Reviews (2)

Competent analysis of off balance sheet accounting
An expert describes some the main devices used to distort financial information for public consumption, focusing on those which hide debt.I found it both informative and highly readable.Some background in business accounting is helpful but not necessary for the reader.

Accounting for the Investor
While experts wring hands and say "mistakes were made," this book gives average investors the "how to" in order to make sense of annual reports and balance sheets.It seems to blow the lid off of the various methods that managers used to hide bad debt and shaking investments.Undoubtly, good for most investors who want to avoid a repeat of Enron.It also offers a pretty explanation of why major accounting and auditing firms can't be trusted.At last, a book that allows investors to keep their investments and earn money--instead of CEOs and corporate executives.Favorite Chapter:How to Hide Debt with Pension Accounting. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting (General)    3. Accounting - Financial    4. Accounting - General    5. Accounting firms    6. Business & Economics    7. Business / Economics / Finance    8. Business Ethics    9. Business/Economics    10. Case studies    11. Corporate Finance    12. Corrupt practices    13. Business & Economics / Accounting / General    14. Crime & criminology   

Reviews (6)

Quick & Easy
After purchasing one of those "for dummies" type books on Accounting I purchased this book.I have found it to be an easy and quick read, clear, concise, to the point and very helpful.I was looking for something simple and just wanted to cover the basics - this book met my needs perfectly.

Dry
Mr. Rachlin and Sweeny make no excuses for writting a dry book."The field of basic accounting and finance frankly offers little that is new or exciting."Sorry, I just couldn't take this tone.Try the McGraw-Hill 36-Hour book for a more lively presentation of the basics.

Understandable Accounting!!
This book about finance and accounting concepts is especially useful to professionals with no formal training in finance, budgeting, investment or accounting. As an urban planner and development advisor, I am often presented with land use proposals which are framed in financial and accounting terms. This book offers a clear and simple approach to these disciplines and has given me the tools to make much more informed decisions in my work.I highly recommend it to others in my trade and to those, like me, who often glaze over finance and accounting terminology. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting - Financial    3. Accounting - General    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Finance    8. Reference - General    9. Budgeting & financial management   

Reviews (8)

Poor Choice all around.
Libby et al try to sell this book to schools ranging from Harvard Business School down to undergraduates at West Texas A & M University, and unfortunately for students, they get their wish with the highest grossing accounting textbook on the market. What results is a text that is far too verbose, and yet simultaneously superficial on regulatory and finance issues, for an elite undergraduate or graduate school student's first go at the subject, as well as a text far too meandering for the attention span of less academically inclined pupils. The specific problems are manifold. First, the examples are less than clear. Second, the attempt to bring in real would cases adds a lot of volume to each chapter with little to no actual relation to the topic at hand (e.g. five pages about Papa John's Pizza to give one or two relevant lines about their operations). Third, redundancy occurs at times to the point of causing students to miss actual salient differences (e.g. and not appropriately denoting problems where they occur). Fourth, a color scheme / layout from hell!
Too much advertisement
This book uses a lot of "real companies' data" (including the boycotted clothing retailer and recently bankrupt airline). The real companies' data come with a lot of advertisements, which is kind of disturbing.

Not exactly what I ordered. . .
I was expecting a hardcover book and got a softcover instead.It is already torn up pretty badly, transporting it back and forth to class. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Business & Economics / Accounting / Financial    6. Financial accounting   

Reviews (1)

Not a good source of information on FAS 52
The following statement from the editorial review is completely misleading.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting - Financial    3. Accounting - General    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Financial statements    8. Foreign Exchange    9. International - Accounting    10. Business & Economics / Accounting / General    11. Financial reporting, financial statements   

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting - Financial    3. Assets (Accounting)    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Capital    8. Business & Economics / Accounting / Financial   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Accounting - General    3. Business & Economics    4. Business/Economics    5. Software - Business - CDROM / Universal   

Reviews (9)

Getting Started-*
*A good book of guidelines for the undecided about becoming a financial consultant, planner?

Starting out?READ THIS BOOK!
The author's background is a small town CPA, which may account for his no BS approach.Simple (not simplistic) straightforward solid advice for anyone wishing to start a financial advisory practice. A good book, except for the writing
Jim Ainsworth clearly demonstrates his extensive financial consulting experience throughout this book.Much of the information is valuable, and it covers the important beginners' range of knowledge effectively. However,his 'down to earth' style is not only irritating, it actually makes thebook painful to read. Good written English is not always the same as goodspoken English. Surely the man is a succesful financial consultant, butthat doesn't make him a good writer. It just goes to show that in a hot,growing industry like financial consulting a book written by a 'qualified'author will sell even if it is poorly written. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Accounting - General    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Consulting    7. Financial Accounting    8. Financial planners    9. Financial services industry    10. Investments & Securities - General    11. Personal finance    12. United States    13. Advice on careers & achieving success    14. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    15. Finance   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Business & Economics    3. Business/Economics   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Accounting - General    3. Accounting - Managerial    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Business & Economics / Accounting / Management    8. Management accounting   

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting - General    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Financial statements    6. Financial accounting   

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting - Financial    3. Accounting - General    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Financial Accounting    8. Financial statements    9. Business & Economics / Accounting / General   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Finance    6. Business & Economics / Accounting / General   

Reviews (1)

A Disorganized Mess
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.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting - Financial    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Finance    7. Business & Economics / Finance    8. Financial accounting   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Financial Accounting    6. Business & Economics / Finance   

Subjects:  1. Financial accounting   

Reviews (13)

If you have to learn accounting, try this book.
I needed a crash-course in accounting prior to starting my MBA.This book gave me what I needed to know so that I wasn't completely clueless on my first day of class.It was also a valuable reference tool throughout school, and a great way to prepare for final exams. Essentials of Accounting - My Review
Having recieved and MBA a few years ago.This workbook was very helpful as a refresher on the key concepts with some very interesting and compeling leads for further study.One should have a some prior knowledge of basic accounting concepts, if not some of the topics may be overwhelming.The workbook reviews topics which can be very helpful to individuals who may be considering P&L responsibilities.The workbook clearly and concisely explains the relationship between the essential financial statements. The book makes the field of Accounting more interesting than my previous opinions. I would definitely recommend this book considering the conditions mentioned.

Excellent Accounting Tutorial
This guide is an excellent teaching medium.Instead of reading page after page of text, the author engages the reader in answering questions and conducting drills to apply the material.Accounting is one of the subjects that you can learn more about each time you cycle through the material.I'd had an accounting course as part of my MBA program, and have read a couple of traditional accounting textbooks and this book really helped me understand how the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows are interrelated.This is a good book for busy professionals that don't have time to take an accounting course. I spent two hours on each chapter, for a total of 22 hours.The book is expensive, but worth it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting (General)    3. Accounting - General    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics   

Reviews (1)

Unintended benefits
I discovered this book after reading "A Guide to Forensic Testimony" (ISBN 0201752794), which is aimed at IT professionals.I had little interest in being an expert witness, but have been a witness in litigation and wanted to better understand the process.In my quest for another book I came across this one, and benefited from two levels - (1) I learned even more about rules of evidence, and expert testimony, and (2) discovered a methodology for computing values associated with business interruptions that have some potential to meet requirements of Rules 104(a) and (e), and 703 [Federal Rules of Evidence].Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Business & Financial    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business Law    5. Business losses    6. Capital Management    7. Corporate Finance    8. Forensic economics    9. Law    10. Lost profits damages    11. United States    12. Business & Economics / Accounting / General    13. Business & Management    14. Finance & Accounting    15. Microeconomics   

Reviews (1)

Required for ACCT301@UMUC for my BS in Marketing
This book made it so easy to understand everything I needed to know for my course!Raiborn lays everything out in a very simple straightforward way, plus the examples are great! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting - General    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Business & Economics / Accounting / General    7. Financial accounting    8. Management accounting   

Reviews (13)

Great advice from one of the best investor advocates
Solin's book alerts investors to various broker ploys to steal investors' wealth.All these schemes are dishonest - most are illegal.The book shows investors how to hold accountable their brokers who claim to be looking out for their clients' interest and charge large fees to allegedly do so.This is great advice from one of the best investor advocates.

No secrets
I borrowed this book from a friend because I couldn't believe the inflamatory title.Well no surprise, nothing new.If you're investing in this day and age and you don't want to pay attention to the activity in your brokerage account or you don't feel like you have the intelligence to understand the market, pay a management fee, get a discretionary account, and have the broker direct the investing.As a regular investor, I'm responsible for the decisions I make and the stocks I purchase. I think it is insulting and highly unethical to sue just because you lost money in the market. Don't bother with the book.

Insight & Assistance for the Beleaguered & Bewildered
Most investors in the stock market lack the sophistication to really understand what their broker is doing�or not doing�with their hard-earned money. If brokers are not well- trained in how to serve their clients and/or they�re more focused on lining their pockets rather than their clients� pockets, investors can lose their shirts�and then some. When their world crashes around them, these troubled people go to professionals like Daniel Solin. Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business Ethics    5. Business/Economics    6. Fraud    7. Investments & Securities - Stocks    8. Personal Finance - Investing    9. Securities    10. Stockbrokers    11. Business & Economics / Finance    12. Daniel R. Solin   

Reviews (1)

First Impressions - not too good
There are a lot of typos and errors in this book.It is like the editor didn't even do any editing.Not only did they incorrectly publish their web address -- there are multiple problems that are incorrect. So many, in fact, they have a section on their website dedicated to corrections -- but some very blatent ones I found aren't even there.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Accounting - Managerial    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Finance    7. Financial Accounting    8. Business & Economics / Finance