Customer Reviews

Financial Management: Theory and Practice (Harcourt College Publishers Series in Finance)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is the best textbook I've ever read. Not just the best financial textbook, but the best textbook. I used Van Horne in my MBA program in 1980. Van Horne made the same mistake that most textbook authors make: he assumes that either the student knows too much or that the teacher will clarify the author. Brigham, et. al., assumes that the student knows very little, which is always the safest assumption. In my opinion, it is impossible for an author to tell too much about a topic or to overexplain a topic. This appears to be Brigham's opinion, too. As a result, he has written a text that aids, rather than frustrates, the student in learning. In addition, it is an interestingly written text. I read well over half of the book in the evenings after work, plus Saturday and Sunday, in just one week. All textbook authors should learn from Eugene Brigham how a text book is to be written. Explain, clarify, use examples, and explain again.

I fully understand how very intelligent people who do not have advance financial training would find this book overly complicated. This is not the sort of book you read in bed -- it is a text book. But it is one the most useful on my shelf. I refer to it constantly.

I'm a former Goldman Sachs investment banker and current CEO of a technology company with a JD/MBA from NYU. This book was required reading for an advanced corporate finance class I took while in school. It is the best finance book I have ever purchased.

This is not a primer. But for those who understand DCF, optimal capital structure, capital leases and working capital management... this is your book.

Don't confuse the TOPIC, which is very difficult for people who are unfamiliar, with the AUTHORS or STYLE.

The material can be confusing, but the authors do well with what they have. This book is far more readable than its competitors. Examples are adequate. Exercises cover all of the important issues. The study guide, a separate book, is useful if the material is still confusing.

For a technical textbook attempting to reach all audiences from the novice to the Finance professional, this book is one of the best. It does not focus so heavily on the theory and mathematical derivation as others, and yet explains the necessary background so that the student does not find Finance just a "black box." It does, however, attempt to be all things to all people. I would like to see a "concise" edition which focuses exclusively on about the first 15 or 20 chapters, but that is a problem constant with all.

Excellent Corporate Finance book.
To teach finance I can draw a lot of usefull material from it.
Douglas Gilson - Professsor of Simulation Models for Decisions and Strategy.

I had no financial background when I took the course in Finance as a part of my MBA program. This text provides a very good foundation for all beginners. It helps to know some financial accounting concepts like the income statement, balance sheet etc. when you start off with this book.
Every chapter has an excel spreadsheet example that is in the accompanying CD ROM. Also, there are computer based exercises that simulate the real-world practices when determining cashflow, doing capital budgeting, financial planning etc. The CD ROM has powerpoint slides that highlight the salient points in each chapter. Our instructor basically used those as a guide to teaching the course.
Very good text book, highly recommended.

This is no corporate finance for dummies book. So, don't expect to have "fun" with it. However, on a graduate level the book is near perfect. I especially appreciate its treatment of case studies - carrying the same case study from chapter to chapter where appropriate. There is a CDROM that contains, among other things, very useful and practical Excel templates for each chapter. The authors also provide foot notes that I encourage you to read. Many of them give the author's opinion of how the subject works in the real world verses the academic world. If you are the type that learns best by knowing the big picture first, make sure you get the Study Guide too.
My only beef with this text is in the index, which is woefully lacking -- rendering it less useful as a research source.

The canonical reference in this field is the venerable Brealey Myers book, which is often considered a bit too deep as an introductory finance text. The Brigham Ehrhardt book, however, is much more approachable. The layout of the chapters is much better than Brealey Myers', and mathematical concepts like beta are explained in a user-friendly manner.

Like many of the other reviewers, this text was required for my MBA program. As intro books go, I think that this book is much more advanced then what many reviewers have indicated.

Plus, my terms are 8 weeks long and this textbook is way, way too long for such a short time period. My school should adopt a textbook that is shorter in length. The book has over 25 long chapters. We barely studied half that before the term came to an end.

I felt that the layout of the text was not great. By this I mean, it would have been very helpful if, like other textbooks, the publishers/authors defined terms and concepts in the margins. Often times, the authors failed to provide clear definitions in the narrative forcing you to go to the glossary.

Next point, the authors present the material in long dense paragraphs which can be a challenge to get through. They need to break things up a bit more and interject more solved problems and examples.

I found this text more "academic" in nature and not something I could use as a reference on the job. I am looking for the practical and not the theory.

Bottomline, I would rather use a textbook that gets to the point faster, has more worked out problems, and is more visually inviting so to speak. For example, I have an old edition of Gitman's "Financial Management" and I like it much better then this textbook. The study guide that goes with Gitman's book is really good as well.

Meanwhile, I am debating whether to keep this text as reference or not.

This was a required book for my MBA Finance course. The book is decent. For a complicated topic, the book did a good job explaining the concepts. I did like the spreadsheets in the CD ROM. We had some assignments that require the use of these spreadsheets. First book I've seen where it the answer to all of the problems are in the back of the book; most books give answer to odd numbers only.

This was the text book for my Finance class in MBA program. Even though Finance is not my favorite subject, I actually enjoyed reading this book. Financial concepts are explained clearly, and the attched Excel spreadsheets help a lot in understanding calculation of finncial numbers.