The book reviews listed below are the complete set of what users left on the google form. They were not cherry-picked or manipulated. I only deleted empty responses. I am not familiar with any of the submitters, although the submitters did have to leave their names.

Q4. Rating

Terrible (1) Bad (2) Medium (3) Good (4) Great (5)
1 0 4 12 37

Q3.

if you are a professor, please include also your impression of student reception and ancillary materials, as well as comparisons to other textbooks you have used. (This question allows you to write a long answer. Ideally, this would be between 1 paragraph and 2 pages long.)

  • I'm not a professor
  • Great book! Glad it's available for free online. I'll buy a copy for my office and all my employees when I get promoted.
  • "I came to know this book first through a MOOC on Coursera on Finance, by Michigan University where I started printing the chapters I needed off the Ivo-Welch book website. Further research on which book to adopt led me to a syllabus from NYU Stern, where Prof. Welch textbook was offered as an alternative to the classic Principles of Corporate Finance by Brealey, Myers, Allen.
  • When I started my Finance class in my online MBA program I was not completely satisfied with some of the Creative Commons textbooks the University was providing us (they require and supply only free open educational resources), so I decided to buy my own extra textbook. I ended up buying two:

    - the first I bought was the latest European Edition (2016) of the RWJ (with Hillier added as author) as I thought it was the 'safe' choice, and for €69 new softcover on Amazon.it, I couldn't complain compared to the price my fellow american counterparts would pay. It is the latest RWJ, just in disguise.

    - After a while though, I wanted to approach some topics from a different angle, so, I turned my attention to a book I knew it was really different in its approach: prof. Welch's Corporate Finance. I bought the MFE version here on Lulu and received it in a few days.

    Sure, it is in black & white but I like the thicker pages, I can write and highlight text much better than on the more delicate pages of the HRWJ. I found Prof. Welch style to be the real advantage of this book. He makes topics easy to understand, uses a friendly jargon, the examples are super clear and at the same time he touches all arguments. The fact that more advanced topics are kept separate from the book (in the online companion), it allows to not waste mental energy with extra detail not immediately needed.

    Finally, even the 'errata' is better managed on the Welch. You go to the website(https://book.ivo-welch.info/read/), see the Table of Content and the errata is right below each chapter in the list.

    I found mistakes in some formulas of the HRWJ (two I took note of, are at page 416 and 430), but there is no errata, at least that I could find by going to the publisher website. I strongly recommend this book, it comes with a ton of extra resources (just dig in prof. Welch website and blog) and I am currently suggesting my university to consider adopting its free pdf version as the standard Finance textbook.

    P.S. (totally off topic) Many still turn their noses up to online programs or courses, including prof. Welch with his article: No More Moocs (Massive Open Online Courses), Please. What I think it has not always been realized, is that there are segments of 'higher education consumers' for which online ed. would be a great learning experience, and it would provide tons of peer-learning and exchange (look at the UoPeople model), however, the brave that choose to do so have to see their efforts discounted by these attitude towards MOOCs and online programs still spread by venerable opinion leaders. Those that are denied access, for any reason, to learning from a researching university, shouldn't be cut off from education and offered no other choice but to buy a book. The same reasoning goes if you are in your mid-career (late thirties), loose your job, and can't afford to join research institutions, but still want to use this time to study your favorite subject WELL, in your budget, and from a world institution of your choice, from home. By now, I think technology, computer science, peer-learning, and open source technologies should allow to position each educational alternative for each candidate, rather than labeling one as better than another. I agree though with prof. Welch words when on page 627 of Corporate Finance MFE version, he sais 'The variation in what any one individual gets out of a particular MBA program just swamps the average quality variations across schools'. The real attitude we should commit to change, is that of employers to not discount quality online programs but rather see how they added value to each candidate. Education has been globalized and we can't all learn CAPM from Eugene Fama at Chicago Booth... or from prof. Welch at UCLA.. in a PhD. The model in a perfect world would suggest so, but finance teaches us that reality is a bit more complicated than one-size-fits-all models." "As a student in Germany, studying in German, I find it a bit complicated to translate every term, but am happy to have the information, presented in English as it is going to be more useful in the future. I love the examples and it is easy to read. Unfortunately, I find finance and accounting very difficult and need a lot of time to understand the concepts, shown in the book. "

  • good

  • "I've recently switched to this textbook after using several other texts for teaching introductory finance for undergraduates. I'll be using it for that and for an MBA finance course this semester--I'll provide an update after the semester's over for both courses. I think the organization is natural for an MBA course--my syllabus follows the same order as the text. There's more jumping around for my undergrad course, as I begin by reviewing accounting statements and then move on to financial ratios, but the book contains all the material I need.

    Other textbooks have compelled me to begin classes with 'so, your book is wrong' (one brand new book stated that the NASDAQ is run by NASD, an organization that hasn't existed in over a decade). Other texts present some material uncritically (such as financial ratios), which is almost as frustrating as being factually wrong. Thus far, I've had no such issues with this book.

    I also appreciate the thoroughness of the book, as it covers topics such as capital structure and WACC in far greater depth. Even if I don't delve into the dirty details for a course, I think it's beneficial for students to see that there are ways to address more complicated scenarios, and that the techniques I teach aren't confined to toy problems.

    Overall, I'm very satisfied so far, and the price can't be beat."

  • I am not professor yet
  • NA
  • I'm no professor.
  • "Best free downloadable text available. However, students request more examples of the formulas. "
  • This but is great in explaining the basics (and sometimes some more advanced concepts) of corporate finance from ground up. I have really enjoyed it and I think it's price is really undervalued for what it offers. Many thanks to the author!
  • "Actually I am using this book as I am studying the course of Corporate Finance at the University of Michigan, who suggested reading it. My goal is to improve my knowledge on this subject to transmit them to my students of the Master of Finance at the University of Carabobo in Valencia, Venezuela. Once I have read and studied this book, I would be happy to send you my opinions about it."
  • I am not a professor
  • This book is useful for studying about investment and analysis.
  • Not a professor
  • "Re-reading Corporate Finance, I found the book inspiring and well written with many useful examples for reflections. I studied Corporate Finance 25 years ago. I used the book to re-examine whether specific ideas to new financial ratios for IRB PD-models in banks could be theoretically explained and supported."
  • I’m not a professor
  • Thank you for your generosity! Your text was recommended by a colleague.
  • Can't access the download free easily. No instructions at all.
  • Not a professor im a student
  • n/a
  • I'm not professor I'm student
  • I am a student
  • I did not use other books
  • Very good concepts
  • i am not a professor I am a student "its really good
  • no
  • This is the first time I use this web site This book is very well written and great! Am not a professer but a student and I can tell you student reception is great and useful thanks for such platforms
  • "thank you for writing this book, I've learned tons. just wanted to point out typo on pg. 159 top of page 'begun to competing'. "
  • Not a professor. n/a
  • I am a professor of management but student of Corporate Finance
  • No
  • I am student
  • good
  • Awesome book. Great insights and easy to understand explanations.

  • "This is a terrific book, I have now used it for five years at different levels (undergraduate and masters), it pulls off the unique feat of working out well with both mathematically sophisticated students and less mathematically trained ones. For the former, it provides a rigorous framework that is natural to extend in more advanced directions; for the latter, it provides a highly accessible and intuitive read without sacrificing any rigour. Highly recommended."

  • I am a student

  • "I lecture corporate finance to entrepreneurs and also post-graduate students in Warsaw, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Taipei, Macau, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Nanjing. I realised it is not easy to find a text-book that can cater to a broad and diverse audience across national boundaries; touching various cultural backdrops and spanning various economic systems. Your book had fulfilled that needs. I would like to commend you for the good work. Well done!"

  • Great
  • great
  • good
  • I'm student
  • "I am not a professor, sorry."
  • study

Q5. Suggestions for Ed 5

  • "At the end of section 1.2, the biggest 'projects' of a family, and often the biggest sources of revenue, are the full time jobs that the members hold. Maybe you should mention this along-side 'house', 'car', 'tuition', 'education investments'... committing the majority of one's time to an employer is simply taking on a 'project' and can be evaluated similarly to all other 'projects'. Thanks for a great book!"

    "A more comprehensive discussion on how to determine project Cash Flows for Capital Budgeting, with both the direct and indirect methods covered, like here: https://www.unf.edu/~dtanner/dtch/dt_ch17.htm or through a model like this: www.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/pc/capbudg.xls "

  • So far, the only adjustment I'd like to see is for the Introduction chapter to more directly beat the reader over the head with value maximization. Not because the ethical dilemmas mentioned aren't important, but because many students have difficulty internalizing the idea that maximizing profits isn't the end-all-be-all of managing a firm. I like to use small tech startups as an example; they may never make a sale, generate a profit, or produce positive operating cash flow, but there are still decisions to make that affect the value of the firm (perhaps the firm will be acquired by Google if they produce intellectual property that's valuable enough).
  • Part VI more cases
  • Only the correction of minor errors. It is already great as it is! No suggestions yet.

  • "For the WACC after tax formula, I find that to apply it, one must be very careful to understand the implifications to the cash flow, which must be modified in accordance to the formula definition of 'Cost after tax on Equity' and 'Cost after tax of Debt'. Applying a Cash Flow as reported by the company woyuld result in over-estimation of asset valuation by NPV. Thus the more intuitive formula should be explained:

    WACC after tax = EBT*(1-t)*Weight of Equity + FE/IBD*Weight of Debt

    = (EarningsBeforeTax*(1-t) + FinancialExpenses)/CapitalEmployed

    Cash Flow = Earnings Before Tax * (1-t) + Financial Expenses

    t = Corporate income tax rate

    Furthermore this formula emphasize that Cost of Debt is in fact what is paid to the financiers, while the tax subsidiary on interest expenses in fact increase the return to the equity investors. Thus the tax subsidiary increases return demanded (expected) by investors. I can provide more insight to this by mail, if helpful."

  • Keep up the good work.
  • I'm very happy to participate this opportunity
  • Improve graphics
  • Yes
  • Maybe sell on Amazon as well! Great book!!
  • Just continue updating the figures/data; and perhaps develop a bit more some of the more advanced topics, like behavioral finance; capital structure in imperfect markets; how to make pro-forma financial statements
  • More updated cases, searchable. important for teaching, to a whole new generations of students.
  • nothing

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