Financial Fine Print: Uncovering a Company's True Value (Hardcover)

by Michelle Leder (Author)
Key Phrases: pension footnote, tax footnote, sheet obligations, Rite Aid, Wall Street, Bear Stearns (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A must read for any investor serious about knowing what they own." (Herb Greenberg, Columnist, TheStreet.com, Fortune Magazine)

"It's beautifully written, combining both warmth and clarity, and as easy to read as it is to understand." (Better Investing Magazine, October 2003)

"The Financial Fine Print here is readable, useful and potentially profitable!" (Barron's Magazine, December 1, 2003)

"In my opinion "Financial Fine Print" is a must-read for any investor who wants to pick his or her own stocks." (Pittsburgh Tribune, December 21, 2003)

"With a book as indispensable as this, there's no...excuse to avoid wading into the thicket of footnotes before making financial decisions." (Better Investing Magazine, December 2003)

"Financial Fine Print: Uncovering a Company's True Value is one of the most informative books ever written for investors" (From the Foreword by Thornton "Ted" Oglove)

"A must read for any investor serious about knowing what they own." -- Herb Greenberg, Columnist, TheStreet.com, Fortune Magazine

"Financial Fine Print: Uncovering a Company's True Value is one of the most informative books ever written for investors" -- From the Foreword by Thornton "Ted" Oglove

"It's beautifully written, combining both warmth and clarity, and as easy to read as it is to understand." -- Better Investing Magazine, October 2003

"The Financial Fine Print here is readable, useful and potentially profitable!" -- Barron's Magazine, December 1, 2003

Product Description
"A must-read for any investor serious about knowing what they own. With the help of some of the best financial detectives, Michelle Leder provides a roadmap for delving beneath the surface –– where most investors dare not tread."
–Herb Greenberg, Columnist, TheStreet.com and Fortune magazine

"Obfuscators beware! Michelle Leder has cracked the code. In this invaluable guide to combing the footnotes of financial statements for indicators of accounting tricks and attempts to hide the bad news needles in a haystack of numbers. This is a clear, sensible, and, above all, practical guide that will be indispensable for anyone who invests in, does business with, or works for a corporation."
–Nell Minow, Editor, The Corporate Library

"Too many companies would prefer that you not read the footnotes," observes former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt. "That should be incentive enough to delve into them." In fact, not only do companies prefer you ignore the details they are required to report–the pesky particulars on exactly how they account for those whopping earnings–they take calculated steps to make this information as hard as possible to understand. But for those who know how to look, the facts that predict a company’s true prospects are usually hidden in plain sight.

Financial Fine Print gives you the tools you need to break down annual reports and SEC filings, make sense of the deliberately cryptic language of footnotes, and get the real goods on a potential investment.

To make money in today’s tough market, investors have to make deliberate, well-researched choices. To do this requires not only having the right information, but also knowing how to decode it. With their obscuring tactics, companies won’t help you any. So be advised: those who would help themselves–and expect to profit–should get down to the nitty-gritty of Financial Fine Print.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (July 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471433470
• ISBN-13: 978-0471433477
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #404,760 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The irony of book -- the book itself is overhyped., February 9, 2004

By	Chungst (West Coast, US) - See all my reviews

"Financial Fine Print", in my opinion, provides insufficient analytically challenging insights for those who work in the financial service industry, mainly as an Analysts or Portfolio Managers. However, for those who new to the financial statement / analysis process, the book is a decent primer to understand the importance of financial reports (i.e. footnotes). The biggest disappointment about the book was that it was over-hyped. The book not only read like it was hastily assembled but felt like a 30-page pamphlet of footnote tidbits stretched to 173 pages.

Firstly, I completely disagree with the subtitle of the book: "Uncovering a Company's True Value" as it is misleading. Gaining information from Ms. Leder's book will not result in uncovering a company's **true** value. The book will allow the novice or untrained Analysts / PMs to focus on areas that may shed more light on the company's financial operating results, financial condition, and/or cash flow generating abilities. However, such cursory coverage of said materials is insufficient to arrive at a company's **true** value.

Secondly, the writer fails to fully understand the analytics related to a majority of the subject matters. Allow me to use Chapter 8 that addresses off-balance obligations. On page 133, the writer describes a "Synthetic Lease" but fails to explain or differentiate the lease from any other FASB #13 operating lease. Second, on page 130, the writer tries to educate the reader on the importance of off-balance liabilities with the following remark: "... is to imagine how your bank account balance would improve if you didn't have to account for the monthly mortgage payment." However, her example is faulty and dangerously misleading. If a company has an off-balance sheet operating lease, the reader ought to see the rental (or lease) expense in the income statement. Had the company chose to own the asset outright, the reader would see depreciation (and possibly interest) expense in lieu of the rental expense, other things being equal. That is to if someone didn't account for his "monthly mortgage payment," then common sense would dictate that someone is "renting" his place.

Lastly, the writer tries to add credibility to her work by randomly inserting quotes from a limited number of "experts," that tends to get recycled through-out the book. While some of the people mentioned in the book are highly respected in the industry (i.e. Pat McConnell and David Zion), it was disappointing to find out Ms. Leder did not interview some of the leading researchers from the accounting academia. In fairness, Ms. Leder did provide some accounting research, albeit woefully inadequate for a book of this scope.

In summary, Ms. Leder's book is great for a novice who wants to understand the role footnotes play in financial statement analysis. However, her book was over-hyped for the more experienced or serious students of financial statement analysis.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Financial Fineprint, February 11, 2004

By	Josh Brackeen (Grosse Pointe, MI USA) - See all my reviews

Is there any way an ordinary investor can protect themselves from shady corporate accounting? YES!! Michelle Leder's book Financial Fineprint has given me the tools to become a better investor.

Not only does she do an excellent job of breaking down annual reports and SEC filings in a very organized and clearly written manner , she also provides an invaluable service by guiding the reader through the footnotes of financial statements, pointing out indicators of accounting tricks and obscuring tactics. Ms. Leder gives the average investor the means to find out for themselves about the companies they invest with. I can now spot those Inflated profits, questionable related party transactions, hidden expenses, etc., before I decide to buy a particular stock.

This book is not simply a "How to" book, however, as it is written in a more narrative and reader friendly style, with personal accounts and fun annecdotes.

I highly reccomend this book for anyone who wants to have as much knowledge at their fingertips as possible before making important financial decisions.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A polygraph for financial statements and corporate reports, September 29, 2003

By A Customer

In the aftermath of the corporate accounting scandals, it's hard to know what companies to trust enough to put your money behind them. Financial Fine Print has helped me research companies much more thoroughly. By showing me step-by-step methods to dissect the footnotes in the corporations' financial statements and annual reports, I've learned where all of the unflattering yet legally accountable information is usually hidden in order to make better decisions. I heartily recommend this book for any savvy investor who is unwilling to invest in a company without having personally researched it first.