Quality of Earnings (No Series)

Very good book, a classic and it's interesting to read about companies like IBM or Apple, but with the cut-off date around 1985.

Very good book for anyone wanting to step up their ability to analysis companies' financial statements. It is for the fundamental investor and gives good detail and tips for any future Warren Buffets.

The beginning of the book was rather slow, but later on the author explains in clear language were to look for in the annual reports.

This is a great book. The most valuable lesson I learned from it is to analyze the differences in income reporting to the IRS vs. reporting to shareholders. All companies keep two types of books, one for the IRS and one for shareholders. There are times when an expense can be deducted from a taxable income on the tax return, but it may not be deducted under the GAAP rules. As an investor, I am interested in knowing what a company reports to the IRS and how this number compares to what it reports to shareholders. Since most of the investors do not even bother to check this discrepancy, the dishonest management may deceive investors by hiding certain expenses. - Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

Buscaba algo diferente respecto a muchos libros y con este lo he encontrado. Muy bueno!!

I have never heard about this book, until Amazon recommended it to me. It sounded interesting so I ordered it, and I’m overwhelmed by how good it is. If you make your investment decisions based on the data from financial reports, this book is a must read. It shows the reader how companies can make you believe wrong or overly optimistic things and also goes into very deep depth about some important yet mostly overlooked fundamentals, like inventory. It also shows you how you can see through the blur of accounting tricks and get a better and more complete picture of the real financial situation of a company. How is this not a classic that gets quoted in almost every newer investment book. If you’ve read The Intelligent Investor this book is the next step down the road…

"Quality of Earnings" est un livre fascinant qui offre une perspective approfondie sur l'analyse des états financiers d'une entreprise. L'auteur, un expert en finance, explique comment évaluer la véritable rentabilité d'une entreprise en se concentrant sur la qualité de ses bénéfices, plutôt que sur les chiffres bruts. J'ai particulièrement apprécié les études de cas et les exemples concrets qui illustrent comment des entreprises peuvent manipuler leurs résultats pour donner une image plus positive de leur performance. Ce livre fournit des outils pratiques pour détecter ces anomalies et mieux comprendre la santé financière d'une entreprise. Que vous soyez un investisseur, un analyste financier ou simplement quelqu'un qui s'intéresse à la finance d'entreprise, ce livre est une lecture essentielle. Il vous aidera à développer une approche plus critique et informée de l'analyse des bénéfices. Je le recommande vivement à quiconque souhaite approfondir sa compréhension de la finance et de l'évaluation d'entreprise !

This seller is my highest recommendation.

For the retail investor and amateur security analyst, Thornton O'Glove's "Quality of Earnings" is a must read. Written in 1987, the book delves into the ostensibly esoteric subject of corporate accounting and its implications for common stock investors. To neophyte investors particularly interested in fundamental analyses of businesses, the company financials are often the most important resources they investigate. It is in this area that O'Glove's book provides readers with a much better understanding of the influence of GAAP on company financials, and leaves the readers with a newfound skepticism of the numbers they examine. The author divides the book into several chapters that focus on certain aspects of corporate financials, such as debt, cash flow, special sources of earnings and - most important to the author - the relationships between accounts receivables and inventories and both to annual sales. He admonishes the reader that personal considerations on the part of managers and auditors may produce deceptive financials, and the book is replete with examples of "magic" accounting that misrepresent the true performance of the firm. O'Glove also gives special treatment to a favorite subject of many investors, dividends, and his conclusions reflect an honest evaluation of the venerated practice of yearly dividend increases; likely to be a source of consternation for income-seeking investors. O'Glove concludes that his book is intended to provide investors with tools they can use to discerne the deluge of corporate financials, and that these tools do not require the reader to perform complex formulas. Rather, the tools are simple calcultations and intellectual exercises that aid the investor in seeing past the accounting to better grasp the operations of the business. As such, and despite its age, this book is a worthy inclusion in the personal library of any retail investor.