• ISBN13: 9780471433477

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Firstly, I completely disagree with the subtitle of the book: "Uncovering a Company's True Value" as it is misleading. Gaining information from Ms. Leder's book will not result in uncovering a company's **true** value. The book will allow the novice or untrained Analysts / PMs to focus on areas that may shed more light on the company's financial operating results, financial condition, and/or cash flow generating abilities. However, such cursory coverage of said materials is insufficient to arrive at a company's **true** value.

Secondly, the writer fails to fully understand the analytics related to a majority of the subject matters. Allow me to use Chapter 8 that addresses off-balance obligations. On page 133, the writer describes a "Synthetic Lease" but fails to explain or differentiate the lease from any other FASB #13 operating lease. Second, on page 130, the writer tries to educate the reader on the importance of off-balance liabilities with the following remark: "... is to imagine how your bank account balance would improve if you didn't have to account for the monthly mortgage payment." However, her example is faulty and dangerously misleading. If a company has an off-balance sheet operating lease, the reader ought to see the rental (or lease) expense in the income statement. Had the company chose to own the asset outright, the reader would see depreciation (and possibly interest) expense in lieu of the rental expense, other things being equal. That is to if someone didn't account for his "monthly mortgage payment," then common sense would dictate that someone is "renting" his place.

Lastly, the writer tries to add credibility to her work by randomly inserting quotes from a limited number of "experts," that tends to get recycled through-out the book. While some of the people mentioned in the book are highly respected in the industry (i.e. Pat McConnell and David Zion), it was disappointing to find out Ms. Leder did not interview some of the leading researchers from the accounting academia. In fairness, Ms. Leder did provide some accounting research, albeit woefully inadequate for a book of this scope.

In summary, Ms. Leder's book is great for a novice who wants to understand the role footnotes play in financial statement analysis. However, her book was over-hyped for the more experienced or serious students of financial statement analysis.

11 of 12 found the following review helpful:


Financial Fineprint  Feb 11, 2004 By Josh Brackeen
Is there any way an ordinary investor can protect themselves from shady corporate accounting? YES!! Michelle Leder's book Financial Fineprint has given me the tools to become a better investor.

Not only does she do an excellent job of breaking down annual reports and SEC filings in a very organized and clearly written manner , she also provides an invaluable service by guiding the reader through the footnotes of financial statements, pointing out indicators of accounting tricks and obscuring tactics. Ms. Leder gives the average investor the means to find out for themselves about the companies they invest with. I can now spot those Inflated profits, questionable related party transactions, hidden expenses, etc., before I decide to buy a particular stock.

This book is not simply a "How to" book, however, as it is written in a more narrative and reader friendly style, with personal accounts and fun annecdotes.

I highly reccomend this book for anyone who wants to have as much knowledge at their fingertips as possible before making important financial decisions.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:


A polygraph for financial statements and corporate reports  Sep 29, 2003
In the aftermath of the corporate accounting scandals, it's hard to know what companies to trust enough to put your money behind them. Financial Fine Print has helped me research companies much more thoroughly. By showing me step-by-step methods to dissect the footnotes in the corporations' financial statements and annual reports, I've learned where all of the unflattering yet legally accountable information is usually hidden in order to make better decisions. I heartily recommend this book for any savvy investor who is unwilling to invest in a company without having personally researched it first.

12 of 15 found the following review helpful:


An individual investors' best friend  Feb 12, 2004
The investment club that I'm in wound up losing a lot of money on Healthsouth, so we've been very cautious over the past year. But with the market rising, we know that all of this caution has wound up costing us money. Luckily, one of our members received Financial Fine Print as a Christmas present this year. Over the past month or so, this book -- now dog-eared -- has made its way to all 15 of us and we now feel as if we're better investors as a result. I finally decided to buy my own copy because I think it's one of the best books available for individual investors who are looking to do their own research on stocks. There's so many great examples of the sorts of things companies try to hide from their investors in their SEC filings -- information investors need to have before they put their money on the line.

One of the things our group has done over the past month is to go back and look at Healthsouth's SEC filings to see if we would have made the same mistakes. Now armed with Ms. Leder's expert advice, we found numerous "red flags" that would have prompted us to sell the stock before Healthsouth's problems became so apparent. Yes, hindsight is always 20-20, so it's easy to say that now. But we all still feel that we've learned so much from this book that we can now invest with a lot more confidence, instead of being pre-occupied with the fear that we're buying another company that's much more interested in enriching its executives at the expense of their shareholders.

Most of the other accounting-related books our group has read -- and we've read a bunch -- all seem to be aimed at a professional audience and can be a bit dry unless you're the type of person who thinks FASB is fascinating. Not this book. Using easy to understand language and examples that help you put the complicated accounting into perspective, this excellent book is an individual investor's best friend!

9 of 11 found the following review helpful:


Equal footing for the small investor  Oct 06, 2003 By Kevin G. Wilson, CPA
Financial Fine Print is an essential book for the small investor. It takes the fear and intimidation out of reading financial footnotes. As a CPA I found it very enlightening. It was a quick read and gives the small investor a better understanding of the companies they plan to invest in.

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