The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements (Hardcover)

by Gerald I. White (Author), Ashwinpaul C. Sondhi (Author), Dov Fried (Author)
Key Phrases: operating lease method, current cost balance sheet, method cash flow statement, United States, Philip Morris, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Instructor's Manual available. -- The publisher, John Wiley & Sons --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Accounting Standards (US and International) have been updated to reflect the latest pronouncements.
* An increased international focus with more coverage of IASC and non-US GAAPs and more non-US examples.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 912 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (December 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471375942
• ISBN-13: 978-0471375944
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,252 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Insightful, January 28, 2001

By	Netman1 (Between Here and There) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements (Hardcover)

In order to determine whether you should buy this book, you have to understand its purpose.

It is not an Accounting textbook nor a preparation for the CPA exam.

In other words, it is not directed at the preparers of financial statements but rather at the users.

The authors do an excellent job of explaining accounting concepts in a clear and detailed manner. That explanation includes a comparison of different methods for accounting for the same transaction, a discussion of deficiencies/inconsistencies in accounting rules, etc.

Building on all this, the authors then move on to explain how to analyze financial statements - to wring insights out of the accounting data beyond the "standard" analytical tools. This is the book's real value.

This excellent book belongs in the reference library of anyone who needs to understand and analyze financial statements.

One measure of its value is that AIMR uses it as one of the fundamental textbooks for its CFA program.

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is Excellent...and Essential, April 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements (Hardcover)

After reading the reviews on this book, I feel that I must comment on the book's high quality.

In order to fully appreciate this book, an understanding must exist as to where the material fits in the financial analysis process. Clearly this book is not meant to explicitly teach readers how to build financial models; other books are available for that purpose. This book is designed to teach readers how to thoroughly read, understand, and more importantly, become an astute critic of the language of financial statements, GAAP.

I disagree that technical accounting details are not very important in analysis engagements. Rather the opposite holds true in a majority of cases: One must thoroughly understand technical accounting and the implications that it has on economic reality in order to build quality financial models. Otherwise, "junk in/junk out" models will result.

Given the highly publicized debacles that have recently occurred in the financial world, including Enron, the importance of distinguishing technical accounting from economic reality has become obvious. This book does effectively explain and build off the foundations of GAAP; however, this book is primarily focused on helping an analyst analyze and question the quality of financial statements versus how to simply prepare them. This is the big difference between this book and technical accounting textbooks.

Of course, building financial models for decisions is the end objective of any analyst. However, this book is a must read in building quality financial models and projections. Again this book is not a financial modeling textbook, nor a technical accounting manual. Rather, it is a critical bridge between technical accounting material and decision modeling material. I recommend taking the time to read this excellent book and walk across the bridge before moving on to modeling.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unclear and poorly written, May 22, 2000

By	Curt Hansen (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Analysis and Use of Financial Statements (Hardcover)

In reading this book, I was struck at how complicated the explanations are for what should be relatively simple concepts. The text is often abstract when describing quite concrete subjects. The flow of ideas frequently jumps from one topic to the other, which made it frustrating to read. Finally, the summaries at the end of each chapter are brief at best; it is difficult to go back to a chapter and quickly extract the key points.

Like many of us, I am stuck with the book since it is part of the CFA I curriculum. Surely there is a better financial analysis book out there.