Financial Accounting in an Economic Context, Study Guide (Paperback)

by Jamie Pratt (Author) "Like school children who have practiced fire drills dozens of times, investors know exactly what to do when news leaks out that a company's financial..." (more)
Key Phrases: postacquisition expenditures, conservatism ratio, common equity leverage, Home Depot, General Electric, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A valuable resource for any business professional, this book shows how performance metrics available from the financial statements, shareholder value creation, and the firm's market value are all tied together. It also explores earnings management, including the use of discretion by management in the preparation of the financial statements to cast a favorable picture of the financial performance and condition of the firm. Readers will then delve more deeply into the methods used to account for operating, investing, and financing transactions.

From the Back Cover
Discover the keys to creating long-term shareholder value.

The goal of every successful manager is to generate the best return on equity possible— creating, in turn, long-term value for shareholders. The tools of every good manager are a thorough understanding of economic factors, measurement issues, and the principles of decision making.

The integrative approach to accounting and finance found in Jamie Pratt’s Financial Accounting in an Economic Context, Seventh Edition helps you acquire these essential tools so you can make proper decisions based on a complete financial picture. And its real-world cases, rooted in today’s business environment, enable you to develop an intuitive grasp of the balance between economics, internal controls, international standards, and ethics in your decision making.

Keeping pace with the fast-changing business environment, this revised and updated edition adds new coverage of:

• Developments in business such as private equity, the growing influence of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Sarbanes-Oxley, and the importance of internal controls
• Return on equity (ROE) and its determinants
• Legal liability, ethical issues, and management’s incentives and influence on financial reports
• Earnings management, including the use of discretion by management in the preparation of the financial statements to cast a favorable picture of the financial performance and condition of the firm.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 7 edition (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470343311
• ISBN-13: 978-0470343319
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #547,006 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not even an answer key to the exercises, March 7, 2003

By	SERGIO RAMIREZ GUERRERO (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Financial Accounting: In an Economic Context (Hardcover)

The book is easy to understand, but there should be a solutions manual, or at least an answer key to the exercises. It has been very difficult for me to "learn the mechanics" and "apply the concepts" at the end of each chapter. The pace of the course allows the teacher to solve only 2 or 3 exercises in class, and the book certainly does not make selfstudy easy. Needless to say, that you can't learn financial accounting just by reading. To makes things even worse, a study guide, which does not refer to the same exercises in the book, is out of print.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a good book from a student point of view, but serves the purpose, October 12, 2005

By	QY - See all my reviews

This review is from: Study Guide to accompany Financial Accounting in an Economic Context, 6th Edition (Paperback)

I bought this book because it is required for my Financial Accounting course. The book serves its purpose, which is to introduce the world of financial accounting to student like me who has no business background. However, the author has injected a lot of personal opinions into the text, which some are really biased. For example, the author emphasize on the mis-trust between management and investor. There is, to some extent especially after the scandals of Enron and WorldCom, but author has exaggerated it. Also, my professor, a former CFO, pointed out some formulas and pratices on the book have no value in the real world. The plus side is that the text in the book is not hard to understand.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for non-accountants, November 10, 2008

By	David Carter - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Financial Accounting in an Economic Context (Hardcover)

Back in the early 90's I took Professor Pratt's class when he was on loan to the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern. His book had not yet been published but he gave all of us copies of the manuscript for the course. So..I needed to replace that version since it had long since fallen apart. This book is great for non-accountants who wish to enhance their understanding of annual reports and interpretation skills. As anyone who has glanced through an annual report can attest, they are not terribly straightforward in identifying changes in the financial status of a company that are less than flattering. They tend to 'accentuate the positive.' Jamie Pratt teaches how to see through these reports to more accurately assess a company's financial condition. Don't expect to be spoon fed by reading this book. Like any complex system, becoming proficient requires study and understanding of fundamental concepts. If you are willing to commit some time, this book will provide the necessary tools.