Analysis of Financial Statements

I am not a CPA or Finance major. I am a physicist so the math is not intimidating. I have been investing as an amateur since retirement and this book gives solid and easily understood ways to get at the valuation of a company and its stock by investigating the financial statements. There is a good comprehensive case study at the end of the book, but I wish the authors would give more examples either within or at the end of each chapter.

too technical!

I purchased this book to assist me with some finance and accounting courses. It was one of the best purchases I could have made. The book is clear, concise, and informative. It made understanding several of the concepts behind financial statement analysis much much simpler. It is certainly worth every bit of the cost.

Great book- but you should have a background in basic financial accounting before reading it to fully grasp it.

That's right, do NOT buy this edition of this book! What you should buy is the earlier (and expanded) edition, with the title: "Financial Statement Analysis (Theory, Application, & Interpretation)". The version I'm reviewing here is a stripped-down version of this originally excellent book, and it is totally inferior to the original version. The good version is authored by Leopold Bernstein alone, with no co-author, and it was published by Irwin Press. Bernstein died in early 2006, by the way. I have the 1989 edition of "Financial Statement Analysis, Theory, Application, and Interpretation", and it is the best book of this type I've ever found.I had hoped a later edition would update me as to financial accounting law changes, but this version by Bernstein & Wild doesn't really talk much about accounting standards, and it omits SO MUCH of what the original editions had. Here are just two examples: this edition by the two authors has no mention of "goodwill" in its index and it doesn't seem to even discuss this important issue! And its index has no mention of "treasury stock" . It is as though the new publisher took the LEAST important topics from the original edition, and then left out the more important details of balance sheet and income accounting.!Plus the paper quality and book design are much poorer in this "Analysis of Financial Statements" edition...I have no idea what McGraw Hill was thinking when it took over the publishing of this book, but I think this dumbed-down version is a really poorly written and designed book and it is relatively worthless compared to Bernstein's original "Financial Statement Analysis, Theory, Application, and Interpretation" edition.You can still buy copies of the good edition on Amazon, from secondary sellers, and at a low price. It has a blue cover and Amazon shows it on the same page as the inferior book(s).

Very practical and can be used as a toolbox

This is the source. Thanks!

Great

Bernstein lays out many ways of how to approach different aspects of financial statements. The book is written in a clear an engaging style.

Wenn man einen Einblick in die grundsätzlichen Wirkungsweisen benötigt ist man hier richtig.