Accounting Books

If you are cautious on your personal finance and don't want to just listen to your financial advisor, the book might be good for you. It covers a lot of topics of personal finance. The second part is especially good. It talks about the financial issue at life time changes such as marriage, becoming parents, divorce, etc. Very solid information on tax issues. A lot of tips on tax saving.

This is a great book. It is full of helpful information on the financial planning process. I highly recommend it!

Thanks!!! Books are fantastic and came as described. Great transaction!!!!

When I started teaching financial planning to US Air Force officers planning on reentering the general economy it was a little known subject and you had to scout up your material from pamphlets, magazines and newspapers with help from stockbrokers.
"Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide" published by John Wiley & Sons, which is the same publishing house that publishes the JK Lasser's tax manual puts the information all in one volume.
Of intense interest to us is the chapter on starting your own business, which as authors we are doing in our senior years. The material is geared to the younger generation who are just starting out, but the advice is sound and easy to understand without an extensive background in accounting and economics.
Financial planning is rough at this period in our history, because of the skyrocketing prices of necessary goods and services not used in the consumer price index, hence they are excluded from inflation percentage calculations. Gasoline, medicines and health care are three I can name, off hand, that affect the general population, but fall outside the index. This phenomena is not addressed in the planning guide, but then Congress has not touched it since the Johnson adminstration either. It is not something that winning the lottery will answer for an individual, but it is like trying to hold a large balloon half-full of water in one-hand and keep it round.
"Personal Financial Planning Guide' is the best we have found for a realistic look at all aspects of financial planning. The table of contents and index are outstanding for locating information.
Nash Black, author of "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."

Absolutely one of the best financial planning reference tools around! If your personally planning to restructure your financial life or hire a professional to do it for you, then this book is a must have. It provides a wealth of information as well as an extensive array of guidelines and tips for every area of your life . I especially like that it brings to light concerns of areas you may not be immediately affected by (aging parents) but should be planning for now. Having hired a professional, this book has proved Indispensable in that we have been able to knowingly select and plan individual or particular methods of approach towards our financial futures and better implement them through a professional planner!!!

I liked this book and it provided allot of answers to the new functions of what in my opinion are good products for what each are suppose to do and MS usually does a good job at patches as needed. The book was informative and laid out well and is a good reference when needed.

I am a long-time subscriber to Woody's Access news, so I expected to find an enthusiastic, simplified approach and am not disappointed. Great resource.

Very specific and detailed. best for persons who already have used Word 2007, and are familiar with its layout and tools.

If you are upgrading to Office 2007 from an earlier version of Office this book is a great help. Microsoft has made a number of changes in where basic tools are located and how to access them. This book makes the learning process a lot simpler and a lot quicker. However, I don't recommend you try to read the book cover-to-cover in one sitting. It is the thickness of a New York phone book. The Index at the back of the book is well done and is a good way to problem-solve individual issues.

Every "Using" book I own (more than a dozen) has been valuable, well written and packed with good information. This is no exception. The authors know Office. I started with Word and quickly absorbed the "flavor" of the new interface. This book will cut my frustration time dramatically.

Whoever appreciates Peter Drucker als author of 39 books focusing predominantly on the various subjects of management should also read his "Adventures of a Bystander". This book is a very important key to Peter Drucker's development and personality. Add his two novels "The Temptation to Do Good" AND "The Last of all Possible Worlds" and you
will discover Peter Drucker's qualities as excellent novelist. There you will find very important additions to his management thinking and practice in terms of profiles of psychological dynamics of people in action.

Drucker clearly explains how rampant inflation in post WW I Germany influenced the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler. This discussion should be required reading for every 14 year old child! I particularly liked his stories of Willem Paarboom, a sort of Dutch hedge-fund/investment manager who appeared to be a cross between a man and a raven. In his day, Herr Drucker was exposed to some truly elegant and unorthodox thinkers. He adds his own illuminating interpretations and is not afraid to engage in contrary thinking. (Especially when to do so is out of vogue) Read about Dr. Mordecai Johnson and his views on the "American Negro Problem" and you will never contemplate African slavery the same way again. I consider Drucker to be one of the brightest minds of the 20th century, and his genius is on full display here. Certainly, this is one of the most provocative and influential books that I have ever read!

(Drucker particularly liked the "sqwoosh, sqwoosh" sound when jumping in puddles.)

Not really an autobiography, not quite a memoir, part biography, of the people he has known in his life, some famous, some not. And Drucker is still alive, now 95 years old. It was a dense, fact-filled book, but always fascinating. He is an amazingly prolific, gifted, engaging writer. And what he has to say about America and The American Dream in the last pages of the book is no less true today than it was in the late 70's when it was written. He writes of Sigmund Freud (things you haven't read before), Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John L. Lewis, and Buckminster Fuller among a host of other characters. A very rewarding, thought-provoking read. Highly recommended. Especially for those of us who want to read history by the people who lived it.

Drucker's most captivating book, Adventures of a Bystander, is a dynamic memoir of the singular Americans and Europeans of Drucker's life. They include Fritz Kraemer, the historian who "invented" Henry Kissinger; Reinhold Hensch, a newspaper editor so mediocre his only career path was to become the "monster" of the Third Reich; John L. Lewis, Marshall McLuhan, and the visionary early chiefs of General Motors. (Yes, General Motors.) Most importantly, you meet Peter Drucker, whose offhand insights into the world surrounding his characters make every page of this book reward rereading. ....

Instead of the usual self-focused auto-biography, Drucker introduces us to the people that have shaped him. Some are famous (Bucky Fuller, Marshal Mcluhan) some are not (his elementary school teacher). Some are good, some evil, but they are are worth meeting, especially through Drucker's eyes. A good read.

The most complete book for understanding the whats and hows of retirement planning and investing for retirement. Complete with data to support the ideas the author presents.

I found Merriman's writing style easy to read. He does an excellent job of covering the basics of investing including asset allocation.

Merriman's suggestion of holding 50% foreign stocks and 50% U.S. stocks was a little surprising to me. I was not expecting such a high allocation to foreign stocks. Vanguard, for example, suggests no more than 20% foreign stocks. Merriman makes a compelling case for holding 50% foreign stocks, but past performance of foreign stocks relative to U.S. stocks does not necessarily mean future performance will be the same.

Another surprise was no mention of REITs. For a book published in 2005, I expected to see at least a 10% allocation to U.S. REITs.

The last surprise was his recommendation of DFA funds compared to Vanguard funds. He tries to make the case the 1% of assets fee per year to a DFA advisor is more than offset by the superior performance of a DFA fund portofolio compared to a Vanguard portfolio. Most of the extra return is not due to lower DFA expense ratios, but the fact that DFA offers more asset class choices than Vanguard. I'm a big Vanguard fan, plus manage my own portfolio.....so I'm not sold on the DFA approach.

Over-all an excellent book.

I would suggest companion books to supplement this book including:
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
Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pro's
The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It
All About Asset Allocation.

When I read the title to this book, the first thing I thought was "sounds to good to be true". But to my surprise, the book has a tremendous amount of actionable information. I've read 10+ books on asset allocations and investing during retirement and this is by far the most complete. My only complaint is the hardsell on mutual funds by one particular company. But this was only done in a couple of chapters and does not diminish the vast majority of the books contents.

One of the best references on the subject of retirement & Investing I have read so far. Step by step method for securing income during retirement. Intruduces a number of strategies Investors don't want you to know about. I have recommended this book to several of my friends who are also close to retirement. For those close to retirement, it should be front and center in their libraries. A lot of facts backing up recommendations. Short read.

Merriman's book offers readers a review of different portfolio options with a focus on the risk of each portfolio. Most books and discussion of investment options fail to consider risk and thereby mislead readers into thinking that one can simply repeat the strategy that produced spectacular investment returns in a prior year.

This book provides example portfolios that were constructed using the most convincing economic theory to-date developed by leading financial and economic scientists at the highest regarded economic schools in the world (Chicago, Stanford, Yale). The probability of having greater portfolio returns than most people by receiving the average return of many asset classes (financial markets) is higher when investors follow the relatively low risk options Merriman provides.

I highly recommend this book to readers of all knowledge levels. I also highly recommend the firm Merriman Capital Management for its low fees, excellant customer service, and access to the mutual funds of Dimensional Fund Advisors. The portfolio returns of DFA funds have far exceeded the portfolio returns of most actively managed funds and even passively managed funds from Vanguard and Fidelity in all of the last 5 years including 2006.

I just started working with QuickBooks about a year ago and just love it. Prior to working with QuickBooks, I worked for a large corporation for 18 years. I finely figured out that I did not want to work with this large of a company any longer and wanted to learn something new and exciting.

That being said, I wish what I have learned in this passed year I could have known 20 years ago. Reading Michelle's book has inspired me to continue learning.

Her book is so friendly, making things easy to understand, without all the 'techie' politics. The one part I most liked was how a client will call and says they have a two second question for me... Boy she sure is right about the fact that there is no such thing as a two second question!

I'm hoping Michelle will write another book in the near future. I will be watching and will be one of the first to buy it.

Thanks Michelle for helping me understand how to be successful with a QuickBooks Consulting business!

I LOVE this book and you will, too! This is not one of those books full of only about 3 useful tidbits of information. Rather, this is jam-packed full of useful and important information for seasoned and new QuickBooks ProAdvisors or those just thinking about starting their own consulting business. I constantly refer back to this book and each time I do, I find something new.
I just became a QuickBooks ProAdvisor this year and this book has been a valuable reference in starting out and continuing along with my business!

Excellent book for anyone interested in starting/growing a QuickBooks consulting business. I've read it all the way through and find myself going back to refer to key ideas ALL the time! Thanks Michelle for writing such a clear and helpful book.

This is an excellent resource for anyone who is starting out or who wants to add QuickBooks Consulting to their existing practice. The book is full of useful tips (useful is the KEY here, as many books tend to be rather generic in nature) and easy to read and follow.

The author does an excellent job of laying out how to get started and adds a ton of tips from her experience, as well as the experience of others who have been successful. I would highly recommend this book and look forward to future books from Michelle.

I love this book, I have read it several times and it has helped me tremendously. What is most helpful is the part about charging what you are worth. What I have found is that people want to offer you less, so starting off more makes me "ok" with compromising. I started at $10.00 less per hour than an experienced ProAdvisor in the area and it has really worked out well for me. The feedback I have gotten is, "if you are good, that is fair". I have tabs all over the book with things to remember and helpful tools to use. Because I just started my business, the book has helped me tremendously on many levels and I am so glad she wrote it.

Hopefully she will continue to write revisions since QB updates its software every year and with technology changing moment to moment, new ideas will surface and business strategies are in constant motion.

We liked this book so much, we bought it for my father-in-law who just started his business. If you have a burden to approach your business with Christ at the center, read this book!

I handed this book to my project managers and am already experiencing a ground swell of blessing. The late great Larry Burkett lays the prinicles out in an easy to understand and thoughtful way. I would highly, highly recommend this book if you are interested in doing Business the way God intended.

THE AUTHOR COVERS BUSINESS PRINCIPLES IN A MANNER THAT YOU DONT COVER IN ANY BA OR MBA PROGRAM THAT I EVER HEARD. DEFINETELY WORTH THE READ!

This book is not for someone wanting to get rich quick! If you are a Christian business owner wanting to run your business according to God's word, this book explains God's word and gives helpful tips to follow through with His word.

In a world where the current business ideology seems to be about maximizing short term profits, climbing over others, and getting the maximum return possible with the minimal effort or investment Larry Burkett draws a sharp contrast.

Using referenced Biblical principles throughout the book Mr. Burkett outlines what it means to run a business by God's standards. This does not mean becoming a non-profit or lossing money - but it does mean completely changing the way we view the business, our employees and customers, and our role as business leaders. The principles laid out are challenging and often contrary to the advice you are used to hearing.

I found it to be an extremely useful and informative resource that helped me to see how I could not only run a business successfully, but also not sacrifice my concience or ideals. One of the primary tenents of this book is that we are stewards of the resources God gave us, meaning that the money we have and the business we may own ultimately belong to God, not us, and he has entrusted us with them to use in a manner he would approve of. If you are comfortable with this premise I believe you will enjoy the book and find it challenging. If you are not comfortable with this premise you will probably have difficulty accepting the concepts he has outlined.

Most books on value investing just give qualitative information on what's important and recommend not "paying too much" for a stock. This book gives specific guidelines in both of these areas.

I bought this book at a bookstore in Tokyo. The prices of books in Japanese bookstores are very high, almost double the cost here on Amazon, but it was a very worthwhile investment and I have really enjoyed reading it. I have read it twice and have taken extensive notes from it. Its been an excellent educational tool. Of all the stock investing books I`ve read on Buffett-style investing, this one brings together very clearly the facts and ways to help one go about finding quality companies selling at the right price for long term returns. This book has been a useful aid in forming a firm critical investor focus and approach for stockpicking Buffett type stocks. Its very hands-on and combines the instruction with good examples. It was the book I`ve been waiting to read for a long time and I look forward to incorporating its teachings into my search for great companies. I would recommmend Getting Started in Value Investing as an excellent start to those new to investing and a tasteful review for those further down the road who always seek to try to emulate the success of Buffett.

You will either get Charles Mizrahi's book in the first 10 minutes or you won't get it. This is a book for those rare stock market investors who invest based on rationality and by first figuring out what an investment is worth and then trying to buy it at a discount to its value. Although titled Getting Started in Value Investing, don't let it fool you because it is also for the very seasoned value investor. Charles is a masterful communicator sprinkling many stories and anecdotes throughout each chapter. One of the best things about this book is it is easy to read and understand, which is the best compliment an author can get, particularly when explaining complicated investment ideas. All true value investors should make this book part of their library and place it in-between Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor and Phil Fisher's Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits.
- Robert P. Miles, author, The Warren Buffett CEO

This is my first book on value investing. I am a person who is typically skeptical of fads and don't like to follow the flock. This book presents basic investment ideas that APPEAR sound and proven - to a skeptical person.

I you are looking for where to put your money and want to do your homework, this book will convince you that value investing is the way to go... and because it is not based on the hype of the moment, I like the idea.

I'm writing this as someone who is new to stocks and is interested in "value investing."
Mizrahi shares the basic concepts of value investing, how great value investors have succeeded in the past, and how individuals can make wise choices in their stock purchases.
His writing style is easy to understand and he gives great advice about how to build a "buy and hold" portfolio. He suggests holding your stock for years; not trading at every whim.
I highly recommend this book for anyone that is beginning in stocks or is interested in learning about value investing.

Though the Financials OCP exam is being retired, the Financials package itself remains unchanged. This book is still the best introduction to how to use Oracle Financials.

The exam this book relates to retires in about 2 weeks from now and Oracle Corporation has not given an indication of what will succeed this exam.

How relevant is the book if I can't use it for the specified exams?

This is the most thorough book on Financials I've seen. A must-have, whether you're going for the OCP certification or not.

Most complete treatment of Financials I've seen. Excellent book.

Top notch all the way around. Got me through all five exams. That OCP logo looks mighty good on my resume!

It is a real-hand-on book! Although the book looks very "huge", the analysis helps me to prepare MBA class.

Mun's book is an excellent guide for those who have basic knowledge about asset valuation and want to study real options.

Mun's book shows how real options problems, like those faced in the real world, can be solved. Other books may provide a better introduction to real options concepts, but the methods employed are suitable only for very simple problems. Where other approaches require that you develop your own lattices (or other solutions), Mun shows you how to use his Supper Lattice Solver and Monte Carlo simulation software to solve these problems. I am convinced that his approach will not only facilitate the solution of these problems, but will also be more readily accepted by management. I look forward to acquiring Mun's software and applying it in practice.

As practitioners and academics continue to grapple with quantifiable uncertainties in real asset decision making, the debate about real option models will no doubt continue.

Johnathan Mun's second book and more specifically his case study approach allows practitioners from diverse industries to enter the debate with simple excel asset pricing skills. To my mind there is no better pragmatic work on the topic than the second edition of Real Options Analysis. With the book in one hand and the robust SLS software up on the screen - framing, pricing and understanding real options is pretty straightforward.

Two points to note: After 30 days, just as you begin to get hooked on the superb software it is likely to gently expire. That's when you are saved by the second point; the author is hugely supportive - His `one line insights' in response to specific queries made this a great purchase.

Edinburgh. Scotland.

This was my first book on Real Options. After this, I complemented my knowledge with more accurate researches on the theoritic foundations on the subject (eg. Trigeorgis and Copeland).
What I liked of this text is that it was a soft landing into the Real Option world, with a simple and easily understandable description. Its major pro is to present transparently the basics of a concept that is often approached at a too high and formal level.
What I did not like is the fact that few chapters at the end were not really useful but full of stuff and formulas with no explanations that cannot practically be used. I had the sensation they were out of place, since I could grasp their meaning only after passing to more comprehensive books.
One more criticism is that you don't understand the effect of the difference between private and public risk in real options evaluation as you do with other texts. However, I still consider this the book where I formed my basics before being able to master some other more detailed book (but also more difficult to master). The Crystall-Ball package was also a nice surprise. At the end, if you consider the price and the content it was surely good value for money even though it's not a masterpiece.

Thank god there are people like Ms. Waxler out there who can write about a topic that is intimidating but does not have to be. Just from reading the book, I want to meet this young lady. She would be a riot to spend an evening with and I am sure my worth would skyrocket soon thereafter.

Hurrah to Ms. Waxler for doing the impossible--writing an investment book that is not only smart and savvy, but witty and--dare I say it--a page turning. This is one of those books that you read and then buy a dozen to give to friends. My friend is using it in her MBA papers. It just makes sense.

This should be the 14th review. As you can infer from the review title, I didnt find the book impressive. So I had been very surprised to see that it had earned 13 full marks from 13 previous reviews. I checked that 12 of them were from anonynmous or one-review-only readers. Well expected! Should Amazon set up something to undermine the manipulation by the authors, the publishers or their associates? As a serious customer highly influenced by Amazon reviews, or victimized in many similar cases like this one, I strongly support so.

Now let's go back to the review. Content wise, this book did provide good background info of Tobacco, Gambling, Weapons/Defense/War, Booze, Sex and Drugs Industries, and major listed companies within each for your consideration. However, the "Lessons" section in the end of each chapter failed to provide significantly insightful analysis nor high return/risk ratio recommendation in my humble opinion. In short, quite differentiated but definitely not one on the top 20 priority investment/trading book list.

This book is written with great insight and wit. As am amateur investor I valued Ms. Waxler's insight. The book is so appropriate to the decadent world we live in. She is right on!

If you'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints this book might just be for you.

The analog to Socially Responsible Investing, Vice Investing rests on the elementary economic idea that at any given time a meaningful proportion of consumers will lose the psychological and all-around economic battle against monied corporations seeking to systematically exploit their pre-disposition to the seven deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Anger, Lust and, of course, Avarice.

Ms. Waxler takes readers on a deft walk through some of the finer points of investing in the tobacco, gaming, weapons, alcohol, sex and drug industries. Notably, she introduces readers to the SINDEX-69, a representative group of 69 stocks that cater to consumers' various vices.