Reviews (41)

Develop Advanced Financial Modeling Skills
As a university teacher of strategic corporate finance and optimal investment, I have watched the financial industry analytics transcend hand calculation with financial calculators to financial modeling with spreadsheet software. Depending on whether the financial specialty is in corporate or banking/brokerage, the job skills requirement can range from corporate cost control to optimal portfolio design. Thus, modeling skills services both company research and financial planning.
amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
Amazing, these kind of tools are basic for anyone interested in a financial career. Its an excellent book, an it is easy to read and very dynamic and useful
A useful handbook for financial modeling
This is a quite useful handbook for its easy understanding excel sheets and graphs demonstration.The CD-Rom attached is very helpful for practicing financial modeling problems. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Corporate Finance    6. Finance    7. Financial Applications - General    8. Managerial Finance    9. Mathematical models    10. Microcomputer Accounting & Financial Software    11. Microsoft Excel (Computer file    12. Microsoft Excel (Computer file)    13. Microsoft Visual Basic for app    14. Microsoft Visual Basic for applications    15. Spreadsheets - Excel    16. Budgeting & financial management    17. Business & Economics / Finance    18. Excel   

Reviews (2)

A great book
I have been an auditor for the last seven years and I can assure you that Prof. Arens book is excellent. Even if you have a working experience with audits you will find that this book is not the usual "text book"

Very good textbook
No textbook is really worth 5 stars, in my estimation, because that is reserved for books that actually entertain me!Textbooks seldom do that.However, this auditing text is pretty darn good.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Auditing    3. Auditing - General    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Business & Economics / Accounting / General    8. Management accounting   

Reviews (25)

Finally, Someone Knows How to Explain Chemistry!
I thought my brain was broken because I tried several times to understand Chemistry.The problem was the other textbooks required by my professors.When I came across Chang's book, I thought it would be written like the rest of the boring chemistry texts written for people starting out in chemistry (but seemed like they were for people with a Ph.D. in chemistry).After I started to read Chang's book I was surprised, but I doubted myself.I assumed that I would get concepts mixed up or that I did not understand them at all.I was wrong because I passed every test in my Chemistry class.I am so happy to have found this book.I recommend this book to every college student that is somewhat familar with chemistry.This book helped me pass!Now, it would be great if he wrote organic chemistry and biochemistry books also.

Worthless
Chemistry is the black science; it came to humanity borne upon the river Hades. In other words, I am an unrepentant chemistry hater. That being said, I nevertheless require a good grade in the subject in order to advance to the next stage of my studies in a field completely unrelated to chemistry (sound familiar my friends? and isn't it time we did something about it?). This text is bottomlessly horrible, plain and simple; its educational value dissipates as quickly as a stream of intestinal gas directed against the wind. There were times during which I fell down on both knees and begged God for deliverance (prior to chemistry, I was an agnostic) from the burden of another day in chemistry class with this hated tome around my neck like a millstone. In short: I've seen a wealth of better textbooks on the market since my sad days in chem 120, and I would encourage you to search for them.

How fast was the service? - very
Thanks for the book, It looks great and it got here when I needed it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Chemistry    3. Chemistry (General)    4. Chemistry - General    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Science / Chemistry / General   

Reviews (28)

Subjective and unconvincing
I purchased this book many years ago when i was market uneducated and market naive and believed that I was missing something as I could never make the connections the author has made throughout his book. After years of studying the markets and attempting to trade profitably, I have revisited this book once again and am just as annoyed with the conclusions the author has made. I am confidant that my work resolves the wave like behavior that defines price movement more precisely than the author. Perhaps it was the clean slate with which I began my research. From what I can gather, people were attracted to the wave analysis because of the author but unfortunately his thesis has proven to be ineffective for traders. As a member of the technician's society I have hoped to introduce my ideas regarding this subject to the author and convince him my approach is more applicable than his. I am embarrassed to announce that this is not even my full time job as real estate consumes much of my time and trading is merely a hobby. Just think if I were able to devote full time. Regardless this book fails just as it did the first read many years ago.

Fascinating and cool, but impractical to apply
I read this book after becoming very interested in Robert Prechter's doctrine from an interview he did in a magazine. He has a different way of discussing wave theory, one that concentrates on the whys of crowd psychology. It's absolutely fascinating stuff and well worth reading.
The Definitive Guide
Before I took a serious look at Elliot Wave technical analysis, I was of the (common I believe) opinion that it didn't work, wasn't specific enough, and was a couple of steps down from Voodoo in my list of `sound trading methods to think about using'.All that changed when I took a serious look at Elliott Wave International and specifically the book Elliott Wave Principle (EWP) by Frost and Prechter.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Financial Markets    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Investments & Securities - Stocks    8. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    9. Economic forecasting    10. Stocks & shares   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Taxation    7. Taxation - Corporate    8. Taxation - General    9. Business & Economics / Taxation / General    10. Corporate finance   

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

Reviews (4)

Ok for some, not Ok for others...
I purchased this for school (of course) for a really speedy condensed course on Accounting. If you have a GOOD teacher that can explain this material in layman's terms PLUS use this book as an example, then this is a great book to reflect/study the lectures & do the excercises. I think a person COULD study this on their own but they must like to work out logic problems and have the patience to figure out what is wrong when the problems don't balance. Book is just too hard to comprehend
This book has its high points.The exercises are to the point and easy to understand, but yet somewhat hard to do. However, the text has the problem many accounting books I have seen have, that is thefact it contains too many in-text examples and not enough to the point study points for someone who just needs to know the principals for quick and easy studying. If a course you are in requires this book you best go looking for an additional study manual for study help.

Not good for self study
I am taking a course which uses this book. The book is written well but there is no answer key in the book for the problems. There is no way to get feedback on the exercises. Even the practice question in the chapters do not have answers. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting    2. Accounting (General)    3. Accounting - General    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Business & Economics / Accounting / General   

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

Reviews (7)

Not substantive enough
I must agree with reviewer Ira Balli from London below.This book lacks substantive information regarding the quantitative methods and therefore is merely an introduction to quant ideas that have been discussed in the marketplace.Of course, anyone who might have proprietary and successful quant methods would be foolhardly to disclose them, so one should not expect that from any public writer.
Don't buy this book
I am trading since 10 years, lead two hedge funds and I am about to finish my study in Msc of Mathematical trading and Finance.
professional
This book is written by a market professional. And it is obvious from the start. There is no hype, and the whole approach is based on maths and probability. The book is concise, and it would be very difficult to make the text shorter than it is.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Futures And Options Trading    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Mathematical models    8. Portfolio management    9. Stocks    10. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    11. Investment & securities    12. Management & management techniques   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (81)

Best on Personal Finance in plain English
This is the best Personal Finance book written in plain English that I have read.I will be buying one for each of my grown children.They aren't listening to me about saving "for a rainy day" so I hope that equipped with the information in this book, they will get the full picture.(and it won't be from Mom).

Good Financial Overview/Resource
I originally saw this book on my friend's bookshelf.Seeing that my friend is now an estate planner and found this book useful, I decided (as a financial novice) to take a look.And I must say that I am most pleased.
Best for people with medium skills.
RICH CHICKS BE AWARE! This book can get outdated fast because some of the financial and tax information changes from year to year reducing. So look at the edition of the book and the year published, in the "dummy series" a good personal guide is that if it older that 10 years it is a throw-away. This particular book is worth buying for information on larger concepts like paying a little extra on your mortgage and determining an acceptable level of risk to guide your investment choices. It is also a good book if you are looking for new ideas and basic information on understanding how money works and the strategies to get yourself out of debt. Just check on new laws before you go out and try the advice. This book is meant to be scrolled through as a reference and then the reader picks out the information that is right for them. It is NOT a cover to cover read so the parts of the material will apply to the novice and the medium trained. This is not an advanced book so if you are looking for great detail the "dummy" series is not for you. It is only in paperback because it is a toss away book. The average consumer will find at least one tip in here that will be worth the second hand price.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Consumer Finance    4. Finance, Personal    5. Personal Finance    6. Personal Finance - General    7. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General   

Reviews (6)

Must have for anyone interested on Derivatives
I really must thank John Hull for this book. The way every topic is covered gives you basic knowledge to enter the depths that await you regarding futures, options and other derivatives. The book is so masterfully written that the approach to every topic is very fluid. Once you've covered the book, you are ready to go on with a more complicated book, including Hull's "Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives" which has a more anylitical approach than this introductory book. The examples are the easiest ones and you can understand everything so clearly I wish there were more books like this.

The best nontechnical introduction book on Derivtatives
Hull wrote a classic book for the introduction to futures and optionsmarkets. It's for the serious reader who doesn't want to all the deviationsand basics of option pricings. If, after reading this book, you're stillinterested in derivatives you cann proceed with Hull's "Options,Futures, and Other Derivative Securities", Kolb's "Futures,Options, and Swaps", or for the very ambitious student Wilmott's"Derivatives or Quantitative Finance".

Excellent book, must have for finance nuts.
The material is similar to his other book, OptionsFutures and OtherDerivatives, but much more easy to read.With Brealy & Myers, thisforms a good complementary text. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Finance    6. Futures And Options Trading    7. Futures market    8. Investments & Securities - General    9. Options (Finance)    10. Problems, exercises, etc    11. Economics    12. Investment & securities   

Reviews (67)

I loved this book at first, but. . .
When I frst read this book several years ago, I loved it.However, I like to go over my library of personal finance books to get a little shot of encouragement when I need it or just for some info I might have forgotten.After going back to this book, I couldn't get through the silly story again.It just did not go down as well on the second helping.The story and the characters get old very fast.Skip this one and buy the automatic millionaire or the total money makeover instead.

Good advice is buried in this 1950's Educational Film Strip
My dad gave me this book. I'm young (25) but not a novice when it comes to my finances. Some of the things discussed in here I'm already doing but some of it was new to me. If you can get through the annoying and downright stupid conversations (not one "joke" in here is even close to being funny) between the "barber" and his "pupils" you'll leave with some good information.The "story" is written in the fashion of a 1950's film strip on finance...I felt like it was almost talking down to me in some sections as if I wasn't intelligent enough to understand some of the concepts. Read this book, but also check out Suze Orman..especially if you're in your 20's. (and to the publisher: do you really want a review by Arthur Andersen on the back of the book?)

Great Book...
The wealthy barber is a great little book. It explains investing to the layperson, without fancy language, or needlessly complex concepts. The Barber - told in an series of monthly haircuts to his customers - explains how one should undertake the path to financial freedom, regardless of what their income levels are.There is no real trick here, or advice on what to invest in, rather, just the founding principles one must undertake to learn before they start saving for their families future. For example, Roy, [the Barber] explains how important it is to start investing early, and how compound interest works. Also, how anyone can save a nice little nest egg by putting away just a few dollars off their weekly paycheck.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Consumer Finance    5. Finance, Personal    6. Investment Finance    7. Personal Finance    8. Personal Finance - Financial Planning    9. Personal Finance - General    10. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General    11. Small businesses & self-employed   

Reviews (6)

Bloated with Homework Problems
The most surprising thing was how much of the book is homework problems (blue pages).Viewed edge-on they appear to be ~50% of the pages.Many problems are excessively wordy, fine as novellos but reading 2 pages to get to the issues is often tedious.The text is well written, but I didn't find the subject to have as much meat as other MBA subjects like Finance or Operations Research.I understand it is one of the better books on Managerial Accounting.I have 27 years experience at many companies, so others might find the material more enlightening.
Great book!
The great take away from this book is that executives try hard to achieve the optimal solutions for management problems, but that they seldomly succeed. The reason: they underestimate the creativity of their sub-ordinates (and their superiors). Think Management Accounting Rather Than Cost Accounting
Too often management accounting is completely subsumed in cost accounting.Yes, they are part of the same topic, but they have somewhat different emphases.This book covers costs, but it is really more focused on how you allocated decision rights, set measurement criteria, and how you reward people to get the behavior you want.It is also very helpful in clarifying thinking about what could be going wrong if you aren't getting the behavior you wanted out of a given system of measurement and reward.Read more

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

Reviews (11)

Absolutely Great!
Advanced Modeling is a fantastic book, and pretty easy to follow with relatively few coding errors.There are some books out there that have errors in the code that they use, which makes it difficult or someone to learn the techniques.Even for those without a solid background in VBA, this book can benefit you to start learning how to code properly.Anyone who is relatively proficient with Excel can definitely gain a new trick or two from reading this book.All you really need to start using this book is a basic understanding of finance concepts (e.g. portolio theory, capital budgeting, binomial options pricing, Black-Scholes, etc.).The techniques that are taught are also useful in other modeling exercises, and not necessarily just for finance-related topics.

A Cookbook for Financial Modellers
Yes, the book won't teach you CAPM, Black-Scholes, or much financial theory.But there is NO shortage of those books.There is a shortage of books with real-world Excel solutions to applying financial theory to data.I've had this book for a couple of years and have probably only used 10% of it, only because I don't have time, real business need, to do the rest.I sometimes take it to bed to read and dream of having the time to try out some of their other models.That's the only thing I can add to the other reviews here, the amount of love and passion for the subject put into this book.There's not one extra padded word or graphic in this book.Yes, if there was one book I'd have to take to a desert island with Excel and some financial data this would be it.

Not really satisfying
One of the main points of programming books is to help the reader understand the models being programmed.On this count, "Advanced modelling in finance using Excel and VBA" fails miserably.There is very little explanation of the financial concepts and models.Anyone hoping to learn finance from this book will be very disappointed.Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Applied    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Economics - General    7. Finance    8. Financial Economics (General)    9. General    10. Mathematical Models In Economics    11. Mathematical models    12. Microsoft Excel (Computer file    13. Microsoft Excel (Computer file)    14. Microsoft Visual Basic for app    15. Microsoft Visual Basic for applications    16. Business & Economics / Finance    17. Excel    18. Investment & securities   

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. CPA (Certified Public Accountant)    3. Study Aids    4. Study Guides    5. Test Prep    6. Accounting    7. Study Aids / CPA (Certified Public Accountant)    8. Study guides, home study & revision notes   

Reviews (1)

This book is great, very educational!
I use this textbook for my Financial Markets class and I learn so much from it.Fabozzi does a wonderful job of transfering his ideas to students so they can comprehend them and learn.Because of this book, I willdefinately get an 'A' in my class.I recommend this book to anybody. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Finance    6. Financial institutions    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. Business & Economics / Banks & Banking   

Reviews (20)

Very good graduate text book
This book makes no claims to be the mathematical bible on stochastic calculus and I believe that the author refers (in a blatant piece of marketing) to the other Shreve book with Karatzas, which trust me IS a very intractable read.
Correction of previous review.
My thanks to Mr Gordon Brown for commenting on my previous review. In that review I claimed that a weaker version of the Girasanov's theorem is proved ( this is correct)and that the author does this by impossing a weaker ( this should have read stronger, my apologies) condition. The remainder of my comments still stand. Specifically, it is not a priori clear form the premises that condition 4.3.1 on page 187, is indeed satisfied. Finally, Mr Gordon's last remark regarding the credibility of my person deserves no comment.

Stochastic Calculus
Probably the best introduction. Worth reading carefully many times over until the essential ideas are absorbed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business/Economics    4. Calculus    5. Finance    6. Mathematics    7. Business & Economics / Finance    8. Business & Economics-Accounting - General    9. Business & Economics-Finance    10. Mathematics / Calculus   

Reviews (4)

Satisfied
I was very pleased with the condition of this book. It was like new condition. The book was recieved in a timely manner. I would purchase from thisseller again.

This is what you need!
Great book. Clear and helpful. If you want to learn about control systems and business management control, this is the book you need.

from Chile
Es un excelente texto de apoyo para la docencia. Tanto mis alumnos como yo lo hemos utilizado. Es importante el aporte de los autores con los casos de estudio que entregan en cada capitulo, que permite en tender y reforzar losconceptos vertidos en el mismo ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Managerial    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Case studies    6. Corporate Finance    7. Cost control    8. Industrial management    9. Accounting    10. Business & Economics / Accounting / Management   

Reviews (19)

EXCELLENT
This book is excellent! If you don't have a finance background but need to understand the financial statements this book will teach you everything you need. If you already know about finance this book will teach you what you don't know.

Don't read "Finance for Dummies"! Read this book
Everyone is familiar with the "Dummies" book series, and, perhaps, we all have a dozen of them on our shelves.In many cases, we reach for the "Dummies" books, because they represent our first foray into a subject we know nothing about, like "Fishing for Dummies," and we feel like we need to get a "handle" on it.In other words, we are non-experts, we'd like to learn from the experts, but we don't want to become an expert.We just want to "understand" the subject, so that we don't look stupid at work or during cocktail party conversations.
Better than Many, But Still Not that Good
This book gets 3 stars only for its organized content, as well as the fact that there are very few good books for beginners that take you from A to Z in reading financial statements.However, this book is not one of them in my opinion. The problem is that the author does not break the material down to a level that a novice can understand unless he reads the book many times.There is too much detail in many of the sections and the main points can easily be lost.I learned to read financial statements long ago, but this book did not help me, other than alerting me to the complexity involved.If you do have a background in financial statements, then this book might be good.Perhaps I will go back now and read the book now that I already know how to read fin statements and see if it makes sense. ... Read more

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

Reviews (11)

A bit hard to understand
I had an older edition of this book, which wasn't very helpful, so I bought the new one hoping it was an improvement, but came away rather disappointed because, for an instructional manual, this one is hard to follow.Apparently, the authors have been in the valuation business for a long time, but it's not always easy to translate experience effectively into words. For most, this is a how-to project with potentially big consequences, so the instructions should be more clear than this. I liked "Unlocking the Value of Your Business" as an alternative.Once I read that book, I understood better what these guys were talking about.

This is a Terrific Resource for Practitioners Not Investors
I am a lawyer who has tried valuation cases and this book is a terrific resource for valuation experts and attorneys.I used it to defend and to attack witnesses. It is respected. It is used at the Federal Judicial Center as training for judges on these issues. It is not at all appropriate for people who are trying to value companies for investment purposes.

Super
This book, guide, reference, ... or what ever you name it. is essential for all business, financial and investment guides. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Corporate Finance    6. Corporations    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. Law and legislation    9. United States    10. Valuation    11. Budgeting & financial management    12. Business & Economics / Corporate Finance    13. Investment & securities    14. Reference works