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Accounting and Finance

Book highlights

Accounting: A Very Short Introduction

If you read the 'business pages' of a newspaper or if you listen to the financial news on the television or radio, you will often hear terms such as 'liability', 'balance sheet' or 'earnings'. These terms turn up in non-financial contexts as well: 'he was more of a liability than an asset'. If you invest in shares, have a building society account, or sit on a committee of the property company which owns your apartment block, you will receive financial statements every year. If you are a manager in a company, a hospital or a school, you will see accounting information often. This Very Short Introduction provides a guide to understanding and using accounting information. Christopher Nobes explains the main areas of accounting work, from bookkeeping and financial reporting to auditing and management accounting.

Using Accounting and Financial Information

Accounting often is referred to as "the language of business"; unfortunately, many business professionals lack the fluency in this unique language required to perform basic nancial analysis, prepare budgetary forecasts, or compare competing capital investment alternatives. While there is no shortage of financial-related textbooks or reference manuals, most assume that readers have educational backgrounds--and/or have had years of professional experience--in accounting, financial analysis, or corporate nance. Using Accounting and Financial Information targets professionals with limited exposure to--or formal training in-- accounting or related nance disciplines. These individuals often include--but certainly are not limited to-- engineers, information technology specialists, retail managers, entrepreneurs, marketing directors, construction contractors, attorneys, and even bankers who are making career transitions from consumer lending positions to become commercial loan of officers. The primary purpose of this book is to help managers and business owners from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to: (1) converse more effectively with their accounting and nance colleagues; (2)  understand the structure and the elements of general-purpose nancial statements, (3)  identify both the usefulness and the limitations of accounting information; (4) prepare basic nancial forecasts; and (5) make sense of commonly used decision-making models.

Accounting and Causal Effects

In this book, we synthesize a rich and vast literature on econometric challenges associated with accounting choices and their causal effects. Identi?cation and es- mation of endogenous causal effects is particularly challenging as observable data are rarely directly linked to the causal effect of interest. A common strategy is to employ logically consistent probability assessment via Bayes' theorem to connect observable data to the causal effect of interest. For example, the implications of earnings management as equilibrium reporting behavior is a centerpiece of our explorations. Rather than offering recipes or algorithms, the book surveys our - periences with accounting and econometrics. That is, we focus on why rather than how. The book can be utilized in a variety of venues. On the surface it is geared - ward graduate studies and surely this is where its roots lie. If we're serious about our studies, that is, if we tackle interesting and challenging problems, then there is a natural progression. Our research addresses problems that are not well - derstood then incorporates them throughout our curricula as our understanding improves and to improve our understanding (in other words, learning and c- riculum development are endogenous). For accounting to be a vibrant academic discipline, we believe it is essential these issues be confronted in the undergr- uate classroom as well as graduate studies. We hope we've made some progress with examples which will encourage these developments.

Global Development Finance 2010

'Global Development Finance 2010 (Multiple User CD-ROM)' provides you with more than 200 historical time series from 1970 to 2008, and country group estimates for 2009. Data is available for over 130 countries that report under the World Bank Debtor Reporting System, as well as summary data for regions and income groups. It contains data on total external debt stocks and flows, aggregates, and key debt ratios, and provides a detailed, country-by-country picture of debt.* The CD-ROM system requires Windows 98 or NT 4.0 or later, 20 MB of available hard disk space, 32 MB of RAM, and 2 MB of video memory. 64 K color video display recommended. Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 or higher and sound card optional.The license for the multiple user CD-ROM is valid for up to 15 authorized users. Should you need to make the program available for additional users through a network, including an intranet, please send a request to pubrights@worldbank.org, indicating the number of users you would like to add.For libraries and institutions, we recommend an institutional subscription to the online version of the program. Please email pubrights@worldbank.org for a quote.

Finance - Fundamental Problems and Solutions

As indicated by the title, this book focuses on fundamental problems in finance: a logical dilemma in valuation, stock valuation methods/models, risk valuation, and optimal capital structure. It presents an innovative approach to logic and quantitative reasoning (without advanced mathematics) that delivers valuable results ---- convincing solutions to these problems. Readers in finance will definitely be interested in these solutions as well as the methods. In fact, these fundamental problems are essential in the field of finance, and they have remained unsolved (or partly unsolved) for decades. The solutions offered in this book are all sound in theory and feasible in practice, and will hopefully benefit bothnbsp;theoretic al research and practical decision-making.

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