Accounting Books

Finally, a book that addresses stress and depression in the business world! Whether you are an advisor on Wall Street or selling real estate in California, this book provides you with the insight, skills and resources to deal with the everyday stresses of your job in this volatile economy. To be able to understand the different personality types and your own mindset and those of the people around you is something powerful to walk away with after reading this book. The book gives you the knowledge each of us can use to make clear steps in being able to deal with stressful situations and become more successful in our relationships at work, as well as at home! A must read.

Kudos to the authors! It's about time that someone with a profound knowledge of the advisory space stepped up to the plate to provide counsel on how advisors can effectively address the crucial issues we face on a daily basis: volatile markets, angry clients, demanding branch managers, anxiety, depression, burnout! As Sun Tsu's The Art of War remains perhaps the most prestigious and influential treatise on military strategies, Bullish Thinking should become financial advisors' "strategy manual", as it provides unquestionably successful tactics to excel in our business, regardless of the market environment.

It's about time someone addressed the serious problems we are facing everyday - the volatile markets, angry clients, branch managers who push us to the limit, etc. The authors clearly define the problems and obstacles that arise in this fast-paced, high stress business environment and then give you solutions that can easily be incorporated into your daily routine. The book has made me take a step back and examine how my reactions to different situations may be sabatoging my success. This book is a must read for anyone in the financial industry.

Legal dan
I am not a broker or trader. In fact I don't work on Wall Street at all. Regardless, my job is extremely stressful and my work hours, extremely long. I am a corporate litigator and was emailed a blurb about this book from one of my buddies on Wall Street. I was having a tough time managing my anger at work when unpredictable things happened during one of my hearings or throughout the course of a case. I would fly off the handle at my colleagues and my wife. The Channeled Rage section of this book helped me gain control over the powerful emotion of anger. Now I no longer feel lethal with my anger. The Bullish Thinking section is also good for helping me focus on the crazy thoughts that often precede my anger and frustration. I guess there is hope for me after all. My message is that Law is just as stressful as Wall Street and anyone working in this job should read this. If you have ever seen the inside of a court room you would see that there are many angry lawyers out there!

This book is a thoughtful and helpful guide for anyone plagued by negative thoughts and a stressful work environment. It teaches effective techniques for dealing with others, as well as ones' self, to have a more succuessful and happy life. Highly recommended.

Detailed, comprehensive and nuanced: the info is presented in a variety of ways made easy for every type of reader. Each systematic analysis is accessible via key-point charts, procedural outlines, step charts, & schedule charts - as well as lucid text. I would not have expected sections on preparing a data room, selection & structuring of so many functional prep teams, how-to's on retention planning, post-deal process assessment, etc. Inspires total confidence. Referenced with a 7-page Index.

Almost any business person would rather do an acquisiton than a divestiture - making a no-nonsense business approach a must.
This comprehensive guide takes you through all the steps. From the initial strategic discussion which centers on analytics instead of emotional political biases or 'sacred' company history; to the project management of the sale transaction; to the softer human issues (which are usually given inadequate analysis).
If you are looking for a pragmatic guide to a process that can get emotionally charged - this is your book.

Not only a lucid thorough and very practical guide, it also presents a wide mix of strategic theories and analyses for corporate planners. The authors clearly come from the real world involved in these events. It will be a prerequisite to newcomers and other professionals involved in these activities.

This one-of-kind guide provides a step-by-step road map for all practitioners of divestitures -- whether on the front-lines or the executive suite. It hits upon the many issues that are often overlooked in the divestiture process. Having been through many divestitures at large billion-dollar corporations and at smaller private companies, I have seen how divestitures can receive short shrift. Following "Corporate Divestitures" logical and highly informed approach will provide your organization with significantly increased shareholder value for the deals consummated. I particularly like the chapter on Disentanglement, an issue, which when poorly planned can bring not only major headaches, but also significant unanticipated negative financial impact. Chapter 5 is a must read!! Thanks for doing justice to a vitally important topic that is usually overlooked.

This is great guide for people interested in executing a successful transaction. It's not your typical M&A book that is filled with professorial theories and indecipherable MBA lingo. This is for people who need to make it happen. Its step-by-step approach provides clarity and confidence to those who look to turn theories into action.

Harrison & Davis offer intellectual property (IP) professionals - including IP attorney's seeking to advocate for their client - a better and more effective understanding of how to manage IP as a strategic business asset. Unlike other books on the subject, Edison, and it's sequel, "Einstein in the Boardroom" (2006), offers rare pragmatic advise with evidence-based outcomes from a community of IP-savvy companies on the benefits of becoming proactive in identifying, protecting and leveraging all forms of intellectual capital to address strategic business objectives.

Julie Davis and Suzanne Harrison's book, Edison in the Boardroom, takes readers deep enough into the field of intellectual property management for them to incorporate presented theories into their respective professional disciplines - researcher, attorney, licensing exec, etc. - without the book becoming unwieldy. Excellent balance. This book can become a cornerstone text for any professional involved with intellectual property to direct his or her focus for additional study and to ensure his or her working knowledge of the challenges confronting professionals in other disciplines that together form a corporate intellectual property management program.

Professor Thomas G. Field, Jr., Franklin Pierce Law Center

Few variables are more likely to dictate short- and long-term commercial success than a firm's ability to convert intellectual assets into intellectual property (IP). The smaller the firm, the bigger the need, and the need only grows.
Most companies are careful to avoid IP infringement and are eager to sue direct competitors who do not. Many firms also educate key employees on their roles in perfecting and protecting intangible assets. Fewer give full attention to IP and antecedents that might nevertheless be regarded as assets. For example, those who would not hesitate to monitor and sue infringing competitors may not monitor non-competitors as potential licensees.
To extract the most from intellectual assets, many factors, e.g., legal, technical marketing and sales, must be weighed. Edison in the Boardroom offers important advice to help firms take steps to meet that need. Despite its reference to "assets" in the subtitle, however, most of this book focuses more narrowly - on IP, and on patents specifically.
Davis and Harrison, said to bring "a quarter century of IP consulting accomplishments between them," document that some companies have long engaged in trying to optimize the value of their intellectual assets. The authors also assign companies to a five-level hierarchy based on a range of IP-management strategies. A goldmining metaphor is usefully advanced at one point to describe those levels as: defensive (staking claims), panning (cost control), mining (deeper profit seeking), processing (integration), and sculpting. The heart of the book consists of five chapters that discuss these levels seriatim and offers a host of useful ideas and anecdotes.
The book is generally well-structured. For example, early in each of the five core chapters is a description of what "companies are trying to accomplish" at the corresponding level of IP-management sophistication. At the defensive level, of course, companies have processes for seeking, maintaining and enforcing IP. Yet, in the discussion of second-level companies, said to seek to reduce costs by exercising judgment about what is brought into and kept in their patent portfolios, it becomes clear how much various levels overlap. The first two topics may usefully be segregated for purposes of discussion, but it is hard to imagine any company that can afford, literally, to pursue protection without attempting to balance portfolio goals against concomitant costs. Indeed, one thesis of the second chapter is that no firm can seek the strongest protection for everything of potential patentability, much less seek it in every possible country.
The third chapter diverges considerably. Companies featured there are said to seek, e.g., to extract portfolio value as quickly and cheaply as possible. Several have gone well beyond suing competitors or easily discovered, non-competing infringers. The most aggressive of such firms regard IP departments as profit centers and actively solicit licensees. Their success is sometimes remarkable. As the authors point out, "Worldwide revenues from patent licensing have grown from $15 billion in 1990 to over $100 billion in 2000." Echoing the central theme of another recent book, Davis and Harrison also point out that, "Some experts estimate that companies are sitting on $1 trillion per year in unexploited licensing fees."
Fourth- and fifth-level firms are difficult to distinguish from ones discussed earlier - or from each other. For example, level-four companies are said to seek to integrate "IP awareness and operations throughout all functions of the company." That seems necessary, too, for allegedly less capable compatriots. Further, when level-five firms are described as embedding intellectual assets and their management into the company culture, it is difficult to find divergence.
The last are said to have as additional objectives: (1) staking a claim on the future and (2) encouraging "disruptive technologies." Still, these could easily been collapsed into "Get a Crystal Ball!" Heuristics for meeting them non-serendipitiously are weak.
Consider, for example, the mouse and graphic interface as commercialized on Macintosh computers. Steve Jobs is said to have derived both from the Alto computer developed by Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. While Jobs became a billionaire, "Xerox completely failed to get into the personal computer business, missing one of the biggest business opportunities in history." To avoid repeating such mistakes, Davis and Harrison suggest that companies should "identify ways the corporation can benefit from [ideas outside their business capacity] before moving on." They, not surprisingly, can offer little guidance.
One IP attorney recently stressed the need for his colleagues better to understand the identification, protection and use of intellectual capital "effectively to address strategic corporate objectives." Those for whom this is novel terrrain will find Edison in the Boardroom helpful.
Also, senior IP counsel better acquainted with the topic may find the book useful. Some will face difficulty in convincing those at the same level or higher in the corporate hierarchy of its importance. To the extent that their advocacy of the critical role to be played by IP counsel is perceived as serving selfish aims, the book should help allay suspicions.
For these and other attorneys, the value of Edison in the Boardroom could easily, and vastly, exceed its modest price.

The basic concept of this book is very intriguing: Briefly examine the life and career of Thomas Edison and then suggest direct correlations between his achievements with real-world situations in which various companies are now deriving substantial value from their intellectual capital. The authors also make skillful use of Edison's own recorded thoughts and feelings. Of special interest to me was what he had to say about the creative process. For example, "Men are just beginning to propose questions and find answers, and we may be sure that no matter what question we ask, so long as it is not against the laws of nature, a solution can be found." This what the author refer to as "The Edison Mindset." Edison apparently had almost no concern about a given experiment's "failure" which he continued to view, rather, as non-success to that stage. Too often, senior-level executives become preoccupied with results and neglect the process by which they can be achieved. Among Edison's greatest (and perhaps least appreciated) achievements was the establishment of the first research laboratory in which he and his associates would collaborate on various projects. Edison was a pioneer in recognizing the importance of assembling the best available talent and providing them with sufficient resources as well as a culture wherein those talents could be fully utilized. Davis and Harrison obviously have this point in mind when observing that "benchmarking best practices without any regard for the underlying culture of the firm can be problematic."

NOTE: For those interested in this subject, I highly recommend Organizing Genius in which Bennis and Biederman examine the collaborative efforts of those involved at the Disney studios which produced so many animation classics; at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which developed the first personal computer; at Apple Computer which then took it to market; at the so-called "War Room" which helped to elect Bill Clinton President in 1992; those active in the so-called "Skunk Works" where so many of Lockheed's greatest designs were formulated; at Black Mountain College which "wasn't simply a place where creative collaboration took place. It was about creative collaboration"; and at Los Alamos (NM) and the University of Chicago where the Manhattan Project eventually produced a new weapon called "the Gadget."

This is an extremely well-organized and well-written book in which Davis and Harrison use the life and career of Edison for guidance to understanding subjects of major importance today such as breakthrough innovation, collaborative effort, the development and management of intellectual property, and effective organizational transformation. They suggest that companies (indeed all organizations) function in one or more of five levels which comprise "the hierarchy of value" for intellectual property, a model created at Andersen's Intellectual Property Management Practice and then at ICMG:

1. Defensive: "If a corporation owns an intellectual asset (such as a great business concept), it can prevent competitors from using the asset."

2. Cost Control: "Companies focus on how to reduce the costs of filing and maintaining their IP portfolios."

3. Profit Center: "Having learned how to control many of their patent-related costs, companies at this level turn their attention to more proactive strategies that can generate millions of dollars of additional revenues while further continuing to trim costs.'

4. Integrated Level: In this level the IP function ceases to focus on self-centered activities and reaches outwardly beyond its own department to serve a greater purpose within the organization as a whole."

5. Visionary Level: "Few companies have reached this level of looking outside the company and into the future. In this level, the IP function, having already become deeply ingrained in the company, takes on the challenge of identifying future trends in the industry and consumer preferences."

After an excellent Introduction, the authors devote a separate chapter to each of the five Levels and then provide a case study of the Dow Chemical Company, followed by three appendices: Mining a Portfolio for Value, Competitive Assessment, and Integrated Performance Reporting. They suggest all manner of similarities and differences between and among these five Levels, in process suggesting also a wealth of strategies and tactics to consider when attempting to achieve the desired results at any of these Levels.

To a greater extent now than at any prior time in human history, with all due respect to major developments such as the light bulb, telephone, automobile, and personal computer, corporations (indeed entire societies) seek "exciting, new, novel, and discontinuous innovations....For centuries, companies have linked ideas and money by embedding their new ideas (legally protected or not) into products to be sold or bartered. Today, however, an exciting new concept is revolutionizing the way companies extract value from their ideas: an idea no longer needs to be embedded into a product or service to create value. Today ideas are licensed, sold, or bartered in their raw state for great value." And they are getting that value through intellectual property management (IPM). Hence the importance of encouraging and supporting "The Edison Mindset."

Here in a single volume, the authors provide a comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective program. It remains for decision-makers in any organization now considering or at work on the design of an IPM to select whatever material in the book is most appropriate to their organization's specific needs. One value-added benefit of this book is that Davis and Harrison can assist with that selection process. A point made earlier, however, deserves repeating: "benchmarking best practices without any regard for the underlying culture of the firm can be problematic."

The authors provide an excellent framework for companies to manage their intellectual property - without using too much consultant speak.

They quote examples at different levels of their framework and look at companies who are suceeding at managing and valuing their IP effectively. This is a skill which can only be more and more wanted in the future.

The most interesting takeaway is that most companies are very bad in this field, and there are very few success stories.

Planning on retiring someday or already retired, the information in this book will help you use your money in the most intelligent way possible. Of all the "retirement books" available, you will find information and planning tools in this book that are not found elsewhere. Since we are all concerned about having enough money in retirement, it makes sense to do the best we can to save, invest and spend money for our maximum benefit. The information in this unique book gives us the tools to do that.

After giving each of our four adult children copies, I've now got comments back from them. They said they appreciated the many suggestions to help them save more as well as the simple calculations to know how much to save for retirement and when to start Social Security. A son-in-law said it was very easy to read--more like a novel than a financial book. A daughter said it was very good from a woman's perspective. Another daughter advised a neighbor to a copy as well.

The author is a designer of a website dedicated to retirement planning and that shows in his book. He has a detailed knowledge of what it takes to build and later utilize a nest egg, and spells it out in plain language for the reader.

What I liked about the book: The plethora of information about creating my own nest egg and how to preserve said nest egg, and eventually how to tap the nest egg. It did these things better than any book I have ever read.

What I didn't like about the book: Some of the charts were way too complex and detailed. They were nearly impossible to decipher.

All in all it was one of the better books about retirement I have read. I also finished reading the FUNNIEST book about retirement I've read, "Race You To The Fountain of Youth."Race You to the Fountain of Youth: I'm Not Dead Yet (But parts of me are going fast)

Hebeler's writing style is easy to read.

I have read over 200 books on investing/financial planning, and I would put this book into the top 10....with regards to general financial planning information.

Hebeler covers all the basics including saving, investing in index funds, and Social Security.

I particularly liked his list of Lessons Learned:

1. Look hard for low costs and taxes.
2. Don't invest in anything that eats, floats, drills, or is appraised with a magnifying glass or scale.
3. Avoid partnerships and tax gimmicks
4. Be wary of someone who wants to manage your money
5. You have heard of someone who has a foolproof method
6. Don't buy individual stocks and don't time the market

As a general intro to investing, you really can't go wrong with this book.

To compliment this book.....I would suggest a couple good books on index fund investing and asset allocation.


Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pro's
The Richest Man in Babylon
Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
The Millionaire Next Door
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing

This Financial non-fiction reads like a novel. An easy read that is extremely informative and useful for planning and executing your retirement. Readers will benefit by the many thousands of man hours or research and analysis that have gone into providing this resource. The many different types of investment are reviewed and the real world effects on growth by inflation, taxes and fees are illustrated. The book also provides much relevant information about all the relevant topics surrounding retirement planning, such as IRAs, tax strategies, Social Security, pensions etc. Chapter 2 titled "Be Aware of the Environment" is very eye opening and relevant in today's world. This book is very easy to use as a resource and provides many clear Appendixes designed to allow the reader to make some simple calculations to either check the present status of planning or to run simulations based on changes or differences in assumptions. Entertaining as well as informative.

The Internal Economy is a direct application of market economics within organizations in order to better manage resources and directly fight against insufficient innovation, accusations of high costs and unresponsive service, and customer dissatisfaction and resentment. A careful walkthrough of economic theory and its direct application to improve flagging businesses and their management, The Internal Economy is a "must-read" for businessmen, supervisors, and anyone whose bottom line involves improving the flow and quality of internal operations.

The Internal Economy: How to Apply Market Principles within Organizations to Make Sense of Budgeting, Rate-Setting, Project-Approval, and Accounting Processes
By N. Dean Meyer
reviewed by www.CorporateWriters.com

Dean Meyer attacks the very fabric of corporate existence by questioning the structure and ivory towers that exist within corporations.

He takes us back to the basics of activity based budgeting that makes it practical for an organisation to price its entire product line.

The notion of an organisation within an organisation is introduced in an easily approachable manner. Every resource in the organisation is there to service a client. A majority of resources within an organisation serve internal clients. There are very few that serve external clients directly, like Sales and Customer services.

He argues that the internal clients need to receive value from their internal supplier. Corporations must apply market economics within the company to design their resource management processes.

This approach breaks down the historical "always been done that way" to a zero based budgeting approach.

This sounds like a drastic and frightful approach but with the external economy at its most competitive, organisations must ensure that their internal organisation are in harmony with each other and delivering a value for money service.

He provides a toolkit to identify and implement the Internal Economy model.

There are four components within the Internal Economy:

Budgeting.

This is the yardstick by which the corporation will decide how much the corporation will spend on each function

Pricing

Determining unit costs by identifying the right units, assigning direct costs and amortising indirect costs.

Purchase Decisions

Project approval that assign budget to projects and services, adjusting priorities dynamically throughout the year.

Tracking

Accounting processes that provide information for decision-making and evaluation.

He argues that the above process allows strategic alignment by allowing the internal buyers (client pursers) to make decisions about to what to buy from internal suppliers and not those products and services which aren't relevant to their success.

The book concludes with sections on the impact of this approach on Shareholder value, Corporate governance and leadership style.

This is a thought provoking book which will probably raise many questions about an organisation and covers some of the issues that have tackled before in various guises including corporate re-engineering and Sigma six, but here the focus is firmly on controllable (internal) factors and not on uncontrollable (external) factors.

A recommended read for those executives responsible for the management of change within an organisation and those who oppose it or fear it.

Reviewed by Bob K

Chairman

Thought-it

As a main board director Bob gained experience both at operational and strategic levels in the service industry. His main involvement has been in the management of change via corporate re-engineering, CRM, systems oriented management information systems and training of staff.

He ran the internal audit department of a 1billion turnover Tour operator

As Group Finance Director prepared an outdoor advertising company for a float on the Stock Exchange

Has raised Venture Capital for the BIMBO of a sales promotional agency with one partner and worked within the target as MD to deliver the agreed business plan and exit goals very successfully.

Copyright:
www.CorporateWriters.com
www.InternetPressOffice.com

In today's volatile business world, firms can no longer allocate their precious resources based on yesterday's budgets. To compete, companies need their capabilities well orchestrated and aligned with business strategies. "The Internal Economy" sweeps away old thinking about managing resources. Bringing the tonic of the marketplace to bear, it provides a breakthrough approach for planning and budgeting.

Although this book is applicable to any internal service in an enterprise, I'm addressing the value of this book from an IT perspective. In a nutshell, this book provides in 110 pages more information about how to go about getting control over IT spending and governance than a pile of other books I've read.

What I especially like is the business within a business approach, and the clearly defined steps to implementing and managing it. What 'sells' this approach is the hypothetical case study that starts in Chapter 2 and shows the fallacies of a typical budget cycle, and the associated pitfalls. I cringed when I read through this case study because I've seen it repeated time and again in companies large and small. The way the author follows up with this scenario by framing the problem, and then proceeding to provide a straightforward solution using a set of subsystems that cover budgeting, rate setting, prioritization and accounting is remarkable. What makes it so is the fact that the solution can be implemented in any organization, and is almost guaranteed to pay big dividends in efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction in a relatively short period.

Another aspect of this book that I like is the discussion about chargebacks. This is a topic that arises in IT shops, and is typically implemented with little thought - or erroneous assumptions. This short discussion alone will make this book worthwhile to CIOs.

The internal economy approach is based, in part, on activity based budgeting, which is a subject that merits its own book -is one of the most succinct and illuminating I've read. The author takes this topic from theory to practicality by providing a clear roadmap about how to effectively use it in an enterprise of any size. Interestingly, the approach also aligns nicely to earned value project management, which makes this book especially valuable to project-based organizations.

Speaking as an IT consultant who specializes in IT operations process improvement and service level management, I think this is one of the most important books for any consultant or IT manager concerned with effective service delivery. It truly does contain a solution to the thorny problems of IT/business alignment and providing value to internal customers.

In this small, plainly and succinctly written book, Dean Meyer persuasively makes the case for a "deliverable-based" approach to the management of the resources of an organization's service function. He contrasts this with the "cost factor" (salaries, travel, etc.) approach on which too many budgeting processes are based.

Meyer believes that service organizations, and more appropriately all functional organizations, should be viewed as a "business within a business." Each function gathers resources and "sells" them to client organizations. To do this effectively, four processes are involved. First, client organizations must determine the budget for each project, or "deliverable" in Meyer's language, they wish to undertake and provide senior management with the full cost of each. Costs are provided by each service organization and includes indirect as well as direct costs. Also required is effective pricing of each service by the provider organization based on all expected costs and expected volumes. This, then, allows informed project prioritization and approval by the appropriate level of senior management. Finally, tracking and reporting of costs allows effective monitoring of each project and analysis of results.

The combination of these four factors enables business-oriented decisions as to what each client will and will not buy from a service unit. Executives can debate the value of each proposed deliverable with all costs and proposed results available to them. Meyer also notes that all proposed deliverables that affect a service organization's budget do not come from client organizations. "Subsidies" for resource expenditures that fuel the corporation as a whole and "ventures" for internally-needed new expenditures, such as infrastructure, must be proposed by the service organization and also approved by senior management.

In approximately 100 well written pages, Meyer presents his logical, and thoughtful, approach in a way that is understandable by senior executives - even those with no accounting or financial background. The book is certainly worth reading.

The traditional international tax textbook (by Avi-Yonah, Ring, & Brauner) is god-awful. I'm not sure who the intended audience is but certainly not law students. At the end of the class, I realized I didn't understand the big picture at all. The professor recommended this book as a supplement. I read the entire text two days before the exam and got an A. I honestly could not have done it without this book. It's super easy to understand, lays out the big picture, and covers the most important topics. Do yourself a favor and read this text.

This book provides a good overview of the area of International Taxation--but only an overview. It will not help you on detailed, complex issues in International Tax. However, using this book will help you understand the general framework for U.S. International Tax.

I did not give this book 5 stars because it needs more examples. The examples and charts were the best thing about the book, but there were far too few of them.

Given the dearth of comprehensible books in this area, I think this book is a great choice if you are looking for help in a class. Practicioners, however, will need more detail than this book will provide.

What a delight it is to read a book that simplifies the areana of international taxation. The author has written a book that is easy to digest and actually makes the topic interesting with practical examples. This book is well worth the purchase price. Well done!

What a delight it is to read a book that simplifies the areana of international taxation. The author has written a book that is easy to digest and actually makes the topic interesting with practical examples. This book is well worth the purchase price. Well done!

This book makes international taxation easy to understand.
It is a perfect beginner's book as it reveals the ideas behind otherwise incomprehensible laws.
For those who later on get lost in the maze you can always come back to the basics in this book.
I haven't seen any other writer explain the basics so well.
The only thing that I am disappointed with at this moment, October 2004, is that there is not an updated version available.
I would buy it the moment it comes out.
Also, I agree with one of the reviewers of this book that 4 years in the international taxation world is a very long time.
We now need more updated information on tax shelters in this book for one thing.
Mr. Isenbergh please update this book and publish it.

The book arrived early and in great shape - US edition, hardcover, and no surprises.

An Introduction to acconting, Assets, The time value of money, Liabilities and equities, financial Investment, Analysis, Role of accounting and Debits and credits

I'm CEO of a medium size business and wanted a resource to teach me accounting. This is a great book, with plenty of assignments which fully reinforce the lessons. The only disappointment is that there are no solutions and the publisher only gives them to you if you are a registered teacher.

NYU's Stern School Of Business uses this book and its a well-crafted introduction to financial accounting. While taking accounting at the other New York business school, I deep sixed my assigned accounting book and instead borrowed my wife's. It coverage of topics and pedagogical flow are quite approachable and manageable. Struggling friends begain to purchase it for themselves. An excellent book. An interesting book as well. Case examples and references keep things interesting. Not just dry rules.

An Introduction to acconting, Assets, The time value of money, Liabilities and equities, financial Investment, Analysis, Role of accounting and Debits and credits

I love this book. It is excellent for beginners and easy to read. I suggest this book to anyone who wants to learn about investing - its title tells it all. Also, it talks about some basic investment strategies & how to read/interpret a stock analysis , prospectus, etc.

As the title would suggest, this is very basic investing information. If you are a new investor, and seek a very broad overview of investing, and your options, then this is the book for you. I bought this book for my mother, who has never invested outside of a savings account. I read the book to be sure it would give her the information I was hoping for. It was exactly what I wanted, written in easy to follow terminology. If you're an experienced investor, this book is not for you, however if you're seeking basic investing information, give it a read.

Investment greenhorns: Read this book - Now! Can we be any clearer? Kathy Kristof has written the ideal manual for anyone mystified by the world of finance. Her clear, fact-filled book completely dispenses with the condescending tone and soothing jabber of most books in the how-to-invest genre. In their place, Kristof has compiled an enlightening compendium of elementary investment wisdom, lucid explanations of financial terms and instruments, and educational walk-thrus of stock-valuation techniques. Simply put: If you are not investing, you must read this book. Whether it's fear, ignorance or inertia that's keeping you out of the markets, Investing 101 will inspire you to put your money to work by revealing, in easy-to-understand language, exactly how it all really works. We at getAbstract recommend this book as required reading for any beginner investors, or to anyone who feels intimidated by a lack of financial knowledge.

This book does such a wonderful job introducing the beginners to the investing world. Different types of securities, different ways of investing ... this book has them all. If you just start investing or are interested in investing, this book is for you, don't miss out such a good book !

Covers everything a beginner needs to know and filled in a couple gaps in my personal knowledge as well. Sorts investment options into categories (short-term, long-term, growth, income, speculative, etc.) and helps you figure out which is appropriate for you. Has a section that breaks down common goals and the appropriate investment for each. Writing style is very easy to read. Highly recommended.

I wish upon wish that this book had been around when I first dove into the mutual fund world. This book blows the cover off of an entire industry and tells the reader things that he/she will never hear from anyone in the business. During the course of my investing "career", I have seen things in annual reports that didn't make sense, but being the uninformed, trusting individual I was, I assumed things didn't make sense because I wasn't smart enough to make sense of them. Now I know. They didn't make sense because...they didn't make sense. Everyone and anyone who invests in mutuals should read this book.

Your financial planner and mutual fund advisor are not going to recommend that you read Louis Lowenstein's book, "The Investor's Dilemma", but if you want to be a knowledgeable investor, I highly recommend that you do. Fund boards of directors and management companies are exposed for their betrayal of investor interests. Management fees continue to grow, while the benefits of increased assets under management go into the pockets of the publicly-owned and privately-held management companies. And the dreaded 12b-1 fees continue to be assessed to the fund holders enabling the management companies to further enhance their take at the expense of the fund investors.

The final chapter, "How to Pick a Mutual Fund", provides excellent guidance on how to go about identifying funds worthy of your hard earned savings. My only disappointment was that Mr. Lowenstein only specifically recommends two funds, one of which I already own. With all his research, I would have thought he could have come up with more.

Finally, the reader is left with somewhat of a mystery by the author. By way of full disclosure it is stated that "the author owns relatively modest positions in both funds" recommended. He goes on to recommend that investors own no more than three (four, tops) stock funds. So, where does Mr. Lowenstein invest the rest of his money? Does he eat his own cooking?

I hated to see this book end. Perhaps there will be a sequel that will provide further guidance on selecting worthy funds and fund managers with more specific recommendations.

In THE INVESTOR'S DILEMMA the writing is so clear and the case so well laid out and logically built that I feel I've had the most enlightening new look at investing...at how to participate in the growth of the world economy with but a few funds.

The book's concrete examples, naming names and showing specifics...rather than simply expounding theory...is compelling.

As a longtime (26 years) investor in Sequoia...my only fund for years, I was extremely interested to read about Fairholme and Wintergreen and am now a shareholder in those, too.

In the face of so many niche funds, sector funds and "style boxes", Prof. Lowenstein's pointing out that these three great managers are now free to invest all over the world in any size company they like is an extremely important point...one that can greatly simplify an investor's job.

THE INVESTOR'S DILEMMA is a beautifully written lesson.

Professor Lowenstein makes the complexities of the mutual fund "industry" accessible to even those of us who normally glaze over at the mere mention of finance. This lively and entertaining expose of the mutual funds we love to trust reveals that most are concerned with marketing "products" and increasing funds under management than with research and responsible investment one company at a time. He argues that highly compensated fund sponsors don't invest in their own funds, offer misleading statistics and avoid comparing their performance with the S @ P. He points to a few funds that follow the philosophy and strategy of "value" investing, eschewing market trends and focusing instead on strong well-run businesses. Lowenstein places his discussion in a brief and cogent history of the market. As a retired woman, concerned about my own investments, I found his book a page-turner.

Lowenstein's book is a much-needed antidote to the self-serving advice consistently provided by brokers and financial advisors -- and the newspaper and magazine reporters who parrot them. It sets out in such plain language, exactly how such advice serves their purposes but not their investing clients, that everyone can evaluate for themselves what to believe and why. A must-read for both experienced and unsophisticated investors.

What a terrific guide through the obstacles of life's financial hiways and biways! Written succinctly, intelligently and humorously--this book is a must have for women of all ages who are recognize the importance of understanding how to handle and plan our finances to achieve our life's goals--- while also getting us through the occassional bump in the road or traffic snarls that affect our money issues. Easy read and great maps/questionnaires help to keep us on track while having fun too! A man is not a plan -- and small steps lead to big success are positive themes throughout.

Mystified by money? Using a crystal ball to plan your retirement? Burdened with credit card debt? Lacking health insurance? Budgetless? With humor, charts, user-friendly quizzes, and common sense, this book will prod you into taking the small steps needed to get a grip on money. Your money. Earning it, keeping it, growing it. You'll find the scoop on a broad range of financial topics, sprinkled with quotes from the likes of Confucius, Dear Abby, Mark Twain, and Erma Bombeck. Discover ways to put brains and muscle into your personal money management. I found each chapter to be clear, motivating, specific. A great gift.

Flipped through this book looking for tips on getting out of debt and realized it would help me with all of my money issues. (In fact it made me aware that I had more money issues than I thought I did.) Thanks for a good solid guide that I can understand! These authors should do seminars too.

This book has a wealth of information from getting out of debt to amassing a personal fortune. It's easy to read format helps the reader access topics of personal interest quickly and effortlessly. Get this book if you need to take control of your finances or if you know someone who would benefit from financial help and support. It makes a great gift for the women in your life from mothers and daughters and sisters too.

This is a personal finance book you'll actually ENJOY reading!
It doesn't contain any get-rich-quick schemes, nor does it offer any unrealistic promises or guarantees.

What it does do is help you identify your own "money type" (how you use money in general), and then gives simple lessons on how to best improve what needs improving.

Easy? Not exactly. As I said, there are no quick-fixes offered here. The lessons take time and effort. But if you do them, they're sure to work, because they're based on good sense, and an understanding of how women relate to money issues.

Reviewer: Linda Painchaud