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Corporate Finance For Dummies
Get a handle on one of the most powerful forces in the world today with this straightforward, no-jargon guide to corporate finance
A firm grasp of the fundamentals of corporate finance can help explain and predict the behavior of businesses and businesspeople. And, with the right help from us, it’s not that hard to learn!
In Corporate Finance For Dummies, an expert finance professor with experience in everything from small business to large, public corporations walks you through the basics of the subject. You’ll find out how to read corporate financial statements, manage risks and investments, understand mergers and acquisitions, and value corporate assets.
In this book, you will
Get a plain-English introduction to the financial concepts, instruments, definitions, and strategies that govern corporate finance Learn how to value a wide variety of instruments, from physical assets to intangible property, bonds, equities, and derivatives Explore the intricacies of financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flowsPerfect for students in introductory corporate finance classes looking for an easy-to-follow supplementary resource, Corporate Finance For Dummies, delivers intuitive instruction combined with real-world examples that will give you the head start you need to get a grip on everything from the cost of capital to debt analytics, corporate bonds, derivatives, and more.
A firm grasp of the fundamentals of corporate finance can help explain and predict the behavior of businesses and businesspeople. And, with the right help from us, it’s not that hard to learn!
In Corporate Finance For Dummies, an expert finance professor with experience in everything from small business to large, public corporations walks you through the basics of the subject. You’ll find out how to read corporate financial statements, manage risks and investments, understand mergers and acquisitions, and value corporate assets.
In this book, you will
Get a plain-English introduction to the financial concepts, instruments, definitions, and strategies that govern corporate finance Learn how to value a wide variety of instruments, from physical assets to intangible property, bonds, equities, and derivatives Explore the intricacies of financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flowsPerfect for students in introductory corporate finance classes looking for an easy-to-follow supplementary resource, Corporate Finance For Dummies, delivers intuitive instruction combined with real-world examples that will give you the head start you need to get a grip on everything from the cost of capital to debt analytics, corporate bonds, derivatives, and more.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
301 people are currently reading
465 people want to read
About the author
Michael Taillard
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 29, 2014
“Corporate Finance for Dummies” by Michael Taillard is an excellent resource. Having studied the other finance books in this series, I felt this was the best organized in terms of developing concepts clearly and sequentially while keeping the examples and application of the tools presented relevant. What distinguishes this text from the other finance texts is obviously its focus on corporations and the considerations large companies are required to make.
The text begins by familiarizing readers with the different types of intermediary institutions and professionals involved in financial decision-making. At the institutional level this includes depository institutions, insurance companies, securities firms, underwriters, exchanges, regulatory bodies and central banks. At the professional level; same: analysts, auditors, adjusters, traders and treasurers. From there the author explores the different ways to raise capital before delving into the specifics of evaluating weights on a balance sheet (assets, liabilities, shares, income statement, cash flows, etc.).
Structure-wise the beginning and end of the text are likely most relevant to most readers. The middle of the book includes an almost endless series of specific formulas (metrics) to assess data and the various financial positions of a firm for various purposes. This section could potentially be very useful for anyone running a small or large business, and even for someone like me, who is mostly interested in how financial systems work, it provided a clear idea of the multiple considerations any business has to make.
Even though the author provides substantial detail in certain sections, he also manages to cover off the basics for those new to finance whether with respect to time value of money equations or the ins and outs of stocks and bonds and the type of contexts one needs to develop to effectively buy and sell securities.
Perhaps least useful for most were the detailed and generally less applicable aspects of capital asset valuations, derivatives, risk, portfolio management, capital structures and mergers and acquisitions. But these sections fulfilled my purposes and helped me to understand the interplay between each aspect.
When I study a source, whether it is a finance or economics text from the Dummies series or one of The Great Courses (DVD lectures and texts as advertised in The Economist), I am generally able to distill about 40-50 pages of notes. I go to great pains to eliminate filler and within that seek to eliminate anything redundant text-to-text. Yet I was still able to get 80 pages of notes from this text and it is the last out of the series I intended to study. In other words, there is some substance there. The author made me think differently about topics I felt I already understood and he helped me to make connections between finance and macro-economics, the latter of which I am most familiar.
An easy 5 out of 5 for Taillard!
The text begins by familiarizing readers with the different types of intermediary institutions and professionals involved in financial decision-making. At the institutional level this includes depository institutions, insurance companies, securities firms, underwriters, exchanges, regulatory bodies and central banks. At the professional level; same: analysts, auditors, adjusters, traders and treasurers. From there the author explores the different ways to raise capital before delving into the specifics of evaluating weights on a balance sheet (assets, liabilities, shares, income statement, cash flows, etc.).
Structure-wise the beginning and end of the text are likely most relevant to most readers. The middle of the book includes an almost endless series of specific formulas (metrics) to assess data and the various financial positions of a firm for various purposes. This section could potentially be very useful for anyone running a small or large business, and even for someone like me, who is mostly interested in how financial systems work, it provided a clear idea of the multiple considerations any business has to make.
Even though the author provides substantial detail in certain sections, he also manages to cover off the basics for those new to finance whether with respect to time value of money equations or the ins and outs of stocks and bonds and the type of contexts one needs to develop to effectively buy and sell securities.
Perhaps least useful for most were the detailed and generally less applicable aspects of capital asset valuations, derivatives, risk, portfolio management, capital structures and mergers and acquisitions. But these sections fulfilled my purposes and helped me to understand the interplay between each aspect.
When I study a source, whether it is a finance or economics text from the Dummies series or one of The Great Courses (DVD lectures and texts as advertised in The Economist), I am generally able to distill about 40-50 pages of notes. I go to great pains to eliminate filler and within that seek to eliminate anything redundant text-to-text. Yet I was still able to get 80 pages of notes from this text and it is the last out of the series I intended to study. In other words, there is some substance there. The author made me think differently about topics I felt I already understood and he helped me to make connections between finance and macro-economics, the latter of which I am most familiar.
An easy 5 out of 5 for Taillard!
August 13, 2017
Great text! Covered the subject well - not too detailed yet a lot of information. Explanation of the ratios very useful.
August 4, 2017
This is a very broad introduction to a lot of concepts but with little insight into why the various concepts matter and how to use them.
It's a decent place to start (it is a "for dummies" book) and I will definitely dive deeper into some of the topics introduced through other means. So that was a good and useful introduction. I just thought with a little bit more effort (and fewer bad jokes) it could have been more insightful.
It's a decent place to start (it is a "for dummies" book) and I will definitely dive deeper into some of the topics introduced through other means. So that was a good and useful introduction. I just thought with a little bit more effort (and fewer bad jokes) it could have been more insightful.
February 12, 2022
Parts of this are exceedingly basic while other parts don't give enough examples or information. I really don't think novices looking for finance advice would find it all that useful. Part of it is common sense and part of it reads like a college calculus or algebra class textbook.
September 14, 2023
made it like 2/3 the way through before the lib due date, think this counts toward my end of the year list
July 1, 2024
fín upprifjun
June 24, 2013
A good book to read if you want to be truly incensed by the scam that is executive pay. It shows how little value these guys bring to their companies, and what a drag they are on economic efficiency.
April 4, 2023
Some sections are quite obvious if you have some prior knowledge and some stuff seems quite rushed over.
But it's a very good general introduction and covers basically everything, albeit not in great depth.
But it's a very good general introduction and covers basically everything, albeit not in great depth.
April 26, 2015
Well-organized, an easy read with useful examples. I actually laughed out loud at some of the writing.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews