Rating: 
Summary: HMMM, We didn't discuss this at KFBS
Review: Fascinating work. Should be used in a course at your local B-school. Sit down, read it and enjoy, you may learn something that you will use one day.
Rating: 
Summary: Real World Financial Modelling
Review: Finally a book for the Finance Specialist using Excel. Fantastic explanation of every step, starting at the very beginning of each topic.I Corporate Finance Models Basic Financial Calculations, Calculation of Cost of Capital, Financial Statement Modeling, Using Financial Statement Models for Valuation, The Financial Analysis of Leasing, The Financial Analysis of Leveraged Leases. Great basics from which you can build your own models, improvements etc. II Portfolio Models Calculating the Variance-Covariance Matrix, No Short Sale Restriction, Estimating Beta & SML, Short Sale Restriction, VAR. Basic topics in PM, and less used on Excel in the professional world. But, very exciting to gain thorough understanding by doing it on Excel. III Option Pricing Models My topic. Binomial Model, LogNorm Distribution, B&S Model, Portfolio Insurance, Real Options, Early Excercising. Again, great excerise to do it on Excel for learning purposes. Nice intro on Real Options using Binomial Model, but not my beloved B&S. IV Bonds and Duration Duration, Immunisation, Modelling the Term Structure, Calculating Default expec.adj. Bond Returns, Cheapest to Deliver. Cannot comment to this topic. V Technical Considerations Random Numbers, Data Tables, Matrices, The Gauss-Seidel Method, Excel Functions, Some Excel Hints. Matrices explained on Excel! Never seen that before. The rest almost replaces a single Excel Handbook. VI Introduction to Visual Basic for Applications User-defined Functions with VBA for Applications, Types and Loops, Macros and User Interaction, Arrays, Objects. The basics of VBA that help you to master many VBA problems. Fantastic work Simon Benninga! Check: http://finance.wharton.upenn.edu/~benninga/home.html
Rating:
Summary: Financial Modeling - 2nd Edition
Review: Great intro to financial modeling, excellent text for undergrad finance and MBA students. Learn core financial topics and Excel simultaneously. Takes financial theory and applies it in excel with real "nuts and bolts" applications. Includes a CD with all the speadheets on it which is alone worth the price. No advanced math or statistics needed, although it would help the reader. Perhaps too basic for a student/graduate Ph.D. in Economics/Finance or M.S. in Financial Engineering.
Rating: 
Summary: Its not bad...
Review: However, it is to simple for practical application. Specialy the interest rate modelling part stops there where it gets interesting. So, honestly it is not good enought for graduate or higher porpose. If you are an undergraduate then this is the right joice.
Rating: 
Summary: "OK" for a beginner, but not for the Corporate World
Review: I am a business analyst. This book doesn't have models that I have used in the business world. The example models are very basic in form and execution. There is no way that I would show the CFO these models. There are a few interesting pages. I will keep the book on my shelf for a reference.
Rating: 
Summary: TOO BASIC for professionals
Review: I am an budget and forecast analyst and consider this book a waste of money for professionals. The author approaches the topics like cash flow and cost analysis as if the reader were a freshmen student. I was disappointed because the book is not what it claims to be. At the cash flow analysis, the author worries about how to show that the depreciation should be added to the profit after tax. Anybody who works in the field knows that. Then, the author goes to the spreadsheets. They are so simple that anyone could do the same on a piece of paper and still be faster. I felt I spent US$60 for nothing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for any novice on financial modeling
Review: I have used this book and recommended to others. It is certainly one of the best books on financial modelling, especially if you are a novice in modeling. It gives step by step clear techniques for various problems. It is very easy to read, with excellent examples. Hope you can enjoy this book as much as I have.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book due to its simple practicality
Review: I highly recommend this book to any aspiring financial analyst. It is definitely worth it, even at the list price. Want to master the fundamentals of basic finance using Excel? then this is one of the few books on the market that really meet this need. Want to set up more advanced mathmatics modeling? well as the introduction of this explains, this book is more like a cookbook: it lists the required basic ingredients and the culinary process but if you want to spice the dish (financial model) up, it is up to the individuals to dig out those advanced formulas from the financial trade journals and apply them to the models. I first saw the first edition of this book in my college library. took it home and was EXCITED. I was looking for a practical book that would show me the intricacies of Excel for setting up financial models and this was like a god-sent. Like one of the other reviewers said, this book combined basic finance, Excel functions, and VBA programming. To add practicality to this book, Professor Benninga even showed how to download financial data from the internet. Granted it is rather basic, but it adds to the usability of his book, making it a well-round book. The best parts are end-of-the chapter exercises. Solutions are provided in the accompanying CD-ROM. See how many ways can you solve the same problem. Professor Benninga always outlines the assumptions and explains the parameters of each model. We should remember that in many instances, unrealistic assumptions lead to way-of-the mark numbers, rendering the whole modeling process and its calculations useless. Want to become a advanced-level financial modeler? then master the fundamentals first! this book gets you started. P.S. I also highly recommend to anyone just starting with Excel modeling to read William J. Orvis's Excel for Scientists and Engineers. It is a bit outdated but still highly useful for its chapters on curve fitting, VBA programming and raw data manipulation.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST-GET For Serious Analysts !
Review: I received the book as a gift, last week. And I have been using it eversince. And i agree that there ARE errors, though. But if you're familiar with Excel, you can easily detect it (at least SOME of it). A definite MUST-HAVE for serious analysts who want to get things done conveniently.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinarily useful book! No errors!
Review: I recently got Benninga's book on financial modeling. I think it is a great book! For once, someone has taken the time to write a book that takes financial theory out of the classroom and follows it directly in a simple path to useful applications. Unfortunately all too many academic authors fail to take their work the final step and thus much of it can never be fully applied. I went through many of the exercises and did not find any errors or mistakes. I suspect that those readers commenting on mistakes lack certain basic Excel skills (necessary for this book). If you're interested in financial modeling, or want to sharpen your finance skills, this is the book to get.
| 
