Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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If you're looking for a basic primer not much beyond secondary school level (high school) then the "Encyclopaedia of Busine$$ and Finance" is recommended, however, if you are looking for something to help you in business or finance or the university level then you may well be disappointed. The entries are overly simplistic (sometimes painfully so - there is a section dedicated to telephone courtesy under "Telephone Skills").

For more complex topics there are very few formulas given throughout the book, especially when needed. Case in point; here is the entire entry for Net Present Value:

"Net present value (NPV). A capital investment's net present value (NPV) is the amount of value the company expects the investment to create. The NPV equals the sum of the present values of all of the money expected back from the investment minus the investment's cost."

Also a lack of focus, by contrast to the above entry on NPV, there are three and a half pages dedicated to video conferencing, including a "KEY TO SUCCESSFUL VIDEOCONFERENCING" (sic) section, and references to George Jetson (I'm not joking). Also there are numerous references to very specific to the US such as the "The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990", but no entry, for example, on the Yen or even any mention of 'Fannie Mae', or for that matter Michael Porter's five forces. To its credit, the book is comprehensive, but not on the accepted standards of business or finance, but rather the ins and outs of office work.

I'm sorry to say that this book is designed for school students. The fact that Business is spelt "BUSINE$$" on the front cover should be a dead give-away. A worthy gift to a fourteen year old student, but would be of little use to anyone older or more serious.