Book Description
The CPA exam is changing. You need to change as well...to a book that better prepares you for the CPA exam and for business. This is the only book of its kind that demonstrates how to prepare financial reports and then how to analyze what those numbers really mean.
Every manager has incentives to present his or her firm in the most favorable light to lenders, equity investors and others. And, every manager wants to use the flexibility allowed by GAAP to manage the firm's earnings to achieve certain goals. Revsine, Collins, and Johnson
explain these incentives and help readers spot cases of earnings management, which disguises a firm's true performance.
For anyone preparing to take the CPA exam, and for anyone who wants or needs a working knowledge of accounting, financial reporting, and financial statement analysis.
Customer Reviews:
Almost everything I dislike in a textbook.......2006-05-08
This book has many characteristics that I really dislike to see in a textbook.
First, the authors flooded almost every page with extraneous information. When you're learning this stuff, you want it to be explained simply and clearly - but the authors seem more intent on showing you how much they know about some topic, even when that information is tangenital and not very helpful.
They don't word things clearly. They'll call the same thing by two different names - (i.e. "Pension Cost" and "Pension Expense") which needlessly adds to the confusion. They'll discuss some topic for several pages without even writing down the basic, relevant journal entry.
One of the wordiest, most poorly written accounting books I have ever had the displeasure of studying from.
One of the better books available.......2003-09-30
This publication provides a thorough and comprehensive review of almost every important aspect of accounting, financial analytics and reporting. A useful tool for a person new to finance or someone needing a refresh or review of important topics. A solutions manual would have been helpful, but the book is a valuable buy nonetheless.
Very good for understanding the subject.......2002-03-10
The book provides very clear explanations about different aspects of financial statement analysis. The only drawbacks are that the book is a little simplistic and that problem solutions are sorely needed. However, I am sure you are not going to use oit for self-study- you would be using it as a textbook in a financial statement analysis class. The professor, would be able to provide you with solutions (as in my case- thanks Dr. Church!) and will also help you out with some of the tougher stuff. Whatever, the book does an excellent job in explaining the basic stuff- much better than the Sondhi book.
agree with others - needs solutions manual - useless without.......2001-09-27
I agree with those that say this book would be more useful if it came with solutions. Right off in the first chapter, hypothetical situations are presented without any background information in the text. If you haven't had some experience in Accounting, you are going to be left scratching your head. The instructor in my class says that it causes you to think. Hard to think if you have never come close to experiencing anything that is being discussed. Some guidance would be helpful.
Useless without a Solutions Manual.......2001-03-23
I'm studying for the CPA. I bought the book because it's required for a course in school. But to actually learn for the CPA exam, I'll toss this one aside for one that provides a solutions manual. Authors who withold the manual for the instructors benefit miss a fundamental point about economics - who the customer is. It's the student that the book is written for and it is the student who pays for the course. Breffni University of Chicago
Book Description
Accounting Standards (US and International) have been updated to reflect the latest pronouncements.
* An increased international focus with more coverage of IASC and non-US GAAPs and more non-US examples.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent supplement to an advanced accounting class.......2007-04-19
This is not a "how-to" book. It offers in-depth reading in the areas that are normally covered in an Advanced Accounting class. I would recommend this book as "further reading" for a student taking such a class but not as a "how-to" book. Each chapter does have some example diagrams and financial statements that illustrate the subject. At the end of each chapter you will find some review exercises, however, there are no answers to those exercises. This fact makes the exercises nothing more than annoying and this is the reason that I took off one star from my rating. If you are looking for a "how-to" book, I would suggest getting the CPA study guide called "Financial Accounting and Reporting" by Wiley.
"Slogging" Defined.......2006-06-13
OK folks, here's a contrarian review of this book. Consider it an opinion which "balances" other reviews presented in this book review section. Here goes.
Webster defines the word "slog" as "to plod one's way perseveringly especially against difficulty; to plod heavily".
What an apt description of the effort required to read this book!
If you're engaged in the CFA curriculum, this book comes as a recommended (practically required) textbook. That's unfortunate because this book's various authors are inconsistent in making the material readable and understandable.
Yes, the book is comprehensive. Chapter topics include: Accrual Concept, Analysis of Cash Flows, Ratio and Financial Analysis, Analysis of Long-Lived Assets, Analysis of Income Taxes, Analysis of Financing Liabilities, Leases and Off-Balance-Sheet Debt, Pensions, Intercorporate Investments, Multinational Operations, and Business Combinations. Great stuff to know - practical matters to understand and master.
However, this book presumes a solid understanding of intermediate level accounting, and provides little or no review of these concepts before delving into the topical material. It makes learning more challenging, and when time is of the essence, that's problematic. So I found myself "slogging" through the course material in an effort to learn Level II material.
Supplemental reading is often required to make up for what the authors fail to teach effectively. Here's a tip: Schaum's Intermediate Accounting II has an excellent chapter #10 on Pension Accounting which will benefit you in your studies. Likewise, I have found other Schaums's Outlines to be very instructive and beneficial (consider reading my other reviews).
The CFA Institute would do well to consider recommending other Financial Analysis textbooks to cover the same material - a book that is more readable and user-friendly. One that's more engaging rather than one which requires heavy plodding!
Very good book, but not for beginners.......2006-05-14
The book requires solid knowledge of accounting so not recommended for beginners. Do not expect long explanations and illustrations. They just give some basic examples and generally they don't provide journal entries. It is not an accounting book! Don't be scared if first time there are parts that are not clear as the chapters are interlinked. Give it another chance.
Pretty good book.......2005-12-19
My accounting professor recommended this book ... found it to be very useful to get a handle on many accounting principles I was struggling with in my MBA course. What I like the best about the book is that it allows you to et as detailed as you want to get - it all depends on your interest. For instance I just wanted to get familiar with some issues like accounting for pension and it has very well explained the basics of pension accounting and on other hand where I wanted to get into details of handling of stock options it had all the details I was looking for.
Horribly written.......2005-12-13
I have read this book several times because it was lucky enough to be selected as part of the CFA curriculum. Out of all the accounting texts that I have read, this is by far the worst. I found myself reading and rereading this book several times just to make sense of it, not to mention the fact that I was continually calling upon friends that work as accountants for help. This book even managed to confuse them. I'm sure that there is a wealth of good information in this book; the problem is that you may have to read it five times before you decipher it.
Book Description
Financial Statement Analysis, 9e, emphasizes effective business analysis and decision making by analysts, investors, managers, and other stakeholders of the company. It continues to set the standard (over 8 prior editions and hundreds of thousands in unit book sales) in showing students the keys to effective financial statement analysis. It begins with an overview (chapters 1-2), followed by accounting analysis (chapters 3-6) and then financial analysis (chapters 7-11). The book presents a balanced view of analysis, including both equity and credit analysis, and both cash-based and earnings-based valuation models. The book is aimed at accounting and finance classes, and the professional audience as it shows the relevance of financial statement analysis to all business decision makers. The authors:
1. Use numerous and timely “real world” examples and cases
2. Draw heavily on actual excerpts from financial reports and footnotes
3. Focus on analysis and interpretation of financial reports and their footnotes
4. Illustrate debt and equity valuation that uses results of financial statement analysis
5. Have a concise writing style to make the material accessible.
Customer Reviews:
Not user friendly.......2006-11-13
I have been using this textbook for a few weeks now in a class at Regis University. It is not an easy read. Full of details without a good layman's explanation of concepts. It assumes a lot of prior accounting knowledge.
Get a tutor..........2006-10-20
If you have class with an instructor that uses this book you better:
A. Hope the instructor is a good teacher and only uses it as a supplement
or
B. Take a different course
Unfortunately, I had/did neither. This book is, in a way, similar to many math textbooks in that it gives relatively mundane and simple analysis in the text, while asking complex hour-plus long financial analysis in the chapter review, leaving the reader to largely fend for his or her self.
Terrible book.......2006-08-15
This is an awful book. I took a class on accounting principles and this was the first semester that we used this particular book. Many of the check figures for this book were wrong. Even in the teacher's solution, many answers were wrong. It wasn't an easy read either.
Book Description
This book describes valuation as an exercise in financial statement analysis. Students learn to view a firm through its financial statements and to carry out the appropriate financial statement analysis to value the firm's debt and equity. The book takes an activist approach to investing, showing how the analyst challenges the current market price of a share by analyzing the fundamentals. With a careful assessment of accounting quality, accounting comes to life as it is integrated with the modern theory of finance to develop practical analysis and valuation tools for active investing.
Customer Reviews:
The Best book in Fundamental Analysis.......2007-09-27
This is an excelente book in Fundamental & Valuation reading, The idea of The author is that reformulation on the tradicional statement must be done for investor propose. He do it, and he teach how to do the work in a eassy form. But first of it, he teach about the fundamental essential and he use value drivers for analysis and estimation value.
The author thinks and demostrated that the Fundamental model are much better than other model of valuation like discount Free Cash flow.
In a line of Graham, Dodds, The fundamental analysis of this book is very deep in concept that I founded very usefull. IS a best book than other traditional. I think that de exercise present in the book must have the answer in a internet site, If this is done, dont doubt:It will be The best book in Fundamental an valuation.
Great Text BUT no access to the site materials.......2007-09-11
great text but shame on the publisher not providing access to the solutions of the materials inside the book.
Good Text, Horrible Service.......2007-07-29
This is such an excellent text. McGraw Hill has to provide access to the solutions so that individual investors who are trying to teach themselves can learn the material. This is ludicrous. It stinks.
Incomplete.......2007-05-13
The book itself is great. I bought it with the idea that I would read it and teach myself the material since completing an MBA two years ago. I was denied access to solutions for the exercises and other resources reserved for instructors and students in degree programs. All information provided to instructors was denied to me by the publisher. For the money spent on this volume, all of the educational resources should be made available either through instructors in formalized degree programs or by some other means to people like myself not in degree programs. Otherwise, this text should not be made available to the general public on Amazon. That stated, the book itself is superb...if you want to read it like a novel.
Book Description
Praise for Financial Statement Analysis
A Practitioner's Guide
Third Edition
"This is an illuminating and insightful tour of financial statements, how they can be used to inform, how they can be used to mislead, and how they can be used to analyze the financial health of a company."
-Professor Jay O. Light
Harvard Business School
"Financial Statement Analysis should be required reading for anyone who puts a dime to work in the securities markets or recommends that others do the same."
-Jack L. Rivkin
Executive Vice President (retired)
Citigroup Investments
"Fridson and Alvarez provide a valuable practical guide for understanding, interpreting, and critically assessing financial reports put out by firms. Their discussion of profits-`quality of earnings'-is particularly insightful given the recent spate of reporting problems encountered by firms. I highly recommend their book to anyone interested in getting behind the numbers as a means of predicting future profits and stock prices."
-Paul Brown
Chair-Department of Accounting
Leonard N. Stern School of Business, NYU
"Let this book assist in financial awareness and transparency and higher standards of reporting, and accountability to all stakeholders."
-Patricia A. Small
Treasurer Emeritus, University of California
Partner, KCM Investment Advisors
"This book is a polished gem covering the analysis of financial statements. It is thorough, skeptical and extremely practical in its review."
-Daniel J. Fuss
Vice Chairman
Loomis, Sayles & Company, LP
Customer Reviews:
Great Value.......2006-02-25
I'm not a financial analyst but I'm interested in analysing companies for my own investments. I found the book easy to read. It's a big eye-opener for someone who was not aware of all the accounting gimmicks that aggressive companies can play. I'm certainly a better investor now.
That being said, please note that this book won't tell you much about what you need to do to value a company and invest in it. It will help you spot troublesome companies and accounting tricks that don't look right, but after that you're on your own. You need more than this book to be a good investor, but this book is a pretty important part of being a good investor.
Definately for the Practitioner.......2006-02-17
I needed this book for a Financial Statement Analysis class. It is a decent book, full of examples, so that makes it very interesting; however, the themes are very repetitive. It not an exciting book by any stretch, but it does have some usefulness.
Adobe reader format is a bad choice.......2004-07-25
The publisher limits how many pages can be printed. If you want to print say, two chapters, to take on the plane for reading, you can't print that many pages.
excellent analyst-level text.......2004-05-02
in all likelihood, average investors will not get much out of this book, as average investors don't pore over 10-ks, annual reports and conduct industry analysis prior to investing (which they should!). but for those above average investors who do (read: intelligent investors, per ben graham), this book is an excellent read.
2/3 of the book deals w/ alterting the investor to some of the areas where company mgmt can play games w/ the #s in order to goose the stock price. the examples were helpful, but the insights were not exactly earth shattering for experienced investors.
however, the last 1/3 of the book, on forecasts & security analysis, is worth the price of the book. in 100pgs, you get an MBA-level text on security / credit / financial statement analysis, complete w/ ratio definitions, caveats(!), and applicability. excellent stuff for the beginning or experienced analyst, and i will doubtless refer to the last 1/3 time and again.
Reads well.......2003-05-14
This book is for someone that wants an overview style book. It reads as a novel, or loose conversation would be read. Not a textbook style (dry) book.
Book Description
The tenth edition thoroughly involves students with financial statements by using real-world examples. It builds skills in analyzing real financial reports through statements, exhibits, and cases of actual companies. Emphasis is placed on the analysis and interpretation of the end result of financial reporting--financial statements.
Book Description
Succeed in this course and as a future business manager with FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING! Your purchase includes one-year access to Thomson ONE, Business School Edition, an online site that gives you the power to do financial analysis and research using real company data. Using actual financial statements, the authors leverage your everyday consumer experiences to link accounting terminology and practice with actual events that you already understand. Key points, margin notes, review of key points, exercises, problems, and applications and extensions are just a few of the many tools included within the text that will make studying easy.
Customer Reviews:
Not worth the money!.......2007-08-08
I hate this book. Why? There is no way to check your answers to all of the problems. If they would have simply put the answers to every other problem in the back of the book, like most books do you could self educate yourself. There is alot of excellent information in the book and a lot of "try it" yourself type problems, but there is no way to check to see if you understood the concepts. This is not a book you could pick up and do the problems, and determine if you even got the answers right. If they would have gave me a way to check to see if I got the problems right, then I would have gave it a 4. I think there is some CD somewhere that has the answers but I couldn't find it. It didn't come with the book. Perhaps it comes with a new book. I bought it used.
A Disorganized Mess.......2005-11-01
I consider myself very unfortunate to have to use this book in my introductory accounting class. I have no idea why the professor picked this particular book. The formulas and key concepts are scattered around and hard to find. There're many anecdotes throughout the book. I appreciate the effort to make the book less boring. But in essence this practice makes the book even harder to follow.
I hope the book did a better job of outlining the contents and making things easy to find. At one point the book talked about "amortization of intangible assets" without bothering to even explain what that means, as if the readers are supposed to know.
I'll give credit to the well structured problems in the book. There are many different kinds of practice problem sets that follow each chapter, and I thought the difficulty level of them are just right. This saved the book from 2 stars.
Customer Reviews:
Ensure that the CD is included.......2007-09-19
The book description does not say that the book should come with a CD - which is integral to the product.
The book is easy to read and up to date for when it was written; very practical.
Good reference for valuating companies using financial statements.......2007-07-04
I used this book in two "Business Analysis using Financial Statements" financial accounting classes and found it to be useful the few times I needed to use it as a reference.
The text represents what I think is a fair mix of both accounting (the reading and interpretation of financial statements) and finance (the valuation) perspectives. It contains more or less what I would have expected from a book with "A Valuation Approach" in the title: multiples, various valuation models (DCF, APV, etc), etc. But it's technically an accounting book in my mind, so it also contains examples for all of the major topics that it covers using 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and other SEC statements as examples.
Book Description
Turn financial statements into powerful allies in your decision making
Whether you're an investor, creditor, consultant, regulator, manager-or an employee concerned about your company's well-being and the stability of your job-the ability to successfully interpret and analyze financial statements gives you a leg up in today's rough-and-tumble marketplace. Analysis of Financial Statements, Fifth Edition, by Leopold A. Bernstein and John J. Wild, gives you every practical, up-to-date method for making the data in financial statements clear and meaningful. You get analytical tools that range from computation of ratio and cash flow measures to earnings prediction and valuation as you learn how to reconstruct the economic reality embedded in financial statements. User-friendly and engaging, this hands-on classic is loaded with graphs, charts, and tables, so you can see how topics relate to the business practices of actual companies. A concluding comprehensive case analysis of the Campbell Soup Company gives shape and color to the author's step-by-step lessons.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best I've read.......2006-03-17
I am not a CPA or Finance major. I am a physicist so the math is not intimidating. I have been investing as an amateur since retirement and this book gives solid and easily understood ways to get at the valuation of a company and its stock by investigating the financial statements. There is a good comprehensive case study at the end of the book, but I wish the authors would give more examples either within or at the end of each chapter.
Informative, but hard to read.......2003-07-08
I did not finish this book because it is written in a very academic and hard to grasp language. Authors, please make your sentences a little shorter and simpler, the book is very boring and verbose! However, I must give credit to the authors for including almost all of the tools one will need for analysis of financial statements.
Each edition of this book just gets better and better!.......2000-06-03
I have bought every edition of this book, and it just keeps getting better and better. As a 25 year veteran of corporate finance, I continue to use this book myself on a regular basis and to recommend it to less experienced employees who are still developing their expertise. Every finance library should have this book.
Book Description
When partnerships change hands, the valuation of intangible assets can be a financial maze. This in-depth book, working through each of the basic valuation approaches: cost, market, and income, provides professionals with complete guidelines and industry standards. It's a must-have for financial analysts and attorneys!
Download Description
The one-volume intangible valuation library--from trusted authorities Robert Reilly and Robert Schweihs.
Customer Reviews:
A practical primer.......2003-04-10
For those who are interested in the management of organizational knowledge and intangible assets, 'Valuing intangible assets'should prove to be highly practical. There are many knowledge management frameworks out there that assist business executive to manage their intangible assets (such as Sveiby's intangible asset monitor), the practical usage of these frameworks would be greatly enhanced by incorporating the valuation aspect of intangible assets. Reilly has provided a comprehensive illustration of both the 'scientific' & 'artistic' aspects of valuating intangible assets. 'Valuing Intangible Assets' is easy to read & loaded with useful examples, it is a rare one in the market.
Recommend Purchase!.......2002-08-13
A larger portion of the value of a company nowadays comes from Intangibles (brands, patents, workforce & related contracts, durable customers etc.). This holds true in several industry sectors. Measurement of intangibles is a fascinating subject, but until this book was published, there was no single body of knowledge available to guide the general reader, or a Valuation professional. You had to work in one of the reputed valuation firms to be exposed to the techniques. This book is by far the best practitioner-oriented Intangibles Valuation book I have come across. It is very comprehensive in terms of the topics it covers, and does a wonderful job of covering almost all intangibles of interest. Each chapter is written by a relevant expert, and this invariably leads to variations in quality and some lack of consistency. However, for the most part, it is very well written, and definitely worth the price it sells for.
Great Reference Book.......2001-12-31
A great book for anyone or performs valuations of intangible assets or wants to learn how. I believe that this book will become to intangible valuation what Pratt's book is to business valuation.
A complete manual of intangible valuation methods.......2000-08-28
The authors rely on their extensive professional experiences in this field to provide a comprehensive description of the three valuation methods for intangible assets--cost, market, and income methods. Easy to read, this book explains the nuances of each method in more detail than similar books available in the market. It reads more like an accessible textbook than a vague primer on the subject. It also contains many insightful and valuable case examples of how the methods are applied to different real life cases. As an MBA student, I have benefitted greatly from this book and will probably use it as a reference in the future.
I hope future editions will include option pricing valuation methods.
Books:
- Financial Reporting, Financial Statement Analysis, and Valuation: A Strategic Perspective (with Thomson One Access Code)
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- Food and Beverage Cost Control
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- Food and Beverage Cost Control
- Global Private Banking and Wealth Management: The New Realities (The Wiley Finance Series)
- Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy
- How to Sell Antiques and Collectibles on eBay... And Make a Fortune!
- How to Take Money from Wall Street: Learn to Profit in Bull and Bear Markets
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Books Index
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General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Fourth Edition
Investments
Investments with S&P bind-in card
Financial Modeling - 2nd Edition: Includes CD
Principles of Corporate Finance + Student CD + Ethics in Finance PowerWeb + Standard and Poor's (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Est)
