This is not, by any means, another financial accounting textbook.
Instead, I
intend it as a sort of spotlight, illuminating what I have found in my
investment
experience to be the 'black holes' of accounting. It is merely the collected
answers to
the questions that analysts (associates, vice presidents, managing directors
and clients
as well) have asked me during the time I spent giving accounting advice on
Wall
Street." From the Preface
Investment professionals too often regard the acquisition of accounting
knowledge as a
necessary evil-and, therefore, too often know less than they should. This
lack of
knowledge often leads to simple misunderstandings or even out and out errors
that, at
best, serve as minor speed bumps in a high-stakes transaction and, at worst,
lead to the
delay or even derailing of the deals in question.
Accounting for M&A, Equity, and Credit Analysts helps investment
professionals as
well as undergraduate and graduate students of investment banking ensure
that they will
always be able to quickly and confidently get their hands on the right
answers to
virtually every accounting question. Providing easy-access accounting
information without
needless detail and CPA doublespeak, this invaluable reference distinguishes
itself from
other texts of its type in four major areas as it:
Bypasses common-knowledge accounting basics to concentrate only on
information vital to
investment analysts
Takes an investment banking perspective as opposed to one solely
focused on Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and reporting
Integrates financial modeling and spreadsheet approaches that are
essential to
forecasting and analysis
Provides in-depth coverage of items in enterprise valuation and
business combination
transactions
In the investment profession, few factors are as valuable or overlooked
as solid
knowledge in accounting. Unfortunately, when professionals seek to increase
their
accounting expertise, they are too often faced with either cartoonish
workbooks or
incomprehensible, 600-page textbooks.
Accounting for M&A, Equity, and Credit Analysts provides investment
professionals,
analysts, and bankers with only the information they need to understand how
accounting
impacts their everyday environment. The first investment accounting desk
reference to
bridge the gap between what is taught in business school and what is
actually needed in
the real world, it allows investment pros to focus on and truly understand
the vital
accounting details they encounter every day and helps them ensure that minor
accounting
misunderstandings or mistakes won't mushroom into major deal-killers.
JAMES E. MORRIS, CPA, CFA, is a founding partner of TMG &C
Associates, LLC, a
consulting firm that specializes in financial modeling solutions for
investment and
commercial banks. He was formerly a vice president in mergers and
acquisitions research at
JP Morgan Securities, where he acted as the internal accounting advisor for
transaction
and financial accounting issues.
266 pages