The Economist Guide To Analysing Companies

by Bob Vause

In today's volatile, complex and fast-moving business world, it can be difficult to gauge how sound a company really is. An apparently strong balance sheet and impressive reported profits may be hiding all sorts of problems that could even spell bankruptcy. So how do you:
- Know whether a company is well run and doing well?
- Decide which ratios and benchmarks to use to assess performance?
- Work out if a company has massaged its results?
- Recognise the danger signs on the corporate horizon?
- Compare companies operating in different sectors or countries?

These and many other important questions are answered in a completely updated and revised sixth edition of this clear and comprehensive guide. It is aimed at anyone who wants to understand a company's annual report, judge a customer's creditworthiness, assess a company's investment potential, and much more.

Genres: Business, Finance, Economics, Nonfiction, Accounting, Reference, Money

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not a casual read. Rather treat it as a textbook with foundation to evaluate company. First couple chapters are full of definitions and don’t hang up on different definitions too much. Last 4-5 chapters are more about applications which are more interesting. This for me only serves as the foundation and i look forward to coming up my own frame work and apply it when looking into different companies’ financial reports

[Donald · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a little too dense for me. It has lots of useful information; but there's lots of equations that are vaguely explained. I felt like I needed to take a test after each chapter to ensure I understood what was being explained

[Bernardo Marques · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introductory book and a good summary with sufficient details on the many topics covered. It's comprehensive on the main topic and provides practical and clear examples for the concepts being presented.

[Aliff Amierul · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a textbook. Well written and helpful since it has some graphics and tables that could visualise what it says. Good for beginners who wants to understand what the numbers mean in any annual report

[Siddhida · Rating 1 out of 5]

very basic. instead, read valuation by Damodaran

[Whig · Rating 1 out of 5]

useless

[Peckham Alun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meant only for beginners, way too basic of information. I would only recommend to people who do not know the very basics.

[Turki Almusiened · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easy to read. Gives you overview of accounting standards, annual report content, and financial ratios.

Missing real life examples. Wished that the author analyzed several companies (from different sector) from start to finish and show you when and how to use the rations. In addition to provide toolkit/templates

[Rahul Chowdhury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides a good overview of all the aspects of analysing the company.