I would use this as (1) a launching-point to other, more in-depth books on finance or (2) a review of the basiscs, when you don't want to get bogged down by the minutia, but do need to understand.

The auther has an excellent sense for what is important in this subject, how to explain it in words, and how to illustrate it.

24 of 26 found the following review helpful:


Good Things Come In Small Packages  Dec 24, 1999 By Tony Wingler
The best book of its type: covers key points in a direct and effective way. If you need to refresh understanding of financial statements, or learn the basic in a concise format you will be pleased with this book. As a finance professor and practioner (CFA) I have recommended Bandler to numerous students and associates.

18 of 19 found the following review helpful:


Great for understanding & interpreting financial statements  Mar 26, 2000 By Ron
This book teaches anyone (from owners, to managers, to employees, to customers, to lenders, to suppliers, and to attorneys) how to obtain answers from financial statements by asking the right questions. This book is not filled with esoteric symbols and mathematical babbles, but with clear diagrams and down to earth explanations of the applications of each part of the financial statements. The author has done an excellent job on making this seemingly confusing subject very easy to understand and useful to those who needs to make decisions from it.

14 of 15 found the following review helpful:


good and bad  Oct 10, 2006 By Josh White
There is no doubt that the author is extremely knowledgeable about financial statements, but he struggles to write a clear introduction for newcomers. I finished the book with a muddy, incomplete understanding of financial statements.

In his attempt to introduce financial statements to first-timers like me, the author gets a couple things right:

- it's short. the length is a very comforting 130 pages.

- it's illustrated. there are drawings of scales with profit/loss, etc. This is essential for visual learners like me.

However, the author fails on these points:

- cute phrases instead of genuine insight. The author's little jokes in the text felt a little self-indulgent, and didn't help explain. There is one exception: it was useful when the author describes the fans of the various reports - P/L vs Balance vs Cash Flow. However, most of the rest of the joking was irrelevant and amateur.

- Not well written. Like many technical books, the quality of writing was poor. Many parts like first drafts - left me with lots of questions. The illustrations often felt incomplete and didn't help explain much.

- Expert blindness. In some ways, experts are the worst people to write books for beginners. They are passionate about the details and history, which is not what newcomers need.

I understand why financial experts would recommend this book to newcomers: they share the passions of the author. However, this doesn't help newcomers. I will keep shopping for the book that gives me the basic 'big picture' understanding of financial statements I need.

5 of 7 found the following review helpful:


excellent refresher  Feb 16, 2006 By Notorious JDH
I had a basic understanding of financial statements from accounting courses in college, but had forgotten most of it in the past 7 years. This book was a great refresher and would probably also be a good first book for someone with zero - very limited knowledge.

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