Reviews (1)

great reference
The best book on this subject. It provides both an excellent up-to-date overview of the relevant literature and an application-oriented perspective. The chapter on robust estimation is outstanding. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Applied    2. Business & Economics    3. Business/Economics    4. Data processing    5. Economics - General    6. Finance    7. Mathematics    8. Portfolio management    9. Probability & Statistics - General    10. Applied mathematics    11. Business & Economics / Statistics    12. Mathematics / Applied    13. Mathematics-Probability & Statistics - General    14. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (13)

This Book is Alright
Being an avid reader of Event Planning literature, I must say that this book is alright.

Packed with Knowledge!
Details, details, details. That's really what successful event planning is all about, and that's the key to this very successful event-planning manual. Author Judy Allen notes, lists, copes with and gives an example of virtually every detail in planning anything from a sedate corporate event in a major city to a huge celebration on a remote island. She provides examples galore plus tips, questions and answers, sample cost sheets and schedules. How much floor space does a person need to be comfortable in a tent? Answer: 20 square feet. How many bathrooms should be available for a party? Answer: One per 75 guests. And don't forget to ask about the stemware, adequate parking and even the photographer's back-up camera battery. This author seems to have thought every contingency, as the book's ambitious title promises. Her one glaring omission is that she does not include the party planner's fee - our guess is that she'd be worth it. We highly recommend this well-organized, very practical book to all event planners. Don't send out press releases for your party without consulting Judy Allen.

Great book
This is a great book for anyone interested in working in the event planning field. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Communication - Meetings & Presentations    4. Business Etiquette    5. Business/Economics    6. Congresses and conventions    7. Customs & Traditions    8. Meetings    9. Planning    10. Special Business Operations    11. Special events    12. Budgeting & financial management    13. Business & Economics / General    14. Public relations    15. Service industries    16. Business Communication - Meeting Mechanics    17. Hospitality, Travel & Tourism    18. Entertaining - Party Planning   

Reviews (2)

It is definitely not a book for PhD level
The book suggests it serves as a first course in finance for PhD students, and a second course in finance for master students. But as I see it, it is too shallow for PhD level reading, as it never explain some complicated derivation clear enough. You don't know how some statements or conclusions come from. There is just not enough explanation. I mean, the author could have said that "after some derivations" or "it can be shown that...", but they just give some results without mentioning whether it can be derived with some convoluted math but because it is out of the depth of the book, only the result is given, or it just comes easily from the assumptions or conditons. I have to figure their logic since usually I just like to thought about how to derive a result as I am supposed to read it as a first book in finance for a PhD student. Many times I have to give up figuring, as the steps the authors take from the conditions to the results are usually too big to guess. So I ended up with treat this book as an ElEMENTARY level book, giving up any derivation and analyzing, just taking the results as granted.
It's a masterpiece!
"Financial theory and corporate policy" is THE theory-of-finance book. It is so well-written, concise, and most importantly, it gives you the framework of conceptual knowledge and intuition to understand what the literature on financial theory is trying to do and how it all fits together. It is appropriate for a second course in finance or a first PhD level course. The building blocks needed to get the most out of this text is matrix algebra, elementary calculus (integrals and differentials), intermediate microeconomics, basic statistics (regression analysis), some optimization (min and max of functions), and basic financial skills such as discounting, the use of cash flows, pro forma income statements and balance sheets. The book has excellent appendices if you lack or need to brush up on these topics. Also, after each chapter state-of-the-art references are listed, very useful if you want to delve a little deeper. To summarize, I just love this book, and I think you will too. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Finance    5. Corporations    6. Finance    7. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    8. Business & Economics / Corporate Finance   

Reviews (23)

Acme Performance Since Publication Date
I have purchased the book, and generally share the positive comments of other reviewers. I would have liked to have seen more historical results included in the book, however it is hard to fault a book with so much documentaion and code included. I would be interested to see if reviewers or book owners from around publication date have information regarding the performance of these systems (in the opinion of the reviewers) since book publication date, i.e. which systems, if any, have held up the best over the past couple of years, and does the reviewer recommend the CD?

Complete Trading Strategies
For TradeStation 2000i and above.
Requires much study, but it deserves it
If you're looking for some light reading on trading systems, this is not the title for you.But if what you want are detailed, well fleshed-out trading systems to study as examples or even to use, this is an outstanding library of ideas that are fully implemented as code.The focus on TradeStation as the platform is only mildly distracting if you're using a different programming approach, there is enough detail here to go your own way with another language.It will take quite some time to dig through everything because the prose isn't quite as clear as it could be in spots, but the time spent will easily pay off to the serious student of trading systems. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Charts, diagrams, etc    5. Commodities    6. Commodity exchanges    7. Data processing    8. Finance    9. Financial Applications - General    10. Investment analysis    11. Investments & Securities - General    12. Stocks   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Finance    5. Finance    6. Budgeting & financial management    7. Business & Economics / Finance   

Reviews (8)

Simply the best Intro to Finance book out there
With an undergraduate degree in economics and two years of working experience in Wall St, you can say that I had the chance to read quite a few finance books. I find Principles of Finance with Excel to be hands-down the best Intro-Finance book of them all. Not only does it explains the finance topics very clearly, it teaches you how to apply this knowledge in Excel. This is by far, in my opinion, the best way to learn finance. Furthermore, since solutions to the exercises are included on the CD, this book is perfect to the self-motivated reader. Lost or stolen, I would purchase this book again.

Excellent use of excel format
This book should be on every financial analyst desk. This book is helpful to understand the principles of Finance from simple to complex and if you are a beginner or an advance excel super user this book is useful(CD Included). You should ensure that the CD is included with your purchase because the CD is packed with EXCELLENT examples (formula driven). The CD also works as a study guide skill set. The author did an outstanding job in bringing the complex elements of the financials to be a readable and understandable format for the reader/user.

Another Masterpiece from Doctor Benninga
This book is by far the best book for introducing students to Finance and Excel. Doctor Benninga is in my opinion one of the best authors out there and he has again gracefully managed to publish a book that will become a classic just like his previous work Financial Modeling. I've had the opportunity to teach some classes of corporate finance and this book is an excellent introductory into the field of finance and the use of excel. In this book the student is able to learn everything from simple calculations of present value all the way up to valuing options. I fully recommend this book to anyone seeking to learn about finance or excel applied to finance. A most have definitely! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Capital assets pricing model    5. Data processing    6. Finance    7. Spreadsheets - Excel    8. Business & Economics / Finance    9. Excel    10. Finance | Theory   

Reviews (2)

The best book I've read in years!
This is a fantastic book. It is as relevant in relationships at home as it is in the work place. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be trusted or who wants to find someone to trust.

Paradigm-Shifter
Every once in a while a book is published that shifts paradigms and instigates a pervasive buzz around the workplace. As a consultant, I know which books these are because they are on the shelf of every client I visit. I predict this book on trust will become a paradigm shifter. Covey makes the issue of trust a hard science that impacts everything, including the bottom-line. And the book is fun to read....lots of stories, business examples, personal stories, and statistics. This is a five-star book that I highly recommend. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business Life - General    3. Business ethics    4. Finance    5. General    6. Personal Growth - Success    7. Self-Help    8. Success in business    9. Self-Help / General   

Editorial Review

Among the library of investment books promising no-fail strategies for riches, Benjamin Graham's classic, Read more

Reviews (70)

A must read for Fundamental Investors
First, I just want to say that many of you might find this book boring to read. If that turn out to be the case, you can read the commentary (which uses more relevant and recent examples) for each chapter by Jason Zweig, which is worth the price of the book alone.I got tempted to read the commentary only but I forced myself to read the entire book and I'm glad I did it.Warren Buffett is right, this is the best book on investing ever written, by far.This is one of the reasons in my opinion why Warren himself never write an investment book (plus the fact that it is not easy to explain Warren's intelligent on a paper.Instead just learn from what he does).
Preeminent guide to value investing
This is a classic investment guide for anyone interested in acquiring a solid foundation of the investment concepts and principles used by serious investors.
An Annotated Classic
I enjoyed this book, for two reasons.First, it gives us the accumulated wisdom of one of the best investors ever in our markets.Second, the annotations by Zweig provide some updated historical context, so that we can see how the environment has changed.Graham's central point is to invest in such a way as to maintain a margin of safety against killing losses, and he outlines some methods for doing that for both defensive and enterprising investors.My main, but small, complaint is that the stories and case studies run on too long for my taste and tend to be somewhat dated, but the fundamental principles he describes are still sound. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Consumer Finance    5. Finance    6. Investment Finance    7. Investments    8. Personal Finance    9. Personal Finance - Investing    10. Securities    11. Business & Economics / Investments & Securities    12. Investment & securities   

Reviews (17)

Great source for managers
This is one of those few books that is simple yet not simplistic. Book is written for corporate managers whose job responsibility is outside the decipline of finance, however who can benefit from knowing the finance at the fundamental level. Book does not go into "mechanics" of finance and focuses more on the "essense" of finance. Written with the simplicity of small business yet with questions to be asked in large corporations. I would strongly recommend this book to all my managers.

Very helpful and on an understandable level.
Helpful to managers to give them insight into where accountants are projecting and where hard numbers are coming from.You are able to see sources of manipulation.

Strongly recommended to all business managers, both the novice and the experienced
Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide To Knowing What The Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman and Joe Knight (owners of the Los Angeles-based Business Literacy institute) with management expert John Case is an innovative and "user friendly" instructional guide to proper and intelligible management of finances and business oriented decision making. Financial Intelligence is an impressive compendium of guidelines and information including the basics of financial measurement, reading income statements, balancing sheets, cash flow statements, separating hard data from the assumptions and estimates, the mechanics of analysis, calculating ratios, return on investment, working on capital, knowing the difference between cash and profit, financial literacy and transparency and how to recognize how the two can boost performance. Financial Intelligence is very strongly recommended to all business managers, both the novice and the experienced, as everyone has something to learn.
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business Writing    5. Business/Economics    6. Cash Management    7. Corporate Finance    8. Corporations    9. Finance    10. Financial Accounting    11. Financial statements    12. Management - General    13. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (5)

Will not learn Fundamentals by example
This book was purchased as recommended by the teacher. It is great for general theory and understanding.
Principles of Finance
Very helpful book.Has many features to help learn the material well.I would recommend it too anyone.

A Wonderful Resource - Excellent for CFA Studies
Brigham & Young's book is prescribed for the CFA curriculum.I find Fundamentals of Financial Management to be excellent in all respects.Twenty years ago, I studied earlier editions of Fundamentals and Intermediate Financial Management while earning my MBA.I was impressed then and I am even more impressed with the authors efforts now.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Finance    5. Corporations    6. Finance    7. Management - General    8. Budgeting & financial management    9. Business & Economics / Corporate Finance   

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

Reviews (30)

Technical Analysis De-Mystified - Not
The other review on this date (wentraub) is not a book review but some random thoughts on investing. The Dynamic Asset Level Investing model is not even in the book but a paid service from Dorsey's website!!!!
Technical Analysis De-Mystified
Technical analysts are becoming an endangered species on Wall Street. Major firms have long favored a fundamental approach emphasizing a nuts and bolts approach to company revenues, use of capital, and innovation. Scores of fundamental analysts closely follow individual sectors of the economy, scour SEC filings, and comment on daily developments pertaining to individual companies. Meanwhile a smaller cadre of 'technicians' churn out charts, graphs, and statistics that follow the ebb and flow of investor capital. Recently two well known full service brokerage firms decimated their already small contingent of technical analysts and another firm let go their star technician.
Bait for online service
The book is too wordy - in fact the same information is more concisely presented and available for free at DWA website. To follow the method described you need to become a paying member of DWA. A free 2 week trail is also available at the site. This allows you to findout that to really understand and apply this method you need to take several of the $150 classes that DWA also provides. Also, the online service is really geared towards stock brokers (investment advisors).
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Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Charts, diagrams, etc    6. Finance    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. Investments & Securities - Stocks    9. Prices    10. Speculation    11. Stock price forecasting    12. Stocks    13. Business & Economics / Finance    14. Business strategy    15. Stocks & shares   

Editorial Review

Stock investing is a relatively recent phenomenon and the inventory of true classics is somewhat slim. When asked, people in the know will always list books by Benjamin Graham, Burton G. Malkiel's Read more

Reviews (151)

Mark Twain meets John Meynard Keynes.
This is a well worn classic. Anyone who has ever worked on a trading floor has heard of this book. If you haven't, and you are thinking of trading, stop reading this review, get off your computer, and read it. There is no better description of the type of personalities and mentalities that have always existed on Wall Street (or "The City", or Tokyo, or any trading floor in the world). Although it was written nearly a century ago, and the writing style seems to be more Huck Finn than High Finance, make no mistake; this is how trading and traders go about their business.
A classic investment tome, and a very entertaining narrative
This book is truly a classic in investing.When I first became aware of this book I had my reservations-how could anything written over 80 years ago carry THAT much weight in today's investing world?The time chronicled in this book occurred before the crash of 1929, and in my mind I couldn't conceive how anything that dated could be very pertinent to today's market environment.Regardless I picked this book up, and immediately realized my incredible short-sightedness.Not only is this book as relevant now as it was 80 years ago, in many ways it's more so.The tremendous insights to be gleaned from this book will no doubt make anyone a more effective trader or investor.
Classic but stilll timely
Great read covering the psycological aspects of trading(Winning, Losing, and learning from one's mistakes.) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Investments & Securities - Stocks    6. New York Stock Exchange    7. Speculation    8. Biography: general    9. Business & Economics / Finance    10. Investment & securities   

Reviews (26)

A Great Place to Start
I've recently begun investing in stocks, but I knew nothing about financial reports or accounting.Now I do. Not only did I learn a lot from Ittelson, I want to know more!I liked this book because it was easy to get through (the writing is straightforward and the font is BIG), it utilizes a building-block method of learning, and employs a fictional company from page one to illustrate all the concepts of financial reports.If you're a beginner, this is a great place to start.

Simply The Best!
A solid foundation is critical to understanding concepts. So you'd think most books would spend a lot of time ensuring and clarifying the basics, right? Wrong! Simply not true! Most of the accounting/finance books just don't get into clarifying the very basics - the confusing array of terms used, how they fit together, what they actually mean in a realworld setting, etc.
Good Choice for Beginners
Although the first half of the book seems naive even for begginers, second half reveals to be much better as author explains dinamics of connections among financial statements through a very interesting sequence of day-to-day operations of a simplified applesauce factory. In fact, even more experienced people would enjoy reading this part, as it is very clarifying. ... Read more

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

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Finance    5. Budgeting & financial management    6. Business & Economics / Corporate Finance   

Reviews (10)

A most useful handbook with practical and clear language.For consulting on a broad range of industry topics.
I have always been a fan of handbooks.They always provide practical information about a subject in concise articles that help practitioners (or, in my case, would-be practitioners) get oriented on the vast array of topics in their field.Most of us are expert in narrow areas of information, yet we cannot afford to be ignorant of the broader sweep of the fields in which we work.Handbooks and practical guides help us competently handle those activities that are relevant to our work, but only come up once in awhile or in areas we are just beginning work.This really cool book, `After the Trade is Made" by David Weiss, is ideal for investment professionals, investors, and anyone curious about how the back of the house processes and clears the trades made by the customers and the sales team.I like the way handbooks discuss things in practical and easy to implement language.Theory is great and appropriate for textbooks, but in doing a job you want to know what it is you should and have to do.
Seminal Work on the Securities Backoffice
If you need to understand the nuts and bults process ofwhat happens after a trade is made, this is the book for you. A must for those in the industry, in particular,IT developers designing securities software. When I was in the industry, it was my bible.

Learn about securities processing, if you stay awake.
If you manage to stay awake then you too can learn about securities processing from start to finish.This is a great book about how the sell-side brokerage firm works, although much of the information here is outdated; electronic systems have streamlined the process and made it more efficient.Still, this book has a great wealth of information in it.This book impressed me in its clarity and at the same time, its magical ability to be so boring. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Commodity exchanges    5. Consumer Finance    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Personal Finance - General    8. Securities    9. Stock exchanges    10. Stocks    11. United States    12. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General   

Reviews (2)

Good inexpensive text for International Business
I use this as a text for an undergrad capstone course in International Business Strategy. Hill is co-author of a fine Strategic Management text, and much of the treatment in that text is evident here. Lack of recent data
The book covers nearly all subjects under globalization. In the first part, it describes the environment of global enterprise. In the second part, it discusses about strategies. The examples given in the book aregood and specific for the subject. However they are not the recent ones. Insuch a fast growing business environment, the examples should be much morerecent. The most recent ones are from 1994. For example it only coversAsian crisis in the postscript. Therefore I would recommend a book whichhas recent data and examples in it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. International - General    6. Business & Economics / International    7. Multinationals   

Reviews (12)

Simply a must own for anyone with any use for Quant Finance
Neftci is one of those rare authors who can begin at the begining, explain his major point and logic without excessive jargon or short-cuts, and do so without sacrificing depth and substance.
I can't praise this book too highly!
As someone who teaches derivatives to practitioners and in a Masters program, I can't praise this book too highly.It is clear, comprehensive and, most importantly, concentrates on practical applications.I was particularly pleased with the chapter on repo, which is usually underestimated in importance, without requiring a whole, specialist book.
This is one of the top books on quantitative finance
I am a student of Prof Neftci in the AppliedMath for Finance MS program at Baruch College. He is a great teacher and has written this wonderful book. This is the text book for the Calibration course he teaches at baruch.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Mathematics    4. Business/Economics    5. Finance    6. Financial engineering    7. Investments & Securities - General    8. Business & Economics / Banks & Banking    9. Finance & Accounting   

Reviews (3)

The authoritative source on microfinance
I've consulted a number of books on microfinance and found this to be one of the most intelligent, cogent sources of info on the field.Particularly impressive is the clearly written, even handed views on oft debated subjects (e.g. the role of subsidy in microfinance).Highly recommended.

Essential reading for development economists
Microfinance has become one of the most important mechanisms for the development of informal business in developing economies. As such, it has attracted attention from development practitioners, economists and politicians. Disappointingly, most books on the subject can be best described as infomercials - rarely do they go beyond success stories of happy women in brightly coloured clothes who are now running home enterprises. But practitioners know that there is far more to microfinance than simply providing loans - just as there is far more to development than simply pouring money into a country. There are pitfalls to microfinance: it can crowd out local business, it can catapult poor people further into poverty if incorrectly adminstered, and there are a host of governance issues surrounding it.
A must for practitioners, policymakers and researchers
The first three chapters lay down the causes and characteristics of market failure in the finance context, give economic explation fot them, and describe the history of microfinance.I found Chapters 4 and 5 ("Group Lenging" and "Beyond Group Lending" respectively) extremely useful for applied contract theorists.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Microfinance    6. Business & Economics / Finance    7. Development economics   

Reviews (55)

My Life as a Quant: Reflections on Physics and Finance
One needs to consider what they want out the book before buying it.If your looking for a book with market trading tactics and think this book will provide that, then my score would be a "1"Its not about how to make YOU money and its title implies that.In fact, its title is a quite honest answer to what is inside, the reflections of this Quant on his life in physics and finance.While he does not give the reader any CLEAR suggestions on how to make money in the market, he does give a good view of life as a professional in the hard sciences most of them would find it boring, the book would be a goodfor some super high school achiever that is contemplatingor announced committment to a life as a PHd in hard science.He does do a good job of relating all the "posturing", the "idea stealing", and general BS that is the real world of both science and commerce.His descriptions of his finance modeling efforts and the difficulties does show why many big firms can go bust.But other than messing up your own trading, you have to know when a big firm had bad Quant.So, unless you can think beyond what your reading as to making money in the market and learning to make money is your goal, then pass on this book.I gave it a "3" as it is good at exposing BS. More BS exposure type books may some day help us all.But you won't find specific maket making money ideas in this book, thus no "5"
An interesting world line
It is very uncommon for scientists to be revealing of their personal lives, and even more rare for them to make written commentary on the people they have interacted with over the span of their careers or even a portion thereof. The author of this book, who began his career as a physicist and then chose to be a financial engineer, is thus a statistical outlier in this regard. His transparency has allowed the reader to gain insight not only into how it is to live, study, and work in academia, but also in the financial world. All personal life histories are subjected to random perturbations, to events and people that are unplanned and unexpected, but as this book clearly shows, with pertinacity, with determination, one can smooth out even the strongest of these perturbations, and trace out a world line that is personally satisfying and dignified.