Principles of Finance with Excel: Includes CD (Hardcover)

by Simon Benninga (Author)
Key Phrases: dot portfolio, planning model definition, put replicating portfolio, United States, Whimsical Toenails, Goal Seek (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You have done an excellent job. I can't find a book with the applications you've included in here and I think it's great. I have an honors degree in Economics from University of Western Ontario and sat the CFA level one exam this year. Both bodies of studies are great but I believe where they lack is in the application dept. The majority of the content that I've looked at so far from your book was covered in level one CFA but the texts never explained applications with Excel which is a huge downfall. I believe your book compliments and fits perfectly into what I've learned in theory."--Rob Lee, Trader
"You have transformed me, an IT person, into someone who now knows QUITE a bit about financial management, and who can now quote, debate and discuss with the best of them! I still cannot thank you enough. I could not have done this without the knowledge imparted by Principles of Finance with Excel."--Zubin Garda, Deloite-Touche
"I am a Finance Division Manager at Allstate and use Excel quite a bit. It has been my experience in hiring over the past five or so years that most students today coming out of school lack skills and knowledge of Excel. Most of what I learned while in graduate school was related to the financial (i.e. banking) industry. Very little related to anything outside of that, nor were there any real life exercises in many of the books that I had. I liked your book because it showed how to use many of the features of Excel."--Charlyn Foust, Allstate
"Principles of Finance with Excel by Simon Benninga is truly a unique and important new Excel based corporate finance text. Many students contact me after graduation and tell me how their ability to use Excel in financial modeling has opened doors to many interesting career opportunities. However, it is not simply the ability to use Excel that has opened these doors. The key is that Principles of Finance with Excel promotes a sound understanding of the principles of value creation and of financial decision making under uncertainty, which allows individuals to make immediate contributions to their firms."--Glen A. Larsen Jr., Finance Department, Indiana University
"Finally, a 'Principles of Finance textbook' that uses the tool that our students will 'do finance with' once they graduate. In this book, Dr. Benninga pairs his authoritative treatment of finance with Excel and a thorough study of the finance basics. Excel is used, not as a black box, but rather as an implement to further understanding of the topics. Even a seasoned Finance professional can learn new tricks and gain new insights from this book."--Timo Korkeamaki, Finance Department, Gonzaga University
"Microsoft Excel continues to be an absolutely critical piece of the tools and language of applied personal and corporate finance at all levels. Bankers, CFOs, investors, accountants, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and even proactive consumers need to be adept at using this platform. Principles of Finance with Excel fills a gaping hole in the market by applying an effective teaching methodology to financial applications of Excel in a self-contained text."--Alex Gould, Department of Economics, Stanford University
"Professor Benninga's Principles of Finance with Excel masterfully integrates theory with practice. By working through learning-by-doing examples and practical applications, the reader's knowledge and understanding of both finance and Excel are enhanced. Furthermore, it accomplishes this in an engaging and entertaining manner. This book will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning finance. I highly recommend it" --Tom McCurdy, Bonham Chair in International Finance, University of Toronto
"In Principles of Finance with Excel, Professor Benninga skillfully interweaves financial theory with applications to real-world data. Basic financial concepts are presented with unusual clarity in an intuitive manner. This book offers a nice blend of concepts and Excel applications and is easy to follow. Readers will find the exercises in the book fun and interesting, as many of my students and I have."-- Youngsoo Kim, University of Regina, Canada


Product Description
Principles of Finance with Excel is the first textbook that comprehensively integrates Excel into the teaching and practice of finance. This book provides exceptional resources to the instructor and student, combining classroom-tested pedagogy with the full potential of excel's powerful functions. In today's business world, that computation is done almost wholly in Excel. Excel's ability to combine graphics with computation and perform complex sensitivity analysis with ease provides potent insights into financial problems. Despite this, most finance texts rely heavily on hand-held calculators and ignore Excel. As a result, many students find that after they enter the professional environment, they have to relearn both finance and Excel. Principles of Finance with Excel is ideal for undergraduate courses in introductory finance or as a reference for finance professionals. A Free In-Text CD for students contains electronic versions of all spreadsheets in the book.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 928 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195301501
• ISBN-13: 978-0195301502
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,035 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Develop Sophisticated Financial Modeling Skills , March 5, 2006

By	M. Yvonne Reinertson (Dover, DE USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a university teacher of strategic corporate finance and optimal investment, I have watched the financial industry analytics transcend hand calculation with financial calculators to financial modeling with spreadsheet software. Depending on whether the financial specialty is in corporate or banking/brokerage, the job skills requirement can range from corporate cost control to optimal portfolio design. In watching the analytics development within the financial industry, I have repeatedly witnessed students with financial modeling skills obtain jobs that are typically reserved for specialists holding advanced degrees or having multiple years of experience.

My course design typically takes the form of a strategic analysis class in either corporate financial planning or investment issues. Optimal corporate financing affects optimal investments. Additionally, since my research interests are in international corporate finance, global finance themes surface in most lectures. In corporate finance, raising funds on favorable terms and then allocating those funds efficiently among various projects are decisions made by every company financial officer-in every country; in investment, fund managers face global choices. Thus, business is no longer exclusively domestic ventures. It is because of this that I would like to see a global analysis chapter added in the next revision of both of Dr. Benninga's textbooks. Business, and the financing of business, is global-even at the principles level.

Statement: There is not an employer on the planet who will care that you can solve a time-value-of-money problem using a hand-held calculator. Real world financial applications require spreadsheet analysis.

CORPORATE:
Companies are increasingly requiring sophisticated modeling skills from financial specialists. Logic in today's business environment calls for constant surveillance of possible global funding sources in an optimal growth strategy. There is no better way to do this than through financial modeling using the business spreadsheet standard-Excel.

With the skills developed in studying advanced business analytics in Dr. Benninga's textbooks, a businessperson can develop "what-if" scenarios analyzing the effects to a business in a change in any economic or financial element. The gain from being able to complete a model forecasting company strategy and financials is being able to increase efficiency in business operations. This efficiency comes from being able to analyze the events that affect business, either favorably or unfavorably, and then adjust operations and project financing appropriately. Company growth is directly affected by this ability to adjust operations. Growth at any level requires capital: Either capital in the form of machinery or capital in the form of money in order to purchase machinery. Being able to forecast company strategy and financials allows company flexibility in growth planning and budget. Optimal strategy realizes that the only growth that matters is growth that adds value to the company. It is the ability to strategically design growth that is driving the demand for Excel modeling skills by companies. Begin developing your financial modeling skills by purchasing this book; extend your beginning level skills by studying Dr. Benninga's textbook, Financial Modeling (2e), (see my review). It has advanced financial modeling.

Table of Contents: Principles of Finance with Excel
Chapter 1: Introduction to Finance
Chapter 2: Business Organization and Taxes
Chapter 3: An Accounting Primer
Chapter 4: Cash Management With Excel
Chapter 5: The Time Value of Money
Chapter 6: What Does It Cost? Applications of the Time Value of Money
Chapter 7: Introduction to Capital Budgeting
Chapter 8: Issues in Capital Budgeting
Chapter 9: Choosing a Discount Rate
Chapter 10: Using Financial Planning Models for Valuation
Chapter 11: What Is Risk?
Chapter 12: Statistics for Portfolios
Chapter 13: Portfolio Returns and the Efficient Frontier
Chapter 14: The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Security Market Line (SML)
Chapter 15: Using the Security Market Line (SML) to Measure Investment Performance
Chapter 16: The Security Market Line (SML) and the Cost of Capital
Chapter 17: Efficient Markets-Some General Principles of Security Valuation
Chapter 18: Bond Valuation
Chapter 19: Valuing Stocks
Chapter 20: Capital Structure and the Value of a Firm
Chapter 21: The Evidence on Capital Structure
Chapter 22: Dividend Policy
Chapter 23: Introduction to Options
Chapter 24: Option Pricing Facts
Chapter 25: Option Pricing-The Black-Scholes Formula
Chapter 26: The Binominal Option Pricing Model

Finally, the last section, Part 7, has eight chapters on Excel features that are especially useful in business applications.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great book, many errors, November 24, 2007

By	PDJ "A Person" (Charlottesville, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This is really a great book. It's written in a way that's easy to understand, it does a good job of relating Excel to the financial topics, and the cd that comes with it is nice; seeing as it has all of the spreadsheets discussed in the book and answers / templates to the problem sets.

One big problem with it though, (and let me stress the BIG) is that there are way too many errors in it. While the errors in the actual book are few; there are many errors in the answers to the problems at the end of the chapters. This has become very frustrating to me since I'm basically learning from the book on my own and don't really have anyone to help when an error in a problem's answer stops me from fully understanding it.

Bottom line this is a great book and if you have a good teacher to help you along then there shouldn't be too many problems. I would definitely give it a 5 if it wasn't for all the errors on the CD.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best Intro to Finance book out there, June 9, 2006

By	Practitioner (New York) - See all my reviews

With an undergraduate degree in economics and two years of working experience in Wall St, you can say that I had the chance to read quite a few finance books. I find Principles of Finance with Excel to be hands-down the best Intro-Finance book of them all. Not only does it explains the finance topics very clearly, it teaches you how to apply this knowledge in Excel. This is by far, in my opinion, the best way to learn finance. Furthermore, since solutions to the exercises are included on the CD, this book is perfect to the self-motivated reader. Lost or stolen, I would purchase this book again.