Bad editor + basic material = poor investment

books:


	• The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices Charles W. Mulford, Eugene E. Comiskey Wiley, 2005 - 408 pages average customer review:based on 22 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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I got the item quickly. It was the correct item and in excellent condition.

Too basic and the title is really a misnomer

Given the promise of the book's title, I was disappointed. "The Financial Numbers Game" is really alomst a misnomer as the book spends many pages on explanations of basic accounting principles - much like an introductory textbook - and then discussed some of the more obvious creative accounting practices. What you do get from this textbook is an overall solid overview of basic GAAP, with a large number of real world examples (which is good). What you don't get is real insight into some of the more interesting ways companies use to manage earnings and their balance sheet. For example, I could not find anything on special purpose entities, off balance sheet financing, dirty surplus accounting, a meaningful discussion of EBITDA beyond the basics, and anything beyond the obvious, really. I also thought the discussion of receivable days was problematic (chapter eight). This may go into too much detail but the authors calculate this ratio based on the ending balance of accounts receivable rather than some average (eg, beginning and ending balance if nothing else is at hand). This actually distorts the ratio and results in an incorrect analysis of the development of receivables where they change between periods. This is not good for two academics.

As previous reviewers pointed out, the book has too many repetitions which a good editor should have caught.

I like the solid accounting overview and the multitude of examples the text provides and that merits three stars. If you are an MBA student who is interested in an accounting refresher, this may be a book for you. If on the other hand you are a professional analyst or investor - what the authors call serious readers of financial statements in their preface - then this will disappoint you.

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Financial Numbers Game

The book is fine for those not informed on the topic of financial reports, but those that have some insight on that topic would find it boring and not as informative as expected.
I also found several issues repeated, and other topics just to vague to be of much use.

Highly Recommended!

A special note in the preface of this book explains that it went to press just as the Enron story was beginning to break. Three of its chapters provide almost all the information anyone would have needed to spot the problems at Enron, not to mention at the other big corporations whose scandals made recent headlines. Spotting fraud isn't that hard. The authors provide a very useful toolkit that even a novice investor can use. Some of their coverage of the regulatory apparatus will no doubt have to be changed in future editions, as the regulations themselves keep changing, but this enlightening introduction to the nitty-gritty of skeptical financial statement analysis will have enduring utility. It's written by accountants, so it gets a bit plodding in spots, but their anecdotes relieve the tedium and their information is invaluable. We recommend this reality check for every investor's bookshelf, as well as every employee's and every financial reporter's. Anyone who depends on corporate performance or who uses corporate financial statements should read it.

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Bad editor + basic material = poor investment

I thought this was going to be a penetrating, incisive look at financial statement chicanery -- instead I got a recap of things I already learned in HOWARD SCHLIT's (better edited, clearer) book.

Most of what is in this book is either a) something you already know or b) material you can get for free on the web (investopedia.com tutorials, etc). Given the fact that the book's authors are well-known names in the field, I expected much more from this offering. Save your money...

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Praise for The Financial Numbers Game

"So much for the notion 'those who can, do-those who can't, teach.' Mulford and Comiskey function successfully both as college professors and real-world financial mercenaries. These guys know their balance sheets. The Financial Numbers Game should serve as a survival manual for both serious individual investors and industry pros who study and act upon the interpretation of financial statements. This unique blend of battle-earned scholarship and quality writing is a must-read/must-have reference for serious financial statement analysis."
-Bob Acker, Editor/Publisher, The Acker Letter

"Wall Street's unforgiving attention to quarterly earnings presents ever-increasing pressure on CFOs to manage earnings and expectations. The Financial Numbers Game provides a clear explanation of the ways in which management can stretch, bend, and break accounting rules to reach the desired bottom line. This arms the serious investor or financial analyst with the healthy skepticism required to drive beyond reported results to a clear understanding of a firm's true performance."
-Mark Hurley, Managing Director, Training and Development Global Corporate and Investment Banking, Bank of America

"After reading The Financial Numbers Game, I feel as though I've taken a master's course in financial statement analysis. Mulford and Comiskey's latest book should be required reading for anyone who is serious about fundamentally analyzing stocks."
-Harry Domash, Investing Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle and Publisher, Winning Investing

The Financial Numbers Game identifies the steps businesses may take to misstate financial performance and helps its readers to identify those situations where reported results may not be what they seem.

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