Accounting Books

Glad to know that you enjoyed the first edition of All About Bonds. All about Bonds and Bond Mutual Funds is the 2nd edition, which is both updated and expanded from this first edition. In it, there is a separate chapter devoted to each type of bond and mutual fund. The Treasury security chapter, for example, includes information about the new Treasury inflation-indexed securities and inflation-indexed savings bonds. There are many new tables and diagrams which make it easier to read for both beginning investors and bond investors who want to increase their knowledge and investing skills.

Bonds ought to be easier to understand than stocks, but they're not. Actually, the nuances of bond features and bond selection can be confusing, even treacherous. Esme Faerber's book is a terrific primer for the bond neophyte, but to call this merely a bond primer does not quite do ALL ABOUT BONDS the justice it deserves. In truth, I failed to take the book's full measure until I came back to it a couple of times after perusing other texts. Faerber's book includes some worthwhile features, carefully described, which don't appear in many other bond primers. There is a formula for the calculation of DURATION, with a clear explanation. There is a very good explanation of CONVERTIBLE BONDS, which often are not discussed at all in bond primer texts. Each type of bond receives its own chapter, and each can be studied in isolation. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED...and still useful despite the book's age since publication.

This is a must read book for the new or old invester. I have read it 2 times and refer back to it when I want to know about a specific item that I can't remember.

Years of riding the market's hype-high has been replaced by this year's bitter withdrawl. How many thousands did I invest based on nothing more than a few articles written by "experts" and the all-knowing smiles of MSNBC's Squak Box? I wish I had read this book instead!

Its sane, responsible, and time-tested approach to investing is the backbone of any sound financial body. Although my need-it-now-nature wanted to skip the well-written introductory chapters and jump to the "real" secret of investing, I came to realize that there is no "secret." There is no magic bullet. So, I went back, and started the book from the beginning, reading each page, slowly filling in the rather large gaps in my investing knowledge.

In these unsettled times, this book feels like the calm voice of proven experience.

As a deep investigative reporter for USA Today, Greg shares the untold stories behind Enron, Tyco and Worldcom, as well as the truth behind the Martha Stewart scandal. Were you aware that the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission tried desperately to warn Congress of what was coming 13 months before the Enron debacle? Greg Farell's America Robbed Blind is an eye-opener that could easily be made into a movie. Hardcover.

Mr. Farrell provides a captivating succinct recap of the recent high profile white color crimes that shook the American investment community and more importantly our economy over the last five years. Every case details the shortfalls in the system that fostered these very costly criminal and immoral acts and concludes with solutions and standards to prevent history from repeating itself. It is a "must read" because it interprets these so called sophisticated accounting fraud cases into basic terminology for any level of investor to understand. The author has a great understanding for the true victims of these costly crimes, every citizen and our economy, not just a small enclave of very rich corporate barons.

I couldn't put this book down. Bonner has identified the major players in US-El Salvador relations in that time period and done an excellent job of contrasting the "party line" (the propoganda from the State Department and much of the press) from what he saw on the "front line" while living in El Salvador as a reporter for the NY Times. This book is not for the week of stomach, as it very graphically describes the fates of many people who died in the struggle. He has done an incredible job of organizing declassified documents and press clippings to show how the American public was deceived.

US foreign policy was neatly summed up by a commentator on 'Newsnight' recently. A country is like a game of poker in which you play a hand and then cut your losses and get out if things don't work out while the European stance is arguably more socialistic. Little seems to have changed then, judging by this horrifying book, burning with indignation by Raymond Bonner.
The Reagan administration has been deemed culpable by some over Central American injustice, but the 'weakness' of the title applies as much to the decisions made by the Carter administration, despite avowedly making human rights the 'soul of our foreign policy.' America could not conceive of any popular revolution as not instigated by the Soviet Union. Ironic then, that this book should show the importance of religion, not as a take it or leave it life style choice of the privileged west, but as a vital cohesive force against the forces of Nazi tyranny, which this undoubtably was. It is still inexplicable to me that a nation could make such an enormous sacrifice in fighting Facism during the war, only to come to this deplorable conclusion. Do the ends justify the means? Mr Bonner leaves us in no doubt.

A sound and practical business plan is a fundamental necessity for any entrepreneurial endeavor if it is to succeed in today's volatile and competitive marketplace regardless of the goods or services it offers. Now in a newly revised, expanded, and updated seventh edition, "Anatomy Of A Business Plan" by business planning expert, speaker, consultant, and educator Linda Pinson is a complete 'how to' instructional manual and guide to creating and maintaining a viable business regardless of the size of the company or corporation. Pinson covers all aspects of the business plan from the cover sheet to appendices. Illustrative examples are provided for the executive summary, the individual plan elements, financial documentation, supporting documentation, and tax information as a part of business planning. Of special note is the chapter devoted to business planning for a nonprofit operation. Enhanced with chapters on business software, financing, and resource lists and links relevant to creating a business plan, "Anatomy Of A Business Plan" also provides four real-life examples in the form of appendices, has blank forms and worksheets that the reader can copy and use, and offers a glossary of business and financial terms. Anyone planning to establish a business of any kind would greatly benefit from a careful reading of Linda Pinson's "Anatomy Of A Business Plan".

Anatomy of a Business Plan is an outstanding guide for people that have never done a business plan before. It is in an easy language for all levels of entrepreneurs to follow.

I just followed the book and the excellent examples in order to complete my plan. Highly recommend this to everyone.

I gave a copy to my accountant.

Michael Thomsett's Annual Reports 101 is a powerful and practical book that demystifies annual reports. He persuasively makes the case that these reports intend to obscure and obfuscate as much as to enlighten, and that wary investors may get burned if they think reading the reports constitutes due diligence.

Especially for non-financial professionals, Annual Reports 101 is an effective primer to walk you through the structure of these documents, step by step. Thomsett moves from the micro to the macro is arguing that Sarbanes Oxley and other corporate reforms have failed to bring the needed level of transparency to the practice of accounting and reporting financial results.

A STRONG "read" recommendation!

This book was a pleasure to read. I kind of read it as one of three books regarding securities analysis or financial analysis. First I read Security Analysis (ISBN: 0071448209) followed by Fire Your Stock Analyst (ISBN: 0132260387) followed by this book. I highly recommend anyone interested in securities analysis or financial analysis to read all three.

Annual Reports 101 introduces the reader to SEC filings (most notably the Annual Report) that securities analysts use to do their securities or financial analysis. Interestingly, the author points out that analysts should use more of what is included in the annual reports than they in fact use to make their recommendations.

For the past year and a half I have been using my accounting and law background to work on securities fraud class action lawsuits. Much of what is discussed in this book is what such plaintiffs' lawyers need to understand to successfully win their litigation matters. Financial statements are only as good as the underlying data is accurate and the drafters are credible. The public accounting firms don't really audit their clients' books like we think they do. And annual reports rarely paint an accurate picture of how a company is really doing financially. Such reports are generally little more than expensive press releases. But by reading this book you will be able to dig deeper into the facts presented in Annual Reports and hopefully be able to make better decisions that require you reading them.

If you are not particularly adept at accounting, bookkeeping, and financial reporting, then I think this book would be a good introductory primer for you to read. And there is some good material on financial ratios for you to digest. All in all, this was a wonderful book if its topic interests you.

My favorite chapters were 9 and 10. In fact, I read them first when I started the book. And it was nice to see a Glossary included at the end. 5 stars!

I used the second edition of this book many years ago in college. Its easy to understand and does a good job of covering its intended subject matter.

This book is just very good. It is a top-quality, superbly on target solution for end users of mathematics. I had selected and subsequently used it as a textbook for a freshman calculus course aimed at prospective economics majors at an Ivy League college. My goal was to present a broad scope of the fundamental concepts of applied mathematics relevant to the social sciences, while keeping the exposition at the basic level of mathematical sophistication. Given the objective, one needs a textbook that would replace most proofs with carefully chosen exemplifications, rely on technically undemanding exercises, but enable the teacher to introduce concepts at a lively pace and tie them to interesting applications. This textbook meets all the requirements.

Our course used essentially only the more advanced parts of the book. The selection of topics was systematized by the idea of staying focused on some of the basic mathematical methods designed for solving broadly understood problems of optimization, extrapolation, and prediction. Formally, students were required to learn algorithmic skills, like finding extrema of functions of one and several variables, linear programming, basic routines for ordinary differential equations and Markov chains. Primary emphasis was put on understanding the differences and similarities between continuous and discrete, deterministic and random. The book served us well and we felt truly rewarded by its amazing collection of well selected, well thought-through real-life applications. I am enthusiastic about this book and so were very many of my students.

I tutor basic accounting at the college level and have been able to see students use several different textbooks including this one.

This text is quite thorough but still easy to understand. One of the great things about this text is it makes debits and credits really clear. Students who use this text, and its companion volume, tend to understand debits and credits very well and this is invaluable as the class progresses. It also has lots of practice questions and exercises with answers and explanations (which are very helpful).

This product was easy to use and complete. I liked the bonus CD with the basic math review. Lots of problems and variations. Excellent and complete solutions. Companion book 2 also helpful.

Very in depth by the founder and thorough explanation how to read this important indicator.

Jacket Description:
In 1967, Richard Arms introduced the Short-Term Trading Index in Barron's. The index has been most commonly referred to as "TRIN"; however, today the index appears as "ARMS" on most
quotation systems.

The Arms index has changed the way technical analysts perceive the market. In discovering that stock price changes are a function of volume, Arms has made a significant impact on investors' attitudes toward the stock market.

In abandoning time as a stock market measurement and using volume instead, Arms reveals an entirely new approach to technical
analysis. He explains the information on intraday uses of the index...arithmetic moving averages...crossovers...weighted moving
averages...and more.

In addition to describing the relationships between price and volume, The Arms Index (TRIN) gives a large number of applications the index-and offers specific analytic methods for
the day trader as well as the long-term investor. While the Arms Index was originally applied to New York Stock Exchange data, Arms includes, for the first time:

* Arms indices for the over-the-counter market

* Arms indices for the American Stock Exchange

* the Giant Arms-a combined index for OTC and AMEX

* the Bond Arms Index so you can ultimately forecast interest
rates.

With more than 25 years of experience in the investment business, Richard W. Arms, Jr., is currently vice president and technical analyst with Eppler, Guerin & Turner, Inc. He is the inventor of the Arms Index (also known as the Short Term Trading Index or TRIN) which is an integral part of Wall Street Week "Elves Index"
and is carried on the Financial News Network (FNN) tape as "ARMS."

Mr. Arms has also invented Equivolume Charting-the first new method of charting since point and figure was introduced in the 1930s-and a number of proprietary market indicators. He is the
publisher of "Volumetrics," an advisory service, and the author of two other books, including Volume Cycles in the Stock Market (Dow Jones-Irwin). His articles have appeared in many national publications, including Barron's and Pension and Investing Age, A frequent lecturer at meetings of technical analysists, Arms has
been a guest on numerous local and national television and radio programs. He appears often on FNN and has been a guest on Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser.

This is a timeless book -- his course was excellent as well. It is just plain common sense and a great foundation.

The Art of Fund Raising tells you nothing about "turn key" operations in development, nothing about "mass mailings." Warner tells you, in his wonderfully simple and very eloquent writing that fund raising is about giving of yourself to help people find what is best for them. He explains that fund raising is the very essence of humanity, and its only money that gets in the way. Your job is to take Warner's work and interpret fund raising and use your own contacts and skills
for your clients. I refer a lot to the Do's and Don'ts section and especially enjoy his
often humorous, and very insightful "It happened to me, don't let it happen to you" section. 35+ years of experience and hundreds of satisfied students, readers and clients can't be wrong. Enjoy