Book Description

Basic Accounting Fresh From the Lemonade Stand

The world of accounting can be intimidating. But, more often than not, there's no way to avoid it - even non-financial jobs venture into financial jargon and concepts. For those trying to get more done at the office, organize the dollars and cents in a small business, or just in need of a refresher, there's no reason to turn to the average number-crunching class again.

The Accounting Game presents financial information in a format so simple and so unlike a common accounting textbook, you may forget youre learning key skills that will help you get ahead!

This book uses the world of a kid's lemonade stand to teach the basics of financial language and records. You'll run your own lemonade stand and make it grow by creating signs to advertise it, borrowing money from Mom, buying lemons and sugar and selling to the whole neighborhood. As you run your stand, you'll begin to understand and apply financial terms and concepts like assets, liabilities, earnings, inventory and notes payable, plus:--Know the difference between accrual vs. cash accounting methods
--Create and understand an income statement and balance sheet
--Track inventory using LIFO and FIFO
--Create cash statements and understand cash flow and liquidity
--Apply your new knowledge to real-life situations

The revolutionary approach of The Accounting Game takes the typically mundane subjects of accounting and business finance and makes them something you can easily learn, understand, remember and use!

"The game approach makes the subject matter most understandable. I highly recommend it to anyone frightened by either numbers or accountants." --John Hernandis, Director of Corporate Communications, American Greetings

The Accounting Game is produced by Educational Discoveries, the training industrys leader in accelerative learning technology. More than 70,000 people have graduated from The Accounting Game, the world's most successful one-day financial seminar. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Elated
I originally ordered the Accounting Game as a tool to use for teaching my nephews and nieces about accounting. Instead, I ended up using it as a tool to teach co-workers about accounting. The co-workers were five employees from different areas of the same division of a large company. Because everyone has limited time, we chose to go through the contents in five days (1 1/2 hours each day). The small group was "elated" with the content; I could see light bulbs going on all over the small conference room. Most interesting to the group were the 3 financial statements, inventory valuation, and the difference between cash flow and earnings.

I fully intend to use the book again for a much larger group of co-workers and my nephews and nieces.

Thanks again for providing this wonderful seminar (which I've never attended) in the form of a book.

Effective and engaging!
What a fun and effective way to learn accounting! After years of teaching economics to MBA students and freshmen, I wish there had been textbooks written like this to facilitate instruction of often dry topics. It doesn't read like a textbook, rather it entertains while it teaches and got me personally involved. I didn't realize that I was learning accounting concepts until the chapter was over and I stopped laughing. I felt like I had a personal tutor with me each time I read it. Very interactive. Very fun. The material covered is comprehensive, starting out with basic terminology to the construction of a balance sheet to deriving an income statement to understanding how various business scenarios impact financial statements. Don't be put off by its simplicity, because that is what makes this book so effective and engaging. Anybody who wants to make learning interesting should read this book. Anybody who wants a great crash course in accounting to know how to read a balance sheet or explain one should read this book.

Wonderful book, but only an introduction to accounting
This is a wonderful book! It is very easy to understand and provides nice examples. I read this book a couple weeks before a took a college course in accounting and it helped my tremendously. However, there is one thing I would like to clear up. This book is by no means comprehensive; it is simply an introduction to the topic of accounting. There are many, many aspects of accounting which are not mentioned in this book. So, yes it is a great book to introduce the subject of accounting, but should probably be followed with a formal course if you really want to understand accounting.

Sorry, this book deserves NO LESS than 5 stars
In college I was a business major and MBA. That was 15 years ago. All through college accounting was my biggest nightmare. I just COULDN'T get it. Finance easy, stats cool, get me in accounting and I was lost.

I needed to re-learn the the subject's basics (information that I never really understood in the first place) because of a new business venture. In one week of reading this book, I walked away with a better understanding and a USEABLE undestanding of accounting, far superior to what I was exposed to in college. It just blows my mind!

Granted, time and experience may have changed my attitude and abilties toward the subject, but for the first time in my life, I walked away from this book actually liking accounting! For me, that in itself is amazing.......This book would have easily raised my GPA!

What an approach !!!
For those who are trying to make their first step into accounting, and for those who are looking for refreshing their basic accounting knowledge, this is the book you need. The approach is great, I couldn't stop reading, finished it in exactly two consecutive nights. So easy to understand with the minimum intellectual effort. ... Read more

Book Description

This text provides a contemporary introduction to accounting and accounting systems. It covers the essence of both financial and managerial accounting in a non-procedural, non-debit and credit manner. After a brief introduction to financial statement preparation, the remainder of the text focuses on controls and the use of accounting information in decision making. ... Read more

Book Description

Financial experts agree: Asset allocation is the key strategies for maintaining a consistent yet superior rate of investment return. Now, Roger Gibson's Asset Allocation - the bestselling reference book on this popular subject for a decade has been updated to keep pace with the latest developments and findings. This Third Edition provides step-by-step strategies for implementing asset allocation in a high return/low risk portfolio, educating financial planning clients on the solid logic behind asset allocation, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

What your investment advisor should be doing.
There are many things to like about this book. The emphasis is on providing investment advisors with the information on asset allocation they need to connect successfully with clients. The only real flaw I see in the book is the watering down of material so that clients can understand it. I understand the necessity of doing this but it does leave open the door for dishonesty of the car salesman variety. Every investor even comtemplating using an investment advisor or even a broker should read this book from cover to cover. If he/she hears anything from the selected advisor that deviates much at all from what is here he/she should run not walk out the door. Perhaps the most important contribution of the book is the emphasis on the interaction of portfolio components to produce higher returns than undiversified or underdiversified portfolios. Gibson uses the Commodities Index as one of the portfolio components along with the EAFE, S&P 500, and REITs to show this. This index component is available in practical form as the Oppenheimer Real Assets fund. If you have net investment assets that allow private money management this is not a problem as the money management firm can buy more than 1 million dollars worth and distribute it among the clients. If you do not qualify for a typical money management firm the mutual fund charges a 5.75% load thereby making rebalancing something of a problem. Perhaps infrequent rebalancing would work. Therein lies the problem with the book. Even though Gibson is as honest as the day is long, the information presented is designed to handle the clients expectations and fears. All kinds of techniques and information are presented most of it assuming very little brains from the people who made all that money ( all of whom we would normally be assured are brilliant not just at making money but in all aspects of their lives ). A,B,C,D are all presented but when portfolio design time comes E is recommended and not just due to tailoring to the individuals needs or risk tolerance. Gibson tells the reader that it is necessary to manage the clients expectations and to make the portfolio more like that of the clients friends or more in keeping with clients prior expectations and thereby more acceptable. This may be true. But Berstein does the same thing in The Intelligent Asset Allocator. His reasoning is a little different:many of the models primarily rely on data mining or make certain assumptions and he believes in the use of index funds almost exclusively. So Bersteins portfolios also rely a great deal on judgement. Both believe that tracking error from the S&P 500 may be an issue. When all is said and done this is very much an art form. It is also very much a sales technique albeit an important one. Nevertheless, both this book and The Intelligent Asset Allocator are required reading for any serious investor. Gibson's book also has the best discussion of client risk assessment I have seen.

Good jumping off point.
I found this books very useful. I've been trying to find an intelligent investing style. Read things like "The Intelligent Investor" by Graham and "A Random Walk Down Wall St." by Malkiel and found them dry and somewhat inaccessible. I much prefered Evans and Malkiel's "Earn More (Sleep Better) : The Index Fund Solution" (cheesy title) and Bernstein's "The Intelligent Asset Allocator". Both small and intelligible books. The only problem is they seemed to state the solution to a problem I didn't know. That's where Gibson's "Asset Allocation" I think fits in. It describes what the problem is when trying to invest well. He makes very good arguments on what you can expect and what you'll have to understand. Things that Berstein and Malkiel go into more depth but Gibson gives you the big picture. I started looking for the solution to a problem and found that the last piece I need was to know what the problem was. Gibson's book reads fast and it is interesting. It's well illustrated and is a great jump off point to all sort of other books.

5 Stars
If you read just one book on investing, this is the book.

Gibson explains the principals of modern portfolio theory in a clear logical fashion.

Excellent.

Definitely recommended reading
If I had read this book in the mid-90s as I was groping through the stock market, and feeling thrilled at my success.. I would have probably preserved that thrill a little longer. I could have avoided getting burnt for sure.

A mandatory reading for people who are looking at long-term investing. Chapters 6, 7 & 8 deal with portolio diversification and are relvant and insightful. I found it to be a very useful education and not-too-difficult to follow (but then I have taken finance and accounting classes in school).

The other title along similar lines is "The Intelligent Asset Allocator" and this one has a good correlation tables across all major asset classes on a quarterly and annual basis. very useful and practical piece of information that is missing here.

But there are enough other useful and helpful pieces of information. Overall, definitely a thumbs up.

Buy this if you like making money
I don't think you'll find better advice.

If you would have followed this books "ABCD" allocation, you would have made almost all the gain of the 90's and even been slightly up thru the disaster of the 00's. Better than down 48% for the SP500 eh?

Your broker will hate you if you buy this book, but then maybe that's the best thing that could happen. Stop pretending you can predict the future and start managing your risk. ... Read more

Book Description

The first course in finance for finance and business majors has traditionally focused solely on managerial (or corporate) finance.Now, many schools are indicating a need to introduce these students- particularly the non-finance business majors - to the other two major components of finance - institutions and investments - in this first course but at the same level of rigor as traditional financial management texts.With Principles of Finance, Second Edition, Scott Besley and Gene Brigham begin with a discussion of the principles of financial systems and business organizations, move on to valuation concepts and corporate decision making (managerial finance).They conclude with coverage of investment fundamentals.Key chapters may be covered in a one-term course or supplemented with cases and outside readings for a two-term course. Chapters are written in a flexible, modular format, allowing instructors to cover the material in their favorite sequence. ... Read more

Book Description

Suze Orman meets the Tightwad Gazette in this book from America's leading money-saving expert.

What are the 3 secrets to building long-term wealth?

What are the 5 things that no one thinks of before buying a home?

How can you save up to 40% on the car of your dreams?

How can you get long distance telephone service for almost nothing?

Clark Howard answers all these questions and many more in Get Clark Smart. With practical tips and on-line resources, Howard helps readers to get rich by saving money in unexpected places and investing those savings creatively. Howard has a passion for saving money and a zealot's enthusiasm for sharing everything he's learned. His strategies for getting rich by saving wisely will turn readers into financial wizards. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

A good overview of many consumer issues...
There are about 72 different topics discussed in this book from buying a house and car, to identity thief and timeshares. Each topic is 3 or 4 pages long and this is an easy book to read. If one topic doesn't interest you you can skip over it to the next. Also this book can be used as a reference book. the author apparently has a radio call in show where he answers consumer questions. I have never heard the show apparently its not carried in our area. So I had no preconceived notions about the author before reading the book. The subtitle to the book is the "ultimate guide to getting rich from America's money saving expert." Clark Howard may be the country's money saving expert, but this book is not a guide to getting rich. The subtitle is misleading and ironic since the author is crusading against the misleadings of consumers by various companies. The information contained in the book is worth while, but the book is not a getting rich book. There are plenty of web sites listed in the book and if one topic was of particular interest to you, further reasearch would be needed.
There are many money savings tips in the book, but I didn't count them to see if there were "hundreds" as the book's cover claims. The book is very informative, covers many diverse topics and is worth the price of less than $12 on Amazon.com, but I felt that the subtitle and cover claims are over the top.
Overall its a 3.5

Comprehensive, but easy to follow
I didn't expect much from another book of financial advice -- but, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only do Clark Howard and Mark Meltzer cover many areas, but they write in a very clear, concise manner. There are a number of useful financial tips I have already used to save a not inconsiderable amount of money. More importantly, the book will be a great reference tool for my future purchases. Thanks Clark & Mark!

Chock full of wise money advice
Just finished reading this book. It's somewhat mis-titled. It's not really a get rich book. It's more of a be careful and wise with your money.

This book covers things like car buying and leasing advice, how not to be taken and get a good deal, investing basics, insurance, home buying and renting, travel advice, Time-Shares, Health Clubs, etc.

Clark Howard is personally responsible for saving me $900 through this book and his radio show, all by doing simple stuff. I heard on his show about the Retirement Savings tax credit that I had failed to take in 2002 and probably would have missed this year. I will make sure to claim it this year and file an amended return last year. That was $400 saved. In the book, he also gave me a source (Costco) to shop for auto insurance that will save me $500 a year for slightly better coverage than I have now. I have checked around at many other companys and never found an offer nearly as good.

The writing is casual, fun, and full of anecdotes of how either Clark or his listeners have used his advice to save money. There's an incredible amount of common sense advice to save and protect you from getting ripped off. All of it is practical and easy. Nothing goofy like only buying 10 year old cars or recycling dental floss.

Read the book, listen to the radio show, and start saving your hard earned money!

A must-have for your reference shelf
My brother-in-law had loaned this book to my dad, but I found it extremely handy for someone in my situation: a nearly-graduated college student getting ready to join the "real world." From buying a car to getting out of debt, Clark Howard shares practical tips to help you save money and be a smart shopper. While I may not get rich from reading this book, it has definitely helped to steer me in the right direction!

good consumer reference; NOT a get-rich guide
Clark Howard provides solid advice on topics such as buying a new or used car, buying a home, buying a computer, buying insurance. There's probably not much here you haven't seen elsewhere, but it is presented in a consolidated & readable fashion. The most useful part of the book is Howard's advice on documentation -- how to write effective letters & protect your rights in dealing with creditors and service providers. The focus of the book is much more on making informed purchasing decisions and on protecting your rights as a consumer than it is on getting rich. ... Read more

Book Description

In this two-volume work Paul Wilmott, described by the Financial Times as a "cult derivatives lecturer", updates and extends - with 18 new chapters - his earlier classic Derivatives: The Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering (also published by John Wiley). The new material includes chapters on technical trading, volatility modeling, utility theory, trader options, modeling dividends, real options, energy derivatives and analysis of recent derivatives-led fiascos.

Throughout the book's incredibly wide breadth, the author presents to the reader all current financial theories in a manner designed to make them easy to understand and implement. The reader will discover what the author thinks of certain theories, and where an existing concept is dismissed as impractical or unworkable it is always replaced with one of the author's own, alternative theories. Reviews of Derivatives: The Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering.

"It is a serious work that takes the reader all the way from the simplest of notions to the most complicated of recent models. In short, it is the most comprehensive and up-to-date textbook on options that I have seen ... The style is jocular, but the content heavyweight. The aim is to use a mathematical approach at all times but to motivate the development of models with intuition and to use diagrams and spreadsheet solutions whenever possible. It sounds like an impossible mission. Whoever heard of a mathematician who could convey the intuition of a result to those with a less complete training in the subject? Wilmott is an exception: he knows when a result is hard to understand and treats the reader in a sympathetic manner. ... I cannot imagine any derivatives specialist in an investment bank who would not want to have the book available." The Times Higher Educational Supplement.

"...this book has all the qualities necessary to attract impulse buyers expecting the novel which does for/to high finance what Malcolm Bradbury's 'The History Man' does for/to literary academia. ...What the reader gets is a text which will probably come to rank alongside Fabozzi's collected works of Leibowitz as a comprehensive practical reference source for finance theory." Futures and OTC World "Paul Wilmott has succeeded in simplifying the mathematics of financial engineering and he deserves praise for that. Unlike any other mathematical texts, the book uses a crisp and accessible language, relying on plain calculus and avoiding unnecessary formalism of topology and measure theory. It is rich in illustrations and graphs, making it easy for someone with limited maths to understand." --Risk Magazine.

"Paul Wilmott has produced one of the most exciting and classic reference volumes on derivatives which is a must for both students, practitioners, risk managers and the misunderstood."-- Global Trading.Volume 1: This first volume of Paul Wilmott on Quantitative Finance incorporates Parts I-III of this two-volume, seven-part publication. This new book by Paul Wilmott is an extensively updated and expanded edition of the bestselling Derivatives: The Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering. The first third of this volume (introducing the classic financial and mathematical concepts) remains largely the same as in Derivatives, with the remaining two-thirds incorporating the majority of the updating and expansion, plus the addition of a number of completely new chapters, including: Technical methods for predicting market movement Utility theory Derivatives and stochastic control The exercise of American options at non-optimal times Stochastic volatility and mean-variance analysis Dividend modeling.

The author has included numerous Bloomberg screen dumps to illustrate in real terms the points he raises, together with essential Visual Basic code, spreadsheet explanations of the models, the reproduction of termsheets and option classification tables. In addition to the practical orientation of his new publication the author himself also appears throughout the text - in cartoon form only, many readers will be relieved to hear - to personally highlight and explain the key sections and issues discussed. And if that wasn't enough, there is also a movie quiz hidden within the pages...

Volume 2 This second volume of Paul Wilmott on Quantitative Finance incorporates Parts IV-VII of this two-volume publication. Throughout this volume, many of the chapters which also appeared in the first edition - Derivatives: The Theory and Practice of Financial Engineering - have been extensively expanded and updated and in addition there are 11 completely new chapters, including: Mortgage-backed securities Pricing and optimal hedging of derivatives Increased uses of non-probabilistic interest-rate models Valuing a firm and the risk of default An analysis of financial crashes The modeling of bonus compensation for traders Real options Energy derivatives. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Wilmott is now the quant to beat
Who should buy this book? The real question is who shouldn't buy this book. For the Phd Quant this book is a tour de force in how to explain technical topics clearly and concisely. For the newbie, this is simply the lowest barrier to entry available.

Interestingly, QF does not "replace" a bookshelf of quant books -- rather it nicely compliments many that you're likely to have such as Taleb, Neftci etc. As sales of QF increase, it is likely that readers will be less likely to buy a derivatives book that is over their head.

Volume 1 covers 37 chapters of the equities/currency derivatives world, While Volume 2 covers the Fixed Income World, Risk Measurement , Miscellaneous Topics and Numerical Methods.

Chapter 10 has an excellent and all too rare discussion of Probability Density Functions and First Exit Times, whilst Chapter 14 has an outstanding Trading Game invented by one of Paul Wilmott's former students.

Chapters 16 through 21 cover the Path Dependent world while the balance of the chapters cover extensions to Black Scholes.

Its in these sections that Wilmott delivers some surprising thoughts and insights into Stochastic Volatility Surfaces that are currently the rage.

Throughout both volumes I continue to be astonished at how clear, concise and effective his explanations are. The icons are not annoying at all -- rather I found myself skimming the icons to find out what was required to be committed to memory in each section versus what was background.

As obvious as it sounds, a glaring weakness in Derivatives texts is the inability of authors to elucidate what must be memorized as rote for the student to make further progress. Paul's easy to follow icons lay out a precise plan of study.

I can't say enough about what a leap this is over competing texts.

In Volume 2, Chapters 38 through 50 cover models that Wilmott likes as well as ones that he doesn't [again, a rather novel approach]

Some surprises in Chapters 51 and 52 are an excellent overview of Portfolio Management and a survey of Robert Merton's Asset Allocation in Continuous Time.

Sprinkle in outstanding chapters on Derivatives Fiascos, Real Options, Energy Derivatives and 5 chapters on Numerical Methods and an astonishing survey of Quantitative Finance is complete.

Throughout the books Paul's practical use of Term Sheets and quick and dirty VB code and spreadsheet tricks [you just have to see his Excel shortcut for approximating the Normal distribution] leave the reader constantly wanting to rev ahead.

To round out a tremendous effort, Wilmott also pays homage to authors that he's found helpful and he's generous with suggestions on further reading. This builds sorely needed confidence when attempting new material.

The comparison with Richard Feynman is apt but misses an important detail...Feynman was not noted for turning out hordes of talented understudies. Paul Wilmott has turned out enough talented graduate students that maybe he will be a bona fide cult leader someday.

Insufficient
This is not as good as Wilmott's earlier work, and even that could have benefited from better definition of terms. Wilmott needs to brush up on the latest techniques and talk to some practitioners to learn how to apply math to real world examples. It seems there is a lack of depth of understanding evidenced by the writing. The sections of self-expose are an embarrassment.

Old Material
This is recycled Wilmott, but not even as good as earlier work. His first book was better, probably because his co-authors talked some sense into him. His personal anecdotes demonstrate a low emotional IQ. It is as if Wilmott thinks that if readers agree with the finance they must agree with his incessant and juvenile self-regard. My reaction to the inappropriate self-expose was: "Who cares? Get some friends, they might help on the financial aspects of this book".

Wilmott's financial IQ is only average, if this book is to be the evidence. It seems Wilmott isn't up on the latest techniques, or can't be bothered to research them. Stochastic calculus for example. Lack of real world practical examples demonstrates lack of knowledge of how financial instruments work in practice.

The first resource
I own 'most' of the standard texts, oddly enough, this was one of my most recent purchases. Now, whenenver I need to find out about some concept I am unfamiliar with, or brush up on something, this is the first reference. Very often the other books don't get a look in.
Luckily I work from home. They aren't the sort of books you would take home from the office for bedtime reading, unless you did weightlifting as a hobby.
Pity the martingale approach is missing. Ignore the ridiculous comment by another reviewer who dismisses the martingale approach as useless. The approach is hard, that's all. It would be great to see it boiled down in further volumes.

Not practical or academic enough
The finance market is flooded with paper, but much is redundant and some isn't even very useful. This book manages to be both. "Market Models" by Carol Alexander is a fabulous resource. There are a lot of books and articles on quantitative finance and if you want only that, look through the literature and choose, but this book won't give enough comprehensive coverage to make it a buy. ... Read more

Book Description

The Definitive 4-in-1 Reference Guide to Alternative Assets

Many books cover individual alternative asset classes, but none offers a comprehensive examination of the four major classes as presented in the Handbook of Alternative Assets. This complete handbook merges data and strategies scattered in numerous volumes into one handy guide for the serious investor. The four major classes discussed are:

• Hedge funds
• Commodity and managed futures
• Private equity
• Credit derivatives

Organized by sections–one for each alternative asset class–the Handbook of Alternative Assets demonstrates the benefits and risks of each alternative asset and reveals how these asset classes can be incorporated into a diversified portfolio.

Through expert advice, the Handbook of Alternative Assets details each of four major alternative asset classes and breaks down their quantitative statistical value as well. With this comprehensive handbook on your desk, you’ll begin to use alternative asset classes to both hedge and expand any portfolio. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Handbook of Alternative Assets
The Definitive 4-in-1 Reference Guide to Alternative Assets Many books cover individual alternative asset classes, but none offers a comprehensive examination of the four major classes as presented in the Handbook of Alternative Assets. This complete handbook merges data and strategies scattered in numerous volumes into one handy guide for the serious investor. The four major classes discussed are: Hedge funds Commodity and managed futures Private equity Credit derivatives Organized by sections-one for each alternative asset class-the Handbook of Alternative Assets demonstrates the benefits and risks of each alternative asset and reveals how these asset classes can be incorporated into a diversified portfolio. Through expert advice, the Handbook of Alternative Assets details each of four major alternative asset classes and breaks down their quantitative statistical value as well. With this comprehensive handbook on your desk, you'll begin to use alternative asset classes to both hedge and expand any portfolio.
The Handbook of Alternative Assets discusses and describes four types of alternative assets: hedge funds, private equity, credit derivatives and commodity futures.

Truely a Handbook
.
I used this book for my preparations towards CAIA Level 1 exam. And I am impressed. Mr. Anson is an authority and this is truely a great book for Alternative Investment aspirants.

If you want to have a very solid grasp of any of the following alternative investment approaches then this is the book you should turn to -

Hedge funds
Commodity and managed futures
Private equity (5 catagories)
....Venture Capital
....LBOs
....Mezzannine Financing
....Distressed Debt

....CrossOver/Interval/PIPE and PEPE funds
Credit derivatives
Corporate Governance

Mr. Anson helps you build strong fundamentals. Actually he clearly explains what constitutes Alternative Assets(Aha !!!) as against fundamental and/or capital assets and what is meant by alternative investment strategies.

This is followed by a rigorous analysis of the topics listed above in that order.

I particularly enjoyed his coverage of Hedge Funds. He explains each of the 10 Hedge Fund strategies in a systematic fashion. From a variety of angles including Market(S&P500), Risk, Regulatory, Due Diligence/Operational/Administrative perspective.

The coverage of Commodity Derivatives is also superb. Although confined to 4 chapters this coverage is sufficient to gain an intermediate level insight into the Commodities.

The coverage for Private Equity is less comprehensive(but good) compared to it's actual scope in real world. I particularly expected a more rigorous coverage for LBOs.

Although I did not touch credit derivatives and CorpGov I could tell you for sure that these topics must have been covered well.
As I read 19 out of 22 chapters.

To put it in a nutshell - This is a very good book for Hedge fund aspirants and prospective Alternative investment professionals.

For more info about CAIA please visit www.caia.org. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the first comprehensive textbook for students studying fixed-income securities, and is ideally suited to MBA, MSc and final year undergraduate students in Finance and related topics. 

The text offers an accessible and detailed account of interest rates and risk management in bond markets. It develops insights into different bond portfolio strategies, and illustrates how various types of derivative securities can be used to shift the risks associated with investing in fixed-income securities. It also provides extensive coverage on all sectors of the bond market, and the techniques for valuing bonds. In addition, explanation is given of state-of-the-art techniques for bond portfolio management, including:

• A description of numerous fixed-income assets and related securities, namely zero coupon government bonds, coupon bearing government bonds, corporate bonds, exchange-traded bond options, bonds with embedded options, floating rate notes, caps, floors and collars, swaptions, credit derivatives, mortgage-backed securities, etc.
• The development of tools to analyse interest rate sensitivity and to value fixed- income securities, with an emphasis on active and passi ve bond management, and an overview of techniques used by mutual fund and also hedge fund managers.

With numerous worked examples covering the valuation, risk management and portfolio strategies of fixed income securities, and imaginative discussion of important topics such as deriving the zero yield curve, deriving credit spreads, and hedging interest rate risk, the text provides an accessible route into the complex worlds of fixed income securities. 

Supplementary materials for lecturers and students (including a syllabus, a course web page, PowerPoint slides, solutions to problems, and Excel illustrations) can be found at the following website: www.wiley.co.uk/martellini

"The authors have produced a work of the very highest quality.  As focused as it is comprehensive, this is a superb contribution to the literature..."
Moorad Choudhry, VP, Structured Finance Services, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Senior Fellow, Centre for Mathematical Trading and Finance, CASS Business School, London.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

Thank you Martellini et al.
This is an outstanding textbook that is worth every penny I spent on it. It has everything you need for an MBA in finance course on fixed-income securities.
This book is the only one on the subject that has several worked out examples and end of chapter problems and solutions. That is very useful if you want to master the subject. You will encounter plenty of practice opportunities.
All the other books-Tuckman, Fabozzi, Sundaresan, and the rest-while they make good reference books to have on your shelf, they are very poor textbooks to learn from.
If you want to master fixed-income securities, you need to have this textbook.

Thank you, ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Clear and detailed book
Design:
Well-designed with appropriate section headings. There are also short notes by the side of the pages, emphasizing the important points. Colored boxes were used to show illustrations and applications of real issues.

Content:
This book is based on the U.S. accounting standards. It is very factual, detailed and clear in explanations. There are also well-illustrated examples to enhance students' understanding of the concepts. Issues covered include classifications of items in the financial statements and measuring the items accurately. Ethical concerns are also addressed in the classification and measurement.

For who:
Definitely a good book for students seeking understanding of the concepts behind U.S. accounting standards. As the title suggests, students should have prior knowledge of accounting like basic bookkeeping and double-entry rules. However, given the changing business environment and recent accounting scandals, students should also visit the SEC websites and read the news for better understanding and keeping up-to-date with accounting standards. ... Read more

Book Description

Completely Revised and Updated

"This book on valuation represents fresh new thinking. The writing is clear and direct, combining the best academic principles with actual experience to arrive at value-increasing solutions."
–J. Fred Weston, Cordner Professor of Money and Financial Markets, Graduate School of Management, UCLA

THE #1 GUIDE TO CORPORATE VALUATION IS NOW BETTER THAN EVER!

"A ‘how-to’ guide for corporate executives who want to get at the unrealized shareholder values trapped in public companies."
–New York Times

Hailed by financial professionals, professors, and students worldwide as the single best guide of its kind, Valuation provides crucial insights into how to measure, manage, and maximize a company’s value. This long-awaited Third Edition has been comprehensively updated and expanded to reflect business conditions in today’s volatile global economy and to provide highly effective ways for managers at every level to create value for their companies.

In addition to all new case studies, Valuation now includes in-depth coverage on valuing dot.coms, cyclical companies, and companies in emerging markets, along with detailed instructions on how to drive value creation and apply real options to corporate valuation. Here is expert guidance that management and investment professionals and students alike have come to trust, including:

• Valuation’s acclaimed chapter devoted to insights into the strategic advantages of value-based management
• Strategies for multibusiness valuation, and valuation for corporate restructuring, mergers, and acquisitions
• International comparisons of the cost of capital, differences in accounting procedures, and how valuationworks in different countries
• Detailed, actual case studies showing how valuation techniques and principles are applied

This timeless, respected book on valuation allows you to face the crossroads where corporate strategy and finance meet with more confidence and winning strategies than ever before.

Please visit us at www.WileyValuation.com

WileyValuation.com is a premier Web site devoted to all things valuation. At this unique online community for financial professionals, you will enjoy the following features:

• New information on valuation topics and links to key valuation sites
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Reviews (38)

Superficial and lacking in depth
The first part of the book covers very basic material that may be found anywhere on the Internet or in a beginner's finance text book. This portion will be valuable only to introductory students of the subject.

The second two parts, which deal with actual valuation techniques, are very verbose, but lacking in organization and depth. This half assumes that you are already familiar with concepts such as WACC, Free Cash Flows, and other accounting and valuation terms. Although several valuation techniques are indeed discussed, by no means is the list comprehensive. Furthermore, no systematic approach to deriving or explaining the formulas is available, and often, terms not introduced earlier are used.

On the positive side, however, the book makes easy reading and focuses on a more practical, rather than academic or theoretical, discussion of valuation.

This book may not provide much value to a serious student of valuation. Furthermore, I do not believe it will make an ideal reference for the experienced professional either. At best, it will make a good second reference for a graduate level course in valuation.

Good but bad Excel support
I liked this book. In Russia it is one of the most popular books on valuatuion. But when I can get the perfect excel support for Investment Valuation by Aswath Damodaran or good web support for Valuation Methods and Shareholder Value Creation by Pablo Fernandez, I ask the authors, why don't they put supporting material in disk? I think that the price of their sowtware ($94.50) is too high compairing with the book ($56 with discount), because there is no supporting materials - only 1 spreadsheet (from my point of view does not conform to McKinsey, as the leader of consulting business). I hope, for the 4-th edition we will have a good excel support.

Adequate, but not Original
I hoped that McKinsey would have something new to say on this subject. There are two corporate finance texts and various finance books that cover the ground better or at least as well, so it is hard to see why this book was written.

In light of recent corporate shenanigans with off-balance sheet products, it is unforgiveable that this book doesn't address how lack of value can be disguised using off-balance sheet products. Total return swaps, an off-balance sheet financing tool, isn't discussed, and credit derivatives, another off-balance sheet tool aren't even discussed. For coverage of these topics and offshore vehicles, read "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli.

User-unfriendliness at its best
Hmm I wonder if those giving this book five stars actually work for McKinsey. As a practioner, I don't know anyone in the industry who has actually read this book. It looks impressive on the bookshelf, but the content is anything but impressive. A lot of topics are covered, but each one only superficially and the writing is extremely dry and boring. I actually found reading this volume *painful*, and I'm supposed to like this stuff since I do it for a living! My advice for any potential buyer is read a few chapters first before you shell out for it.

Logic jumps
This book is useful if you're already quite familiar with common valuation methods and can fill in the jumps & gaps. However, if any of the areas you're looking at is new to you or if you would like a more logical, well-reasoned approach or simply a discussion of all the various valuation methods in use, buy Damodaran's text instead.

This book was the prescribed & provided reference in the Corporate Finance department I worked in but most of my colleagues and I purchased our own copies of Damodaran's text "Investment Valuation, Wiley, Aswath Damodaran", which is superior in breadth as well as logical description of valuation processes. ... Read more

Book Description

Business and Professional Ethics for Accountants points students in the right direction! This text focuses on practical development of the skills needed to deal with ethical issues specific to accounting. Interesting, real-world situations provide students with an understanding of appropriate values, ethical pitfalls, applicable codes of conduct, and sound ethical reasons where codes do not apply. ... Read more

Book Description

Fundamentals of International Business is a concise introduction to international business with special emphasis on the environmental and cultural issues facing global organizations. The distinguished author team's academic and practitioner experience both in business and government ensures a balance of research and practical insight. The text includes the latest trade data presented in easy to understand tables and graphs. Contemporary business situations and critical events are featured and discussed in each chapterwith special attention to the impact technology. Throughout the text every effort has been made to present complex ideas in an easy-to-understand language and format. ... Read more

Book Description

Accounting Principles, Seventh Edition addresses the issues that our customers-- instructors and students-- have said are important. These include student success, student motivation, student problem-solving skills, student decision-making skills, and technology to assist learning and technology to assist teaching. Click on www.wiley.com/college/wkk for details on how we address each of these issues. ... Read more

Book Description

Designed for courses in corporate finance, this text is a detailed description of the valuation process, providing an integrated, comprehensive method for valuing assets, firms, and securities across a wide variety of industries.The presentation begins with a review of financial and accounting techniques, proceeds with a presentation of the valuation process, leading towards the development of pro-forma financial statements and the translation of these projections into values.A key strength of this text is teaching students how to use pro forma financial statements as a basis for valuation. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Clear, Succinct, Excellent !
This is one of the best practical corporate finance books you can find. It serves especially well as a bridge between introductory finance and more advanced topics. The authors did an excellent job at hammering some most important concepts into readers' heads while avoiding too much theoretical complications that hinter understanding. The step-by-step valuation method is especially valuable. The use of the spreadsheet is enormously helpful for students of finance. Highly recommended! I hope Professor Benninga and Professor Sarig can keep producing this kind of hands-on, clear guide to finance. (and maybe a series of books at different difficulty levels)

A Good Summary of techniques used to valuate corporations.
This is a very good book for starters in Corporate Finance. People interested in understanding company valuations should definitely read this. Nevertheless, do take the contents with a certain grain of salt. Finance is a very subjective field, and numbers are ALWAYS subject to interpretation. Experts in the field might find themselves not agreeing with some of the methods employed. Finally, readers should have a good background in Accounting. It is also recommended that you have a computer running MS Excel and that you are familiar with the program.

Ground Up Valuation Techniques
If you are new to corporate finance valuation this book will take you to the next level. Provides step by step instruction on how to value companies. Covers Excel techniques with easy to follow examples. Covers 1 full semester at most business schools.

An ideal introduction to company valuation
This book offers a very simple introduction to evaluation of companies prior to investing. The DCF method is primarily used. There is a common thread running through the chapters which makes the book easy to understand. Its not verbose, which adds to its attractiveness. But, the readers should remember that this is only an introduction, and some other advanced book like Copeland's is needed to build upon the ideas presented in the book.

A Solid Introductory Valuation Text
This book does a good job of logically explaining the step-by-step method of corporate valuation. Benninga and Sarig do a good job of focusing on the practical tools of finance. I only wish the DCF examples were less simplistic. A substantial amount of additional work is needed to apply these models to real world firms. ... Read more

Book Description

Don't manage with anything less ? than the new edition of this managerial text from the authors of ACCOUNTING, 21st Edition, the most successful college educational product of all time.MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING, 8th Edition combines basic concepts with a heavy dose of the real world to build the skills for effective management. ... Read more

Book Description

Intermediate Accounting presents accounting from the perspective of the essential activities ofbusiness: operating, investing, and financing.Students will see accounting as it is in the real world -- an essential component of the management function and decision-making process. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Fulltime Accountant /student
This book is very practical and covers all the pertinent information needed for a good foundation in Accounting. The book is easy to understand and gives practical examples and useful exercises.

Response to a reader from Houston
I am an accounting Professor. I am also an accountant. I am so surprised that you thought people became accountants because they failed from something else. It is totally wrong. I am so pround of it. I am 27 year old. I have a good car, have a good house (no debt at all; I just repaid all my mortgage recently.) I do not think that people who are in the field from which you mentioned they failed can make money and have good reputation like I do. Do you know that an auditor money as much as a lawyer (I am a good auditor; please do not talk about other case)

For this book, I found it is very good. I used Prof Skousen's textbook in first accounting class as well as intermediate. My students like them so much. However, they give a little bit too much detail. A professor should adapt it when using in class. This book is a excellent alternative to another book published by Wiley.

Very Difficult Reading
Good grief, the material in this book is TORTUROUS to read and absorb. I've never encountered anything more dull and (for a GREAT deal of it) useless.

Excellent Revision
Another excellent revision on a accounting textbook that continues to set academic and professional standards for the systematic leaning of accounting principles in a clear, concise and relevant manner.

Thank you Mr. Skousen and Associates.

An excellent accounting text
Layout and presentation of topics are in a logical order. Text is clearly written, and explains the why and how, using examples from annual reports, news articles, and historical information. Complicated topics, such as pension accounting and disclosure, are presented first with a simple example to give you the background you need. Then the authors progress to the more complicated and real world aspects of the topic. ... Read more

Book Description

The Price Advantage, written by three preeminent experts at McKinsey & Company, is the most pragmatic and insightful book on pricing available. Based on in-depth, firsthand experience with hundreds of companies, as well as significant investments in basic pricing research, this book is designed to be a comprehensive guide for managers through the maze of pricing issues. The authors examine state-of-the-art approaches for analyzing and improving pricing performance, demonstrate those approaches with real case studies, and draw a pricing excellence blueprint for companies to follow. In good economic times or bad, achieving the price advantage is critical to corporate performance and profitability. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Let¿s make money
The book, The Price Advantage, highlights a topic often neglected by senior management. But a careful execution of some of the ideas of Roegner et al. can have enormous consequences for the bottom line!

I found the book extremely useful in helping our organization structure its thinking around the possibilities in the pricing arena. The material in the first chapter on the effect of a price increase versus cost reduction is not new but certainly worth a reminder.

The categorization of the three levels of price management is particularly useful and practical. In a product segmentation exercise we ran internally in our organization, we were quickly able to identify the appropriate approach to the various segments. In fact, shortly after reading the book, we were able to craft a broad based pricing strategy that thoroughly impressed our senior management and will now be worked out in more details with a view to implementing it in a few months.

Having been through the re-engineering rage of the 90's with some questionable results, it is reassuring to realize that there are methodologies that could still dramatically improve the bottom line. This is particularly relevant for those having to cope with the consequences of ever changing exchange rates.
I have encouraged quite a few managers to read this book and see where the ideas can be put into practice.

Pragmatic Approaches a Businessperson Can Use
The Price Advantage makes the case that pricing is the most under-appreciated lever for improving performance in most companies today. The authors put forth an argument that is compelling for business leaders in every company to elevate their view of pricing opportunities in general, and pricing as a key lever for performance management in particular. Most importantly, however, the book provides practical, pragmatic insights into what approaches a businessperson can take to identify and capture pricing opportunities. It brings both the opportunities and potential pitfalls to life through the frequent use of case examples where companies succeeded in "ringing the cash register" through effective pricing or left a great deal of money on the table through poor pricing actions.

Of particular usefulness are chapters on specific topics that a business leader tackling pricing is going to face sooner or later. The chapter on "industry strategy" where the authors lay out some of the tactics for being a price leader or good price follower seems to be fresh writing on these topics ( I have not seen anything written about this before, and I thought it was quite actionable). Also, the chapter on pricing architecture set forth nicely the different ways of structuring price to drive the right customer and reseller behavior, again providing a way to look at the issue that should drive toward results effectively.
The chapter on issues/opportunities that arise from mergers/acquisitions provides distinctive perspectives on how to take advantage of opportunities and/or avoid huge downside risks associated with these events. The price wars chapter provides a guide for many managers to utilize in avoiding counterproductive (often inadvertent) actions across the markets in which they compete. Sidestepping just one of the potholes that the authors describe is likely to save a business great pain. Executing a strategy that weaves its way through the price war minefield discussed is likely to make the business a top performer, and the managers leading such an effort heroes.

The discussion of pricing technology appeared only to scratch the surface, perhaps a necessity due to the rapid innovation underway. While I was left wanting more in this area, the book did provide a way to segment solutions and approaches in this area that should be useful for those exploring the range of options available in today's - or tomorrow's - marketplace.

Finally, as you would expect from the authors' backgrounds, the insights on how to architect an organizational change program provide a framework that should be useful regardless of whether the challenge is a large enterprise or if you're tackling a focused initiative to capture value in a single product line.

Practical Approaches a Businessperson Can Use
The Price Advantage makes the case that pricing is the most under-appreciated lever for improving performance in most companies today. The authors put forth an argument that is compelling for business leaders in every company to elevate their view of pricing opportunities in general, and pricing as a key lever for performance management in particular. Most importantly, however, the book provides practical, pragmatic insights into what approaches a businessperson can take to identify and capture pricing opportunities. It brings both the opportunities and potential pitfalls to life through the frequent use of case examples where companies succeeded in "ringing the cash register" through effective pricing or left a great deal of money on the table through poor pricing actions.

Of particular usefulness are chapters on specific topics that a business leader tackling pricing is going to face sooner or later. The chapter on "industry strategy" where the authors lay out some of the tactics for being a price leader or good price follower seems to be fresh writing on these topics ( I have not seen anything written about this before, and I thought it was quite actionable). Also, the chapter on pricing architecture set forth nicely the different ways of structuring price to drive the right customer and reseller behavior, again providing a way to look at the issue that should drive toward results effectively.
The chapter on issues/opportunities that arise from mergers/acquisitions provides distinctive perspectives on how to take advantage of opportunities and/or avoid huge downside risks associated with these events. The price wars chapter provides a guide for many managers to utilize in avoiding counterproductive (often inadvertent) actions across the markets in which they compete. Sidestepping just one of the potholes that the authors describe is likely to save a business great pain. Executing a strategy that weaves its way through the price war minefield discussed is likely to make the business a top performer, and the managers leading such an effort heroes.

The discussion of pricing technology appeared only to scratch the surface, perhaps a necessity due to the rapid innovation underway. While I was left wanting more in this area, the book did provide a way to segment solutions and approaches in this area that should be useful for those exploring the range of options available in today's - or tomorrow's - marketplace.

Finally, as you would expect from the authors' backgrounds, the insights on how to architect an organizational change program provide a framework that should be useful regardless of whether the challenge is a large enterprise or if you're tackling a focused initiative to capture value in a single product line.

Much of this is old hat, unfortunately
A friend of mine who knows I have an interest in pricing sent me a free copy of this book. Michael Marn has led the pricing practice at McKinsey & Company for a long time now, and I'd been wondering why he hadn't published a pricing book before now.

Unfortunately it turns out to be something of a one-trick pony, and a pony pretty long in the tooth at that. About half of it talks about the well-known price-benefit map. No question it's a fundamental idea, but hardly leading edge. Plus you need a McKinsey team to execute it. Given the pedigree of the authors I was hoping for more. A lot of the book just repeats McKinsey's early work on price wars, postmerger pricing, and overall strategy--good stuff but again nothing new.

If you're interested in pricing, in my opinion there are better options than this. ... ... Read more

Book Description

Unlike other government and not-for-profit accounting texts, this one is directed for both potential users and preparers of financial reports. Emphasis is placed on the significance of reported information and how both users and preparers can interpret and analyze accounting information. ... Read more