Book Description

Project financing is an innovative and timely financing technique that has been used on many high-profile corporate projects, including Euro Disneyland and the Eurotunnel. Employing a carefully engineered financing mix, it has long been used to fund large-scale natural resource projects, from pipelines and refineries to electric-generating facilities and hydroelectric projects. Increasingly, project financing is emerging as the preferred alternative to conventional methods of financing infrastructure and other large-scale projects worldwide.

The intricacies of project financing are formidable, and can easily be misunderstood and, consequently, misused. While project financing structures share certain common features, by necessity, they require tailoring the package to the particular circumstances of the project. That is where both the benefits and the challenges lie.

As an investment banker currently with Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, John D. Finnerty has a wealth of experience in project financing. Now, he brings his considerable expertise to a comprehensive exploration of the facts, figures—and potential faux pas—surrounding Project Financing.

What distinguishes project financing from conventional direct financing is that rather than looking to the firm's entire asset portfolio to generate cash flow, in project financing, the project is "a distinct legal entity" and the financing is tailored to the cash flow characteristics of the project assets. Such a structure can yield a more efficient allocation of risks and returns than conventional financing, but careful financial engineering is critical.

With actual examples and case studies, Project Financing takes you through the process step by step. It covers the rationale for project financing, how to prepare the financial plan, assess the risks, design the financing mix, and raise the funds. Along with cogent analyses of why some project financing plans have succeeded while others have failed, you'll find detailed information on:

• Designing contractual arrangements to support project financing
• Issues for the host government—legislative provisions, public/private infrastructure partnerships, public/private financing structures
• Credit requirements of lenders, and how to determine the project's borrowing capacity
• How to prepare cash flow projections and use them to measure expected rates of return
• Tax and accounting considerations
• Detailed case studies—including Euro Disneyland and the Eurotunnel Project—that illustrate how to apply the analytical techniques described in the book

From funding sources and contract options to security arrangements and legal requirements, Project Financing provides the most complete coverage available today.

Project financing is one of the hottest topics in corporate finance. As an effective alternative to conventional direct financing, it is being used more frequently—and more successfully—on a wide variety of projects. In this comprehensive new book, John D. Finnerty, Editor of Financial Management, takes an in-depth look at this important financing technique.

Praise for PROJECT FINANCING

"Owing to his teaching as a finance professor and as an experienced investment banker, John Finnerty brings to his book, Project Financing, an insightful perspective, blending the theoretical with the practical."—Zoltan Merszei, Former Chairman, President, and CEO, The Dow Chemical Company

"Finnerty has managed to distill the complexities of project financing with its myriad components and variations. Clear, practical, and in-depth, Project Financing is a valuable user's guide for project sponsors, regulators, host governments (local and foreign), and financiers alike."—Ricardo M. Campoy, Managing Director, ING Capital Corporation

"Project Financing warrants a place in the essential libraries of corporate financial managers, their advisors, senior strategists, bankers, large private investors, government officials, and anyone who aspires to master innovation in corporate finance."—Robert F. Bruner, Professor of Business Administration, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia

"This book is the first comprehensive treatment of project financing. It provides an invaluable contribution to financial management literature and practice."—Andrew H. Cohen, Distinguished Professor of Finance, Southern Methodist University ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Amazing finance tool.
One of the best books I've ever read. Extremely useful and updated. Strongly recommended.

good
do you have any book store in p.r.china? since i can't remit money abroad. but in china, i can do so. tks ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A 21st century approach to a 100yr old problem
I found the approach to cost reduction to be far beyond a simple "puchasing" tactic. The authors proposed a 21st century approach that brings the entire enterprise together (engineering, manufacturing, finance, supply chain) in a systematic approach to achieving cost savings. Our company has struggled with global sourcing and outsourcing and this book provides the first alternative that still gets the required cost reduction, but allows us to keep our existing supply base and manufacturing in the US. ... Read more

Amazon.com

"After conducting fourteen formal studies and more than a thousand interviews, directly observing dozens of executives in action, and compiling innumerable surveys, I am completely convinced that most organizations today lack the leadership they need," contends John P. Kotter, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School. "And the shortfall is often large. I'm not talking about a deficit of 10%, but of 200%, 400%, or more in positions up and down the hierarchy," he writes in the opening essay to John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do, a collection of his most notable articles on the topic for the Harvard Business Review. Kotter isn't known to pull punches, and these pieces--falling into two categories, those concerned with "Leadership and Change" and those focusing on "Dependency and Networks"--are no exception. The articles in the book sensibly point out the difference between management and leadership; they advocate setting a direction rather than planning and budgeting, and motivating people rather than controlling them. They are tied together effectively by the aforementioned new essay, in which Kotter presents his "Ten Observations About Management Behavior" to summarize the concepts he has developed over a 30-year career. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Kotter Knows
John knows his stuff. I've worked for P&G, M&M/Mars and The NutraSweet Company and I know the halls, people and thinking Kotter discusses. He is spot on in his examination of what good leaders really do, something that can often seem like a mystery. I found it interesting that people were evenly split on this book between raves and pans. So much of what you get out of a book like this is related to personal experience. I don't know if I changed my paradigm after reading What Leaders Really Do, but I increased my empathy and understanding. Always a good thing, no?

The Same Old Stuff!
Please retire, or get some new ideas!

A MUST Read for Anyone in Management
I bought this book on second thought because I was also buying "Leading Change" by Kotter. However, I picked up this book and could not put it down. As a long-time leader, this book validates much of what I already know and do. However, it also brings a lot of insight into the differences between leadership and management. The author really analyzes the complexity and interdependency and interrelationships that are faced by, and must be overcome or managed by leaders and managers. I liked what and how Kotter says it in this book that I bought one for each of my managers (I'm a CEO). I am hoping that this easy-to-read, and understandable book brings a lot of insight to them. I highly recommend this book to all current leaders and managers, and anyone hoping to go into leadership or management or both.

Insightful and Relevant
This is a well-researched and cutting-edge book that shows what leaders are made of, what habits they have in common, and from where they come. Mr. Kotter blends well the facts we need to know with human-interest stories of several successful managers. Great book.

Also recommeded: The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills

Almost completely non-informative
This book contains John Kotter's usual dose of platitudes and blindingly obvious insights. Anyone that gets anything useful out of this book is far too dumb to lead anything at all, except perhaps a hollow and meaningless life.

How he has gotten the world to swallow this nonsense book after book, each one a rehash of his previous mishmash of meaningless business speak ("energizing your employees") and vague, unfollowable axioms about, for example, "having vision," is beyond me. But perhaps I just haven't achieved my full alignment potential. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for Financial Risk Management

"Key material on how risks can be isolated, quantified, and managed from a top risk management practitioner."
–John Hull, Maple Financial Chair in Derivatives and Risk Management, and Director, Bonham Centre for Finance, University of Toronto

"Steve Allen’s book is an excellent read for both seasoned risk professionals and students. He has done a wonderful job of making a complex topic understandable and provided the necessary tools to help others develop and sharpen their own intuition about risk exposure and how to manage it. Theory about risk management is always interesting, but even more refreshing is to see how risk management is performed by those, like Allen, with years of experience in the trenches."
–Leslie Rahl, President, Capital Market Risk Advisors

"A very practical and deep approach to the problems of financial risk management."
–Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Empirica LLC, author of Fooled by Randomness and Dynamic Hedging

"Allen’s book is a treasure-trove of material and an invaluable resource for any professional seeking to understand modern risk management. It begins with basic concepts and builds carefully to the practical and theoretical ideas necessary for dealing with the complexities of the most sophisticated and relevant financial instruments today."
–Neil Chriss, Managing Director of Quantitative Strategies, SAC Capital, and author of Black-Scholes and Beyond ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Smart, Savvy, Practical
Allen delivers the most insightful look at market risk management for dealers since the Group of 30 Report. While other books are taking on an increasingly bureaucratic tone when it comes to risk management, Allen is refreshingly proactive. I really like the treatment of valuation reserves. His discussion of managing spot, forward and options risks bridges the gap between what a trader is thinking and what a risk manager should be thinking. This isn't a book for the sort of risk manager who hasn't been on the trading floor in a few months. It is a tactical book for the pro who works shoulder to shoulder with quants, traders and salespeople. Note that the book is qualitative. For the quantitative side of all this, see Holton's landmark "Value-at-Risk".

An Excellent book on risk management
This is a must buy book for both kinds of people: students or people in academia and practitioners who want to understand different type of risk they face at a macro or micro level. The reasons I like this book on risk management better than thousand others already out there are following. I like to describe this book as having two sections, both the sections are very important and people can focus on either depending on what they are looking for. The first part of the book provides a very good understanding of the risks faced by managers, for example risk managers, head of a trading portolfio or a desk or even CEOs. Very often these people face risk which are hard to quantify or even understand and are not often talked about. The author draws from personal experience and provides interesting case studies,. which makes this part of the book a pleasure to read. I learnt about model risk, reputation risk and other such risks which typically a junior person on a trading desk is not exposed to. So this understanding is very valuable in order to communicate with your boss or to get more insights about risks that management may care about.
The Second part of the book focusses on risk management of different type of instruments, instruments range from plain vanilla to complex path dependent options. It spans through assets classes as well. As promised by the author, the level of mathematical and quantitative background required is kept to the minimum. The text provides intuition about what market variables or market moves a specific instruments depends on rather than complex formulae to price such instruments. For somebody like me, who has a little more mathematical background than an average reader, the text points to latest research or specific papers that I can explore if I want to flex my quantitative muscle.
The book is full of very interesting exercises and case studies, which are truly practical. This is something which is completely different from many texts that I have seen on this topic.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to anybody who has anything to do with trading financial instruments. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for The Risk Management Process

"True to its claim, The Risk Management Process is a rigorous yet lucid and broadly accessible account of how the timeless principles of corporate finance apply to the management of risk.Written by an experienced consultant with impeccable academic credentials and incisive analytical thinking, this book is a must-read for the senior manager and corporate treasurer who aspire to integrate risk management with corporate financial management and business strategy."–George M. Constantinides, Leo Melamed Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

"Christopher Culp’s The Risk Management Process: Business Strategy and Tactics is a comprehensive treatment of the issues that face risk managers today.His book constructs a bridge to connect the theory and the practice of risk management, and Culp leads readers over that bridge with great care."–Peter Tufano, Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial Management, Harvard Business School

"An unusually simple and lucid analysis of the risk management process. This book will be valuable for anyone trying to manage financial risk."–Ken French, NTU Professor of Finance, Sloan School of Management, MIT

"As opposed to offering us another dry, one-size-fits-all, mathematical approach to measuring or managing one risk or another, this book provides a general management approach to this important facet of managing any business in the twenty-first century, yet doesn’t shy away from sharing with the reader the underlying and necessary quantitative thinking that is required to perform the role of financial risk management. Culp easily switches between a statistical approach to risk measurement and a real-world approach to the particular exposure(s). In addition, it was refreshing to see the amount of time he spent on drawing the distinction between managing risk on Wall Street and managing the same risk within a corporation, which may have very different goals and success benchmarks."–Brent Callinicos, CPA, Treasurer, Microsoft Corporation

"The Risk Management Process is at the same time scholarly and comprehensive, yet readable, realistic, and insightful.Unquestionably, this is the right book at the right time, destined to become the standard reference work in the field."–Steve H. Hanke, Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University, and Chairman, The Friedberg Mercantile Group, Inc. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Highly Recommended!
Christopher Culp definitively combines a thorough reference work on company-wide risk management with a sweeping discussion of the best hedging practices. Since this is also a textbook, you'll find the kind of math that would make even Einstein sweat. But, as the author notes, he's written this book for senior managers, so you have a note from the teacher that you can skip the math and statistics if you have a staff for that. Instead, apply your executive thinking skills to absorbing Culp's excellent lessons in risk management theory and practice. We recommend this book to senior managers and directors - in other words, any executives who create, implement or supervise risk management strategies.

Uneven, Academic, and Often Inaccurate
This seems to be a digestion of some articles on risk management without the practical experience to make it useful for practicing risk managers.

Forget that much of the theory is dated, the notion of how risk managment works is incorrect. This isn't a good resource. Try the GARP website for better resources.

Good Coverage of The Topic
This is a good coverage of the subject for a student introduction. "Iceberg Risk" and "Beyond Value at Risk" by Kevin Dowd are also recommended for students who intend to practice in this field.

Highly Recommended!
Christopher Culp definitively combines a thorough reference work on company-wide risk management with a sweeping discussion of the best hedging practices. Since this is also a textbook, you'll find the kind of math that would make even Einstein sweat. But, as the author notes, he's written this book for senior managers, so you have a note from the teacher that you can skip the math and statistics if you have a staff for that. Instead, apply your executive thinking skills to absorbing Culp's excellent lessons in risk management theory and practice. We from getAbstract recommend this book to senior managers and directors - in other words, any executives who create, implement or supervise risk management strategies.

Amazing book
Culp integrated the corporate risk management puzzle with great ability. With a solid theoretical background and valuable pratical insights, this easy-reading book is worth every dollar it costs - a positive NPV for sure. But it is far from an introductory text. You must be well educated in both corporate finance and statistics to maximize your utility from reading mr. culp's text. If you are, it's a must. Otherwise i would suggest you to improve your corpfin and stats skills before getting into The Risk Management Process. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Broad-scale guidance on all facets of M&A. Corporate integration expert Alexandra Reed Lajoux's The Art of M&A Integration gives you time-tested strategies and practices on handling the hundreds of details that spell the difference between corporate growth or financial disaster. More than theoretical research and details, The Art of M&A Integration brings you the stories of companies both large and small currently involved in the M&A process. Learn the M&A essentials of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX in telecommunications, NationsBank and Boatmen's in banking, Columbia/HCA and HealthTrust Inc, Glaxo/Welcome in healthcare, Martin Marietta and Lockheed Martin in aerospace, and many others. Find out what they did, how they did it, and what they wish they had done differently! Lajoux's book is the only place you will find: detailed explanatory endnotes--these unique additions keep the information flow moving forward while allowing you more in-depth study of specific points; international tips and tactics--one in four mergers announced by U.S. companies involves a foreign partner. Here are proven rules for success!; a dynamic postmerger plan--discover how those before you kept everybody on the same page. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

A comprehensive textbook on a very timely topic
Alex Lajoux cut her professional teeth on this subject, and knows her stuff! Fortunately, she also is a surperb writer, and is able to organize and explain often difficult material in a very readable and clear manner. THE ART OF M&A offers a step-by-step textbook that will prove valuable for anyone contemplating or going through the merger process. The book is logically broken down into appropriate topics (Basic Definitions and Data, Integration Planning and Communication, Integrating Financial and Tangible Resources, etc.) and sub-topics (Preserving Brand Identity after a Merger, Merging Senior Management Teams, etc.) making this a valuable reference book which will become a keeper in any executive library. Read this book before you merge or acquire, and you won't be disappointed. The small investment will save you a fortune in legal fees and headaches later!

An instant classic.
The M&A market should remain white hot in 1998, ISS reports. Six annual records have been broken in a row with 10,700 U.S. transactions worth $919 billion compared to 1996's record of 10,340 deals worth $626 billion according to Securities Data. What's the hottest new field in M&A? Our guess would be post-merger integration. A trio from the Boston Consulting Group provides advise to boards in the January/February edition of The Corporate Board. For more depth see The Art of M&A Integration: A Guide to Merging Resources, Processes, and Responsibilities (McGraw-Hill, 1997) by Alexandra Reed Lajoux. There are nearly 500 books in print on M&A but less than a dozen on the postmerger period. Those seeking advise on what to do after the papers have been signed will find Lajoux's work a practical guide. It fills a vacuum in the field with an instant classic.

Written in an easily understood question and answer format, Lajoux uses the knowledge she has gained though years of experience and through interviews with some of the top leaders in the field (profiled in the back of the book) to outline everything from integrating resources and processes to fulfilling stakeholder commitments. The book explodes some common myths by pointing out there is no correlation between size and growth, there is greater growth variation within industries than between them, and most cost-cutters continue to cut costs rather than grow.

Want to know what to tell your shareholders about the merger? Lajoux includes a sample letter. How do you explain the dilution that may result from issuing shares to pay for a merger? Read the sample language. When does a transaction qualify for pooling vs purchase for accounting purposes? What proportion of firms keep their names, blend names, adopt the seller's name or create an entirely new name and what are the pros and cons of these approaches? What proportion of mergers involve foreign firms? The Art of M&A Integration answers these questions and hundreds more.

There are dos and don'ts on compensation, advise on the year 2000 problem, and lists of checkpoints on everything from commitments to customers, suppliers and employees to building shareholder value. The author builds on the Caux Round Table's Principles for Business and expands on this consensus document, drawn up by leading global business executives, by providing useful checkpoints on many items. A practical guide for anyone planning M&A activity.

Misleading Title
The Art of M&A Integration is indeed an Art Book. It might help you in choosing your watercolors, but will not teach you how to paint.

Many good questions - few useful answers
This book provides a decent list of questions about integrations, but the answers were very high level and offered few insights into the real nitty-gritty of getting it done.

Perhaps it could be a reasonable introduction to the topic, but it is not a practical or useful execution guide.

The Art of M&A Integration
Don't waste your time. Purely academic look at M&A integration. Author may have talked to many people, but not enough who've actually been in the trenches doing it. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is comprised of 45 articles written by top researchers and theorists in finance. The text is meant to bridge the gap between financial theory and practice. It gives instructors a way to introduce students to academic articles edited to eliminate the methodological content. The articles were originally edited for practitioners, so they are perfect for the MBA student. This reader is the perfect packaging option for any of our Corporate Finance texts. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A good book of ARTICLES but too academic.
Chew's New Corporate Finance is a quite decent book on journal articles on finance issues from a corporate standpoint. Other than your professor's own choice of favourite articles, Chew's may be the next best thing you can get. I won't give it a higher rating (4 or 5 star) because it lacks ground-breaking yet still easy-to-read articles from the less technical journals like Harvard Business Review, etc.

Most of the articles are too academic coming from more or less the same journals. Moreover, the more technical ones have difficult formulas and number-crunching statistics which are more appropriate for MBA and MSc in Finance students, or those in researchers in "high-level derivative work".

I have the second edition (1999) of this book and used it sparingly for my MBA in Finance. And I've browsed through this new edition - what I found was there were not many changes made, only a few new articles have been added. Perhaps inclusion of some non-American articles would do justice to this book. Chew still keeps the classic ones though, which are always relevant. The roundtable discussion on EVA is interesting but Chew does not include criticisms on EVA shortfalls or problems.

On the whole, this text should be a reasonable introduction to high-level Finance and also a good supplementary reading for those doing MBA in Finance. But the editor's selection between technical and easy-to-read-but-important articles still leaves much to be desired.....

practical as well as academic
This book challenges you about what you really understand on finance. Before I read this I didn't like finance at all because it seemed too simplified. This book shows how the real world and people think. Especially, its chapter on risk is of a great help. Now I'm interested in some fields of finance such as internal corporate governance, real option, more refined and practical concepts than EVA, etc.

A good reference for motivated MBAs and practitioners
As the title of the book clearly indicates, the text advances corporate finance beyond the theory presented in texts like Brealy and Myers. Thus, the text is geared towards a more sophisticated reading audience. In a collection of articles, academics and finance practitioners discuss the real world impact of capital budgeting, dividend/share repurchase policy, financial innovations (e.g. convertibles, commodity-linked bonds, derivatives, etc.), and bankruptcy on firms. Do not be scared off by the "academic" nature of this text. Unlike academic journals, the long-winded discussions on hypothesis testing and experimentation are abandoned (along with the high-level mathematics). The articles are very readable and any empirical evidence is presented in relatively friendly charts and graphs, which do a great job at providing the proper intuition. More importantly, the authors usually include real world anecdotal evidence to support the conclusions, as well.

Excellent summary of various aspects of corporate finance
An excellent compilation of articles by top academicians in the field of corporate finance. The articles are ideal for a person who wants to get a good grasp of any area of Corporate Finance. Warning: This is definitely not for the beginners. It is ideal for practitioners who are interested in learning more.

Extremely useful and well written, if somewhat partisan work
This collection of articles from the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance is extremely well-presented and eschews a lot of the overly technical analyses and explanations that poulate other works. The concept of Economic Value Added or EVA is explained in quite practical terms as are the main corporate finance principals to which most readers will have been exposed through other texts.

What is extremely useful is that the editors have brought in some top managers to discuss the implementation of EVA and EVA-related systems. While these have generally been success stories, it it these outsiders who address the limitations of the system, effectively strengthening its application.

The Stern-Stewart team has the zeal of evangelists and while this approach may be off-putting to those who like their corporate finance rarefied and dry, it does hammer the main points home.

The academics, including Michael Jensen, Stewart Myers, Fischer Black and one of the godfathers of modern corporate finance, Noble laureate Merton Miller, present overviews and long term evaluation of their own work in terms understandable to most laymen. While not presenting any original work, as a collection this is definitely a worthwhile addition to any corporate finance student or practitioner.

Any corporate manager interested in a system that reconciles incentives and rewards should also give this book a read. ... Read more

Book Description

"One of the ways companies are looking for competitive advantage in this frenetic [business] environment . . . is through the use of a tactical technique called shared services. . . . In this book, we bridge [the] chasm between the theory of how a shared services operation 'ought to' work and the practical issues involved in how to make it work, how to carry out a successful implementation of a shared service operation in your business.—from the Preface.

Gaining competitive advantage in today's fierce business environment requires focus throughout the company on value, as measured by quality, cost, speed, and service. In the quest for superior performance, a growing number of companies are now turning to shared services, a tactical technique by which corporations can organize financial and other transaction-oriented activities to reduce costs and provide better service to business unit partners. Written by four authorities, three PricewaterhouseCoopers consultants and the executive who has directed the shared service efforts at Lucent Technologies, this comprehensive resource—the first of its kind—examines shared services from the macro issues that compel senior management to embrace this approach through the design and implementation of a shared services environment that leads to increased customer and shareholder value.

Of all the tools available for gaining competitive advantage, why shared services? One of the principal reasons is that it creates, through consolidation of often disparate activities, more of a "one company" feel among business units. The benefits of this are twofold: one, it enables companies to show a consistent face to clients and customers, vendors and suppliers, shareholders and potential shareholders; two, it provides increased flexibility to all of the business' operations, allowing corporate leaders to maintain a global perspective while at the same time allowing business unit leaders to take strong, customer-focused actions.

Providing both a domestic and global view, Shared Services addresses the full spectrum of issues, including:

• Assessing whether shared services is right for you—issues to consider, goals to be reached.
• Getting started—building support, establishing an effective organization, instituting continuous communication.
• Setting up the infrastructure—billing shared services to business units, dealing with tax and legal entity issues.
• International challenges—complexity, time zone, legal issues, currency stability, and security.
• Program and project management—structures, planning, execution, and control.

A groundbreaking book that examines a timely and important topic, Shared Services is an accessible and thorough guide to what could be a critical component in achieving long-term business success.

This comprehensive resource is the first to introduce, explain, and explore shared services, an innovative business strategy that involves centralizing various business units, including accounting and transactional operations, to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. Presenting a practical and easy-to-follow blueprint for the smooth and sound implementation of shared services in your organization, Shared Services: Adding Value to the Business Units covers all the fundamentals, from how to get started to proper management techniques. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A useful book
There isn't much around on this subject and so it was good to find a book that was reasonably comprehensive. Apart from the advertising for a large CA firm and the message as to the necessity for consultants (shared services is after all a product and a money spinner for them)I thought it was useful. ... Read more

Book Description

How To Start And Run Your Own Corporation: S-Corporations For Small Business Owners begins where many incorporation books leave off. Peter Hupalo, author of Thinking Like An Entrepreneur, teaches you the basics of corporate business structure. How To Start And Run Your Own Corporation: S-Corporations For Small Business Owners will help you understand:

* Which Business Structure Might Be Best For You
* How To Decide Between An S-Corporation And A LLC
* How To Choose Your State Of Incorporation
* How To Form Your Own Corporation
* S-Corporations
* Par Value And No Par Value Stock
* Issuing Shares
* Valuing A Small Business Corporation
* Financing A Corporation Through Equity And Loans
* Attracting Angel Investors For Your Corporation
* Shareholder S-Corporation Basis
* The Accumulated Adjustments Account (AAA) And Schedule M-2
* Filling Out The 1120S Corporate Income Tax Return
* Special Issues For One-Person Corporations
* The Role of Bylaws And Corporate Minutes
* The Role of Directors And Officers
* Withdrawing Money From Your Corporation
* Social Security/Unemployment Insurance On Officer Salaries
* Workers' Compensation Issues For Officers
* Fringe Benefits And Employment Issues
* Qualified Retirement Plans, SIMPLE-IRA, SEP-IRA
* The One-Person 401(k) Retirement Plan
* How To Determine If Your Retirement Plan Is Safe From Bankruptcy
* How To Minimize Your Taxes
* The Tax Difference Between Pretax Purchases And After-Tax Purchases
* How To Prevent Your Corporate Shield From Being Pierced ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Buy it with pre-tax dollars!
This is a great read for anybody considering incorporation or investing in an existing business. The author employs dozens of examples to illustrate the key decisions involved in choosing a business structure and how to manage it. Potential downside is given equal weight with potential savings, and often neglected issues affecting minority shareholders like "dilution" and "freeze out" are given a fair hearing.

The section on pre-tax vs. post tax purchases was particularly well illustrated. Find out why a $0.37 stamp may cost you $0.25 when you buy it through your business and $0.56 when you steal it from your personal stationary drawer. The author's conservative approach to accounting was refreshing in a world of books that profess to tell you how to beat the IRS. The strategies for maximizing shareholder income in this book are based on solid, legitimate planning.

The only fault I found with the book is that the number of examples led the author to be a little too imaginative with made-up business names. However, that wasn't enough to stop me from reading it from cover to cover in less than 24 hours.

A solid, accurate, informed and informative primer
How To Start And Run Your Own Corporation: S-Corporations For Small Business Owners by experienced entrepreneur Peter I. Hupalo is a straightforward, "user friendly", instructional and resource guide covering everything from choosing the most appropriate business structure; to issuing shares of stock to attracting investors; to the role of bylaws; to minimizing taxes; and much, much more. How To Start And Run Your Own Corporation is a solid, accurate, informed and informative primer which is especially recommended for anyone looking to quickly pick up the basics and put themselves into business. ... Read more

Book Description

Comprehensive text with enough background material to reinforce earlier courses in corporate finance and enough advanced material to stimulate the most advanced student.The predominant strengths of clarity, current coverage, and friendliness to students and instructors continues in this new edition.Some of the areas where coverage has been expanded include corporate valuation, value based management, cash flow, and newly updated material on real options.The instructorÆs resources enable outstanding classroom presentations and learning. ... Read more

Book Description

This updated and expanded edition describes how to estimate accurate costs for engineering projects as well as where to find additional in-depth material on specific aspects of cost estimating. Contains new chapters on software estimating, design-to-cost techniques and cost implications of novel concurrent engineering and systems engineering approaches to the planning, development and delivery of products, processes, projects and services. Scores of examples demonstrate how to apply cost estimating methods to specific industries. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Chuck Kremer, Ron Rizzuto, and John F. Case believe "50 percent of small-company owners and managers don't get complete, timely information about their business's financial performance" and "90 percent don't really understand or use the information they do get." Kremer, a business-literacy consultant, Rizzuto, a university finance professor, and Case, a business journalist, further contend that such data and their proper application are critical to the successful operation of any small business. That's why they've assembled Managing by the Numbers as a self-help guide to the ins and outs of corporate finance. In the first section, they show how to decipher three major reports that everyone should review monthly (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow). In the second, they discuss how resultant figures tie in to "three bottom lines of business" (net profit, operating cash flow, return on assets) that can be examined collectively. And in the third, they explain ways that stimuli for each can be optimized to achieve overall business goals. The combination allows you to "translate your financial understanding into better financial performance," the authors conclude. While much of the material may seem intimidating, it is presented clearly and could indeed provide an edge in today's hypercompetitive business environment. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Tom Ehrenfeld's recommendation.
EXCERPTED From Chapter 3 (The Numbers That Count: Acknowledge the Rules), Page 72*

At the end of this chapter, I refer to several terrific books that delve into much greater detail of these aspects, and I highly recommend that you read them. At the bare minimum, you need to understand the basics.

Folks who speak the language of finance use three financial statements; the income statement, the balance sheet, and cash flow.

Each set of numbers tracks a different function. Each one is important for your business. (Note: I highly recommend the terrific book Managing by the Numbers by Chuck Kremer et. al.-see "Resources" at the end of the chapter.)

The balance sheet provides what experts call a "snapshot" of your business's financial condition at one particular point in time. Think of this statement as what your business owns and what it owes. This statement lists your assets (what the business owns or is due), your liabilities (what the business owes), and difference between assets and liabilities, which is called owner's equity. This sheet is constructed so that your assets minus your liabilities necessarily equal the owner's equity; thus, when it is produced correctly, the sums are balanced.

The income statement tracks your company's profitability over a given period of time. It says whether, in a specific period, you made money or didn't. But, and this is a huge but, it's an abstraction. It shows the promises that people have made to pay you money, and the agreements you have made to pay others. "It shows whether you're making money on the goods and services you provide, once you have taken all your costs and expenses into account. But it isn't real," write Kremer et al. It doesn't show how much cash you've put in you bank account or how much cash you spent." Income statements are subject to manipulation. Because income statements are subject to intangible factors such as depreciation (which tracks how an asset loses value over time), you can show a profit-or loss-that is not directly tied to your activities in that span of time. Moreover, income statements count promises that others have made to you as actual income, while the daily reality may be quite different. So these statements indicate profitability-which is good-but they don't necessarily reflect your daily, actual situation.

For that you have cash flow. Cash flow is, very simply, the difference between your cash receipts and your cash expenditures. It's what you have left after you spend the money that you take in. Consider this measure to be your business checkbook; what cash is actually coming into your business and what is actually being spent? There is no fudging cash. It's what you have on hand-the balance in your account.

EXCERPTED FROM Chapter 3 (The Numbers That Count: Resources), Page 93*

Managing the Numbers by Chuck Kremer and Ron Rizzuto with John Case (Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2000)
This gem limns the theory and practice of financial management for small companies. Set aside the fact that some of the basics may apply to larger or slightly more mature companies than yours. Read this to understand how to use the financial life of your company as the basis for critical operational decisions. Kremer et al. show how you need to understand three financial statements (the balance sheet, the income statement, and cash flow) to truly evaluate your company's performance. Moreover, you really start to control this function when you learn how the three statements fit together.

*Tom Ehrenfeld, the startup garden (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002).

Simple yet sound
If you don't have a business degree and as a business owner or potential business owner are looking for more knowledge on how to understand the books then get this book. If you do have a degree in Business then you need not spend your money here. Take the 14.95 you would pay for this book, invest it in a high yield stock or bond and wait 50 years and you may have about a thousand bucks or so.

Excellent!!
If I was a small business owner (or even a nonfinancial manager in the corporate world) I'd break my neck to get my hands on this book. If there was a rating beyond 5 stars, I'd give it. A must have!

Mystery Revealed
Finally, a book that let's the rest of us in on the big secrets of financial reports and company financial numbers. This book tells you what numbers to look at, what each number means to your business, and how all of the numbers work together to build a financial picture. I thought that I knew what I was seeing when I ready my companies balance sheet, but I was wrong. As the owner of a small business, I wish that I would have had this book a month before I started my company.

The reading is light and quick with good examples to back up what the authors are teaching you. They start with a light base instruction on Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss, and Cash Reports. After explaining each report and showing an example from their fictional company, they build on that base to show you how to use those numbers to find problems and to answer questions about a company. By teaching you how the numbers relate between these reports and showing you exactly what effect each number has on your company, you will be able to see the big picture of what is going on.

This book was definitely written for the non-accountant person that needs things explained outside of the accounting language. This is a must have for anyone that owns their own business and is not a CPA.

Understandiing the numbers
I find the book Managing by the numbers to be a good desk reference when working with company income statements. I also find that as I go along and learn I need the book less as its very helpful in making a complicated subject easy to understand. I feel its blessing that I found the book and would be lost without it. Numbers have become fun.

William J. Webb ... Read more

Book Description

The most practical, authoritative guide to implementing GAAP

Until now, accountants have had no guidance for what controls, policies, procedures, forms, reports, or archiving requirements they should use to properly mesh with the latest GAAP. An ideal companion volume to the Wiley GAAP guide, the GAAP Implementation Guide provides the practical application information essential to ensuring that a company’s accounting systems are fully capable of incorporating the most recent GAAP.

GAAP Implementation Guide features handy, illustrative decision trees showing how to determine which GAAP ruling to use in a variety of situations, eliminating hours of time wading through detailed GAAP rulings. Other helpful, timesaving features include:

• A concise version of the more detailed GAAP found in the Wiley GAAP guides
• Specific accounting policies that comply with GAAP, especially in terms of creating controls that mesh with GAAP
• The most common accounting transactions modified to work within GAAP restrictions
• Specific controls that allow the maximum level of control over accounting systems while remaining in compliance with GAAP
• Templates for forms and reports that can be used in a GAAP-compliant accounting system
• Numerous examples of footnotes that can be used to describe GAAP-mandated financial disclosures
• Hundreds of GAAP-compliant journal entries for most accounting transactions
• Identification of the types of reports and other information to be retained as part of a comprehensive accounting system

GAAP Implementation Guide is a valuable tool for CFOs, controllers, accounting managers, and general ledger accountants who need to ensure that their company properly treats all types of accounting transactions in accordance with GAAP. ... Read more

Book Description

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1:The Basics of Risk Management This chapter introduces how banks work.It describes how they make money, how they often lose money, and how they try to manage their losses.It includes thirteen short case studies showing how banks have lost money.

Chapter 2: Risk Measurement at the Corporate Level: Economic Capital and RAROC Chapter Two discusses the meaning of capital and how the risks that a bank faces are related to the amount of capital that the bank should hold.It then describes the two fundamental building blocks of integrated risk measurement: Economic Capital and Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC).

Chapter 3: Review of Statistics Chapter Three is useful for those readers who do not have a recent working knowledge of statistics.It reviews the statistical relationships that are commonly used in risk measurement and provides reference material for the rest of the book.Examples are provided using financial loss data.

MARKET RISK SECTION

Chapter 4: Background on Traded Instruments This chapter gives an overview of the main types of traded instruments: bonds, equities and derivatives.It gives a qualitative description of the instrument, examples of calculating the instrument’s value and the basic risk metrics such as duration and the Greeks.This chapter is useful for those readers who are new to the finance industry.

Chapter 5: Market Risk Measurement This chapter describes the most common ways to measure market risks: Sensitivity analysis, Stress testing, Scenario testing, Sharpe Ratio and Value at Risk.It gives detailed examples of using each of the metrics.

Chapter 6: The Three Common Approaches for Calculating Value at Risk Value at Risk (VaR) has become the standard approach for measuring market risk.This chapter is devoted to explaining the details of the three common approaches to calculating VaR: Parametric VaR, Historical VaR and Monte Carlo VaR.We work though increasingly complex examples and compare the strengths of each approach.(Note: many readers will be particularly interested in this chapter because the name “VaR” is well known and has a certain mystery)

Chapter 7: Value at Risk Contribution The Value at Risk Contribution (VaRC) is a useful way of pinpointing the source of the portfolio’s risk.VaRC can break down the risk by instrument, trading desk or market risk factor.Examples are given for several types of VaRC.

Chapter 8: Testing VaR Results to Ensure Proper Risk Measurement This chapter discusses the procedures required by regulators to backtest VaR calculators to check that their predictions of losses are consistent with market events.

Chapter 9: Calculating Capital for Market Risk VaR is used as the basis for calculating both Regulatory Capital and Economic Capital for Market Risks.In this chapter VaR also extended to measure the risk of Asset Management operations.

Chapter 10: Overcoming VaR Limitations Although VaR is the best single metric for market risks, is has several limitations.The limitations and typical solutions are discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 11: The Management of Market RiskThis chapter concludes the market risk section by describing how the results of risk measurement are used by management to identify the sources of risk.It also describes the process of setting VaR Limits.(Note: readers should be particularly interested in VaR Limits because it is difficult and an important element in controlling a bank’s risk).

ASSET/LIABILITY MANGEMENT SECTION

Chapter 12: Introduction to Asset Liability Management Asset Liability Management (ALM) is primarily concerned with the interest rate and liquidity risks that are created when commercial banks take in short term deposits from customers and give out long term loans.This chapter describes how those risks arise and the risk characteristics of different types of deposits and loans.

Chapter 13: Measurement of Interest Rate Risk for ALM This chapter discussed the primary techniques used to measure interest rate risk: Gap reports, Rate shift scenarios and Simulations

Chapter 14: Funding Liquidity Risk in ALM The measurement of liquidity risk is broken into three groups: expected, unusual and crisis events.Measurement techniques are given for each group.

Chapter 15: Funds Transfer Pricing and the Management of ALM Risks A key use of asset/liability measurement is the calculation of the fair price at which funds should be lent from one department to another within a bank.This is one of the keys to integrated risk measurement and is a critical component in measuring risk-adjusted profitability and setting prices to customers.A typical balance sheet is used to illustrate how transfer pricing works in detail.

CREDIT RISK SECTION

Chapter 16: Introduction to Credit Risk This chapter discusses the sources of credit risk and how measurement is used to manage the risks

Chapter 17: Types of Credit Structure For readers who are unfamiliar with lending operations, we discuss the ways that credit exposures are structured in commercial and retail lending.It also describes the calculation of credit exposure for derivatives trading operations and gives an overview of credit derivatives.

Chapter 18: Risk Measurement for a Single Facility This chapter shows how the Expected Loss and Unexpected Loss for a loan can be calculated from the Probability of Default, Loss In the Event of Default, Exposure at Default and the Grade Migration Matrix.

Chapter 19: Estimating Parameter Values for Single Facilities One of the main difficulties in credit risk measurement is the estimation of values for Probability of Default, Loss Given Default and Exposure at Default.This chapter discusses estimation techniques such as Discriminant Analysis and the Merton Model.It also gives parameter values that can be used as the basis for the reader’s own models.The parameter values are used in examples to demonstrate how the credit risk calculations are used.

Chapter 20: Risk Measurement For A Credit Portfolio: Part One To estimate the overall risk for a portfolio many credit instruments, we must examine the correlation between losses.This chapter describes the Covariance Credit Portfolio Model and the different approaches available for estimating default correlations.It also describes how the correlations can be used to estimate the Unexpected Loss Contribution and the Economic Capital for a single facility within a portfolio.

Chapter 21: Risk Measurement For A Credit Portfolio: Part Two This chapter describes the four other widely used approaches for estimating the risk of credit portfolios: the actuarial model, the Merton-based simulation model, the macro economic default model and the macro economic cashflow model used for structured and project finance.It concludes with a section describing how the models can be combined in a unified framework to create an integrated simulation of all the bank’s risks

Chapter 22: Risk Adjusted Performance and Pricing for Loans Knowing the economic capital for a loan, this chapter shows how to calculate the minimum price that should be charged to a loan customer.The analysis shows how to include multi-year effects such as grade migration.Illustrative examples are included.(Note: this chapter should be of interest to readers because loan pricing is another difficult and important subject that is rarely discussed in other books)

Chapter 23: Regulatory Capital for Credit Risk The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (often called the BIS) is planning fundamental changes to the way that banks must calculate the capital that they hold.The new calculations will be very similar to the calculations described in the rest of this book for economic capital.This chapter summarizes the history of the Capital Accords then compares the different approaches that the BIS will allow.It also gives a standard plan for implementing the new Accords.(Note: this should be of interest to readers because the shift to BIS measurement is of major importance, it will be difficult for most banks, and it must be completed by 2005)

OPERATING RISK SECTION

Chapter 24: Operating risk The quantification of Operating Risks is on the frontier of the industry’s understanding of risk measurement. The risk estimation approaches can be categorized as either qualitative, structural or actuarial.These approaches are described including Key Risk Indicators and the BIS approaches.

INTEGRATED RISK SECTION

Chapter 25: Inter-risk Diversification and Bank-Level RAROC This chapter describes how all the models are linked to calculate Economic Capital and Risk Adjusted Profitability for the Bank as a whole.It concludes with of the steps normally required to implement the bank-wide measurement of Economic Capital and RAROC.pital and RAROC.

Reviews (9)

Fantastic book
Moving from academia to the real world is made much smoother with this great text by Dr. Marrison. This book integrates interest rate, liquidity and credit risk with bank management perfectly. Anyone interested in gaining a strong economic background with a quantitative degree like myself will find this book extremely useful.

One of the Best Books for Risk Management
Marrison has written an outstanding book on risk management. What is attractive about the treatment is the fact that it covers all aspects of risk management for financial institutions. Lots of books focus only on "new" techniques (VaR, portfolio credit risk models) or only on "traditional" techniques (credit analysis, ALM). Marrison treats them all, and uses capital allocation as a unifying theme.

Two previous reviews that suggest Marrison is too basic or merely repeats other authors are, in my humble opinion, dishonest. Marrison is a sophisticated book for sophisticated readers who are new to risk management. This includes MBA students taking courses on the capital markets or risk management. It also includes professionals working in their first risk management position. Marrison did not invent VaR or ALM, but authors of other books did not invent these concepts either. An author's task is to describe established concepts in a manner that is accessible to and useful for his audience. In this respect, Marrison's book is a dramatic step forward. His choice of topics, organization and writing are superb.

One of those previous reviews recommended that you read books by certain other authors instead of Marrison. Of those books, the only one that Marrison competes with is Jorion's Value-at-Risk. Marrison is an order of magnitude better than that book. The other books cover unrelated topics or are more advanced treatises on specific topics. You might graduate to such books from Marrison, but they are not alternatives to Marrison.

Finally, you can't beat the price on this book. Marrison simultaneously offers a bargain AND one of the best books available on risk management.

A great primer
Chris Marrison's book is something I have been seeking for a very long time. It is well organized and easy to read. I have spent several years in strategic financial services consulting, wherein a strong foundation in risk measurement concepts and tools is essential for consultants across experience levels. Though having studied undergraduate finance and statistics, I ended up developing my rudimentary (and incomplete) knowledge of risk measurement in a very ad-hoc, context-specific and inefficent fashion. Now an MBA student at Harvard, I come across peers also seeking to understand the business, technical and practical aspects of risk measurement, as conceptually, 'risk management' is a common idea but an abstract practice for many professionals. There is no other textbook I've come across that addresses the essentials of risk measurement in as tangible a manner. I will not hesitate to recommend this book as a great primer to fellow students. The only caveat I offer is that this book is for those truly interested in jumping into the practical applications of risk measurement - for more of an overview of risk management theory, or esoterica for that matter, you're better off looking elsewhere.

Moderately interesting
While I would not go as far in criticising this book as one previous reviewer, I do question why the author wrote the book. It does provide a useful summary of the basics. But that is exactly the danger, it only describes the basics and does not indicate how you go beyond the basics. The problem is that risk management is too important and too complicated to be left to beginners. The danger is that someone could read this book and be left with the impression that they understood risk management. There is so much more that is not covered here and very little guidance on how to find it. I am sure that beginners will love this book, it makes it all seem so easy. The only problem is that it is not all so easy and many topics skimmed over in this book e.g. operational risk need much more attention than this book provides.

easy and fast comprenhesion on market risk essentials
From the very beggining, the author brigthly provides with the main concepts and tips that will drive the reader to the discovery of not only the exciting world of the market risk management but of any other financial industry areas(credit risk, products management...)
The author structures the book in such a way that any type of reader will understand the main concepts under the market risk management activity.
Highly recommended for students and begginers and an essential in your library ... Read more

Book Description

The classic bestseller on estimating the value of small businesses and professional practices is fully updated and enhanced. While continuing to take readers step-by-step through the valuation process, it now features timely new or significantly revised chapters on valuation for estate plans, employee stock ownership plans, and corporate partnership dissolutions/buyouts. Along with case studies, it also offers greatly expanded coverage of data sources and their availability to small businesses. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Worth every penny!
Business Valuation is a the single largest niche practice area for the CPA today. Mr. Pratt covers an extensive amount of material in this text. As I become more involved in this practice area, I will referring to this text frequently. No valuation specialist should be without this text in his or her reference library.

great reference book for valutions for beginners or advanced
This is a great book for a business library ... Read more

Book Description

How should firms decide whether and when to invest in new capital equipment, additions to their workforce, or the development of new products? Why have traditional economic models of investment failed to explain the behavior of investment spending in the United States and other countries? In this book, Avinash Dixit and Robert Pindyck provide the first detailed exposition of a new theoretical approach to the capital investment decisions of firms, stressing the irreversibility of most investment decisions, and the ongoing uncertainty of the economic environment in which these decisions are made. In so doing, they answer important questions about investment decisions and the behavior of investment spending.

This new approach to investment recognizes the option value of waiting for better (but never complete) information. It exploits an analogy with the theory of options in financial markets, which permits a much richer dynamic framework than was possible with the traditional theory of investment. The authors present the new theory in a clear and systematic way, and consolidate, synthesize, and extend the various strands of research that have come out of the theory. Their book shows the importance of the theory for understanding investment behavior of firms; develops the implications of this theory for industry dynamics and for government policy concerning investment; and shows how the theory can be applied to specific industries and to a wide variety of business problems. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A born classic book!
A lifetime book, a must for people interested in the modern "real options approach". Thorough and very didatic book, the maths level is far easier than Duffie's books, for instance. Requires differential calculus but at undergraduated engineering level. Previous knowledge of stochastic calculus and optimization under uncertainty are not required because there are two excellent chapters where the authors explain these tools in a concise format. For serious students, researchers and practitioners