eldest of us. I have an impression, vague and misty, of a lanky girl whose lean
bare legs showed through a rent in her tattered petticoat. Faintly I discern a thin,
pinched face set in a mane of untidy yellow hair, and then I hear a heavy step and
the creak of a stair and a shrill, discordant voice calling "Leocadia!" and then a
scuttle amongst us to shelter from some unremembered peril.
'Of my family, that is all that I can tell you, brother. You'll agree, perhaps, that
since my memory can hold so little it is a pity that it should hold so much. But for
these slight impressions of my infancy I might weave a pleasant romance about
it, conceive myself born in a palace and heir to an illustrious name.
'That these memories of mine concern the year 1389 or 1390 I know from
what the Abbot tells me, and also from later studies and deductions of my own.
As you may know, there was at that time a bitter war being waged hereabouts
between Ghibelline Montferrat and Guelphic Morea. It may have ravaged these
very lands by which we travel now. One evening at the hour of dusk a foraging
troop of Montferrat horse swept into my native place. There was pillage and
brutality of every kind, as you can imagine. There was terror and confusion in
every household, no doubt, and even in our own, although Heaven knows we had
little cause to stand in dread of pillage. I remember that as night descended we
huddled in the dark listening to the sounds of violence in the distance, coming
from what I now imagine to have been the more opulent quarter of that township.
I can hear my mother's heavy breathing. For once she inspired no terror in us,
being herself stricken with terror and cowed into silence. But this greater terror
was upon us all, a sense of impending evil, of some horror advancing presently to
overwhelm us. There were snivelling, whimpering sounds in the gloom about me
from Leocadia and the other children. It is odd, how things heard have remained
stamped upon my mind so much more vividly than things seen, which usually are
more easily remembered. But from that moment my memory begins to grow clear
and consecutive, perhaps from the sudden sharpening of my wits by this crisis.