3 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Amazon review system mixing two books?Tuesday, October 26, 2004
From what I can tell, the Amazon review system seems to be mixing at least three books:
1) Fundamental Financial Management, 8th Edition (Study Guide) Authors: Brigham and Houston.
ISBN:003024434X
2)Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Authors: Stickney and Weil
ISBN:0030259622
3) Financial Accounting: The Impact on Decision Makers
Authors: Porter and Norton
ISBN:0030270995
Note that some of the reviews refer to Brigham as the author and some to Stickney and Weil.
This is a great bookSunday, June 15, 2003
I am currently enrolled in the CFA program (Level II candidate), and this book was used for my first corporate finance class. I must say that I was a bit turned off at first by the amount of colorful pictures and charts the Brigham book contained under the assumption that the more staid the book was, the less gimmicks it had and the better it was (like the Brealey-Myers book). However, I was repeatedly struck by how conscise Brighams' explanations and examples were. The book not only had exhaustive coverage, but it was very well-written. The vignettes at the beginning of each of the chapter really shows a good application of the chapter's lesson in the real world.
When ever I come across a question concerning finance, I almost always reach for the Brigham and Houston book first--it's that good.
2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Foundational BookSunday, January 05, 2003
This book is taught in an excellent format for understanding the foundational and fundamental concepts of finance. The authors did an outstanding job with how this text is organized. It's also very simple in the explanation of concepts. Some finance books are written as if they were disssertations. This book brings the concepts down to the common man. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking to start graduate study in finance.
0 out of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Where's my book?Friday, September 13, 2002
It has been 29 days since I ordered my textbook, it has never arrived, and the seller will not respond to my e-mails...very poor service!
2 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Horrible textbook for normal peopleFriday, May 10, 2002
I literally wound up hating this book at the end of the semester. In some areas it's much too brief in it's explanations and definitions. In others, it uses too many acronyms and confusing lingo that overcomplicate simple concepts.
i.e: "The after-tax cost of debt,Kd(1-T), is used to calculate the weighted average cost of capital, and it is the interest rate on debt,(Kd),less the tax savings that result. This is the same as kd multiplied by (1-T) where T is the firm's marginal tax rate." Ch. 10
That is one of the simpler explanations provided by a book that so obviously should not be targeted to people whom have little or no background in finance. It also provides too few examples of application of it's concepts so you many know what something is but not know how to apply it. Other problems: No glossary, poor index, requires ability to use financial calculator, and terribly overpriced.
I emphatically agree with all the other nagative criticisms given to this book. I'm sorry if you're forced to buy this book for a class as I was. :(