How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers
How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers
How to Read a Financial Report Seventh EditionFinancial reports provide vital information to investors, lenders, and managers. Yet, the financial statements in a financial report seem to be written in a foreign language that only accountants can unde
The above is the description for How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers
Customer Reviews
96 of 98 people found the following review helpful  Well Written Overview of Financial Statements and Accounting, This book is great for anyone ranging from beginner to intermediate knowledge of financial reports. I have taken accounting and finance classes in college. This book tells the same things that 600 page textbooks and hours and hours of lecture can tell you, but it does so in an easy to understand and concise manner. Most important it explains the relationships clearly between the income statement, balance sheet, and cashflow statement. This book would be great for anyone starting an education in finance or for any investor trying to broaden their knowledge base. If you invest in stocks, you should learn how to read financial statements. This book will give you some much needed knowledge that you can use as you scour for companies to invest in. This author takes pride in his writing. John A. Tracy is a professor of accounting, but his knack for concise explanations and the clear use of the English language is evident throughout. 90 of 94 people found the following review helpful  GREAT BOOK BUT SOME PRIOR KNOWLEDGE WILL BE A PLUS!, As a teacher of business management, I have found the one component of training that often frustrates most students is understanding and preparing a cash flow statement, profit and loss statement and a balance sheet. This book is written in a manner which certainly simplifies the understanding of the statements, but it would definitely be a plus if the reader had some prior knowledge of basic accounting principles. Financial statements are, for some, a challenge and one they can easily master with an understanding of basic accounting. For others with no prior knowledge of accounting, financial statements can be a nightmare. While this book will HELP TO SIMPLIFY the matter, without some previous experience the book may be quite confusing. First of all, one should at least be familiar with general accounting terminology. If you are, it will simplify this book enormously and make the learning experience more enjoyable. However, be prepared to sit down and devote your utmost concentration to the book. The subject matter is not one that can be mastered by skimming through the book in an evening or two. For many individuals, understanding financial statements is a course that takes months to completely understand. Some learn the process easily, others never master the challenge no matter how long or hard they try. The degree of success usually depends, in part, on apptitude, commitment and previous knowledge and experience of the reader. 61 of 62 people found the following review helpful One of the most useful presentations of this topic ever., By A Customer This review is from: How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs Out of the Numbers (Paperback) I have used this book to teach people with absolutely no training in accounting to understand financial statements. It appeals to non-quantitative and quantitative audiences alike. Non-quantitative audiences appreciate the plain language in which the book is written. Quantitative audiences immediately see how financial statements are laid out from a modelling point of view and invariably start coding up spreadsheets. People who need to explain anything related to financial statements should thoroughly read this book to see how clearly this topic can be treated. Another aspect of this book is the ratio of success-to-effort one gets out of reading this book. Professsor Tracy's experience and time spent thinking about this topic is clearly demonstrated by his ability to explain just enough to allow even the rank beginner to understand financial statements. |
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Financial & Managerial Accounting
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- Example Exercises: Based on extensive market feedback, Example Exercises were developed to reinforce concepts and procedures in a bold, new way. Like a teacher in the classroom, students follow the authors' example to see how to complete accounting applications in the textbook. Each Example Exercise references the parallel Practice Exercises in the homework so students get the accounting experience they need.
- "At a Glance" Chapter Summary: The "At a Glance" summary grid ties everything together at the end of the chapter and helps students stay on track. First, the Key Points recap the chapter content for each chapter objective. Secondly, the related Key Learning Outcomes list all of the expected student performance capabilities that come from completing each objective. In case students need further practice on a specific outcome, the last two columns reference related Example Exercises and their corresponding Practice Exercises. In addition, the "At a Glance" grid guides struggling students from the assignable Practice Exercises to the resources in the chapter that will help them complete their homework. Through this intuitive grid, all of the chapter pedagogy links together in one cleanly integrated summary.
- Market Leading End-of-Chapter Material: Students need to practice accounting so that they can understand and use it. To give students the greatest possible advantage in the real world, FINANCIAL AND MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING, 11E, goes beyond resenting theory and procedure with comprehensive, time-tested end-of-chapter material. The authors fully revise the end-of-chapter homework with each new edition.
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The above is the description for Financial & Managerial Accounting
Customer Reviews
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful Well laid out, not a strain to follow or learn from., By A Customer This book was real easy to pick up the accounting basics that the authors presented. The text is broken up with graphic presentations and real world examples which makes it easy on the eyes and the brain. At the end of every chapter is illustrative problems, discussion questions, multiple choice, exercises and chapter problems. When you've completed a chapter you really feel you know the material. Plus there are tons of internet stuff. Worth the money and cheaper than the other accounting book I was forced to buy. 11 of 14 people found the following review helpful  I have found this book to be a okay for college classes, By A Customer The book does a alright job of teaching students how to learn accounting. It lacks answers to which could definitly help students. The book's main advantage is that it has many real life examples that help students relate to accounting. 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful Accounting, This review is from: Financial and Managerial Accounting (Financial & Managerial Accounting) (Hardcover) This book is very useful as long as you sign up for the publisher's personal trainer program. |
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Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses
Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses
Ideal for graduate, MBA, and higher-level undergraduate programs, FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING: AN INTRODUCTION TO CONCEPTS, METHODS, AND USES presents both the basic concepts underlying financial statements and the terminology and methods that allows the re
The above is the description for Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses
Customer Reviews
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful  Just awful, This review is from: Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses (Hardcover) One of the least useful textbooks I've ever read; I learned next to nothing from it. It's very poorly written, in very confusing style. Samples are placed several pages away from where they are referred to. As another reviewer stated, the authors don't explain much of anything -- it's like watching an expert accountant quickly burn through his work, then ask you if you understood everything you saw him do. The problems aren't very enlightening, either: instead of focusing on building up the basics, they seem to prefer to focus on special cases, so you're thoroughly confused about what to do in the normal case. Yes, there are good reviews, but notice that two are commenting only on shipping speed, and the other was from a guy trying to sell his copy. I won't inflict my copy on anyone else, because I'd rather destroy it. 23 of 24 people found the following review helpful Overly complex, By A Customer This review is from: Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods, and Uses (Hardcover) This was the first accounting book I've ever read when I took my very first accounting class at my graduate business school. For those who are new to accounting, this is not at all a good introduction. The authors simply inundate the reader with a plethora of information which is way too wordy and unnecessary at the beginning level. The authors seem more concerned about leaving nothing out in their writing as opposed to teaching the readers about the basics of the balance sheet, income statement, cash flows, inventory valuations, etc. It almost gets to the point in which I suspect the authors are simply showing off what they know as opposed to genuinely understanding that a reader like me has no previous accounting background. The chapter contents are not too logically organized and the explanation of concepts are excessive and unnecessarily complex. The authors seems to forget that when it comes to teaching accounting to someone who has never took accounting before, they should keep the concepts as basic as possible before going onto more in-detail discussions. The authors does the exact opposite and explains the accounting concepts from the intermediate point of view first, leaving the reader to come up with his own interpretation of what the basics should be. This is a complete waste of time for the reader, for all students would prefer that the authors get right to the point, directly and clearly, about how to construct a balance sheet, income statement, etc. The good thing about this book are the highlighted study problems presented in each chapter. The questions are useful and stimulate good application thinking, and the answers provided are an adequate explanation of how the questions should be answered. Unfortunately, the authors don't include enough of these study problems. If they had expanded upon these study problems and made them more comprehensive to the relevant chapter material, this book would have been a much more stronger teaching tool. Instead, we have an unnecessarily complex and not too organized textbook which is not really adequate for the beginning accounting student. Most of my fellow classmates did not enjoy reading this book and felt that it is an unsatisfactory way to be introduced to the world of accounting. 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful Terrible book, This review is from: Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses (Hardcover) This textbook is written terribly. Each chapter seems to refer to multiple concepts, with little to no explanation of the concepts besides "We will cover that concept in X chapter". Chapter 1 refers to nearly every other chapter, Chapter 2 refers to nearly every other chapter, (Including Chapter 1??) Chapter 3 refers to every other chapter, (Including chapters 1 and 2) etc etc. Each chapter seems to read like the introductory chapter. The content organization of the book makes me think the authors decided how to break each "topic" down, then wrote that topic while referring to the (not yet written) other "topic" sections. The "topics" then were assigned chapters based on how they thought information flow should go. The problem is, there is NO buildup of knowledge as every chapter reads like it *should* be the last chapter in the book since it assumes you know all of the other concepts it refers to in every other chapter. (Which of course you do not) The book also, despite saying it will focus on only two companies in chapter 1, constantly jumps into different companies financial information. This seems to only confuse, not help understanding. As other reviewers stated, the book does very little explaining, and mostly stating. I found the review which mentioned watching an expert accountant fly through the work they do daily and expecting you to understand it right on. To say this book is hard to pay attention to, and hard to comprehend is a drastic understatement. This book is one of the most terrible MBA textbooks I've had. If it didn't cost so much (and therefor be worth more to sell back) I'd burn it too. |
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