Stripping away the mystique from the world of investment and finance, How to Read the Financial Pages is a layman's guide to reading and understanding the financial press and the markets and events it covers. Assuming no financial knowledge, Michael Brett provides a valuable explanation of the workings of the financial world - from money markets to commodity markets, investment ratios to takeover bids. With an extensive glossary of financial terms, this book will help you through the financial columns to a better understanding of the language of markets and money. For ten years How to Read the Financial Pages has been an outstanding first-choice buy for everyone who wants a thorough - but friendly - grounding in finance and investment. --What are stock markets, currency markets, commodities markets? How do they operate? --What are derivatives? Could they cause the financial system to crash? --What is meant by insider dealing? Why is it illegal? --Who are the main players in the world of money? What do stock brokers, market makers, merchant bankers and underwriters actually do? --How has the Internet affected private investors? What are the new opportunities?

Includes worked examples and glossary, latest financial information, new international focus of how to use electronic pages and services.

With an insider's view of the mind of the master, Mary Buffett and David Clark have written a simple guide for reading financial statements from Buffett's successful perspective. They clearly outline Warren Buffett's strategies in a way that will appeal to newcomers and seasoned Buffettologists alike. Inspired by the seminal work of Buffett's mentor, Benjamin Graham, this book presents Buffett's interpretation of financial statements with anecdotes and quotes from the master investor himself. Destined to become a classic in the world of investment books, Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements is the perfect companion volume to The New Buffettology and The Tao of Warren Buffett.

Traces the history of money and discusses stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, and options.

Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.

Praise for Financial Statement Analysis A Practitioner's Guide Third Edition "This is an illuminating and insightful tour of financial statements, how they can be used to inform, how they can be used to mislead, and how they can be used to analyze the financial health of a company." -Professor Jay O. Light Harvard Business School "Financial Statement Analysis should be required reading for anyone who puts a dime to work in the securities markets or recommends that others do the same." -Jack L. Rivkin Executive Vice President (retired) Citigroup Investments "Fridson and Alvarez provide a valuable practical guide for understanding, interpreting, and critically assessing financial reports put out by firms. Their discussion of profits-'quality of earnings'-is particularly insightful given the recent spate of reporting problems encountered by firms. I highly recommend their book to anyone interested in getting behind the numbers as a means of predicting future profits and stock prices." -Paul Brown Chair-Department of Accounting Leonard N. Stern School of Business, NYU "Let this book assist in financial awareness and transparency and higher standards of reporting, and accountability to all stakeholders." -Patricia A. Small Treasurer Emeritus, University of California Partner, KCM Investment Advisors "This book is a polished gem covering the analysis of financial statements. It is thorough, skeptical and extremely practical in its review." -Daniel J. Fuss Vice Chairman Loomis, Sayles & Company, LP

In the best-selling How to Read the Financial Pages, Michael Brett stripped the mystique from the world of investment and finance and sold over 180,000 copies as a result. In How to Figure Out Company Accounts the author once again applies the same practical, jargon-free method to help us all understand company accounts. For investors, both professional and amateur, or anyone in business, the annual report and accounts is the critical document that reveals the health (or otherwise) of a company and points the way forward towards the company's growth plans and strategies. It is the annual scorecard from which much can be revealed - if you know what you are looking for. If you want to get inside a company, all the information you will need is there for all to see. But in order to understand that information, the "language" of the report has to be learned. This includes not only the financial information as set out in the balance sheet, profit and loss account and the cash flow statement, but also the Notes which contain critical data on how the company is run and by whom, the Chairman's statement, the CFO's financial review and the general Review of the year's operations. All these elements are looked at and analysed in the author's no-nonsense style. Key financial ratios are also explained, which in themselves provide a critical snapshot of how a company is performing. This is not about creating a set of account. It seeks to set out clearly the language of existing accounts for anyone who needs to understand or interpret them in the course of their work or their personal investment decisions. It assumes no previous financial or accounting knowledge. With his a step-by-step approach Michael Brett guides the non-expert through the basic concepts first before moving on to the more complex detail.

Explains what business numbers mean and why they matter, and addresses issues that have become more important in recent years, including questions about the financial crisis and accounting literacy.

The updated new edition of the comprehensive guide to reading and understanding financial reports Financial reports are used to provide a range of vital information, including an organization’s cash flow, financial condition, and profit performance (aka The Big Three Financial Statements). Financial statements are often complex and extremely difficult to understand for anyone other than accounting and finance professionals. How to Read a Financial Report enablesinvestors, lenders, business leaders, analysts, and managers to read, analyze, and interpret financial accounting reports. Designed specifically for non-specialists, this reader-friendly resource covers the fundamentals of financial reporting in jargon-free English. Topics such as sales revenue & recognition, costs of goods sold, sources & uses of capital/cash, non-cash expenses (e.g., depreciation expense), income tax obligations, understanding profits & financial stability, and financial statement ratios & analysis are covered throughout the book. Now in its ninth edition, this bestselling guide has been thoroughly revised to reflect changes in accounting and financial reporting rules, current practices, and recent trends. New and expanded content explains managing cash flow, illustrates the deceitful misrepresentation of profits in some financial reports (aka Financial Engineering), and more. Further, end-of-chapter activities help readers learn the intricacies of the balance sheet and cash flow statement, while updated sections address shifts in regulatory standards. Written by two highly experienced experts in financial accounting, this resource: Enables readers to cut through the noise and focus on what financial reports and financial statements are really saying about a company Clarifies commonly misunderstood aspects of financial reporting and how companies can “financially engineer” operating results Offers comprehensive, step-by-step guidance on analyzing financial reports Provides numerous examples and explanations of various types of financial reports and analysis tools

Learn how to read, understand, analyze, and interpret different types of financial reports In the newly revised and updated 10th Edition of How to Read a Financial Report, seasoned accounting, financial, and business consultant Tage C. Tracy guides readers through reading, understanding, analyzing, and interpreting various types of financial reports, including cash flow, financial condition, and profit performance reports. This book also reveals the various connections between different financial metrics, reports, and statements, discusses changes in accounting and finance reporting rules, current practices, and recent trends, and explains how financial information can be manipulated, such as through inclusion or omission of certain KPIs. This bestselling guide uses jargon-simplified and easy-to-understand language to make the information accessible to all, regardless of finance or accounting background. Updates to the 10th Edition include: Relevant terminology and issues critical to understand in today's economic environment. New material on loans, debt, and using financial reports and statements to understand performance. The connection of capital including debt and equity to the income statements and cash flow statements. Expanded financial analysis tools and ratios that provide a deeper understanding of a company's financial performance and strength. A more in-depth overview of how company's may engineer financial results and how understanding cash flows can help root out fraud. An essential all-in-one guide on the art of reading a financial report and avoiding common pitfalls and misconceptions, How to Read a Financial Report earns a well deserved spot on the bookshelves of all business leaders and investors who want to be able to read and understand financial reports and statements like a professional.