Question: I am interested in learning things to the core. I want to read books which present accounting principles in detail and which are regarded as a de facto standard in the accounting field.
Answer: I hope you are an Indian , and located now in India... As you say that you are engineer, mathematics must be your strong point and hence , learning accounting is not at all difficult for you at all....
You also say that you need to learn from the Core..
So I suggest that you buy the Text books of accounting as taught in Std.10th and 11th of commerce stream...
as you need to start from ABC of accounting and also in right direction... These books show Basic Principles and simple examples. hence you learn faster.. further there are guides to these text books where they have solved examples .. so you need to invest hardly Rs.500 in all.. Rest will be your effort and time you give to this Project...
After you have finished the Textual self learning at std. 10/11 , you can attempt the college books. Here to they teach same principles but with examples of complexity..
You can also join some crash course of Refreshers , conducted by the Private Tutorials..(as I do not know your location, I am unable to suggest the titles/publishers names of the Books you can buy) but Text books of Accounting for std.10 and std.11 of Commerce Stream and guides to them is Sure for your Buying.
you may contact me at email krishprud@yahoo.co.in
wish you Best Luck to learn accounts..
Others:
if you are already an engineer, start with a text book on
Engineering Economy
or
Economics for Engineers.
Accounting for Dummies