Praise for The Financial Numbers Game "So much for the notion 'those who can, do-those who can't, teach.' Mulford and Comiskey function successfully both as college professors and real-world financial mercenaries. These guys know their balance sheets. The Financial Numbers Game should serve as a survival manual for both serious individual investors and industry pros who study and act upon the interpretation of financial statements. This unique blend of battle-earned scholarship and quality writing is a must-read/must-have reference for serious financial statement analysis." --Bob Acker, Editor/Publisher, The Acker Letter "Wall Street's unforgiving attention to quarterly earnings presents ever increasing pressure on CFOs to manage earnings and expectations. The Financial Numbers Game provides a clear explanation of the ways in which management can stretch, bend, and break accounting rules to reach the desired bottom line. This arms the serious investor or financial analyst with the healthy skepticism required to drive beyond reported results to a clear understanding of a firm's true performance." --Mark Hurley, Managing Director, Training and Development, Global Corporate and Investment Banking, Bank of America "After reading The Financial Numbers Game, I feel as though I've taken a master's level course in financial statement analysis. Mulford and Comiskey's latest book should be required reading for anyone who is serious about fundamentally analyzing stocks." --Harry Domash, San Francisco Chronicle investing columnist and investment newsletter publisher

The world certainly suffers no shortage of accounting texts. The many out there help readers prepare, audit, interpret and explain corporate financial statements. What has been missing is a book offering context and discussion for divisive issues such as taxes, debt, options, and earnings volatility. King addresses the why of accounting instead of the how, providing practitioners and students with a highly readable history of U.S. corporate accounting. More Than a Numbers Game: A Brief History of Accounting was inspired by Arthur Levitt's landmark 1998 speech delivered at New York University. The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman described the too-little challenged custom of earnings management and presaged the breakdown in the US corporate accounting three years later. Somehow, over a one-hundred year period, accounting morphed from a tool used by American railroad managers to communicate with absent British investors into an enabler of corporate fraud. How this happened makes for a good business story. This book is not another description of accounting scandals. Instead it offers a history of ideas. Each chapter covers a controversial topic that emerged over the past century. Historical background and discussion of people involved give relevance to concepts discussed. The author shows how economics, finance, law and business customs contributed to accounting's development. Ideas presented come from a career spent working with accounting information.

Successful methodology for identifying earnings-related reporting indiscretions Creative Cash Flow Reporting and Analysis capitalizes on current concerns with misleading financial reporting on misleading financial reporting. It identifies the common steps used to yield misleading cash flow amounts, demonstrates how to adjust the cash flow statement for more effective analysis, and how to use adjusted operating cash flow to uncover earnings that have been misreported using aggressive or fraudulent accounting practices. Charles W. Mulford, PhD, CPA (Atlanta, GA), is the coauthor of three books, including the bestselling The Financial Numbers Game: Identifying Creative Accounting Practices. Eugene E. Comiskey, PhD, CPA, CMA (Atlanta, GA), is the coauthor of the bestselling The Financial Numbers Game: Identifying Creative Accounting Practices.

A compact guide to evaluating financial statements and uncovering the realities behind the numbers. This edition has been updated with new information and examples which reflect today's financial actualities.

Techniques to uncover and avoid accounting frauds and scams Inflated profits . . . Suspicious write-offs . . . Shifted expenses . . . These and other dubious financial maneuvers have taken on a contemporary twist as companies pull out the stops in seeking to satisfy Wall Street. Financial Shenanigans pulls back the curtain on the current climate of accounting fraud. It presents tools that anyone who is potentially affected by misleading business valuations­­from investors and lenders to managers and auditors­­can use to research and read financial reports, and to identify early warning signs of a company's problems. A bestseller in its first edition, Financial Shenanigans has been thoroughly updated for today's marketplace. New chapters, data, and research reveal contemporary "shenanigans" that have been known to fool even veteran researchers.

Praise for Financial Statement Analysis A Practitioner's Guide Third Edition "This is an illuminating and insightful tour of financial statements, how they can be used to inform, how they can be used to mislead, and how they can be used to analyze the financial health of a company." -Professor Jay O. Light Harvard Business School "Financial Statement Analysis should be required reading for anyone who puts a dime to work in the securities markets or recommends that others do the same." -Jack L. Rivkin Executive Vice President (retired) Citigroup Investments "Fridson and Alvarez provide a valuable practical guide for understanding, interpreting, and critically assessing financial reports put out by firms. Their discussion of profits-'quality of earnings'-is particularly insightful given the recent spate of reporting problems encountered by firms. I highly recommend their book to anyone interested in getting behind the numbers as a means of predicting future profits and stock prices." -Paul Brown Chair-Department of Accounting Leonard N. Stern School of Business, NYU "Let this book assist in financial awareness and transparency and higher standards of reporting, and accountability to all stakeholders." -Patricia A. Small Treasurer Emeritus, University of California Partner, KCM Investment Advisors "This book is a polished gem covering the analysis of financial statements. It is thorough, skeptical and extremely practical in its review." -Daniel J. Fuss Vice Chairman Loomis, Sayles & Company, LP

A clear, easy-to-understand explanation of key financial accounting basics. The world of accounting can be intimidating. Whether you're a manager, business owner, aspiring entrepreneur, or taking a college course in accounting, you'll find yourself need to know the basics...but baffled by complicated accounting books. What if learning accounting could be as simple and fun as running a child's lemonade stand? It can. The Accounting Game presents financial information in a format so simple and so unlike a common accounting textbook, you may forget you're learning skills that will help you get ahead! Using the world of a child's lemonade stand to teach the basics of managing your finances, this book makes a dry subject fun and understandable. As you run your stand, you'll begin to understand and apply financial terms and concepts like assets, liabilities, earnings, inventory and notes payable, plus: Interactive format gives you hands-on experience Color-coded charts and worksheets help you remember key terms Step-by-step process takes you from novice to expert with ease Fun story format speeds retention of essential concepts Designed to apply what you learn to the real world The revolutionary approach of The Accounting Game takes the difficult subjects of accounting and business finance and makes them something you can easily learn, understand, remember and use! Praise for The Accounting Game: "The game approach makes the subject matter most understandable. I highly recommend it to anyone frightened by either numbers or accountants." —John Hernandis, Director of Corporate Communications, American Greetings "Fantastic Learning Tool...Don't let this book title fool you. It is not an oversimplification of accounting and financial principles. It is, however, a serious and very effective examination of a very small but progressively complex business. There are not many books available on the market that make a complex and dry subject understandable and even fun. This book successfully does just that." —Amazon Reviewer