Mike Bazley (1931 – 2013) was the inspiration behind the first edition of this book. The success of this text is a tribute to Mike’s perseverance as many publishers he initially approached were not particularly interested in his idea of adapting the UK text Accounting in Business Context. However, Thomas Nelson, now Cengage, finally agreed and in 1991 the first edition was published. Sadly Mike Bazley passed away in February 2013. Mike was an excellent teacher and highly regarded by the students he taught, an outstanding work colleague, a valued friend and a true gentleman to all that he met. He is deeply missed by his family and many friends and former colleagues. Mike Bazley was born in the United Kingdom where, having undertaken national service, he joined a medium-sized company and worked his way to joint managing director. In 1969, Mike migrated to Australia and began his period of employment at The University of Western Australia which eventually led him to taking up a lectureship in 1977 in UWA’s then Department of Accounting and Finance. He subsequently took up a position with Murdoch University where he was Dean of Studies and Chair of the School of Commerce and Senior Lecturer. In addition to his academic work, he also consulted for the Western Australian state government, conducted public seminars and contributed to various academic and professional publications. Mike was a Fellow of CPA Australia. Having retired in 1995, Mike still continued to take great interest in the development of this text.
