{"data":[{"id":215,"title":"Introduction to Financial Accounting","edition_statement":"2024-A-D","volume":null,"copyright_year":2024,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"Introduction to Financial Accounting, originally by D. Annand and H. Dauderis, is intended for a first course in introductory financial accounting. It has been extensively edited by Athabasca University and reflects current International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). A corporate approach is utilized, versus beginning with a sole proprietorship emphasis and then converting to a corporate approach. The textbook focuses on core introductory financial accounting topics that match pre-requisite requirements for students advancing to intermediate financial accounting. The textbook covers all essential topics, including: the accounting cycle; merchandising; assigning costs to inventory; cash and receivables; property, plant and equipment; debt financing; equity financing; statement of cash flows; financial statement analysis; and proprietorships and partnerships. The original Annand/Dauderis version of the textbook including .docx files and ancillary material remains available upon request to D. Annand (davida@athabascau.ca).","contributors":[{"id":3743,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"David","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Annand","location":"Athabasca University","background_text":"David Annand, EdD, MBA, CA, is a Professor of Accounting in the Faculty of Business at Athabasca University. His research interests include the educational applications of computer-based instruction and computer mediated communications to distance learning, the effects of online learning on the organization of distance-based universities, and the experiences of instructors in graduate-level computer conferences. David completed his Doctorate in Education in 1998. His thesis deals with the experiences of instructors in graduate-level computer conferences."},{"id":4817,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Henry","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Dauderis","location":"Athabasca University","background_text":"Henry Dauderis"},{"id":7406,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Tilly","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Jensen","location":"Athabasca University","background_text":"Tilly Jensen"}],"subjects":[{"id":18,"name":"Accounting","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HF5625","visible_textbooks_count":18,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/accounting"},{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"}],"publishers":[{"id":398,"url":"https://lyryx.com/","year":2021,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:39.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-04-06T10:23:23.000-05:00","name":"Lyryx"}],"formats":[{"id":684,"type":"Online","url":"https://collection.bccampus.ca/textbooks/introduction-to-financial-accounting-2024-a-d-vretta-lyryx-inc-445/#question-4","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1181,"type":"PDF","url":"https://collection.bccampus.ca/textbooks/introduction-to-financial-accounting-2024-a-d-vretta-lyryx-inc-445/#question-4","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1182,"type":"eBook","url":"https://collection.bccampus.ca/textbooks/introduction-to-financial-accounting-2024-a-d-vretta-lyryx-inc-445/#question-4","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1183,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"https://opentextbook.docsol.sfu.ca/store/product/introduction-to-financial-accounting-2024-a-d/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"5","textbook_reviews_count":5,"reviews":[{"id":276,"first_name":"Margarita Maria","last_name":"Lenk","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Colorado State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The content of this textbook matches the content and organization of most introductory financial accounting textbooks. It is written by Canadian authors, but is relevant to US students. The text  begins by explaining the role of financial accounting in society, and then describes the underlying structure of double entry accounting systems and the process of recording economic events that impact the value of the organization through the journals and the ledger. The records of these events are then summarized into the primary financial statements. The numeric subtotals and totals on these statements are used to calculate standard financial measures and ratios used to evaluate the organization's performance. The text's organization then proceeds sequentially through the balance sheet accounts, explaining in more detail how the accounting for each category of economic value is recorded and reported. The author's decision to move the most complex content to the end of the book matches how most faculty choose to organize their coverage of these topics. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"My reviewed resulted in highest marks regarding accuracy. The only possible concern I would mention here is that the authors use a commonly used technique in chapter two which sometimes leads to students misunderstanding that revenues and expenses are not part of owners' equity until the revenues and expenses are closed at year end to retained earnings. It is my preference to teach introductory students that revenues and expenses are distinct and separate from equity, and then explain that revenues and expenses ultimately get closed to equity. So, this is not an inaccuracy by the authors, just a point that some instructors may want to know before adopting the textbook.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"It is my opinion that the content of this textbook will be relevant and current for at least a decade. Any changes made to accounting principles, Canadian or International, will be very easy and straightforward to update. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"It is my opinion that the clarity of this text is very high. The authors are succinct and use visuals often to highlight the theoretical structures. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"This test is very consistent with the framework that is set up by the authors in the beginning of the text. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The textbook is very clearly divided into separable modules, making it easy for both students to read and for instructors to choose which modules to include in their course.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The content of this textbook matches the content and organization of most introductory financial accounting textbooks. It begins by explaining the role of financial accounting in society, and then describes the underlying structure of double entry accounting systems and the process of recording economic events that impact the value of the organization through the journals and the ledger. The records of these events are then summarized into the primary financial statements. The numeric subtotals and totals on these statements are used to calculate standard financial measures and ratios used to evaluate the organization's performance. The text's organization then proceeds sequentially through the balance sheet accounts, explaining in more detail how the accounting for each category of economic value is recorded and reported. The author's decision to move the most complex content to the end of the book matches how most faculty choose to organize their coverage of these topics.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The online text worked perfectly in my Chrome browser. The end of chapter exercises and problems are perfectly formatted on the screen. All assessment materials (quizzes, exams, etc.) are located on a different site that requires registration to have access. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found the grammar to be very clear, concise and very effective. Because the book is written by Canadians, expenses are sometimes referred to as revenue expenditures, which does not match how US textbooks refer to expenses, but is perhaps a better learning tool, as the expenses are always recorded in the period in which they match the revenue generation, so I support the authors' choices regarding how they refer to the difference between assets (capital expenditures) and expenses (revenue expenditures).","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook adequately refers to the international accounting standards. That is the only cultural relevance which is relevant to introductory financial accounting. ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I found this textbook and its exercises to be a useful teaching and learning tool.  Instructors and students have access to pre-made PowerPoint slides, exercises and problems, and there is the option to enrol in an online service for online assessments, which seem to have student feedback capabilities in addition to assessment gathering capabilities. ","created_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2016-01-07T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1932,"first_name":"Patty","last_name":"Goedl","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"University of Cincinnati Clermont College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all of the topics normally found in an introductory financial accounting (principles of accounting I) text.  The table of contents essentially mirrors the table of contents found in the leading texts in this field.  I like that this text also covers the classified balance sheet, financial disclosures and partnerships.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content is error-free, accurate, and unbiased.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The content is up-to-date.  Introductory accounting does not change often so future updates should be minimal.  The authors used the year 2015 in most of the problem and examples.  This might make the text \"seem\" out-of-date in a few years.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is clear and concise.  The topics are clearly explained and the technical terminology is appropriate for an introductory level.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The writing, style, and formatting are consistent throughout this text.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is divided into topical chapters, which is appropriate considering that the concepts build on each other.  The chapters are further subdivided into sub-topics.  This makes it easy for an instructor to pick which sub-topics to cover.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Excellent organization and flow.  The concepts logically build upon each other and the material is presented in a clear fashion.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The HTML interface is excellent.  The book has good graphics, end of chapter content, and even video examples.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Excellent book that is comparable to any of the leading financial accounting titles.  The authors even provide end of chapter problems, videos, and interactive Excel problems for students. Overall, a great resource!  I commend the authors for making something of this caliber freely available.","created_at":"2018-03-27T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-03-27T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":3916,"first_name":"Lawrence","last_name":"Overlan","position":"Part-time Professor","institution_name":"Bunker Hill Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"I appreciate how the Statement of Cash Flows has a separate chapter towards the end of the book.  Might be better to wait until that chapter instead of also discussing it in Chapter One.....lots of material for opening week....","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I sampled several problems...all correct.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Hard to make accounting obsolete. All the required material is present.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Problems are presented clearly and with good font size. Excellent color schemes and graphics.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Yes....no problems detected in this area. Very straightforward.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Chapters contain the right amount of content. Not too long with out breakup diagrams or examples etc.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Standard flow of chapters  with excellent subdivisions.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"To the contrary, the graphics and flow charts break up the material very nicely.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No issues.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"No issues noticed in this area.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Nice work! I will definitely consider adopting.","created_at":"2020-06-04T14:01:14.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-04T14:01:14.000-05:00"},{"id":34605,"first_name":"Katheryn","last_name":"Zielinski","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Minnesota State University Mankato","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text reading follows typical financial accounting flow. Beginning with the foundational introduction to what accounting is through the full accounting cycle, while including financial statement analysis towards the end of the book. Students will find the format helpful; the voice is student-friendly. There is online homework help for students. Instructors will find the text format friendly to semester-long class as concepts broken down into 13 chapters. The chapters explain the learning outcomes, use examples to express concepts, with chapter summary at end. The topics included are consistent with intro accounting courses.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"No issues noticed with accuracy. The text includes accurate financial accounting information.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"For an introductory accounting class with focus on US the concepts covered are typical.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The content is presented in a student friendly manner. Answers are provided. The extra information is helpful for students wanting extra practice.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The format and layout of the book chapters are consistent. All users will quickly understand the format as it is applied the same to each chapter. This helps provide consistency for students learning introductory accounting.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The content within the chapters can be broken-down and assigned as instructor plans for the course length. The manner is which the material is presented flows easily as reading.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text organization is consistent and coherent. Each chapter is presented in same manner.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No observed tech issues. PDF downloaded and used with ease.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammar or language issues.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"No cultural insensitive or offensive context noted.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This is a student friendly text. However, students might find a glossary helpful, as well as an index.","created_at":"2023-06-14T11:35:47.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-06-14T11:35:47.000-05:00"},{"id":35595,"first_name":"Sarah","last_name":"Engle","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Portland State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book provides a comprehensive introduction to financial accounting, starting first with introducing students to the world of accounting and then incorporating debits and credits in the second chapter. Proprietorships and partnerships are addressed in their own separate chapter, easily allowing for this to be a supplemental topic. The table of contents is thorough but I had trouble locating the glossary in the pdf version of the textbook.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Explanations of new terminology as well as related examples are accurate, free of errors, and unbiased. Additionally, explanations and examples are presented in formats that are easy to read, using tables and flowcharts where needed.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook content is relevant and up-to-date, with a summary changes provided prior to the table of contents. This book is updated every 1-2 years which is common for this subject matter. The layout of the individual chapters, coupled with the use of a detailed table of contents and learning objectives, should make content updates easy to locate and implement.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is written in lucid, accessible prose, and provides adequate context for any technical terminology used. Where needed, footnotes are used to provide additional context of the GAAP rules followed in Canada and/or IFRS. Adequate examples and illustrations of key concepts and terminology are used throughout the book to demonstrate the concepts.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Each chapter in the textbook is laid out in a consistent manner, starting first with the learning objectives for the chapter, then providing students with a concept self-check from prior chapters to ensure they are ready for this new content. Then each learning objective has its own section within the chapter, followed by a summary of the chapter's learning objectives.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The book's modularity is adaptable to classes that fit a traditional semester schedule or a shorter quarter schedule. The book is nicely organized with 13 chapters and each chapter is organized by learning objective, making it easy to assign smaller sections of the book to read on a weekly basis.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The textbook topics are consistent with those used in other textbooks for this topic. The authors start by introducing readers to the world of accounting and the key financial statements, then using the next two chapters to present the accounting cycle. After that, the key areas of the income statement and balance sheet are further explored. Lastly, a separate chapter is dedicated to revisiting the statement of cash flows. Then chapter 12 does a nice job of pulling everything together, still at this introductory level, with a focus of key methods used for financial statement analysis. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"At the time of my review, using the pdf version of the textbook, I did not encounter any interface problems. All images and charts were displayed as intended.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors were noted.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The book is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. It uses inclusive examples.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"The coverage of present value calculations is fairly brief. Consider incorporating additional examples where the calculations are performed in Excel.","created_at":"2025-08-14T15:00:55.000-05:00","updated_at":"2025-08-14T15:00:55.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/introduction-to-financial-accounting","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:09:05.000-05:00"},{"id":18,"title":"International Finance: Theory and Policy","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2010,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":"9781936126460","license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"International Finance Theory and Policy is built on Steve Suranovic's belief that to understand the international economy, students need to learn how economic models are applied to real world problems. It is true what they say, that ”economists do it with models.“ That's because economic models provide insights about the world that are simply not obtainable solely by discussion of the issues. International Finance Theory and Policy develops a unified model of the international macroeconomy. The text provides detailed descriptions of major macroeconomic variables, covers the interest rate parity and purchasing power parity theories of exchange rate determination, takes an exhaustive look at the pros and cons of trade imbalances and presents the well-known AA-DD model to explore the effects of fiscal and monetary policy under both fixed and flexible exchange rates. The models are developed, not by employing advanced mathematics, but rather by walking students through a detailed description of how a model's assumptions influence its conclusions. But more importantly, each model and theory is connected to real world policy issues. The Finance Text has the following unique features: o Begins with an historical overview of the international macroeconomy to provide context for the theory. o Concludes with a detailed discussion of the pros and cons of fixed and floating exchange rate systems. o Provides an extensive look at the issue of trade imbalances. Readers learn techniques to evaluate whether a country's trade deficit (or surplus) is dangerous, beneficial, or benign. o Explains how purchasing power parity is used to make cross country income comparisons. o Offers clear detailed explanations of the AA-DD model. o Applies the AA-DD model to understand the effects of monetary and fiscal policy on GDP, the exchange rate, and the trade balance. International Finance Theory and Policy by Steve Suranovic is intended for a one-semester course in International Finance. After March 2010, you can check out the entire book online or request a desk copy.","contributors":[{"id":2392,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Steve","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Suranovic","location":"George Washington University","background_text":"Steve Suranovic is an associate professor of economics and international affairs at the George Washington University (GW) in Washington, DC. He has a PhD in economics from Cornell University and a BS in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been teaching international trade and finance for more than twenty years at GW and as an adjunct for Cornell University’s Washington, DC, program. In fall 2002, he taught at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, as a visiting Fulbright lecturer. He has taught a GW class at Fudan University in Shanghai during the summers of 2009 and 2010. He has also spoken to business, government, and academic audiences in Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, and Mongolia as part of the U.S. State Department speaker’s programs. His research focuses on two areas: international trade policy and behavioral economics. With respect to behavior, he examines why people choose to do things that many observers view as irrational. Examples include addiction to cigarettes, cyclical dieting, and anorexia. His research shows that dangerous behaviors can be explained as the outcome of a reasoned and rational optimization exercise. With respect to trade policy, his research seeks to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of arguments supporting various policy options. The goal is to answer the question, what trade policies should a country implement? More generally, he applies the economic analytical method to identify the policies that can attract the most widespread support. His book A Moderate Compromise: Economic Policy Choice in an Era of Globalization will be released by Palgrave Macmillan in fall 2010. In it he offers a critique of current methods to evaluate and choose policies and suggests a simple, principled, and moderate alternative."}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"}],"publishers":[{"id":73,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/International%20Finance%20-%20Theory%20and%20Policy.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":86,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/International%20Finance%20-%20Theory%20and%20Policy.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":4,"reviews":[{"id":1344,"first_name":"Mark","last_name":"Gibson","position":"Clinical Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Washington State University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is fairly comprehensive.  It covers all the major areas of international finance and uses standard economic concepts and models.  I think students would enjoy the chapter discussing the welfare effects of trade imbalances, which is well done with clear examples.  Those who are interested in details of the foreign exchange market itself will have to look elsewhere.  While interest rate parity is given a chapter, the concept of covered interest parity is only mentioned in an exercise.  I was surprised that the impossible trinity or trilemma was not mentioned even though the text devoted significant attention to the limits that a fixed exchange rate regime places on monetary autonomy.  The text itself does not have a table of contents, but one is available in the bookmarks of the pdf file.  The text does not have a glossary, but the pdf file is easy to search.  I did not see any additional instructor resources, such as an instructor's manual, a test bank, or lecture slides.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is generally accurate aside from minor typos and provides a balanced, unbiased approach to the major issues.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The text is focused primarily on the major economic concepts, which gives it longevity.  The data used in the text only go up to around 2008.  In most cases, however, there are working links to the data sources in the pdf file that would allow a reader to obtain updated data without too much hassle.  It would be nice to have more coverage of recent issues to give the text greater relevance to students.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is clear and well written with many helpful examples.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent.  The macroeconomic approach developed and applied is the AA-DD model.  The text gradually builds up to that model and applies it consistently.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The chapters are all divided into short sections, which makes it easy to choose among topics within a chapter.  Many of the chapters are building up to the AA-DD model, which is then applied for a number of chapters, so it would not be a good idea to skip any of the major building blocks altogether.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are laid out in a natural way and flow well together.","interface_rating":1,"interface_review":"My major issue with the book is the interface.  The text, tables, and figures in the pdf file are not typeset in a very professional manner.  I found this to be a significant distraction and I think it would really turn students off.  The graphical analyses and equations in a text like this are especially important, but they are not clearly presented here.  The equations are either not properly typeset or are blurry.  This could be a major roadblock for students, many of whom are uncomfortable with equations.  The diagrams leave a lot to be desired and I think students would have trouble following the 3-D diagrams of the AA-DD model.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There are no major grammatical problems with the text.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I think the content itself is of high quality, but I would hesitate to assign this book to students because of the serious issues with the interface.","created_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2379,"first_name":"Lina","last_name":"Zhou","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Augustana College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook covers almost all the content that I usually cover in my International Finance class. I wish the specific chapter/section's content would be more comprehensive. For example, for the balance of payments account, I prefer that students see the IMF framework of four categories and the general definition on debit and credit entries. The author did provide a good, comprehensive example. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I found only few typos. ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The textbook used examples and recent data to demonstrate theoretical models, which makes it easy to digest but requires more updates. The data sources are listed in the textbook so update is not difficult but it may affect the arguments. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is very readable. The examples make difficult concepts and models understandable in an enjoyable way. The text also clarified misconceptions seen in media and held by students. Good job! ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. It flows. ","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"The text divisible enough. I may even combine some sections. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text are presented in a logical and clear fashion. It is easy to follow. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text is free of significant interface issues. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There is no major grammatical errors. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is fair and objective, not culturally offensive at all. \r\n\r\n\r\n","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This book is more readable for undergraduate students than the one I have been using in my International Finance class in the past 10 years.  It is not heavily model intensive and it is not purely narrative either. It covers major topics in International Finance in an logical order. It uses recent data to demonstrate concepts and relations. \r\nMy reservations are: 1. Topics are broken down in too small/short sections that I wish the discussion could continue . 2. I wish it came with a test bank. As of now, I would like to assign a few chapters/sections for students to read then discuss in class but may not completely switch to this book as the required textbook. ","created_at":"2018-11-13T14:17:08.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-11-13T14:17:08.000-06:00"},{"id":4138,"first_name":"Yihong","last_name":"Xiao","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Bridgewater State University","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"This textbook provides thorough explanations of various topics, such as trade imbalance,  exchange rate systems, IRP, and PPP, etc. However, it does not cover the exchange rate risk management, which is a major part that I usually cover in my course.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate and unbiased.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Many tables in this textbook need to be updated with more current data. With the link provided, it should be relatively easy. \r\nIt would be preferred if the author can incorporate more recent issues into the discussion of the textbook, such as \"trade war\" and \"Brexit\", etc.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The textbook is well written with ample examples explaining any jargon/technical terminology.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent. It gradually builds up the concepts needed for future chapters.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is divided into chapters and subchapters. Within each subchapter, it starts with learning objectives and concludes with key takeaways and exercises. Professors should be able to take some topics out and reorganize them to meet their own teaching purposes.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are organized in a logical and clear fashion.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Some of the charts need to be edited to avoid breaking up the text (eg, p.117). Some of the equations are blurry (eg, p. 200).","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There are no major grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This textbook needs some updates to include current issues in the international financial markets. It provides some good examples in explaining some major concepts. I would assign it as a supplementary textbook in my class, but may not use it as the required textbook for the following reasons: 1. it lacks some important topics (exchange rate risk management) that we cover in class,  2. it does not come with any instructor resources, such as a test bank, instructor manuals, PowerPoint slides, etc.","created_at":"2020-06-29T14:05:05.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-29T14:05:05.000-05:00"},{"id":5113,"first_name":"Rajeeb","last_name":"Poudel","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Western Oregon University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book does cover most of the concepts. It gives due justice to concepts such as Trade Imbalances, Purchasing Power Parity, Interest Rate Parity, Interest Rate Determination, Fixed and Floating Exchange Rates, and Interest Arbitrages. Some of the topics that I cover but are missing from the book are: Foreign Currency Derivatives and Foreign Exchange Pass Through. I wish that the book delved deeper into the quantitative aspects of the concepts. There are very few numerical examples and very few numerical problems in exercises.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The text is accurate in its explanation of the materials. Some of the links provided in the texts are not accessible anymore. (e.g., the link to spreadsheet, available on Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), site provided on page 104.)","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The book provides many numbers such as the GDP per capita for a country, inflation rates, which may become obsolete after some time. Also, with the everchanging nature of global economy and new events (such as Brexit), some concepts may require a fresh examination. Also, as noted previously, the book has has some broken links.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The concepts are mostly clear, though it could use more visuals (images, etc.) to make it more comprehensible. A little more examination of the numerical aspects of some concepts (like arbitrage) would make the analyses more convincing.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The material is mostly organized well. The book could use more images, graphs, and tables to complement the text, mainly in the first few chapters. The book is divided into 13 chapters, and each chapter is further divided into several subsections. There is a “Key Takeaway” section and exercise at the end of each of these subsections. This allows for students to gauge their understanding of materials covered in the subsection as soon as they are done with that subsection. The book I accessed is in PDF format. So, for those who feel comfortable with PDF documents in general, this book is very easy to use. It has the Table of Content for each chapter and each subsection that can be easily accessed via the links in the table.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The book is organized well. It first goes into the basics of international finance, such as GDP, Foreign Exchange Rates, and Balance of Payments, and then moves on to more advanced concepts such as Interest Rate Parity, Purchasing Power Parity, and Fixed vs. Floating Exchange Rates. There is a good flow in the presentation of subsections within each of the chapters.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The book feels monotonous at times in that it is presented like a research paper with just texts after texts with not much opportunity for interaction or enquiry. Would be better if the author incorporated analysis of cases and current events shaping the world markets. Plus, the tables could use more formatting and could be more colorful.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I didn't notice any grammatical issues, and if there is any, it is not at all significant.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I didn't find the text to be culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This book is a great first international finance textbook. The few issues that I have noted do not deter me from recommending this book in addition to another book that I am using. But if this book is used alone, it may need to be supplemented with additional notes, cases, and discussion of current events shaping the world markets. Thanks to the author for making this an open textbook!","created_at":"2021-06-16T22:35:03.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-06-16T22:35:03.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/international-finance-theory-and-policy","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:02:59.000-05:00"},{"id":31,"title":"Personal Finance","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2009,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":"9780982361863","license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"Personal Finance by Rachel Siegel and Carol Yacht is a comprehensive Personal Finance text which includes a wide range of pedagogical aids to keep students engaged and instructors on track. This book is arranged by learning objectives. The headings, summaries, reviews, and problems all link together via the learning objectives. This helps instructors to teach what they want, and to assign the problems that correspond to the learning objectives covered in class. Personal Finance includes personal finance planning problems with links to solutions, and personal application exercises, with links to their associated worksheet(s) or spreadsheet(s). In addition, the text boasts a large number of links to videos, podcasts, experts' tips or blogs, and magazine articles to illustrate the practical applications for concepts covered in the text. Rachel would love to hear from you. If you have questions about teaching with her book, comments about teaching Personal Finance, or just feedback, feel free to email her at rachelsiegelcfa@hughes.net. This textbook has been used in classes at: Miami University.","contributors":[{"id":3568,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Rachel","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Siegel","location":"Lyndon State University","background_text":"Rachel S. Siegel, chartered financial analyst (CFA), has been a professor of finance, economics, and accounting at Lyndon State College since 1990. She has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at Trinity College (Vermont), Granite State College (New Hampshire), Springfield College (Massachusetts), the University of Vermont, and in Tel Aviv, Israel, for Champlain College. Siegel is a member of the Vermont CFA Society, the CFA Institute, and the Board of Scholars of the Ethan Allen Institute, as well as a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. She has served as a consultant on investment strategy to the Vermont Land Trust and to other private clients. Siegel’s column “Follow the Money” has been a regular feature of the Northstar Monthly since 2001. Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Siegel earned a BA in English literature (1980) and an MBA (1989) from Yale University. She lives in Barnet, Vermont."},{"id":3569,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Carol","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Yacht","location":"University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee","background_text":"Carol Yacht is a business educator and textbook author. Yacht’s best-selling textbook, Computer Accounting with Peachtree (McGraw-Hill/Irwin), is in its fourteenth edition. She has also written textbooks for QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Office Accounting, Excel, and Carol Yacht’s General Ledger. Yacht’s writing career started in the classroom. To help her students learn new business and technology concepts, Yacht created instructional material. Her first book was published in 1979. Yacht is committed to teaching, learning, sharing, and writing. She is a frequent presenter at conferences. Yacht teaches Accounting Information Systems at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, College of Business, Executive and Professional Education Center. She has also taught on the faculties of California State University–Los Angeles, West Los Angeles College, Yavapai College, and Beverly Hills High School. She is also the Accounting Section Editor for the Business Education Forum, a publication of the National Business Education Association; serves on the AAA Commons Editorial Board; and is a member of the Microsoft Dynamics Academic Advisory Council. In 2005, Yacht received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Accounting Association Two-Year College Section. She is also a recipient of the Business Education Leadership Award from the State of California. Yacht received her MA from California State University–Los Angeles, BS from the University of New Mexico, and AS from Temple University."}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"}],"publishers":[{"id":71,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Personal%20Finance.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:36.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":288,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Personal%20Finance.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":289,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_personal-finance/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":25,"reviews":[{"id":451,"first_name":"Walter","last_name":"Lambert","position":"Adjunct","institution_name":"Metropolitan State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book introduces and explains essentially all of the topical material found in most commercial texts or trade books dealing with a first overview of personal finance.  The implied audience is anyone needing a professional introduction to the subject, but it is clear from the book's content that the major intended audience is college students at any level in their academic programs.  The online nature and licensing style of the book apparently allow the front pieces and index to be deleted but makes the book easily searchable and flexible as an educational resource.  A few consistent typos throughout the text indicate a possible software translation hiccup that does not detract from the text's readability or usefulness.  An opportunity for the instructor is provided by the book's design.  Support activities such as assignments and assessments can be supplemented or developed by the instructor to fit a class at hand rather than a general student population.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book's introduction and treatment of subject material is accurate and presents current information in line with professional practice in the personal finance advisory and educational fields as of the date of this review.  There is no apparent bias in chapters dealing with subjects of otherwise intense commercial rivalry.  Some charts containing data as of the time of publication will need updating in a few years like any other text in the fields of finance and economics.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The book is most relevant to readers and learners with thin financial life experience whether college student or older person.  The general focus of the book is on readers or learners currently living through the transition from a financially protected environment to living on their own.  Some of the book's content should be immediately relevant especially to the college student, and most of the book's content should become immediately relevant over the decade following graduation.  This allows the book to be a primary source for any learner to know what direction to take for more in-depth information over an extended period.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Material introduced and discussed in the book is clear and devoid of confusing complications sometimes found in textbooks on personal finance.  This is a benefit from the authors carefully avoiding the attempt to make the book an encyclopedia on the subject.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Individual chapters are stand-alone in the sense that there do not appear to be prerequisite linkages between them.  This contributes to the book's flexibility in course design.  There also does not appear to be some type of underlying theory or ideology that might create inconsistencies either between topics within the book or between the book and reality.  Terminology and the pedagogical framework are consistent throughout the text.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Having each chapter as a stand-alone unit contributes to the book's modularity in terms of course design and subject matter sequencing.  That includes the flexibility for instructors to not use some chapters if the need arises.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Organization of subject matter within the text follows a more or less standard pattern easily followed by a learner with chapters grouped by a main focus such as asset protection or wealth building.  The instructor has the option of either using the text from front to back or of altering the subject matter sequencing to satisfy an alternative program of presentation.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The on-screen appearance and layout of the book are clear, easily readable, and searchable.  One exception might be an occasional typo apparently caused by an electronic hiccup when moving from one electronic platform to another.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Grammar within the text is accurate and simple.   A learner using English as a second or third language should have few grammatical challenges when reading this book.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The book is written within the context of the personal financial environment of the United States.  It is inclusive within that environment.  The peculiarities of personal finance within the US probably do not lend themselves to relevancies outside the US.  A few of the topics introduced and explained in the text such as personal debt, life insurance or earned interest might not be relevant to some cultural or ethnic groups within the US.  Those situations can be addressed by the instructor as the situation dictates.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"The text is a fairly comprehensive overview of personal financial common practice within the United States.  It addresses all of the major topics confronted by the average American family at sometime in its life, and provides a starting point for more in-depth learning on particular topics as they become more immediately relevant.  The pedagogical perspective is similar in that the book is like both sides of a sandwich.  It gets instructor and learner started, but it is up to both to provide the makings, which provides the creative instructor a wide degree of flexibility and the serious learner an even broader opportunity.","created_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2016-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":922,"first_name":"Ronalld ","last_name":"Shapiro","position":"Assistant Professor ","institution_name":"Rutgers Business School ","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers a wide range of topics in the analysis and theory of personal finance. The book consists of 18 chapters and covers all relevant topics including financial statements, budgeting, risk management, investing in stocks, bonds and real estate, and taxes among others.   The chapters include good examples of basic principles that can be further explained by the classroom instructor.   There is no table of contents, index or glossary which weakens the effective use of this textbook.  In addition, all of the examples used in this textbook are from 2008 which makes this text currently obsolete.  Changes in tax laws and consumer strategies need to be updated to make this a usable text today. ","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"The text content appears accurate.  I found very few errors.  However, as noted above, the examples and references to tax laws in particular are not accurate as the laws have changed since 2009.  ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"This is a very good introductory and easy to understand course book to introduce the student to the world of personal finance. While all textbooks must be reviewed periodically to maintain accuracy and relevance, this text will require more constant updating as our laws and principles change. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"There is good use of tables and charts to explain the concepts and calculations.  The writing style makes the topics easy to understand","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"There is good continuity throughout the book.  Terms and definitions are consistently applied.  A glossary at the end of the book would enable the student to quickly find a term or definition used in a previous section of the book. ","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The arrangement of the chapters are generally in proper sequence.  While the book makes extensive use of sub topics with Key Takeaways and Exercise sections within each chapter, limiting these breaks within each chapter might be advisable.  The learning objectives in the beginning of each chapter are useful and provide students with advance notice of what they will be learning. ","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The text is properly organized and gradually takes the student into the core of this subject.  Financial examples and charts provide a good balance for learning. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The book is written in easy to understand language with clear charts and graphs. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"There were no issues found with grammar and I found very few spelling errors. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"This text is not offensive in any way.   Its content pertains to US laws and practices only.  ","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"In addition to the book requiring updating to reflect current tax laws and practices, there are other aspects that can be employed to strengthen this textbook and make it more current.  Examples would be:  (a) demonstrating the use of a financial calculator to solve financial problems; (b) use of accounting software such as Excel; (c) use mini cases to further explain and define principles learned and (d) add more end of chapter problems for student learning and instruction. ","created_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1028,"first_name":"Chengping","last_name":"Zhang","position":"Associate Professor of Finance","institution_name":"George Fox University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book covers a decent spectrum of topics in personal finance and financial planning, such as time value of money, risk, budgeting, tax planning, retirement planning, estate planning, insurance, investing, career planning, etc. The topics are appropriate for an undergraduate personal finance or financial planning course, it also serves as a good reference book for anyone who wants to plan his/her personal finance serious.\n\nTwo very important topics in finance, time value of money and risk, need to be covered in more depth. I suggest to split chapter 4 into two chapters – a chapter to cover time value of money and another to cover measuring and evaluating risk. Chapter 9 “buying a home” should discuss the advantages and disadvantages of renting versus buying and covers refinancing in more detail. These will help people make better decisions when it comes to buying a home and refinancing a mortgage.\n\nExcel is widely used in Business and Finance including in financial planning and analysis. Including some Excel examples and exercises will help readers understand how personal finance can be managed and how financial planning can be done in Excel.\n","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"There are some errors or typos in the text. For example, the mathematical formula of the present value (PV) and future value (FV) relationship on pages 85, 86 and 87 is not correctly presented. The t should be in the exponential position. Maybe the “^” is missing somehow. The definition of “present value” is not accurate (page 83). Present value is not necessarily what is worth today. In time value of money calculations, we define present value as “an early money on a timeline”. For example, if you invested $1000 dollars in the stock market three years ago and your stock account balance is $1300 today, we want to find the implied investment return. In this case, the initial investment $1000 three years ago is the present value. Your current stock account balance is the future value.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The content of this book is relevant and current. The key principles of personal finance and financial planning will not change much over time. Income tax rates and interest rates may change over time but these can be updated easily.","clarity_rating":3,"clarity_review":"The text is not very clear and even confusing in some places. For example, on page 82, it reads “It also involves understanding and measuring the risks or uncertainties that time presents and the opportunities—and opportunity costs—that time creates”. How do we interpret “time presents risks and uncertainties” and “time creates opportunities and opportunity costs”? I think there are a lot of other factors involved than just time when discussing risks and uncertainties, opportunities and opportunity costs. ","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent in terms of terminology and framework. The terms use in each chapter are consistent across the chapter. There are some inconsistencies in table headings and the actual values. For example, the second column in the table on page 91 is meant to show rates (r) in percentage, then 2% should be displayed as 2 in the table instead of 0.02.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The fact that each chapter in this book is about 20-40 pages long is a good sign of modularity. The authors use a lot of tables and figures to make the text more appealing to read. The learning objectives at the beginning and the key takeaways at the end of each section remind the readers the key concepts in that section.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The book starts with a long case in chapter 1. I think using a case to start a chapter is a good idea but this case is too complicated and overwhelming for students who just start a course. Splitting this big case into several small ones and put them at the beginning of relevant chapters will make the book more friendly. As mentioned earlier, I suggest to split chapter 4 into two chapters. Including a chapter directory and an index is also highly recommended. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The PDF version does not have a table of contents. There is no index at the back of the file either. The images and charts are clear, but centering them will make the text look nicer.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"There is no major grammatical issue. But the clarity can be improved in some places. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"Overall, this book covers most topics that need to be covered in a personal finance or financial planning text. Some areas, such as time value of money, risk, financing a mortgage and refinancing need to be covered in more depth. Including some Excel examples and exercises will definitely make the book more appealing. ","created_at":"2017-02-15T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2017-02-15T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1363,"first_name":"Amber","last_name":"Lamadrid","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Portland Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is extremely comprehensive, including topics that would be relevant to both younger students just starting out with Personal Finance, as well as topics relevant to the older student who has some Personal Finance experience.  in this regard it would be easy to customize a course based on the student population in the section.   With 18 chapters included, the range of topics is broad enough that the instructor can pick and choose which topics to include and not run out of content.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I spot-checked random topics for accuracy in mathematical equations (PV, YTM, etc.) and found no errors.  Graphical flowcharts make sense and are easy to follow.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"This text would be relevant for the foreseeable future, since the text is based on fundamental principles of Personal Finance that don't often materially change.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text presents concepts in an easy to read way, without too much advanced terminology that an average student would struggle to understand.   Concepts are presented using an unbiased tone, presenting pros and cons when applicable.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Each chapter and chapter subsection are organized in the same way, maximizing the book's overall consistency.  Students would easily get into a \"rhythm\" with the text, regardless of which chapters are assigned.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"As I mentioned above, there are 18 chapters included... so the text is very modular.  No section is too long, which minimizes the risk that students lose interest.  Additionally, each chapter sub-section is broken up with graphs, charts, Key Takeaways and Exercises, all in color and with lots of white-space to draw attention.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are presented in logical order.  Instructors could easily structure a course starting with Chapter 1 and move through the chapters in order, and the course would make logical sense to the student.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No interface issues encountered.  I downloaded the book to my tablet and had no issues opening the book, hyperlinking to chapters, etc.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"no grammatical errors noted, however I did not scour the book with this in mind.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"As mentioned, the book adopts a neutral tone of voice, free of bias that might be offensive to any racial or cultural group.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I appreciate the prompts in the Exercises sections to the student to reflect on the topic in their Personal Finance journals.   In my course, I use the PFJ as an assessment tool, and students love having a comprehensive examination of their personal finance situation at the end of the term as a takeaway.","created_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1516,"first_name":"Vaughan","last_name":"Briggs","position":"Associate Professor of Finance","institution_name":"Central Oregon Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text covers all the requisite material that you would find in other texts sold by the major publishers.  As mentioned in other reviews, the .pdf version of the text does not have a table of contents, but the online version does.  You can get around this by using \"CNTRL f\" in the .pdf, but it is definitely clunky.  \n\nA couple comments on the content:  I do wish that the formula for present value was made more obvious - that it would stand out from the rest of the text in the same way future value is presented.  Also, while there is a considerable amount of information on risk, it is spread out through the text.  Additionally, I would like to see a better discussion of how the deductibility of mortgage interest reduces the cost of housing.  For instance, paying rent of $1,500/month is actually more expensive than paying a mortgage payment of $1,500/month because of the tax treatment of mortgage interest.  Finally, my course outcomes require that I talk about common financial scams and common personal financial mistakes, which are not really discussed in the text.  However, in all fairness, not many texts cover this topic.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I did find a couple of typo type errors such as percentages presented in decimal form when the tables clearly labeled them as percentages.  However, those were minor and infrequent.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The basics of personal finance, such as risk/return, and time value of money are timeless.  The text presents the material as such.  The areas that will bear monitoring are those dealing with tax laws and the evolving nature of health care and its benefits.  I do like that the authors have placed URLs below tables that may change in the future, such as tax rates.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"I found the book easy to read and clear in its examples.  I found the language of the text to be at the appropriate level for community college students.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I did not notice any inconsistencies in presentation.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"In the online version, students can access different sections of the text very easily.  However, the .pdf version does not allow for the student to easily jump from one section of the text to the other. As mentioned above, you can work through this by using \"CNTRL f\" but its very clunky and may not be an option for the student that is used to using a hard copy text.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The topics are presented in a logical and clear way that makes sense.  However, I almost never use a text in sequential order as I usually have a different way of presenting the material based  upon my strengths and weaknesses as an instructor.  In the case of personal finance, I really like to lay a solid foundation with the concepts of time value of money and risk vs. return, then move on to application of those concepts.  This text presents a substantial amount of information on risk, its just spread out through many chapters.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Again, the online version is much easier to use and navigate than the .pdf version.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No issues found.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"This book is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.  However, I would not be considered a minority so I may not be as  aware of those issues as others of a different race or cultural background.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"While I'm happy that the authors have posted a .pdf version of the text so that a professor may organize the material in a way that fits their teaching style, its not very user friendly for students.  The online version is much easier to use and navigate.  Having said that, there is a ton of great material here to use in a personal finance class.","created_at":"2017-08-15T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-08-15T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":1917,"first_name":"Jennifer","last_name":"Lehman","position":"PhD student and associate instructor","institution_name":"Texas Tech University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all relevant subject areas and has a good table of contents, with links provided to subsections within each chapter. If anything, the text is too much for some courses to cover in one semester - but as an instructor I would rather decide what to skip rather than not have enough content. I like that behavioral finance is included, and career information is included.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"For the most part, the book is accurate. However, I found a bad web link - P 13 Q 3 - here's the error message -\nThe requested URL /od/moneybyageorlifestage/Money_and_Personal_Finance_by_Age_Life_Stage.htm was not found on this server. Also, federal estate tax numbers are still from 2009, and has significantly changed since then. I would either leave that part out or make sure someone updates it every year.\n","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Some of the comments here overlap with the one above. I found a web link that is no longer good, and estate tax numbers are out of date. Also, wills and trusts are talked about, but there's no mention of living wills or powers of attorney for financial and health care matters. Those things are relevant for everyone, and do not include numbers that would need updating. \nI like that there's a whole chapter on consumer strategies, including common scams and how to avoid them.\nBuying a car gets a section, and buying a home gets very thorough, well thought out coverage. I wish I would have had this resource when buying my first home.\n","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is written in plain English in a matter that is easy to understand. Terms are defined and examples are provided. There are nice charts to organize some of the information. This aspect of the book is very well done.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Learning objectives are listed at the start of each section, then content, and finally key takeaways and exercises at the end of every section. The format is predictable and easy to follow. Also, as mentioned above, there's a table of contents. I don't see an index or glossary but I think needed information could be pinned down in this easy to follow format.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each section within a chapter is fairly short. There are not enormous blocks of text. The flow is nice and modules could be easily assigned in different orders and without having to assign the entire chapter. This aspect of the text is very nicely done. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion which is explained in the preface. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Other than the one bad web link (I did not try every single one), I did not notice any interface issues. A few images were small and could be enlarged.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text contains no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not notice anything offensive in the text. A variety of examples are provided. ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Overall, this book is well written and easy to follow. Thanks for making it available.","created_at":"2018-03-27T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-03-27T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2401,"first_name":"Christina","last_name":"Glenn","position":"Adjunct Instructor","institution_name":"Fort Hays State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is by far the most comprehensive personal finance text I have evaluated! While it does not have an index or glossary, definitions are clearly defined within chapters, and the table of contents is detailed enough to find the topic you are looking for in the book. This text does an excellent job combining economic, business, finance, and consumer topics to thoroughly explain personal finance topics. The only topics I felt that needed more detailed explanations were auto, home, and disability insurance. I was very impressed with the author's work, as it also includes discussion of behavioral and emotional aspects of personal finance. ","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Overall, I did not find any errors in the text.  It does need some updating for the tax, retirement, and estate laws, as it was last updated with 2008 laws. But very little effort is needed to make the information current. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"This text has staying power. While some personal finance topics, such as tax, retirement, and estate need to be brought up to date with current numbers, it would take very little effort on the part of the instructor to update that content. I was impressed that the authors clearly thought these updates through, as it would only require updating images to current data. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The book is clearly written, except for some concepts that may be more difficult for non-business students to understand. I feel the text is geared more toward business students who would be familiar with some of the terminology in the text from other courses. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent throughout as far as depth of coverage for each topic and appropriate ordering of chapters. I would suggest moving the last chapter, on careers to the beginning. I would also suggest a little more coverage of the insurance topics, but the graphics are excellent in the text, and the content is superior to those of \"revenue generating\" textbooks. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text has clearly defined sections, with excellent learning objectives, takeaways, and exercises for EACH section within the chapter. Very impressed with the organization of the text and application of material in exercises. ","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The topics are presented in a logical order, with the exception of Career Planning. However, most personal finance texts do place Career Planning at the end. To me, discussion of career planning makes more sense earlier in the semester, as the student's career choice is going to impact their overall financial plan.  ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The textbook is easy to navigate, with buttons at the top to skip back to the previous section, go to the Table of Contents, or skip ahead to the next section. The graphs and images were all clear and concise. It was easy to read, with no interface issues. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text was very well written, with no grammatical errors found. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Examples provided in the text did not mention race or ethnicity and were not offensive in any way. A variety of financial situations were presented in case examples, and did not overly simplify the financial conditions a person might experience. As students come from diverse economic backgrounds, I did not find the examples to favor lower socioeconomic status or higher socioeconomic status individuals. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2018-11-22T18:25:40.000-06:00","updated_at":"2018-11-22T18:25:40.000-06:00"},{"id":2830,"first_name":"Darren","last_name":"Kraemer","position":"Adjunct Instructor","institution_name":"Fletcher Technical Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text is the most comprehensive on this subject matter as any text I've seen to date. It contains more than enough of what is needed to cover a comprehensive course on personal finance. In this case, more is always better as any teacher would prefer to remove sections rather than look for supplemental information. With this text you will have more than you need to teach a comprehensive course on this subject matter.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"This book is sufficiently accurate in its text but has some failings in its links, references and homework assignments. Some links don't work any longer and need to be removed or updated. However, that is not a hindrance to the validity and use of this text for a complete and comprehensive course on personal finance. ","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"This book is mostly relevant but as stated in the accuracy section above, there are links and references that are no longer valid. The information in the text will stand the test of time but the links, references and homework assignments need to be updated and improved.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The clarity of this text is superb. The language is easy to read and the chapters and section breaks are well placed.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The consistency of the chapters are perfect. Every chapter has learning objectives followed by the lesson lecture and finishes with key takeaways and home exercises. This format is easy to follow and flows comfortably.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"As mentioned in the consistency section, the format flow is excellent and easy to parse. This is an easy read and the suggested module groupings are logical.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The organization of this book is logical and flows with ease. The table of contents and preface are helpful and practical. The suggestions are a nice enhancement to the natural construction of a course on personal finance using the text of this book.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The interface is sufficient other than the web links that do not work.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I found nothing offensive even in the most subtle ways of possible interpretation. Many various examples are used and contain no apparent prejudices.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Again I want to mention that this text is the most comprehensive on this subject matter as any text I've seen to date. I would highly recommend it to be used by any instructor teaching a course on personal finance. It is comprehensive and flows well. ","created_at":"2019-04-24T13:43:58.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-04-24T13:43:58.000-05:00"},{"id":3378,"first_name":"Aaron","last_name":"Henrichsen","position":"Assistant Professor of Finance","institution_name":"University of Northern Colorado","comprehensiveness_rating":2,"comprehensiveness_review":"The important areas of personal finance are covered, though in some cases they are covered more extensively than a beginning personal finance book maybe ought to.  I saw no glossary or index.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"Accurate information but a large fraction of the hyperlinks are broken","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"Most of the content is based on tried and true personal financial principles that will last.  However, personal income tax is an area that needs updating rather frequently because of legislative changes to the tax code.  This text has not been updated in almost a decade, and so will fall short in this area.  ","clarity_rating":2,"clarity_review":"As an introductory finance text targeted to an undergraduate without any background in economics, the text is full of economic jargon with little or no definitions or examples.  Though the terms are accurately used, they will most likely confuse the target audience.  Examples of this include micro, macro, capital, assets, inflation, deflation (all with no definitions, index, or glossary).  This is bad enough that if I choose to use the text in the futures, I may have to put out a short “Defining Terms” video for each chapter.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The text was consistent","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Information is broken up into digestible segments.  It is readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course ","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"I feel Chapter 5 Budgeting should have been Chapter 3, but the order of topics covered is acceptable.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"Images and organization were fine, but many (1/3 to 1/2) of the hyperlinks were broken.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no problems here.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"No problems found.","overall_rating":7,"overall_review":"This book does an okay job at presenting personal finance…and does it for free.  I would rate it below all Personal Finance texts that I have reviewed from the major publishers such as Wiley, Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Cengage.  However, it is not so much worse that it isn’t a good option for a minimal-cost Personal Finance course.  Though I can’t give it a fully positive review, I am still considering switching to this text in the next school year.","created_at":"2019-12-13T22:58:21.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-12-13T22:58:21.000-06:00"},{"id":4289,"first_name":"Kim","last_name":"Vierra","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Oregon State University","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book covers everything that I cover in my personal finance and financial planning courses, with one additional chapter related to careers, which is an interesting addition.  I would have liked to see a section dedicated to paying for college.  The topic of investing in education is sprinkled throughout the text but is not in its own section. Financing education is as important as buying a house or car, which each have their own sections, so it would have been good to see that as a stand-alone section. I don't see an index or a glossary for the full text.\r\n\r\nAlso, I'd like to see a section on FinTech and the use of online tools.  Most of my students use apps like Acorns, Robin Hood, Square, and Venmo, etc. They want to better understand these offerings and the pros and cons associated with the various savings, money transferring and investment apps available today.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I didn't find any errors in the book in terms of calculations, etc.","relevance_rating":1,"relevance_review":"The basics of sound financial management don't change much over time, however, tools, tax tables, interest rates, and the stock market change rapidly. For example, this book does not address the fintech apps that students are using for investing, transferring money to friends and family, and saving money. This omission makes the book less applicable to certain populations, such as my college-aged students.  \r\n\r\nAlso, the majority of the hyperlinks are broken.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The writing could be cleaned up to improve conciseness. It is wordy.  \r\n\r\nDefinitions are given for technical concepts, which is a plus.  A glossary of these terms would have been nice to have.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I like the layout, with learning objectives, key takeaways, and homework exercises provided for each chapter.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Yes, I can see how I could easily reorder this book to match up with my syllabi, and use separate sections of the book for each of my classes. Each section can stand on its own.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The order is fine. It makes sense to start with learning the basics of budgeting and financial planning (Chapters 1-6), followed by the chapters on getting what you want (Chapters 7-9). protecting what you have (Chapters 10-11) and building wealth (Chapters 12-17). The last chapter on career planning is an interesting addition to this book. It is the only chapter that I wouldn't typically cover in my personal finance classes.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"In general, the interface is fine.  Some of the text on the included graphics is so small that it is unreadable, and when you click on the image, the image/text doesn't expand. It would be nice to have the ability to click on the figures in order to see them better. I can use the browser zoom, but it isn't as user friendly as I'd like it to be.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"There are some commas missing, several tautologies that could be removed, and noun/verb agreement needs to be fixed in some sentences.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I didn't note any issues with the choice of scenarios or names of characters potentially making students feel uneasy. However, a wider variety of character names could make more students feel more included. For example, could Alice become Tanisha, and Mark become Jose for the next iteration of the book?","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"While this is a great book for understanding the fundamental concepts of personal finance, a reboot is necessary to clean up the broken links and to update the content to include advances in FinTech and recent updates in legislation.","created_at":"2020-08-04T15:08:58.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-08-04T15:08:58.000-05:00"},{"id":4332,"first_name":"Dr. Renee","last_name":"Dyer","position":"Assistant Professor of Business Finance","institution_name":"Limestone University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text covers all necessary components of personal finance. The text flows in a cohesive manner that should make the student experience more fulfilling.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I did not view any errors in the text.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook is relevant to personal finance at this time. The text provides a good foundation to aid students in making sound financial decisions.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Any technical terminology used was defined and explained in the text.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"This text is very comparable to the text I have used from Cengage. The chapters are in a different order, but I understand why it is written this way. The chapters build on themselves in a comprehendible order.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is broken into sections that aid in reading and assignments.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The textbook is presented in a fashion that builds on financial information to provide a thorough knowledge of personal finance for the student.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I printed the textbook. Everything is legible and flows well.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"I did not find any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not find any of the text, problems, or examples to be insensitive or offensive.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This is a wonderful open access textbook for personal finance professors to solely use or use along with their current textbook for additional information, examples, problems, etc.","created_at":"2020-08-18T09:37:34.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-08-18T09:37:34.000-05:00"},{"id":4696,"first_name":"Barbara","last_name":"Bliss","position":"Associate Professor of Finance","institution_name":"University of San Diego","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book could be updated to reflect new changes in the tax law. Some of the descriptions are very short, like the section on closing costs of a home, or how to calculate your monthly payment.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Some information is outdated now","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Chapters almost seem too short. Some content could be updated due to changes in the tax code, etc.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The calculations could be clarified for some students who have no background knowledge.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Seems consistent.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Sections almost seem too small.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Structured well.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Pdf makes it easy to read all at once and skim.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Seems good.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"Could be useful to describe how certain methods are used to create generational wealth.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2021-03-17T15:45:33.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-03-17T15:45:33.000-05:00"},{"id":33542,"first_name":"Fang","last_name":"Lin","position":"Associate Professor of Finance","institution_name":"Pittsburg State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book covers a wide range of topics related to personal finance.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Some information in the book is outdated. This is one of the issues with writing a textbook - the authors will have to keep up the content.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Once again, content needs to be updated.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"jargons/terms are defined in the text.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"the framework and the terms used in the text seem to be consistent throughout.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is divided into chapters based on topics.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"each chapter follows a similar structure. they all begin with an introduction and learning objectives, and end with key takeaways and exercise problems.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"some figures are too small to read (at least the online version) and it doesn't offer easy ways to magnify the font.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I don't see any grammatical issues.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I don't see any cultural issues.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2021-12-15T13:09:15.000-06:00","updated_at":"2021-12-15T13:09:15.000-06:00"},{"id":33670,"first_name":"Ben","last_name":"Cuellar","position":"Instructor of Business","institution_name":"Dodge City Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text does provide a comprehensive and in-depth description of all the major topics relating to personal finance which are normally discussed in a typical textbook about the subject. The authors do a great job of providing definitions within the chapters; however, there is no dedicated glossary or index for vocabulary terms.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The academic content as it relates to personal finance is all correct as far as I can tell. I did not come across any conceptual inaccuracies.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The authors acknowledge in the preface that the specific details of personal finance are subject to change as technologies, customs, and laws evolve over time. With that in mind they also point out that the underlying framework used to make financial decisions mostly remains the same. So, in regards to the fundamental principles which guide financial planning and decision making I think the concepts in this textbook are highly relevant. My only major criticism is that the authors did include a high quantity of links to various websites, and unfortunately, the majority of those links are now outdated and/or broken. Some of the links, originally from 2009, now lead to domains which aren't even registered anymore. Another possible suggestion would be updating some of the information related to software recommendations and taxes. For example, the 1040EZ form has been discontinued and several of the accounting software recommendations are out of date. Granted, changes in tax legislation and computer software are inevitable over the course of more than a decade.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The writing is clear and easy to understand. The authors do not assume that the reader has an in-depth understanding of financial concepts and because of this they thoroughly define and explain all concepts in a way which would be easy to comprehend even by readers completely new to the subject. This makes the text very accessible.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The writing is consistent from chapter to chapter. The same format /structure is used in each chapter and the writing style is consistent from one topic to the next. Each section begins with learning objectives, followed by the actual text of the chapter. Then, in conclusion the authors provide a summary of key takeaways in addition to a list of exercises to help the reader apply the topics from the chapter.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is divided into sections of appropriate length. Each area is short enough that a reader could absorb the information without losing interest but it is simultaneously long enough to include all of the pertinent information about the topic.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The chapters are organized in a logical sequence beginning with basic financial concepts. After the foundational information is covered the authors move on to the \"meat and potatoes\" of personal finance; accumulating assets, risk management, and investment planning. Then, they conclude the textbook with an interesting chapter on career planning. I appreciate that the authors include the chapter on career planning because it is sometimes an overlooked aspect of the personal financial planning process despite earned income being such an integral part of wealth creation for so many individuals. While the topics are organized in a way which naturally transitions from one topic to the next, the chapters could very easily be read independently from one another. That is to say, each chapter can function as a stand alone reading without relying on information from prior chapters.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The table of contents made navigation quite easy. I will mention again that there are several broken hyperlinks to external websites, but the actual navigation inside the textbook itself is intuitive and convenient. There are some charts and tables with relatively small text, but I was able to read all of the information clearly by zooming in.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not come across any grammatical or spelling errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I felt the authors did a good job of making the text inclusive. The examples and analogies used throughout appeal to readers from several different financial stages in life and help make the content relatable.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"After reviewing this text I am strongly considering using it in my personal finance course next semester. While it is not quite as lengthy as textbooks published by Cengage, Pearson, or McGraw Hill, Personal Finance by Siegel and Yacht adequately explores the basic concepts in personal financial planning. My only concern is the quantity of broken links and outdated concepts from 2009. With that being said, I feel the core concepts covered are actually explained more effectively and would provide a better value for students than materials from traditional publishers, especially when considering cost!","created_at":"2022-01-29T23:42:13.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-01-29T23:42:13.000-06:00"},{"id":33807,"first_name":"Ana Claudia","last_name":"Sant'Anna","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"West Virginia University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"Very comprehensive. Topics range from how economic factors affect financial decisions to financial statements and investment decisions to job search and career paths. If you plan on using this textbook for a more senior level undergraduate class, you may need to incorporate more exercises and examples from other textbooks.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Instructors and readers should be weary that some parts of the book need to be updated. Apart from that, this book seems accurate.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"There are specific details related to personal finance which change over time. Instructors using this textbook should always check whether any updates have occurred. Nevertheless, the fundamental principles can be taught over the years. The chapter on taxes is not up-to-date. Median salaries will probably need updating.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is an easy read. It is easy to follow for any level.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book has a consistent structure, each chapter has the learning outcomes and ends with main takeaways and a couple of exercises. Figures and tables are used to illustrate.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Authors suggest how to use the book in five sections. The book has short sections that can be quickly read by the student. Authors identify the learning outcomes for each section. However, at times they seem a little too small. For instance, it would have been interesting to have some statistics on the credit score section.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The book is nicely organized. Chapters build up on the knowledge given in past chapters while applying it to real life situations. For instructors wanting to use the chapters separately, that is also possible as long as the base knowledge is there.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"In the pdf version, font in tables could be bigger. Figures could be bigger. Some figures are blurred (e.g. Figure 3.7).","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not find any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I could not identify any issues. It would be interesting if the book discussed credit access to borrowers of different races and ethnicities.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"It would be nice if the book had an instructor manual and maybe offered some labs in excel for students to practice.","created_at":"2022-04-25T14:59:43.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-04-25T14:59:43.000-05:00"},{"id":33851,"first_name":"Lisa","last_name":"Parrott","position":"Assistant Professor Business Administration","institution_name":"Johnson County Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book provides an extensive overview of personal finance topics. Chapters range from two to six segments and include learning objectives, key takeaways, and exercises for each segment. This makes some chapters feel rather long, but the writing style makes it easy to digest the material. The investment section is broken down across five chapters which includes interesting topics like market behavior which is interesting because it touches on the pattern of a financial crisis and just misses explaining The Great Recession from 2008/2009. There are a number of macro and micro economic factors discussed in the book in a manner that explains the relationship how they can impact personal finance decisions. I could not find an index or glossary and had difficulty navigating some of the links as they have broken over time or pose a risk for users to access.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"No obvious bias or errors were observed.","relevance_rating":2,"relevance_review":"The book includes a number of practical examples that are relatable and also timeless. The tax section is obsolete (2008) and needs to be updated. Links and sources are more than a decade old and needs to be updated. Sections like accounting software (3.3) are painfully obsolete due to the pace of change in technology and software.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is very easy to read. It is written using a lot of examples and situations that provide context for the terminology used.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The book has a consistent framework. Terms are bolded and commonly explained through examples as opposed to definitions. Definitions are missing from the book which can present challenges for difficult concepts.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This is the best feature of the book! Sections are broken down nicely into easy to read chunks that can be read in 5-30 minutes. These sections are subsets of the chapters and include learning objectives, key takeaways, and exercises. Many sections include exercises with external links make it easy for users to connect with content external to the book as well.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The introduction of the text starts off with a story of two people and the major life changes they are facing. It presents a number of financial considerations the couple needs to take as they graduate from college, start new careers, and plan for a life together. From there the book introduces concepts in a logical manner that makes it easy to follow and apply personal relevance to each section.","interface_rating":1,"interface_review":"Links referencing other chapters appear to be broken resulting in 404 (file not found) errors. Most websites referenced are more than a decade old and may not work.  Could not enlarge the charts which made some impossible to read (e.g. Figure 5.5 and 5.8).","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No obvious grammatical errors","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text did not appear to be culturally insensitive or offense. Examples appeared neutral and without bias.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"Initially this books has great potential as an OER resource for personal finance. Links desperately need to be updated and sections refreshed to reflect technological changes and advancements. Teachers resources would be a great addition to the book as well as exercises and examples using Excel.","created_at":"2022-05-16T12:01:11.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-05-16T12:01:11.000-05:00"},{"id":33886,"first_name":"Samira","last_name":"Hussein","position":"Professor, Business Administration","institution_name":"Johnson County Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"I did not see an index or glossary, but in terms of a comprehensive structure, the book is well structured. I liked the \"themes\" in each of the 5 sections of the book. Some of the chapters were very brief. Instead of the details provided in each section, the authors could have provided relevant content with the chapter. Additionally, in an introductory personal finance course it may not be necessary to give theoretical details. I teach this course from a practical, skill building approach. I appreciated the interconnectedness of the content through the \"key takeaways\" and \"exercises\" that were given after each sub topic within the chapter. However, the links within the chapter were broken and the references to the articles and other content was obsolete.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate. I did not observe any errors.","relevance_rating":2,"relevance_review":"The examples given are relevant but the references are woefully obsolete. The content needs to be updated to make it relevant.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is lucid, and is written in a reader friendly prose. However, given that my students prefer short content in each section, the pedagogy can be revised to have less content in each section, but more topical coverage in each chapter.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text maintains the thematic consistency throughout. This was the best feature of this book.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This book gets a high grade on assigning an individual chapter like Taxes without having linkage/reference to other chapters. I could easily reassign the chapters. However, given that the chapters are grouped under a theme, this could pose a challenge for some.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"As mentioned earlier, I liked the thematic organization of the text. I am not sure in a 15 week semester, I would be able to cover the last section.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There were no interface issues observed. If anything, more of these features can be added.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical mistakes were observed.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive. When revising the text perhaps, names popular with certain minorities can be added to make the text relatable.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This is a well written book, but needs to be updated. The links and the references are outdated. I would have to do go through every link and reference to make sure that they are functional, and relevant. Also, not sure if there are any ancillary materials available with the text.","created_at":"2022-05-30T15:30:32.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-05-30T15:30:32.000-05:00"},{"id":34697,"first_name":"Kevin","last_name":"Flint","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"James Madison University","comprehensiveness_rating":2,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book does not provide a comprehensive index of glossary, a list of key terms at the beginning of each chapter, etc.  In looking at the contents, the text most of the appropriate areas of personal finance.  The depth into some of the topics was relatively shallow.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I did not find any major errors in my review of the text.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"In my opinion, the text will retain relevance for a longer-than-average period of time because there is very little incorporation of current events into the text.  However, there is some material that does change annually (such as tax information) where the text could be updated.","clarity_rating":3,"clarity_review":"Finance is a difficult topic to write about and teach.  It is often aided by visuals and this text is very limited on visual aids and I think it would be helpful to include more in many of the chapters.  There are a lot of tables but I’m thinking other visuals such as arrows, flow charts, maps, etc. would be helpful.  Some readers, especially those who are unfamiliar with finance, may benefit from a more visual experience.","consistency_rating":3,"consistency_review":"Many of the pages of the text feature an overwhelming amount of words.  Given that this appears to be a “Principles” level text, I am assuming that the class would be intended for folks who may be taking finance for the first time and may be more susceptible to being lost on a page with so many words.  As I mentioned in the last section, I would work to incorporate more non-spreadsheet visuals into the text.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course (i.e., enormous blocks of text without subheadings should be avoided).","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"The information is presented in a sensible flow.  However, I would consider in future editions moving up the “investments” chapter to earlier in the text.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The text is free of significant usability issues, including navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, and any other display features that may distract or confuse the reader.  This was true in both the PDF and online versions I reviewed.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not find any material grammatical errors in the text.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":7,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2023-10-17T15:59:34.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-10-17T15:59:34.000-05:00"},{"id":34741,"first_name":"Christina","last_name":"Wooten","position":"Business Technology Faculty","institution_name":"Rogue Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text is, in general, comprehensive. It is divided into six sections that cover basic (beginning) personal finance, purchasing, protection, wealth building, and career planning. \nThere is no glossary or index with the text. \nThere are also not \"lists of terms\" in each chapter.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I did not find any glaring errors in my review. \nOverall, the text is unbiased. \nThere are some parts of the text that will quickly become outdated (for example, figure 1.1 Median Salary Comparison) seems to be out of date in 2023.","relevance_rating":2,"relevance_review":"I do not feel that this text is up-to-date. \nThere are many references to the early 2000's in the text. \nThe text could be supplemented with current examples. \nThere are opportunities (with links) to access current information (example- the link under the tax bracket in chapter six takes students to a calculator). \nThe images of the tax forms (chapter 6) do not include links for updated information.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text is clearly written and does provide context for students. \nThe level to which the text is written seems appropriate for beginning community college students.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The images and the terminology are consistent throughout the text. \nThe chapters are easy to follow. \nConsistency is lacking with links to updated information, as mentioned previously.","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"The topics are easily divisible into smaller modules; however, there are some areas of this text where the blocks are lengthy. The text is not self-referential.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The topics are presented in a manner that makes logical sense. \nIf I were to make a change, I would move the final section, career planning, to earlier in the text.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There are no interface issues. The links provided within the text are working links. \nThe charts are small, but can be zoomed in on to read. \nThe other images are mostly the same green chart which could be quite boring for students. There is not much variety in the visual images used. \nNavigation in this text (online) is fairly easy. The PDF version, however, requires the user to either search for a term, or scroll through the text.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no grammatical errors. \nThis text is well written.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not find any culturally insensitive areas of this text. \nNor did I find anything offensive in the text.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"While this book is a good basis, I am not sure I would use it as a sole source of information for a Personal Finance class. There are too many examples that are almost twenty years old. Some of the topics can stand the test of time. GDP will always be GDP by definition; however, a current example or a link to find current information would be a good upgrade to this text. \nThere is also a lack of images that show people in this text. \nThere is a wide variety of user-friendly exercises and activities in this text.","created_at":"2023-11-15T11:47:32.000-06:00","updated_at":"2023-11-15T11:47:32.000-06:00"},{"id":35379,"first_name":"Trang","last_name":"Pham","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Marshall University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is, in general, a good undergraduate introductory textbook. The topics included match the content of most other personal finance books. More in-depth information and exercises should be added for more senior level undergraduate classes.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I did not come across any major errors.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"Examples are relatable and relevant but many are not up-to-date.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The book is clearly written and easy to follow for any level.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The format and layout are very consistent throughout this text.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The content within chapters is broken-down, which allows instructors to select which sub-topics to over in class.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Overall, this text is coherent.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"Navigation in the online online version is easy. However, many links within the text are broken.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors detected.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not identify any culturally insensitive issues in this text.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"A glossary (or a list of key terms at the beginning/end of each chapter) and solutions to end-of-chapter questions and problems would be helpful.","created_at":"2025-01-06T13:27:43.000-06:00","updated_at":"2025-01-06T13:27:43.000-06:00"},{"id":35519,"first_name":"Florencia","last_name":"Gabriele","position":"Adjunct Professor","institution_name":"Massachusetts Bay Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The Personal Finance textbook does a solid job of covering all the traditional and foundational topics expected in an introductory course—budgeting, credit, taxes, saving, investing, insurance, retirement, and estate planning. It is well-organized and methodical, making it accessible for a wide range of learners. The life-cycle approach to financial planning is particularly effective in helping students see how financial decisions evolve over time. However, I would have appreciated the inclusion of more contemporary financial issues—such as student debt trends, the gig economy, digital payment systems, behavioral finance, and emerging technologies like fintech and cryptocurrency. These are increasingly relevant to today’s students and would enhance the book’s real-world applicability.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The content is generally accurate, clearly written, and free of major factual errors. It provides a sound introduction to key personal finance concepts and consistently presents material in a neutral and balanced tone. That said, some data references and examples (e.g., interest rates, tax brackets, employment trends) feel outdated and would benefit from periodic updates to reflect current economic conditions. Including more recent statistics or regulatory developments would further enhance the reliability and relevance of the text.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The text has strong long-term relevance thanks to its focus on core personal finance concepts that remain stable over time—such as budgeting, saving, debt management, and long-term planning. These foundational topics ensure the book’s longevity in an educational setting. However, the book would benefit from updates that reflect the evolving financial landscape. Students today are increasingly curious about cryptocurrency, fintech platforms, digital banking tools, and the financial implications of the gig economy. While the structure of the book allows for modular updates, integrating these emerging issues would enhance both its relevance and appeal.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is written in clear, accessible prose that works well for a wide range of learners. Key terms are introduced with adequate context, and technical jargon is explained in plain language without oversimplifying important concepts. The tone is neutral and professional, and the examples throughout help clarify complex ideas without overwhelming students.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is written in clear, accessible prose that works well for a wide range of learners. Key terms are introduced with adequate context, and technical jargon is explained in plain language without oversimplifying important concepts. The tone is neutral and professional, and the examples throughout help clarify complex ideas without overwhelming students.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The book is highly modular and well-suited to flexible course design. Each chapter can be assigned independently, and the content is divided into clear, digestible sections with appropriate subheadings. I've found it easy to rearrange topics to match my course calendar or to emphasize specific themes","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text is very well-organized, following a logical progression that mirrors the financial life cycle of an individual—from basic financial literacy to asset building and retirement planning.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The book is cleanly formatted and free from significant interface issues. Navigation is intuitive, and headings, subheadings, and layout elements are consistently applied throughout the text. Figures, tables, and charts are legible and appropriately integrated into the content without distortion or distraction. Whether accessed digitally or in print, the user experience is smooth and accessible. That said, the visual design does feel dated, which some students have pointed out—it could benefit from a modern refresh to better align with current digital reading expectations.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I have not encountered any notable grammatical errors in the multiple semesters I've used the book. The language is both professional and accessible.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text avoids culturally insensitive language and presents content in a neutral and respectful tone. However, it could do more to reflect the diversity of students' lived experiences. The examples and case studies tend to assume a fairly standard socioeconomic and cultural background.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I’ve used this textbook for several years and continue to find it a valuable foundation for teaching personal finance. Its structure, clarity, and modularity make it easy to integrate into different course formats. However, as financial tools and student needs evolve, I’d love to see future editions incorporate more on topics like cryptocurrency, fintech, student loan realities, and gig economy challenges. A refreshed design and more inclusive examples would also help the book resonate more strongly with today’s diverse student body.","created_at":"2025-06-09T21:08:06.000-05:00","updated_at":"2025-06-09T21:08:06.000-05:00"},{"id":35593,"first_name":"Ashley","last_name":"Hogan","position":"Adjunct Instructor","institution_name":"Linn-Benton Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"While the basics of personal financial planning are relatively stable, the book could do with an update showing modern examples such as economic and policy changes after the 2008 housing market crash, budgeting apps and how laws/policies have changed in the last 20 years. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I didn't notice anything wrong, just out dated. ","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"There needs to be an update just because the text is 20 years old and fresher examples/tools would help it be more relatable. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Everything is concise and well written","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Very consistent method of delivery.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The chapters are well thought out.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The book is organized in a straight forward way. I don't feel like I would just around the chapters to help the flow of a class. ","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Everything looked good in both PDF and online versions. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any grammatical errors. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2025-08-12T17:36:42.000-05:00","updated_at":"2025-08-12T17:36:42.000-05:00"},{"id":35767,"first_name":"Larissa","last_name":"Shatalova","position":"Instructor, PhD, Math department","institution_name":"Lane Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook is comprehensive and covers all major areas of personal finance, including consumer decision-making, major purchases, housing, insurance, retirement, and estate planning. The breadth of topics makes it suitable for a wide range of courses and student needs.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content appears accurate, well-researched, and free of noticeable errors or bias. Financial concepts are presented clearly and consistently, making the information reliable for student learning.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The textbook remains relevant for teaching core personal finance concepts such as budgeting, consumer decision-making, insurance, and retirement planning. While some examples or references may require periodic updates, the foundational principles discussed in the book have long-term value for students.","clarity_rating":3,"clarity_review":"The text is generally clear and descriptive, with concepts explained primarily in words rather than formulas. While the explanations are accessible, incorporating more mathematical examples or quantitative illustrations would further strengthen clarity and support student understanding.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The textbook is internally consistent in its use of terminology, structure, and conceptual framework. Key terms are used uniformly across chapters, which helps reinforce understanding and supports a coherent learning experience.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The textbook is well organized into manageable sections and chapters that can be easily assigned independently throughout a course. Most units function well as standalone readings, though minor adjustments or reordering could further improve flexibility for different course structures.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The textbook is very well organized, with topics presented in a logical and coherent sequence. The progression of chapters supports student learning, and the overall structure makes it easy to follow and navigate.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The textbook interface is generally user-friendly and free of major navigation or display issues. The layout is clear and easy to follow; however, the inclusion of more visual materials such as charts, graphs, or illustrations could further enhance student engagement and understanding.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text is well written and free of noticeable grammatical or typographical errors. The language is clear, professional, and consistent throughout the textbook.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The textbook is culturally appropriate and does not contain insensitive or offensive content. The material is presented in a neutral and inclusive manner suitable for a diverse student audience.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This textbook would be an excellent supplementary resource for the MAT105Z course, particularly for students who wish to broaden their understanding of personal finance beyond the core curriculum. The flexible structure of the book allows individual chapters to be used independently, making it easy to integrate selected topics such as consumer decision-making, major purchases, insurance, or retirement planning into the course.\r\nI would personally recommend that the department consider this textbook as a supplemental resource. Its practical focus and flexible structure make it a valuable addition for courses such as MAT105Z, especially for students interested in expanding their personal financial knowledge.","created_at":"2026-02-05T18:52:22.000-06:00","updated_at":"2026-02-05T18:52:22.000-06:00"},{"id":35792,"first_name":"Yang","last_name":"Yang","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Southern Illinois University Carbondale","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text provides a holistic view of the financial life cycle, encompassing everything from basic budgeting and credit management to sophisticated investment strategies and estate planning.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The underlying financial theories and mathematical applications are standard and technically sound, providing a reliable foundation for student learning.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The \"way of thinking\" promoted in the text is timeless, though the specific market data and tax references from the 2008-2009 period require instructors to provide contemporary updates.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The prose is exceptionally accessible, using relatable narratives to translate technical jargon into practical, actionable knowledge for students of all backgrounds.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The internal logic is maintained throughout, with a unified terminology and a predictable structural rhythm in every chapter.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Sub-sections are cleanly delineated, making it simple for an instructor to assign specific modules like \"Tax Planning\" or \"Retirement\" as standalone readings.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The \"life cycle\" progression is logically superior to many traditional texts, moving naturally from immediate cash management to long-term asset protection.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The layout is clean and the PDF navigation is functional, though a few legacy links from the original adaptation are present.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The textbook is professionally edited and free of distracting errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The narrative examples feature a diverse array of characters and professional scenarios, ensuring the material feels inclusive to a broad student demographic.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This textbook provides a comprehensive life-cycle approach to personal finance, effectively guiding students from foundational budgeting to sophisticated wealth management through a consistent and modular pedagogical framework. While the core financial principles (e.g., time value of money) remain technically accurate, the text’s primary limitations are its reliance on 2008-2009 market data and its strictly U.S.-centric focus, which require supplemental updates for modern or international contexts.","created_at":"2026-02-22T17:48:16.000-06:00","updated_at":"2026-02-22T17:48:16.000-06:00"},{"id":35793,"first_name":"Antar","last_name":"Salim","position":"Professor","institution_name":"St. Olaf College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book offers a range of personal finance topics.   It provides learners with concepts ranging from financial statements to behavioral finance.  The text is robust enough to offer learners a strong foundation while also focusing on the basics.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"There were no major errors detected during the review of the text.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"Although the text covers some current events, it is suggested to provide additional and more relevant context as it relates to chapter 9 (buying a home).  Some of the figures and references are nearly 20 years old.  Given some of the readers may be freshman or sophomores in college, the content may not be as relevant to them.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is concise and the content is well organized.  The short chapters are greatly appreciated as it encourages students to engage in the course material.  The author offers a chapter overview and throughout the reading, there are (key takeaway) sections.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The language and examples are consistent throughout.  The chapters follow a logical order in that they start with a topical overview and throughout the reading, there is a key takeaway section.  In addition, there are short exercises to ensure students are comfortable with the course material.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"Although is may be recommended to progress through the text in a particular order, the course material is presented in such a way that assigned reader does not have to follow any particular order.  In essence, students can start with chapter 3 for instance and return to chapter 1 if desired.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"There is a general flow in which personal finance course material is presented and the text follows a logical format.  However, due to the modularity of the material, there are opportunities to craft a customized curriculum that does not follow the order prescribed in the book.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text is easy to read and the navigate.  For instance, if you are in chapter 9, it is easy to transition to chapter 10 without having to click multiple times through chapter 9.  Also, there is a table of content tab that allows a reader to quickly navigate the text.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text is well written and free of any major grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"There are opportunities in some of the chapters to explore potential cultural differences.  For instance, in the investing chapter, some cultures may be more risk adverse than others, thus may desire one investment strategy over another.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall the text is appropriate for an undergraduate audience.  The reading and examples are easy to follow and provide a strong foundation for establishing financial literacy.  One suggestion would be to include short videos that highlight individuals that have successfully navigated personal finance hurdles and the lessons gleaned from those experiences.","created_at":"2026-02-23T07:38:23.000-06:00","updated_at":"2026-02-23T07:38:23.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/personal-finance","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:07:39.000-05:00"},{"id":876,"title":"Intermediate Microeconomics with Microsoft Excel","edition_statement":"2nd Edition","volume":null,"copyright_year":2020,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":null,"license":"Attribution-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"This book is based on the idea that there is a particular framework used by economists to interpret observed reality. This framework has been called the economic way of thinking, the economic approach, and the method of economics. This book is different from the many other books that attempt to teach microeconomics in three ways: It explicitly applies the recipe of the economic approach in every example. It uses concrete examples via Microsoft Excel in every application, which enables the reader to manipulate live graphs and learn numerical methods of optimization. The majority of the content is in the Excel workbooks which the reader uses to create meaning. You learn by doing, not by reading.","contributors":[{"id":5220,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Humberto","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Barreto","location":"DePauw University","background_text":"Humberto Barreto is the Q. G. Noblitt Professor of Econmics and Management at DePauw University. Born in Cuba, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Barreto has lectured around the world on teaching economics with computer-based methods, including Cuba, Brazil, Canada, Scotland, Spain, Poland, India, Burma, Japan, and Taiwan. He was a Fulbright Scholar in the Dominican Republic and has taught National Science Foundation Chautauqua short courses using simulation. He has received several research and teaching awards. He has written numerous articles and books on using Excel to teach economics (including introductory level material, micro, macro and econometrics). He offers an annual workshop for faculty on teaching economics."}],"subjects":[{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"}],"publishers":[{"id":855,"url":"https://www.depauw.edu/learn/microexcel/","year":2020,"created_at":"2020-07-07T13:30:54.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-07-07T13:31:03.000-05:00","name":"Humberto Barreto"}],"formats":[{"id":1533,"type":"PDF","url":"https://www.depauw.edu/learn/microexcel/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"5","textbook_reviews_count":1,"reviews":[{"id":4417,"first_name":"Sharron L","last_name":"Terrell, PhD","position":"Lecturer","institution_name":"Limestone University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"Barreto's Intermediate Microeconomics with Excel covers standard topics and ideas presented in any textbook developed for teaching microeconomics to upper-level undergraduate students who are either economics or business majors.  The text includes a Contents section listing primary and sub-topics but does not include either index or glossary sections. Terminology used throughout the text is simplistically defined within each chapter and a list of references concludes chapters.  The author intended placing all relevant information within chapters, so the omission of an index and glossary was purposeful.  The omitted index and glossary do not negate benefits of having a text that incorporates intelligible instructions on how to solve examples using Excel tools and files.  Instructions on using Excel to derive solutions to chapter examples are complete and clearly presented both within the text and the Excel file included with the text. Additionally, interactive examples allow students to engage with theory.  Finally, the text covers all topics expected in an intermediate textbook.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content presented in Intermediate Microeconomics with Excel accurately and fairly presents the “economic approach” upon which the text is framed as well as correctly presents relevant economic theories and thoughts.   Issues that might arise using and programming Excel to derive certain results are also identified and explained to minimize any frustration students might experience while engaging interactively with Excel.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook covers foundational microeconomic theories and repeatedly uses the unchanging “economic approach” to teach students how economist think and conduct analyses.  Therefore, the text is timeless theoretically and methodologically.. Should Microsoft update Excel features, Barreto will  be able to easily incorporate updates without any change to content or  essence of the text.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Barreto’s Intermediate Microeconomics with Excel uses simple verbiage to introduce concepts and provide explanations, so chapters are condensed with essential information Barreto wants to emphasize. The author’s succinctness, shortened chapters, enhances clarity and makes it easier for students to grasp concepts,  read, study and review.  Brevity of presentations is especially appealing considering the text is 700 plus pages.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Each chapter in the text begins, develops and ends the same.  Chapters begin with a summary and explanation of topics and concepts and definitions of terminology. Then analytic models are presented, explained and solved manually, step-by-step. Next, instructions are given on how to find identical solutions using Excel.  This approach for teaching students the “economic approach” is consistently applied throughout the text.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Although the author presents topics in a specific order, topics may be assigned in different order or excluded to accommodate a particular instructors’ goals and focus. Instructors may also create assignments around some topics and economic thought introduced and referenced in chapters.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text is organized logically.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The text is presented in PDF format while applications are presented in MS-Excel.  This means students must navigate to Excel to complete interactive applications.  Students may find the navigation process inconvenient unless they first download and print the text or sections of the text.  Otherwise, graphical and mathematical models display clearly and correctly in both the text and Excel.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The author observes grammatical and written language rules. No errors were noted.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Examples given in the text are culturally neutral.  There are no racial, ethnic or socio-economic markers.  Only standard examples are used.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Barreto developed the Intermediate Microeconomics with Microsoft Excel 2nd edition textbook to facilitate teaching microeconomics as an applied subject.  In particular, Barreto wants students to “practice applying the economic approach” which he defined as “the method of comparative statics.”  In conjunction with the broader goal, Barreto wants students to learn “sophisticated” Excel skills so set-out to a) provide concrete numerical examples within chapters, b) move analytic methods from appendices into the text, c) demonstrate multiple ways of solving problems with Excel and d) inundate students with lots of opportunities to engage in the “economic approach.” \r\n\r\nIntermediate Microeconomics with Excel easily meets Barreto’s goals.  From the preface to the conclusion, the text is filled with economic theory and thoughts of economist whose thinking and works framed the discipline of microeconomics taught to undergraduate students.  Each chapter begins with a clear statement of the goal the chapter achieves then logically presents the “economic approach” by reviewing foundational concepts and terminology presented in principles’ courses, setting a scenario, working through solutions numerically and graphically and concluding with step-by-step instructions on how to program Excel to obtain solutions.  Numerical examples and solutions are detailed—no missing steps or mysterious outcomes.  Verbal instructions for using Excel are complemented by Excel files showing steps and explaining outcomes.  In contrast to other Excel based text I have considered, Barreto’s Excel instructions and files are very accessible—certainly actual files with solutions render the material intelligible to any level of undergraduate student. Certainly, students who study microeconomics using Excel as the application software will conclude the course extremely proficient in Excel, if Barreto is the required text. Additionally, Excel motivates the type of interactive learning instructors strive to achieve.\r\n\r\nThe Barreto textbook may be used in any intermediate microeconomics course, whether or not the instructor intends using Excel, because of the clear presentation of numerical and graphical solutions.  The text is not suitable for principles courses because the abbreviated chapter format  presumes prior exposure to microeconomic terminology and concepts. \r\n Overall, Barreto's text accomplishes his goal to repetitiously expose students to the \"economic approach.\"","created_at":"2020-12-01T21:13:36.000-06:00","updated_at":"2020-12-01T21:13:36.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/intermediate-microeconomicswith-microsoft-excel-2nd-edition-barreto","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:05:44.000-05:00"},{"id":271,"title":"A Primer on Sustainable Business","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2012,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":null,"license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"Going green, green business, and sustainable business are topics on everyone’s mind. But what does all this mean exactly? A Primer on Sustainable Business answers that question and provides an introduction to the basics you need to know.","contributors":[],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"},{"id":21,"name":"Management","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HD30.4","visible_textbooks_count":60,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/management"}],"publishers":[{"id":161,"url":"https://biz.libretexts.org/","year":2020,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2022-12-01T11:21:58.000-06:00","name":"LibreTexts"}],"formats":[{"id":305,"type":"PDF","url":"https://batch.libretexts.org/print/Letter/Finished/biz-18702/Full.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":306,"type":"Online","url":"https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Business/Advanced_Business/Book%3A_A_Primer_on_Sustainable_Business","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":3210,"type":"Hardcopy","url":"https://libretexts.org/bookstore/single.html?biz-18702","price":{"cents":708,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":4,"reviews":[{"id":4189,"first_name":"Xiangrong","last_name":"Liu","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Bridgewater State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book explains how sustainability impacts on all perspectives of Business, from three major functions of Business: Operations Management, Finance, Marketing,  to the other areas of Business such as Human Resources, Information System and etc.. It summarizes a variety of resources and  best business practices, which give college students and practitioners a good introduction.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Most contents are accurate.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"It would be great that some of examples can get updated timely.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"All the expainations are clear and easy to understand. It would be better if there is more graphic demonstrations.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Terms used are  very consistent through the whole text.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The book provides a good structure for team-teaching.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The contents are well-organized, which is easy for readers to follow.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No major problems is found here.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors is identified.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I am not very sure that hiring within community should be the first sustainability strategy in Human Resources Management. Would diversity, inclusion and equality be the essentials we continue to advocate?","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Overall, it is a great book.","created_at":"2020-06-30T15:28:05.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-06-30T15:28:05.000-05:00"},{"id":33503,"first_name":"Erin","last_name":"Hopkins","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Virginia Tech","comprehensiveness_rating":2,"comprehensiveness_review":"There is a lack of Illustrations and interactive features such as discussion questions or end of chapter questions.  This would have made the textbook more interesting and active versus passive.  More specific examples would have been helpful such as walking through an actual triple bottom line accounting example or the tracking and measurement of sustainability.  Additionally, there is no table of contents, glossary, or index which would have been helpful to refer to when reading the book or using it as a reference tool.","accuracy_rating":2,"accuracy_review":"This book focuses almost exclusively on the positives of sustainability.  While this is certainly important, the negatives should also be put forward to provide a more balanced view.  \r\nFor example, the text states there is “a growing awareness that sustainability creates a win–win situation for the business and humanity alike.”   This is not necessarily so.  For example, the upfront costs of some sustainability initiatives are extremely high and therefore can be considered a negative when making a business decision from a financial standpoint.  More talk about the barriers is warranted.  Only criticisms noted were during the LCA section.\r\nAlso, the book does not emphasize the importance of profit to a for-profit company and overlooks this critical decision-making piece.  The business case for sustainability would have been helpful to emphasize more throughout the book.\r\n\r\nA couple of other inaccurate examples of statements in the book include:\r\n\r\n “The company that seeks to be a sustainable business should understand that sustainability is a company-wide goal that incorporates every aspect of the business and its relationships.”  This is not necessarily true, but can be a goal of a business.\r\n\r\n“The demand for environmentally friendly products is inelastic, for the most part, meaning that a change in the price has little or no effect on the quantity that consumers are willing to buy.”  This is not necessarily true as consumers for the most part still tend to be cost conscious.","relevance_rating":2,"relevance_review":"I found much of the material outdated which is to be expected since it was published in 2012.  Some updates would be much needed as almost a decade has gone by and the information on this topic tends to become outdated relatively quickly.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is written in a way that is accessible to various audiences and provides adequate context for the terminology used.","consistency_rating":3,"consistency_review":"Ch. 1 states “As you read A Primer on Sustainable Business, we challenge you to not think of sustainability as a program, an initiative, or an activity. Rather, sustainability is a mind-set, a philosophy, and worldview. Throughout each chapter, you are challenged to alter the way you view your job, the workplace, the business, and the world.”  But there was not a strong argument made on why this would be important and what this would encompass.  Additionally, this emphasis was not continued throughout the book.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"There was not a compelling case not made on why to implement all of the various measures mentioned in the book.  More examples and numbers and figures on why these sustainability strategies should be implemented would have been helpful.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Overall, no significant interface issues.  However, the note numbers are not labeled such as”2.3”, “2.4”, etc.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No significant grammatical errors noted","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"No insensitivity or offensiveness noted","overall_rating":7,"overall_review":"Please see above comments.","created_at":"2021-12-02T17:01:30.000-06:00","updated_at":"2021-12-02T17:01:30.000-06:00"},{"id":34219,"first_name":"Margie","last_name":"Phillips","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Marshall University","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book is a wealth of information and discusses in length how businesses should utilize sustainability methodology into a company’s daily operations.  While the book describes the positives of sustainable business, the book does not discuss the barriers for companies to become green and environmentally friendly.  The breakdown of chapters works well with the various divisions within a business.  Also, the listing of case studies needs additional information for students to evaluate, such as a timeline for the company to become sustainable, who in the company initiated the program, and what savings the company accomplished.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"The book contains an incredible amount of web links listed throughout the book and in Chapter 11- Appendix: Resources for the Sustainable Business, however several of the links no longer work.  The book lacks illustrations and graphics, which takes away from the student experience especially for a visual learner.  The book quotes, “Through an energy audit, many companies have identified sources of wasted energy and accompanying opportunities to become more energy efficient”.  The statement would be better if backed up with an actual energy or sustainable business project in the context of the book.","relevance_rating":3,"relevance_review":"The book was published in 2012 and contains outdated material.  For example, the link to ‘GreenJobInterview.com’ does not work.  Updates are needed.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The information provides a variety of choices regarding sustainability for businesses.  Students will learn about the many sustainable choices for companies.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Excellent reference book for sustainable programs listed throughout the book supports companies to become sustainable businesses.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The layout of the book assists students to locate essential information quickly.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"While the book is organized well, more in-depth information is needed to assist students in fully understanding the concepts.  Including charts, diagrams, and photos.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No interface issues noted.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammatical errors observed.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"No insensitivity noted.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"I enjoyed the book and all the information provided.","created_at":"2022-12-01T18:37:49.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-12-06T13:32:08.000-06:00"},{"id":34270,"first_name":"Linda","last_name":"Matthews","position":"Professor","institution_name":"University of Texas Rio Grande Valley","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text offers reader with a solid overview of sustainability issues across the various aspects of business. This allows discussion to be broad across functional areas and yet specific enough to allow students with interest in specific functional areas of business to explore sustainability in those specific area. More focus on the issues that keep companies from adopting such practices would be helpful to promote critical thinking on these issues.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"The text is a bit dated and could benefit from a facelift in examples, cases and illustrations used. Also, some links are not working, again suggesting some updates are needed.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"In my humble opinion this subject, sustainability, will retain relevance into the far future. The text has a modular structure that makes doable, assuming updates are scheduled on a regular basis.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"This text is easy to follow and written in a language that is understandable and offers many examples.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text feels consistent in vice and use of terminology and form across chapters.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I really enjoy the modularization of this text. It is set up in a way that could support team teaching for considering sustainable across the various functional as well as strategic issues in business.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text is well organized. More examples, data and examples would strengthen, especially considering the undergraduate student experience.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"Check links to support materials. Some links are not functional.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"Text appears fine grammatically.","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"Nothing insensitive noted.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"See above.","created_at":"2022-12-12T19:00:53.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-12-12T19:00:53.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/a-primer-on-sustainable-business","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:07:39.000-05:00"},{"id":898,"title":"Financial Management for Small Businesses: Financial Statements \u0026 Present Value Models","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2020,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":null,"license":"Attribution","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"This book is for those whose financial management focus is on small businesses. For you, we adapt the traditional financial management themes emphasized in corporate financial management courses to meet the needs of small businesses. Many financial managers of small businesses come from farms or agribusinesses. Others are interested in working for or starting businesses in the food or retail sectors. In most cases, these businesses aren’t organized as C-corporations impacting things like taxes, depreciation, and legal requirements around compiling and reporting financial data. They are rarely publicly traded which creates unique constraints to raising debt and equity capital and calculating required risk-adjusted returns.","contributors":[{"id":5252,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Lindon","middle_name":"J.","last_name":"Robinson","location":"Michigan State University","background_text":"Lindon J. Robison, Michigan State University"},{"id":5253,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Steven","middle_name":"D.","last_name":"Hanson","location":"Michigan State University","background_text":"Steven D. Hanson, Michigan State University"},{"id":5254,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"J.","middle_name":"Roy","last_name":"Black","location":"Michigan State University","background_text":"J. Roy Black, Michigan State University"}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"},{"id":21,"name":"Management","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HD30.4","visible_textbooks_count":60,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/management"}],"publishers":[{"id":877,"url":"https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/","year":2020,"created_at":"2020-07-23T11:12:31.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-07-23T11:12:31.000-05:00","name":"Michigan State University"}],"formats":[{"id":1591,"type":"Online","url":"https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/financialmanagement/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1592,"type":"PDF","url":"https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/financialmanagement/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1593,"type":"eBook","url":"https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/financialmanagement/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2038,"type":"ODF","url":"https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/financialmanagement/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":2,"reviews":[{"id":4933,"first_name":"Shreesh","last_name":"Deshpande","position":"Professor of Finance","institution_name":"University of San Diego","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book is not comprehensive given the subject of the book -- Financial Management for Small Businesses","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book is accurate in terms of the mathematical financial models","relevance_rating":1,"relevance_review":"The book is not relevant to a small business owner or a would be entrepreneur.","clarity_rating":2,"clarity_review":"The initial chapters are very well written. Subsequent chapters have content that is not as well written.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book is consistent.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The book is modular.","organization_rating":2,"organization_review":"The organization is puzzling -- the initial chapters are relevant to financial management of small businesses. After that the book chapters cover content that is not relevant to small businesses.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The interface is good.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The writing is very good -- I did not find any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"There are no negative cultural issues in the book. I noticed that the book has too many examples related to businesses in the agricultural/farming sector. It would be a good idea to broaden the types of firms used as examples in the chapter discussions.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"In reviewing the book, my expectation was that with “Financial Management for Small Businesses” in the title, the book content would help educate small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs on the necessary financial knowledge in business decision making.\r\n\r\nThe content in Chapters 1 through 5 is excellent and very readable, especially for a would-be small business owner. The authors explain the benefits and drawbacks of various business organizations, the tax issues that are relevant to a particular ownership structure and basic financial statements analysis. The discussion of the concept of Present Value in a part of a later chapter is good. All of this is very relevant knowledge for small business ownership and managers. The authors use examples to discuss financial concepts by relating content to family farms and the agricultural sector.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, starting from Chapters 6 through the end, the content of the book veers off into to granular intricacies of financial valuation models which would be of no practical interest to professionals who manage small businesses (or to individuals who aspire to own small businesses).\r\n\r\nMost financial managers of a small businesses are unlikely to ever want to use the financial models presented, for example, see equations 8.14, 8.15, 9.12, 10.6. Some models are simply too esoteric to have any practical use for businesses – small or large. \r\n\r\nOverall, the book was a disappointment.","created_at":"2021-05-17T16:15:28.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-05-17T16:15:28.000-05:00"},{"id":5067,"first_name":"Anh","last_name":"Nguyen","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"University of Texas at Arlington","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The book is fairly comprehensive regarding financial statements and present value models","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book is accurate in terms of the financial models","relevance_rating":1,"relevance_review":"I would say it does not completely target the small business owner","clarity_rating":2,"clarity_review":"The initial chapters are very well written. However, starting from chapter 7, the content is not as well written.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The terminology and models are consistent.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text is free of significant interface issues, for example navigation problems","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text contains no grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"I would highly recommend the first 2 parts (up to chapter 6) for small business owners. The content in Chapters 1 through 6 is excellent and very readable.\r\nStarting with the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of business organization, the author explains very well. Then, he provides helpful up-to-date information about the tax system and basis and advances financial analysis (financial statements and financial ratios).\r\nHowever, materials from chapter 7 toward those later chapters focus more on technically advanced models which are not relevant to small business owners. \r\nI would simply recommend the author to avoid using the \"small businesses\" term in the book title.","created_at":"2021-06-09T16:09:55.000-05:00","updated_at":"2021-06-09T16:09:55.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/financial-management-for-small-businesses-financial-statements-present-value-models","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:08:23.000-05:00"},{"id":496,"title":"Financial Strategy for Public Managers","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2016,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":null,"license":"Attribution","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"Financial Strategy for Public Managers is a new generation textbook for financial management in the public sector. It offers a thorough, applied, and concise introduction to the essential financial concepts and analytical tools that today's effective public servants need to know. It starts “at the beginning” and assumes no prior knowledge or experience in financial management. Throughout the text, Kioko and Marlowe emphasize how financial information can and should inform every aspect of public sector strategy, from routine procurement decisions to budget preparation to program design to major new policy initiatives. They draw upon dozens of real-world examples, cases, and applied problems to bring that relationship between information and strategy to life. Unlike other public financial management texts, the authors also integrate foundational principles across the government, non-profit, and “hybrid/for-benefit” sectors. Coverage includes basic principles of accounting and financial reporting, preparing and analyzing financial statements, cost analysis, and the process and politics of budget preparation. The text also includes several large case studies appropriate for class discussion and/or graded assignments.","contributors":[{"id":4314,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Sharon","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Kioko","location":"University of Washington","background_text":"Sharon N. Kioko is Associate Professor at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington."},{"id":4315,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Justin","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Marlowe","location":"University of Washington","background_text":"Justin Marlowe is the Endowed Professor of Public Finance and Civic Engagement at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington."}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":18,"name":"Accounting","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HF5625","visible_textbooks_count":18,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/accounting"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"},{"id":21,"name":"Management","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HD30.4","visible_textbooks_count":60,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/management"}],"publishers":[{"id":536,"url":"https://press.rebus.community/financialstrategy/","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:40.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:40.000-05:00","name":"Rebus Community"}],"formats":[{"id":912,"type":"Online","url":"https://press.rebus.community/financialstrategy/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":913,"type":"PDF","url":"https://press.rebus.community/financialstrategy/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":914,"type":"eBook","url":"https://press.rebus.community/financialstrategy/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2189,"type":"XML","url":"https://press.rebus.community/financialstrategy/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":5,"reviews":[{"id":1941,"first_name":"Diane","last_name":"Verrill","position":"Visiting Instructor","institution_name":"University of South Florida","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"Each chapter is impressive and comprehensive. The authors do recognize that the textbook might not be used in itself entirety in any given course because they comment that Chapter 2 and 3 would be appropriate for courses on government accounting, debt management, credit analysis, or non-profit financial management, whereas Chapters 4 and 5 work well for an applied course on public or non-profit budgeting. The textbook seems most appropriate for graduate students but Chapter 1 and Chapter 6 could definitely be incorporate into an undergraduate public financial administration course. There is no index or glossary. ","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I did not notice any inaccuracies; however, there is no reference list anywhere in the textbook (at the end of each chapter or at the end of the textbook). ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The text is up-to-date but the data is a few years old but that's to be expected. The text is written in a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement because only Chapter 1 would probably need to be updated.  ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The text is loaded with accounting terms which are in bold but there needs to be an index. I was looking for an undergraduate public administration textbook but this textbook is more appropriate for undergraduate accounting majors who are interested in working in the public sector or public administration graduate students.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"Each chapter is unique so it’s difficult to judge whether there is consistency from one chapter to the next. The one consistency from chapter to chapter is that the authors provide a table of learning objectives. ","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":" The text is clearly divided into chapters and sections within each chapter. The chapters are easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections. The authors, themselves, commented how each chapter might be appropriate for different learners.\nHowever, the Contents page simply states the title of each chapter and there is no Index or Glossary of Key Concepts. There is also no Suggested Websites at the end of each chapter which would be very helpful given some of the data presented. \n\n\n\n","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"For the most part, the topics are presented in a logical, clear fashion but there were times when the transit from one topic to the next did not seem immediately apparent. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There do not seem to be any interface issues. The Content page has hyperlinks to the beginning of each chapter. Some graphs were small but they could be enlarged. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The only grammatical errors were a few orphan headings (i.e. see page 40). ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. ","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"I was looking for an undergraduate public administration textbook but this textbook is more appropriate for undergraduate accounting majors who are interested in working in the public sector or public administration graduate students. That being said, \nChapter 1 and Chapter 6 could definitely be incorporate into an undergraduate public financial administration course. ","created_at":"2018-03-27T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-03-27T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":3226,"first_name":"Wesley","last_name":"Wehde","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"East Tennessee State University","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"As the authors note, this textbook is suitable for an introduction class on financial management. To this effect, it is comprehensive. For longer courses or more in-depth classes, other resources would likely be needed. It would be nice if the authors had linked to other resource that expand upon the material covered in the text. As it stands, there is very little direction for students who may be interested in learning more about the topics covered in the book, outside a few footnotes dispersed throughout the text. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I did not notice any major factual errors in the text. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The book does a great job of using relatively current events to motivate financial strategies and analysis. Some of these examples may become outdated such as the landslide in Washington described in Chapter 3. Others such as the example of Ferguson and its reliance on the police force and financing the government through fees will remain relevant and timely. Additionally, including examples from the private industry is useful to students who may be studying public management but may still be interesting the for-profit or private sectors. ","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The test is written in a readable style. Financial strategy can be dry but the authors do a great job of motivating the tools described and study of them by students. The figures and example financial statements are, as noted elsewhere, small and difficult to read on a small screen. In particular, the example balance sheets and other financial documents were blurry at times. Luckily the format is zoomable. Paper copies of this text may not be very useful though as a result. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book uses two motivating examples, one non-profit and one governmental, throughout most of the text to illustrate key concepts. This consistency will be beneficial to students to see how these types of analysis can apply across both sectors and to one organization, thoroughly. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each Chapter can stand on its own as a thorough introduction to each concept. Chapter 3 stands out as particularly useful outside of the context of the book as it has two stand-alone case studies that students can interact with. Other chapters with case studies would work well as single unit texts in public budgeting classes. These cases significantly expand the scope and usefulness of the text. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text make sense in the order that they are presented in generally. The flow of the individual chapters also works well. Each begins with a case motivating the chapter, proceeds to the definitional issues and techniques in the chapter, and then provides more concrete examples.  ","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"Overall the book is generally well presented. As noted above, the figures are at times small and hard to read and would not work in print. The financial statements are also blurry in many spots, not to the point of not being readable but somewhat distracting. Additionally, some of the use of color in blocking text and in the figures could be a barrier to accessibility. It is a very low frills text in its interface, even compared to other OERs.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"I noticed a grammatical error on Page 1 of the Introduction quoted here, “or used a shot of insulin from by Novo Nordisk”. This did not engender confidence in the quality of the text however I did not notice significant other mistakes similar to this one. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text actually does a really good job of referring a variety of issues and individuals from various cultural backgrounds, such as including the budget of Ferguson in discussion or the use of different mission-driven organizations for the cases. I appreciate this because it isn’t something the authors have to do but they clearly have paid attention in constructing their examples. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"This text exceeded my expectations. It generally rivals costly budgeting and financial management texts that were used in my coursework. I would definitely use it in an Intro class for an MPA or MPP program. I think it could even be used, with some modification, in an undergraduate course on Financial Management and Budgeting. I don't mind that it doesn't hold the reader's hand and think this might actually improve note-taking and comprehension when using the text, especially given how applied and interactive the topic is. I will probably use some of the cases and examples in my Intro to Public Administration course when discussing Financial Strategy and Management. ","created_at":"2019-10-28T15:05:20.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-10-28T15:05:20.000-05:00"},{"id":3730,"first_name":"Todd","last_name":"Ely","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"University of Colorado Denver","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The “strategy” focus in the title is narrower than the actual content of the book, which covers everything from public sector revenue sources to financial accounting and budget strategy across six chapters. From the opening sentence, the intentional blurring of sectors is apparent. The broad definition of “public” reflects reality and the dependence of government on nonprofit and for-profit organizations to deliver services and support the public good. The text covers sources of public revenue, financial accounting (statements, analysis, and recording transactions), costs, and public budgeting. In the revenue chapter, the treatment of topics across the complete range of government types is refreshing (for example, including special districts and counties). The authors are very open about what they do not cover in the text. Although the authors suggest they “gloss over government budgeting systems and processes,” the budget content delivers the needed basics. While there is no index for the book, the table of contents is suitable when used in conjunction with the ability to search the digital text format. Practice problems and end-of chapter cases for each chapter are a welcome addition and can benefit instructors even if they choose not to exclusively use the textbook for a class. More citations to the primary sources that aided the writing of the textbook would help other instructors build out a comprehensive course and guide students to useful supplementary materials.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content appears accurate and unbiased. The authors convey the technical material in a logical and detailed manner.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The authors achieve their goal of providing content in a fresh manner, but this may require periodic updates of cases and cultural references. The linkage between highly relevant cases and content is compelling, including for example the budgetary source of the much publicized police abuses in Ferguson, MO. The centerpiece case at the end of the book (The Cascadia Hearing School) should retain its relevance and usefulness well beyond the 2015 financial statements used in the case.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is clearly written, despite content requiring the introduction of many technical terms.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is internally consistent with, for example, the use of standard frameworks to guide the accounting content across multiple chapters.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Instructors can benefit from the modularity of the content, whether it is using specific chapters, cases, call-out boxes, or end-of-chapter questions alongside other resources. In the foreword, the authors highlight the chapters especially relevant to different course offerings.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The text presents within-chapter content in a logical, clear fashion. Starting with retrospective financial accounting and then moving to prospective budgeting is an unconventional order of content. As is beginning with financial statement overviews before introducing Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, but instructors can easily customize the order of content according to their personal preferences.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I only viewed the text as a PDF, but multiple formats are available. The quality of the financial statement screenshots is uneven across the text, but all are readable. Some creative figures (like revenues and spending of cities) are difficult to fully benefit from due to sizing.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"Some minor typos and misspellings throughout the text, but nothing that undermines the credibility or accuracy of the content.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. In fact, the text does an admirable job of being inclusive in the presentation of content and cases.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Financial Strategy for Public Managers is a commendable contribution to the public and nonprofit management community. Given the resource constraints of public organizations and the challenges of affordable higher education, there is some irony that faculty do not more frequently use open education resources to teach public financial management. Whether used as a stand-alone text or with supplemental chapters and materials, those who teach courses in public budgeting and finance should become familiar with the text as a valuable teaching resource. The authors acknowledge the availability of “many fine textbooks on public financial management,” but they add value with this text by linking the excitement students have for public sector work to the necessary tools to be effective managers. Opening each chapter with content-specific questions typically asked by managers reflects the authors’ intent to connect technical skills to informing “actual management decisions.”","created_at":"2020-04-17T12:14:03.000-05:00","updated_at":"2020-04-17T12:14:03.000-05:00"},{"id":34138,"first_name":"Jennie","last_name":"Mitchell","position":"Emerita Professor","institution_name":"Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text does much more than provide financial strategy guidance.  It dives deep into the most common transactions in nonprofit accounting.  For example, the authors devote an entire chapter to transaction analysis.  The authors explained “in kind” contribution of volunteer time and did a great job of explaining the transactions required for pledges receivable that turn into bad debt.  The authors use the same example of organizations throughout the entire text which helps the students focus.\r\nWhat I did not see was the connection of the City of Overland Park (OP) example to the actual city located in Kansas.  I think it would be important to make that link since the GFOA has issued the City of Overland Park a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting every year since 1976.  In addition, the GFOA presented the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award annual to OP since 1995.  \r\nThis text does not have an index or glossary and the TOC was not clickable in the PDF format.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content is accurate, error-free, and unbiased, with good use of examples throughout.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Content is organized well with good scaffolding for the learner.  The comparison of Financial Statement Ratios, Financial Statement Ratios for Profitability, Financial Statement Ratios for Solvency, along with all the “rule of thumb” listings provides great context for the students.\r\nMy only concern is that the examples should probably be updated soon since financial statements show 2015/2016.  And there have been a few changes in accounting that will impact the financials (although an addendum could be added to alert students and faculty).","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is clearly written with adequate context and appropriate terminology used throughout.  The case, Cascadia Hearing School, is very cleverly written and the assignment for the newly hired employee, Kate Erikson, will encompass the learning outcomes of many of the chapters.  I would use this case but slightly modify the assignments for my Financial Management for Nonprofit course.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The authors do a good job of a consistent framework starting with questions and learning objectives early in the chapter.  I found it easy to follow.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"My main interest was any sections on non-profits and this textbook included a fairly deep coverage of government organizations.  However, I found it was easy to move to a relevant section.  The text is divided into six chapters and could easily be incorporated into a financial management course at the master’s level with some minor modification.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics are organized clear and logically.  Some may prefer to move the transaction chapter before the financial statements.  I prefer that the financial statements chapter is before the transaction chapter.  I also like the comparison tables and thought they added value to the text.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"There are several examples that are blurry, distorted, or missing.  For example, in the PDF format that I reviewed there were lots of instances of “IMAGE HERE” alerting the reader to the fact that an image is missing and that they could assume the authors didn’t include it.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"The text contains minor typos.  \r\n\r\nIs there a reference section for the book?","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive to me.  However, I’m not sure using the phrase “They’re just not sexy” is appropriate.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall, this book will fill a void I've found in other textbooks.  Students who become non-profit directors are \"not\" number's people.  Most directors are drawn to the nonprofit because of the mission and the people they serve.  However, directors need to know and use numbers to help tell the story.  This book does not include filing a 990 or how to meet Charity Watchdog requirements, but what is does cover is excellent.","created_at":"2022-11-10T14:09:48.000-06:00","updated_at":"2022-11-10T14:09:48.000-06:00"},{"id":34505,"first_name":"Lawrence","last_name":"Nelson","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Dakota County Technical College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"I will be teaching a course on financial management for public and private sectors.  Prior to reading this textbook, I had a lack of knowledge in public financial management and this textbook covers the public sector (non-profit and government) very well.  It may go into more detail than needed, but I plan to extract key information that will fit well into my course.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Did not determine any errors in accuracy.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Although many of the financial reports are dated, they are still relevant to what I plan to teach in my course.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"The authors are careful to thoroughly describe all reports used by both nonprofit and governmental organizations.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The authors wrote this textbook in a manner I found very easy to follow.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Taken in total, this textbook could be used in a masters course on public financial management.  I plan to extract key information for my undergraduate course.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"I found this textbook to be very straightforward and easy to follow.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"I found this textbook to be very navigable and appreciated the spreadsheet reports following each of the descriptions of their content.  I see that some reported blurry or missing images.  This is true only in the PDF version.  I used the EBook version and it was fine.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Not enough typos to report.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"Personally I did not find any text offensive.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Great textbook.  I look forward to using it in my course.","created_at":"2023-04-11T09:30:16.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-04-11T09:30:16.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/financial-strategy-for-public-managers","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:08:20.000-05:00"},{"id":29,"title":"Money and Banking","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2012,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":"9780982043080","license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"The financial crisis of 2007-8 has already revolutionized institutions, markets, and regulation. Wright's Money and Banking V 2.0 captures those revolutionary changes and packages them in a way that engages undergraduates enrolled in Money and Banking and Financial Institutions and Markets courses. Minimal mathematics, accessible language, and a student-oriented tone ease readers into complex subjects like money, interest rates, banking, asymmetric information, financial crises and regulation, monetary policy, monetary theory, and other standard topics. Numerous short cases, called \"Stop and Think\" boxes, promote internalization over memorization. Exercise drills ensure basic skills competency where appropriate. Short, snappy sections that begin with a framing question enhance readability and encourage assignment completion. The 2.0 version of this text boasts substantive revisions (additions, deletions, rearrangements) of almost every chapter based on the suggestions of many Money and Banking instructors. Some specific highlights are: Chapter 11 now contains enhanced descriptions of recent regulatory changes, including Dodd-Frank, Chapter 12 is an entirely new chapter on derivatives covering forwards, futures, options, and swaps that also including comprehensive treatment of the causes and consequences of financial crises, and Chapter 14 has updated discussions of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy tools, including paying interest on reserves, and the structure and leadership of the European Central Bank. Recent financial turmoil has increased student interest in the financial system but simultaneously threatens to create false impressions and negative attitudes. This up-to-date text by a dynamic, young author encourages students to critique the financial system without rejecting its many positive attributes. Peruse the book online now to see for yourself if this book fits the needs of your course and students. This textbook has been used in classes at:Augustana College, Central Michigan University, Florida State University, Lyndon State College, Princeton University, Rutgers University, University of Southern Maine, Western Oregon University., Westminster College.","contributors":[{"id":3576,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Robert","middle_name":"E.","last_name":"Wright","location":"NYU","background_text":"Robert E. Wright was born in 1969 in Rochester, New York, to two self-proclaimed factory rats. \"I recall little of my earliest days except the Great Inflation and oil embargo, which stretched the family budget past the breaking point. The recession in the early 1980s also injured my family’s material welfare and was seared into my brain. My only vivid, noneconomic memories are of the Planet of the Apes films (all five of them!) and the 1972 Olympics massacre in Munich; my very young mind conflated the two because of the aural similarity of the words gorilla and guerilla. After taking degrees in history from Buffalo State College (B.A., 1990) and the University of Buffalo (M.A., 1994; Ph.D., 1997), I began teaching a variety of courses in business, economics, evolutionary psychology, finance, history, and sociology at Temple University, the University of Virginia, sundry liberal arts colleges, New York University’s Stern School of Business, and, since 2009, Augustana College (the one in South Dakota, not the one in Illinois), where I am additionally the director of the Thomas Willing Institute for the Study of Financial Markets, Institutions, and Regulations. I’ve also been an active researcher, editing, authoring, and coauthoring books about the development of the U.S. financial system (Origins of Commercial Banking, Hamilton Unbound, Wealth of Nations Rediscovered, The First Wall Street, Financial Founding Fathers, One Nation Under Debt), construction economics (Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets), life insurance (Mutually Beneficial), publishing (Knowledge for Generations), bailouts (Bailouts), public policy (Fubarnomics), and investments (The Wall Street Journal Guide to the 50 Economics Indicators That Really Matter). Due to my unique historical perspective on public policies and the financial system, I’ve also become something of a media maven, showing up on NPR and other talk radio stations, as well as various television programs, and getting quoted in major newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. I publish op-eds and make regular public speaking appearances nationally and, increasingly, internationally. I am also active in the Museum of American Finance and sit on the editorial board of its magazine, Financial History. I wrote this textbook because I strongly believe in the merits of financial literacy for all. Our financial system struggles sometimes in part because so many people remain feckless financially. My hope is that people who read this book carefully, dutifully complete the exercises, and attend class regularly will be able to follow the financial news and even critique it when necessary. I also hope they will make informed choices in their own financial lives.\""}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":18,"name":"Accounting","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HF5625","visible_textbooks_count":18,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/accounting"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"},{"id":4,"name":"Economics","parent_subject_id":9,"call_number":"HB171.5","visible_textbooks_count":46,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/economics"}],"publishers":[{"id":109,"url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Money%20and%20Banking.pdf","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":641,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Money%20and%20Banking.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":8,"reviews":[{"id":171,"first_name":"Mahmoud","last_name":"Al-Odeh","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Bemidji State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is a good textbook that covers a wide range of topics in the economic analysis theory and application. The book consists of 24 chapters that cover current topics related such as Interest Rates, Inflation, Rate of Return, Future and Current Value of Money, Money Supply Process, Monetary Policy Tools and Foreign Exchange. The book also disscussed Balance Sheet and a T-account and provided strategies for Bank Management.  The chapters include a good examples to be used in the classroom to explain the topic. The exercises at the end of each topic are extremely helpful and can be used as homework assignments.  ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I have reviewed several examples given in the book and I found that the book is accurate and contains no errors. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The content and the topics in the book is very good for introductory and intermediate economy classes. The examples provided are current and up-to-date. As any textbook, it is recommended changing and updating the content at least once every five years to include more relevant examples and case studies. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is written in a way that students can easily understand the content without difficulties. I also like the funny style (e.g. “grandma, bless her soul,” examples) and the creativity in writing the exercises. This creativity in writing will keep students more engaged with the book content. The examples are clear and short to the point. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The textbook is consistent in terminology and framework. The terms use in each chapter are consistent across the chapters. It is recommended to include a section (e.g. appendix) for key terms \u0026amp; definitions. ","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The chapters are organized and divided into subsections/subtopics with objectives that support the overall chapters’ objectives. These objectives that are listed at the beginning of each topic are very helpful to assess students’ knowledge. The examples provided in each chapter can be used by instructors to explain the topic in each chapter and to measure the achievements of specific objectives. Some of the features that I like in this textbook are: “key takeaways” sections summarize important points in the topic/chapter; “Suggested Reading” sections provide resources and links to be used for more information; “Stop and Think Box” sections provide discussion topics that make students think about the big picture of the chapter; and “exercises” sections can be used to assess students’ knowledge regarding specific chapter/topic objectives.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Excellent. The logical organization of the chapters made the topics presented more appealing and interesting to students.  The book organized using components such as: topics objectives, explanations, examples, key takeaways, Stop and Think Box, and exercises. All these components made the structure of the book easy to follow. ","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"Very good. I found no issues. For future improvements, it would be helpful if special techniques or applications used for writing equations. For example, the equation on page 63 “FV = PV(1 + i) n” it should be PV = FV/(1 + i) ^ n as it is summarized in “key takeaways” on page 66. Also, it is recommended separating the examples giving from the discussion or the explanation. It could be the explanation and discussion first and then section with “example X.X” heading to show an example. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammar issues found. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. The examples and topics provided are applicable in any country and for any cultural environment.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This is a good textbook that covers theory and application of the economic analysis. The book structure and the writing style made the topics easy to understand by students. It is highly recommended to be used for introductory and intermediate economy classes. The examples and exercises provided are excellent to be used as in-class activities and homework assignments. ","created_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":784,"first_name":"Wendy","last_name":"Usrey","position":"Faculty Instructor","institution_name":"Colorado State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This book is fantastic in terms of the breadth of finance, money and banking topics. I have found that most money and banking texts have some of the topics I want to cover in my classes, but I have seen very few that contain all of the material I am looking for in one, easily digestible textbook.  With 26 chapters covering everything from how money and banking applies to our everyday lives, to the theory of rational expectations and its implications for monetary policy, this book is so comprehensive I can easily see myself using it in several different finance classes as well as in various economics courses.  \n","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"I have not seen any errors in terms of content or examples/problems in the text.  However, some of the hyperlinks to outside resources are no longer working.  ","relevance_rating":2,"relevance_review":"1.\tI was very excited to see all of the hyperlinks to external content (new stories, other texts, etc), but as mentioned above, quite a few of the hyperlinks are no longer working.  Depending on the link this could be a relatively easy fix, but some of these sources may no longer exist and may need to be removed.  While not particularly difficult, if the text refers to the content referenced by the link, portions of the text will need to be rewritten if the links are removed.   I also noted a few places where the text is already in need of some updating, for example, the book does a good job of explaining the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis, along with concepts such as the “Lender of Last Resort” and monetary policy, but does not contain any discussion on quantitative easing.  This was a very critical and important (as well as controversial) component of the Federal Reserve's response the Financial Crisis, so it should have been included in the text or added in an update.    \n","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Overall the text is written in a very accessible manner without sacrificing academic rigor.  Concepts are explained fully but in such a way that students from a variety of backgrounds should be able to understand the content.  As another reviewer mentioned, a glossary or index at the end of the text would be very useful for helping to navigate the text and find definitions of key terms quickly. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Terminology, writing style and framework remain consistent throughout the text.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Despite the amount of material, this text is very well organized.  The content is broken up into manageable chunks with very clear learning objectives stated at the beginning and key takeaways at the end of each section.   This format makes a big difference in terms of helping the reader stay oriented so they do not get lost in the world of financial jargon and concepts.  I particularly liked how each chapter was organized with so many additional resources and references.  I particularly like the clear chapter objectives, followed by learning objectives for each sub-section.  The \"suggested reading\" at the end of each chapter, as well as the \"stop and think\" boxes make the text very approachable for students and give the instructor a lot of great ideas for incorporating outside content and examples into the class.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The order in which the topics are presented is also very good with progression between concepts fluid and intuitive, but hyperlinks referring to other parts of the text make it very easy for an instructor to teach the topics in an order that suits their individual class structure without the worry of having students end up \"lost in the text.\"","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The interface of the book is very easy to navigate.  Content displays as expected and does not seem to be affected by the format (I reviewed both the web interface as well as the downloaded PDF version).  One thing that would make navigation easier would be to add hyperlinks from the table of contents to the chapters in the downloadable PDF version.  This feature is available when viewing on the web, but did not appear as an option once I downloaded the PDF.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammar or spelling errors were found during my review. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"As expected from an academic text, there are no insensitive or offensive references in the text.  Additionally, the information is easy to understand regardless of cultural background and can easily be used in diverse classes with little to no adaptation.  ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall I think this is a solid, well written text that contains a lot of relevant and useful information.  The world of finance can be intimidating and the author does a wonderful job of helping make the subject matter approachable and interesting, particularly with the use of humor and clever chapter titles.  I intend to use this text in several of my own classes that range from introductory up to intermediate level classes.","created_at":"2016-12-05T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2016-12-05T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":1301,"first_name":"Laura","last_name":"Carolevschi","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Winona State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"In its 26 chapters, the textbook covers a wide array of money and banking topics, as well as macroeconomics topics with monetary policy applications. The treatment of the subjects is clear, easy to follow and relevant with applied examples. No index or glossary was provided with the version that was reviewed.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content is accurate, error-free and unbiased, at least in the sections I chose to review.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"The theories discussed in the textbook are up-to-date, and will stand the test of time for a while. However, some of the data will need to be updated. I'm reviewing this book in 2017, and many of the graphs have data until 2007-2008.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The author uses a story-telling format that is easy to read and accessible to both beginners and advanced learners. The book has many examples that students might be able to relate to due to personal experience.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"All chapters are using the same format. The terminology and concepts are used consistently throughout the text.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"While the textbook covers a variety of topics, it is easily divisible into smaller sections. Each chapter is divided into several topics, and each sub-chapter is clearly organized around a single topic, while still easily integrating within the larger subject matter of each chapter. During a regular semester I am usually unable to cover an entire textbook, and I select some chapters to cover first, with a couple of chapters as \"maybe\", if we still have time at the end of the semester. This textbook can be easily organized in such a way.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The topics in the text are presented in a logical and clear fashion. The organization/structure/flow are consistent throughout the text. All chapters are organized in the same format, making the text easy to read and follow.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"The text is free of any interface issues. Most images/tables/graphs were clear and easy to read. However, I encountered a couple of images that were unclear - on page 258, I could only read the names of the countries, but not the text in each box even after zooming in; the table on page 304 seems to not be visible in its entirety. Another thing that would make the book easier to navigate would be a table of contents with hyperlinks to each chapter. The .pdf version that I'm reviewing does not have it.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I could not find any grammar errors. (However, I found some typos - in a few instances, it seems that the space between the words is missing, likethis.)","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The treatments of topics in this textbook is respectful of different cultures.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"The book provides a comprehensive yet approachable coverage of several monetary policy issues. The format of the book make it versatile to several uses - as a standalone text in money and banking classes, or as supplementary reading in introductory or intermediary macroeconomics classes.","created_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2017-06-20T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":2978,"first_name":"Partha","last_name":"Gangopadhyay","position":"Professor","institution_name":"St. Cloud State University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The text provides a comprehensive coverage of Money and Banking topics. If anything, there is too much material in the book's 26 chapters for one course. Most colleges do not have more than one Money and Banking course. The book has enough material for at least two such courses. I did not see an index or a glossary of terms.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I have not detected any error in the text. I checked out some of the hyperlinks to outside resources. The links seem to work just fine. I would like to see the sources of the tables and figures listed below the tables/figures in the book.","relevance_rating":2,"relevance_review":"The text needs to be revised and updated. The tables and figures in the book provide information up to 2007-2008. This applies to many of the tables/figures in chapters 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, and 21. There is a brief discussion of banking regulation in chapter 11. However, I did not see even a mention of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, or the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, or the Basle 111 capital requirements. The discussion in the books seems to end with the Riegle-Neal Act of 1995, and the Basle 11 requirements. Also, the suggested readings at the end of the chapters need to include more current articles and other resources. The fundamental concepts of money and banking have not materially changed over time. The book does a good job of explaining these concepts. However, the banking laws and data and statistics have changed over time. These need to be updated. The book was written in 2012. It is time for a newer edition. The updates can be easily implemented.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is written in clear and concise language. Beginning students should not have any difficulty in reading and understanding the concepts. Students will also be able to personally relate to many of the examples and anecdotes that are spread throughout the book.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The writing style is consistent throughout the book. I also like the consistent layout of the chapters. Each chapter and section begin with a set of learning objectives, and ends with 'Key Takeaways', and a list of suggested readings. I also like the 'Stop and Think' boxes in each chapter.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"I may be able to cover 10 or 11 chapters from the book in a sixteen-week semester. As I mentioned elsewhere, there is enough material in the book for at least two 'Money and Banking' courses. It will be easy to pick 10-12 chapters from the book to cover in a 'Money and Banking' class. The text is not overly self-referential, and most chapters can stand on their own. The text can be easily divided into smaller sub-units that can be incorporated in different courses.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The text and the individual chapters are logically organized. The order of the chapters is clear, and the concepts are presented in a coherent and logical manner.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I did not detect any issues with interface. I suggest numbering the equations in chapters 4-7, 9, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, and 21. Also, the sources of the various tables/figures should be listed below the tables or figures. Several exercises are included in chapters 4-7, 9, 15, 17, 18, and 21. I am assuming that the solutions to these exercises will be made available to the instructors in supplementary materials in the book's website. However, I suggest that the answers to at least some of these exercises should be provided in an Appendix at the end of the book. It will also be helpful if a section of conceptual questions and/or numerical exercises is added at the end of each chapter. I also suggest adding a section in chapter 4 (and in other chapters) showing how to calculate the time value of money (and bond prices) using a financial calculator. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I have not seen any grammatical errors in the book.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I did not notice any cultural insensitivity in the book.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"The book is comprehensive in the coverage of Money and Banking topics. However, the book is very outdated. A new edition of the book with up-to-date discussion of the banking regulatory framework, and well as current data and statistics is needed at this point. The concepts are easy to understand, and the book is well-written.","created_at":"2019-06-10T14:22:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-06-10T14:22:38.000-05:00"},{"id":3426,"first_name":"Peter","last_name":"Mikek","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Wabash College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is a great book for any student that is exposed to questions of money and banking for the first time.The book is certainly comprehensive in covering most of the money and banking topics, reaching a bit into macroeconomics and international finance. The 26 chapters provide overview and numerous examples of standard Money and Banking courses/textbooks and, very likely, include more material than can be thoroughly covered in a semester course. The three chapters devoted totally to banking are complemented with standard coverage of monetary policy and well placed within macroeconomic framework.  It is delightful that the focus on banks within financial sector is maintained through most of the text. The text includes a chapter on financial crisis, international finance, and several chapters reviewing and scaffolding  a broader context for money and banking. I was puzzled by the fact that I could not locate the chapter of Financial Derivatives. However, I suspect that this was probably some error preparing the online PDF file. While the work is very broad in its scope the text in each sections is super focused and relatively short. While I am a fan of concise textbooks, I found it occasionally too limited (for example there is a chapter with only 6 pages of text that includes several unnecessary excursions into methodology and history).  \r\n","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Overall, I find the book very accurate and unbiased. In some sense the text strikes me as not completely polished but still great text. The remaining typos are not crucial for understanding and can be easily identified.Let me give you some examples: in an example of a balance sheet ,the author claim that liabilities are \"things owNed,\" they place transaction deposits on one T account among bank's assets, in a scheme of a transmission mechanism they have an arrow turned the wrong way (EMP, net worth down), \"nominal rates on risky securities had in fact soared in 1930-1933\" should actually talk about the \r\nreal rates, etc. Again, these are small remaining errors and a reader will be able to fix them easily as they go. I am convinced that the next iteration of the text will get rid of the remaining typos.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"This is definitely one of the very strong attributes of this interesting text. The examples are definitely up-to-date as it includes examples from the recent financial crises and developments in international finance. But not only that, the author uses rich historical background artfully to place the more recent examples in historical context. This contributes to richer text and better understanding of several provided examples. I believe that the text will need relatively little in terms of updating it.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"This is a fantastically clear presentation of ideas and concepts. The authors use Stop and Think boxes to expand upon the basic ideas with examples, Key Takeaways boxes to reiterate the most important points, Exercise boxes to provide hands-on opportunities. Each section starts with clearly spelled learning objectives. Super concise text leaves the reader with clear message. But maybe the most enjoyable feature of the text is vivacious, playful, and rich language. I am REALLY impressed with the rich vocabulary and engaging, occasionally truly erudite, nicely varied language (\"if not insane, at least inane,” “Asymmetric information (that horrible three-headed hound from Hades),” “if you wrap your car around a tree,” etc.). The authors try to engage the average reader also with a number of colloquial expressions that are less to my taste (\"those smakers,\" \"kinda funny that,\" \"darn high\") but I guess that is just my taste.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The authors are consistent across the chapters, they use standard field specific vocabulary. I think they score high on this point.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"This is another strong quality of the text. While some parts are absolutely essential in every Money and Banking text, such as time value of money or chapter on banking and one on monetary policy, there are parts that can easily be added or dropped based on preferences of the instructor. Chapters devoted to exchange rates or international monetary arrangements can easily be postponed to later courses. Similarly, students that already had a decent intermediate macroeconomics will not need chapters focused on macro. So, the text both allows for various arrangements of the building blocks in a variety of ways. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The textbook follows a standard order in presentation of the material. Not only the sequencing but also parsing the material into logical units was done with the due care. This is actually essential for good learning success and they did if perfectly. Additionally, I already mentioned that each section has clearly spelled learning objective and Key Takeaways that contribute to transparent structure of the text. Finally, progression from one topic to the next is seamless and easy to follow.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Navigation is easy and clear, the figures, excercises, Stop And Think boxes are clearly marked. The text consistently uses several different colors to indicate parts of the text or to emphasize this or that (such as tables). The interface is not only easy to use, it is also nicely appealing for the reader.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I found no issues with the grammar. Furthermore, I wish to emphasize again that the use charming and vivacious language.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I found the book to follow the usual standards regarding the cultural sensitivity and non-offensive language. Despite the fact that the book is devoted to functioning of a financial system in developed capitalist economy the text includes ample examples from across the globe - in particular in chapters on international finance. German reunification,  Chinese high foreign reserves and exchange rate system, Argentine currency crises are just three of numerous examples that cross the cultural and geographical borders with ease and clarity.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"This is an absolutely delightful text that uses fresh, clear, and playful language in the field that can be perceived as rather dry.  The book will be best suited for beginners with first encounters with money and banking. For others, a skillful instructor can easy point out on what they should focus (and where are few remaining typos). The text is comprehensive and set in a way that will serve broad set of instructor's preferences; from those that wish to focus on international finance to those that wish to include some review of macroeconomics. One of the best attributes of the book is the fact that the author never loses its focus on banks and/or monetary policy. \r\nOverall, I find the text great.","created_at":"2019-12-22T15:29:09.000-06:00","updated_at":"2019-12-22T15:29:09.000-06:00"},{"id":4506,"first_name":"Ulmaskhon","last_name":"Kalandarova","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Colorado State University","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"Although the book covers majority of concepts in money and banking, but unfortunately it seems that all data is outdated and sometime the fundamental legislative laws like Dodd-Frank act not even mentioned. Also, more discussion of bank regulating system is recommended - it is very brief in chapter-11. \r\nThe revised and more comprehensive version of this book is recommended. For example, this book could compare its' contents with Cecetti's Money and Banking book, which is widely used in teaching this course.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"Fundamental concepts seem to be discussed very well, but the demonstration data seems to be a bit loose.","relevance_rating":4,"relevance_review":"Co","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is written in clear prose. I did not have any difficulty with its understanding.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Text is consistent with terminology, however the modern terminology could be also included - like bitcoins, hi tech , mobile banking issues","modularity_rating":3,"modularity_review":"Modularity needs to be revised and added more parts for practice, brief summaries, real-life examples.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"Structure is outdated - need to include at least some practice problems and explanation of their solutions for some of them in the text. Also, real life examples section would be a plus. Also, brief summary of chapter's main points could improve this book.","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"I think the book should be revised due to very outdated display features - it seems very old and comparing for example to Cecetti's book in money and banking - I would not choose this book for teaching - because it does not have many different informative, practice, learn sections as other books have.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I didn't find any grammatical errors in the text.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I would recommend to add more data from developing nations banking system for informative and comparison/analysis purposes. This could give a brief explanation of different factors that effect developing countries banking systems, and their special characteristics.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":null,"created_at":"2021-01-02T01:01:06.000-06:00","updated_at":"2021-01-02T01:01:06.000-06:00"},{"id":34737,"first_name":"Nabila Rahman","last_name":"Biju","position":"Assistant Professor of Economics","institution_name":"Berea College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"I really liked the fact that the first few chapters started with very basic ideas which makes it easier for the beginners to start in this field. And I like the think-boxes.","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The discussion of moral hazard and the so called 'evil practice' is a good way to introduce students about the financial system's drawbacks. They should realize that this current system is not the best we could do so far. Rather, it the accumulation of historical accidents and there is plenty of room for improvements in this current system. So yes, I think the content was pretty unbiased.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"With all the detailed examples, I found it to be quite relevant. I am teaching Money and Banking class currently, and I can find most of my important topics in this book as well. So, yes, I will say this book is relevant.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The language of the book is really reader-friendly and as I mentioned before, I felt a non-Econ or non-Business background student also can easily understand.","consistency_rating":4,"consistency_review":"The content and topics of each consequent chapters flow well.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"It's already way too divided into sub-topics at least in my opinion. No need to break it down further.","organization_rating":3,"organization_review":"Although it is not an e-book and only a pdf, still, putting in a list of contents could be done. I strongly recommend to have a list of contents with hyperlinks linking to each chapter as it really helps. Especially when a person is re-reading, its really annoying to keep scrolling.","interface_rating":2,"interface_review":"Would be nice to have hyperlinks.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Good writing","cultural_rating":4,"cultural_review":"I would expect more discussion of other countries also the ancient times. But it's still very relevant.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"I liked it quite a bit. Only adding a list of content is the only thing I would ask for. Thanks!","created_at":"2023-11-14T11:12:30.000-06:00","updated_at":"2023-11-14T11:12:30.000-06:00"},{"id":35742,"first_name":"Muris","last_name":"Hadzic","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Lake Forest College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"The coverage is comprehensive in terms of the topics covered across all chapters. However, within each chapter the topics could be covered in more detail.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Content is accurate, but some tables and figures are outdated.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Content is relevant, but some tables and figures are outdated. The update would be welcome. I use it as an opportunity for an exercise where students need to recreate the tables/figures themselves but using up-to-date data.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The text is written in a clear, easy-to read, engaging languages. That is one of the top reasons I adopted the book in my classroom","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"I found no issue in terms of consistency. The chapters use the same terminology throughout, so it is not confusing or diffuclt for student to 'connect the dots' across different concepts and topics in the textbook.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The textbook is extremely modular. In fact, I would make some sections longer than this textbook does, but either way, modularity is a strong feature of this textbook.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"I would change the order of some chapters (and this goes for Mishink's textbook too), but that is a small issue. Each instructor can teach the course in any order they prefer.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"No interface issue, easy to navigage across chapters, and within chapters.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I haven't found any grammatical errors. I did not necessary read the book to found typos and grammatical errors, but don't remember finding anything that was an obvious error.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The book's examples are inclusive, culturally sensitive, engaging, and appropriate for the audience of undergraduate students.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"I have adopted the book this semester. I am looking forward to hear students' comments and if they agree with my assessment.","created_at":"2026-01-15T09:40:53.000-06:00","updated_at":"2026-01-15T09:40:53.000-06:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/money-and-banking","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:04:17.000-05:00"},{"id":4,"title":"Accounting in the Finance World","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2016,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":"9781946135100","license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"This book is intended for an undergraduate or MBA level Financial Accounting course. It covers the standard topics in a standard sequence, utilizing the Socratic method of asking and answering questions.","contributors":[],"subjects":[{"id":18,"name":"Accounting","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HF5625","visible_textbooks_count":18,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/accounting"},{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"}],"publishers":[{"id":188,"url":"https://www.lib.umn.edu/publishing","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","name":"University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing"}],"formats":[{"id":355,"type":"Online","url":"https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Accounting/Accounting_in_the_Finance_World","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1645,"type":"PDF","url":"https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Accounting/Accounting_in_the_Finance_World","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":1646,"type":"eBook","url":"http://open.lib.umn.edu/financialaccounting/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2249,"type":"XML","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/financialaccounting/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":2250,"type":"ODF","url":"https://open.lib.umn.edu/financialaccounting/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4","textbook_reviews_count":7,"reviews":[{"id":164,"first_name":"Bill","last_name":"Joyce","position":"Assistant Professor","institution_name":"Bemidji State University","comprehensiveness_rating":1,"comprehensiveness_review":"The table of contents is very different than two standard textbooks I am currently using or used recently.  It is difficult to understand d exactly what topics are being covered using the table of contents.  A separate chapter on financial statement analysis should be added, or each chapter should incorporate these concepts.  The ethical aspects of decision making need to be more fully addressed.\r\n\r\nThe end of the chapter homework problems need to be increased not only in number but also increased complexity.","accuracy_rating":3,"accuracy_review":"While what is presented seems accurate, there seems to be a definite lack of substance.  Each topic needs to be developed in depth.","relevance_rating":2,"relevance_review":"The international financial reporting standards need to be included either in a separate chapter or preferably incorporated incorporated into each chapter.","clarity_rating":1,"clarity_review":"While the text is clearly written, it fails to address topics in depth .\r\n","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text is consistent and provides excellent \"take-away\" emphasizes.","modularity_rating":2,"modularity_review":"The modules are fine, but they need to be identified much more clearly. ","organization_rating":1,"organization_review":"The text does flow in a logical manner, but it is difficult to get the \"big picture\" from the way the text and individual chapters are organized.  It might be very difficult for someone with no accounting background to learn from the text.","interface_rating":2,"interface_review":"The online quizzes provide and excellent way for students to monitor their learning.  However, the number of these quizzes and the complexity of the quizzed need to be increased.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No errors were noted, but this is not my strong point.","cultural_rating":1,"cultural_review":"The text seems to be written at a level much higher than the principles level.  Students likely would have a difficult understanding of the purpose and use of accounting information.","overall_rating":5,"overall_review":"By far, the weakest aspect of this text is the lack ancillary materials.  My department relies heavily on the online graded homework  systems.  While I do not use many of the supporting materials, such as Power Points, many of my colleagues do and this would be a definite reason the text would not be adopted.","created_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":165,"first_name":"Allan","last_name":"Aspelund","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Century College, White Bear Lake, Minnesota","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"Good over-all coverage\r\nNo glossary\r\nIndex fair--could be more descriptive","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"I found no inaccuracies","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Many examples of current financial statements and other material that can easily be up-dated.","clarity_rating":4,"clarity_review":"Well written but somewhat hard to follow.  The flow from one item to the next is somewhat muddled.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Well laid out.","modularity_rating":4,"modularity_review":"The text does have some self-referencing.  Presenting only certain sub-units might require some work.","organization_rating":4,"organization_review":"The presentation of corporations could be better (advantages, disadvantages, sub-chapter S, etc.)  \r\nTh end of chapter questions should be linked to the sections in the test where the material can be found.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"There were no problems with the interfacing.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"Fine, except \"You have now read.\" ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"I saw none.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"Overall, well written with excellent points made in the discussion.  The \"Key Takeaways\" and the chapter tests were very good.\r\nThe lack of a glossary and the need for a better index were the key distractors.","created_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":199,"first_name":"Barbara","last_name":"Prince","position":"Accounting Faculty","institution_name":"Anoka Ramsey Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":3,"comprehensiveness_review":"No index or glossary. \r\n\r\nThis seems to be a discussion for non-accounting majors that presents the material from for non-debit/credit emphasis. The overall picture is presented well, but not enough emphasis on the basic mechanics of accounting that we need to give our two-year students.\r\n\r\nIn my present course, I do cover several topics,such as interst and compound interest, in more depth. The last eight chapters emphasis the financial statements, where I need to cover the basics of creating the financial statements in more depth. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Very accurate; no errors found","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Accounting information changes little from year to year. The examples given could be easily updated as needed. \r\n\r\nThere was good discussion in some areas of what might be changing in the future.","clarity_rating":3,"clarity_review":"Parts are excellent, but some areas include too much discussion to get to the main points; I prefer a more factual presentation. Some of the questions used to introduce the new topic were very involved; my students would not understand the question or find it helpful.\r\n\r\nI would need additional exercise material to allow the students more practice on the material presented.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The authors were very consistent in their approach to the topics. Examples given were revlevant to the material presented. I can use their real world examples in my course.","modularity_rating":2,"modularity_review":"I would prefer more headings and have the headings linked to learning objectives and exercises. This is something that all commercial texts include, and I find it helpful. \r\n\r\nThe questions that start the topics should be easier to pick out. I really had a hard time finding my place in the text each time I returned to it.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The organization mirrors other accounting texts that I have used. ","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"I did donwload the entire text, but I could not find the videos. I did try the multiple choice questions, but each time I completed a question on the separate site, I had trouble returning and finding my place in the text. The figures presented in the text were somewhat fuzzy in my downloaded copy.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No grammar errors were found.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"This is hard to measure when discussing corporations. The authors did include excellent  international examples.","overall_rating":8,"overall_review":"I would not adopt this as a primary text for my courses, but it would make an excellent supplemental resource because of the excellelnt real-world examples. Two-year students that I teach need an higher emphasis on the basic accounting tools. The videos may have helped, but I did not have access to them. \r\n\r\nSome of the questions used to introduce a new topic were very high-level and would not be helpful to my students.\r\n\r\n I have trouble getting students to read the material in the text, and I'm afraid the longer discusssions used in this text would be even more discouraging to the students.","created_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":203,"first_name":"Candice (Candy)","last_name":"Heino","position":"Instructor","institution_name":"Anoka Ramsey Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text covers all of the usual topics in financial accounting, but with a broader business view surrounding the accounting procedures. IFRS is embedded within many chapters providing the general differences from GAAP without being too overwhelming. Alternatives are addressed, such as perpetual and periodic inventory , and  direct and indirect statement of cash flows. More advanced topics such as  leases and deferred taxes are included in sufficient detail for this level textbook.  ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The content appears to reflect GAAP and IFRS accurately, no errors were noted. ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":" The basic principles and procedures of accounting are quite timeless, however IFRS is expected to continue impacting financial reporting and so  portions of the text will need to be updated periodically.   Global business is integrated by the inclusion of currency conversion and IFRS. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The writing style is engaging and  easy for the reader to follow.  The socrative method is used, a question and answer format. The questions flow as if two people were in a conversation, with each answer triggering the next logical question. Terms and concepts are introduced and explained such that the learner can understand the discussion. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The text employs the  question and answer format  consistently and  clearly denotes sections within each chapter.  Conversations in an interview type format with two experts are embedded inside many topics, (an investmenr analyst and  an international accountant.)  This internal consistency is comfortable for the reader.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"The use of sections within each chapter allows the reader to digest one conept at a time. After each section there are self test questions that allow for a pause to reflect on the material. An instructor would find it easy to remove or move sections as desired. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The \"soft\" start of chapters 1 and 2 sets the stage to ease the learner into an overview of the financial statements, recording transactions and adjusting entries. Topics after this follow the balance sheet order, pulling in the related income statement topics. The text concludes with the Statement of Cash Flow and a comprehensive problem (one of several in the end of chapter items) to pull it all together.  The authors have taken care to start with basic scenarios and then add complexity. For example recording transactions starts by using increase/decrease and then progresses to T accounts, journal entries, and the general journal and ledger. Another example is in the inventory discussion. At first the examples use inventory all purchased at the same cost. Then invntory purchased at differing costs is introduced to use for perpetual versus periodic and FIFO versus LIFO. ","interface_rating":3,"interface_review":"The text links for self quizzing within each topic must be right-clicked and the user must choose to open each one in a new window or it is difficult to get back to the same place. When a topic in a prior chapter is discussed, a link is provided which makes it easy for the curious reader to look back at that inital material. The textbook is very text heavy, there are few charts or summary  boxes. Journal entries are displayed in green bars that are easy to spot for refernece later. Formulas are in a slighly larger font, they will not be easy to reference when the learner is doing a later assignment. The video at the end of each chapter goes over the \"top five\" , however there is no written summary of key points and no glossary or index at the end of the book. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"The text contains no grammatical errors. ","cultural_rating":3,"cultural_review":"The narrative about accounting and business ispresented in a factual manner and does not contain cultural insensitivites. ","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"The approach (using a question /answer format) was very readable and the inclusing of interviews with each of the two experts added interest. The reader will be engaged by the broad and interesting business discussion surrounding each accounting procedure. I found this book thoughtful and practical in its approach to teaching accounting. Even non-accounting majors will find a compelling reason to study this text. ","created_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00","updated_at":"2015-06-10T19:00:00.000-05:00"},{"id":920,"first_name":"David","last_name":"Sulzen","position":"Associate Professor of Accountng","institution_name":"Ferrum College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"All material covered in any entry level accounting textbook is covered, even an introduction to Auditing. The depth is very good for an accounting principles textbook, with the technical \"fine print\" omitted. There is good coverage of the overriding principles of accounting. The index is very detailed, but the glossary is not. The introduction to the bookkeeping mechanics is very good, but I would like to see more early coverage of the overall message financial statements are meant to convey. ","accuracy_rating":4,"accuracy_review":"The book is very accurate, but does not include more current updates or pending changes in accounting standards. Issues such as changes in rules regarding revenue recognition and leases, for example, are too current for this text to have covered when it was written. It would be necessary for the instructor to introduce these changes.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Some more current revisions in accounting standards are not addressed in this text, but these can be added or mentioned by the classroom instructor. The depth of the content for each subject area is very appropriate for a principles of accounting textbook and the text is very easy to read.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The clarity is one of this book's strongest points. It can be easily comprehended by an entry level accounting student. The videos are easy to watch, and provide a decent introduction to each chapter, but do not add much to the ease of understanding the material.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Very consistent. The framework is very solid and predictable, and the vocabulary is easy to understand. Technical terms are explained in plain English, with few, but good examples.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Topics are will divided and covered without a lot of boring reading about each. Each chapter is short and is well divided into even smaller sections. One of the strengths of this text is that the student is not overwhelmed with pages and pages of extraneous information.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"Other than the placement of Chapter 6 on Auditing, the rest of the text is in a very logical order. Each topic is presented in a clear, logical way. The author stars each section with a question, and then proceeds to answer the question. This makes the topic easier to understand. Although I question the placement of chapter 6, I am glad the author includes the topic in the text, and am really not sure exactly where I believe it should be covered.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"I did not find any significant interface issues. There are places where the alignment of numbers is a little out of skew, for example a row of \"credits\" is not perfectly straight, but not in a manner that they were misleading.","grammatical_rating":1,"grammatical_review":"I did not find any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"There is no clear effort to be \"inclusive\", but certainly nothing that is culturally insensitive in the text. This is accounting material. Social issues are not addressed, but nothing offensive was noted.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"The only real weakness in the text is just that it is not updated for more recent changes in accounting principles. If the instructor is willing to cover these, the text is very easy for the student to read and to comprehend. ","created_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00","updated_at":"2017-02-08T18:00:00.000-06:00"},{"id":3103,"first_name":"Nadia","last_name":"Schwartz","position":"Associate Professor","institution_name":"Augustana College, Rock Island IL","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"The textbook contains all material typically covered in a financial accounting course. It does have a chapter devoted to auditing as well as introduction to some advanced topics such as post-retirement benefits and deferred taxes. I appreciate introductory videos that set the tone as well as draw attention to what will be very important in the chapter. Key take-away videos presented at the end of each chapter are very useful as well. ","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"The book is very accurate, however, it does need to be updated for the most recent changes in the accounting standards. Instructors will have to introduce most recent changes in leases in particular.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"The textbook material is very relevant and is written from a perspective an investor or a user prospective as opposed to a debits-credits rules book. It makes accounting very fun and intellectually interesting. It even contains a point of view from an actual financial professional. ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The book is written in a question and answer format or Socratic way of thinking. It challenges the students to start approaching their homework as well as other reading in a similar fashion. It models the way to ask questions as students learn on their own and promotes more intense method of learning. ","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book has a very predictable pattern. Once the reader figures out the logic, the order could be easily followed. Material is explain in plain English without excessive technical terms. The chapters are very concise, one of the great attributes of this book.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Chapters are divided into smaller segments which could be easily omitted to accommodate a different length of course. One weak point is that material is very text heavy. There are very few visuals to increase understanding of heavy text. ","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The logic within the chapter could be easily followed. It is nice to see several excises embedded into the text to be able to check understanding. End of the chapter exercises contain multiple-choice question practice as well as opportunity for additional research. ","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"The module order in chapter 4 is incorrect. It goes from 4.6 to 4.5 to 4.1 and then, back in the correct order. ","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"I did not notice any grammatical errors.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The book does not necessarily inclusive but it is not exclusive or offensive either. ","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"The book does not contain either an index or a glossary. The book does not cover material in a debit/credit approach which might be better for a user but not as good for a potential accounting major going into Intermediate accounting. ","created_at":"2019-07-18T17:13:38.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-07-18T17:13:38.000-05:00"},{"id":34636,"first_name":"Jacklyn A.","last_name":"Collins , Ed.D., CPA","position":"Adjunct Dept of Accounting, Strome College of Business","institution_name":"Old Dominion University","comprehensiveness_rating":5,"comprehensiveness_review":"This is a thorough and comprehensive text. It offers coverage of Financial Accounting appropriate for undergraduate or graduate students.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"Author writes clearly and gives precise information.","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"Material covers traditional Financial Accounting topics that never go out of date.","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"The material and concepts are presented in a clear fashion and easily understood.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"Author uses a standard approach in each chapter. Each chapter starts off with a question to be answered, followed by objectives for each topic. Each chapter has a short video to explain the materials.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each chapter can be taught on its own. Chapters can be broken down into topics that can be studied individually. Materials covered are not dependent on prior chapter.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"This text is well organized, each chapter has subtopics with objectives. Instructors can assign relevant chapter topics or relevant chapters.","interface_rating":5,"interface_review":"Text is clear and well formatted. Material is easy to read  and images are clear. No distortion.","grammatical_rating":5,"grammatical_review":"No errors noticed.","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The text is neutral.","overall_rating":10,"overall_review":"Do not let the page count (pg 572) turn you off from this textbook. Instructors can modify the material to best fit with your course.  Each chapter has a Video to introduce the material. These mini-lectures ( 10 -12 min) are well done and easy to follow. Embedded in each chapter are Multiple Choice practice questions, that give students complete explanations.  At the end of each topic a \"Key Takeaway\" section is provided. While no solutions are available, each chapter has questions, true/false, multiple choice questions, problems and research options ( embedded links).","created_at":"2023-07-20T18:34:35.000-05:00","updated_at":"2023-07-20T18:34:35.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/financial-accounting","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:08:09.000-05:00"},{"id":281,"title":"Legal Aspects of Corporate Management and Finance","edition_statement":null,"volume":null,"copyright_year":2012,"ISBN10":null,"ISBN13":"9781453343258","license":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike","language":"eng","accessibility_statement":null,"accessibility_features":"unknown","description":"Legal Aspects of Corporate Management and Finance is an up-to-date textbook that covers key legal issues relating to corporate management and finance. The text is organized to permit instructors to tailor the materials to their particular approach. The authors take special care to engage students by relating law to everyday events with their clear, concise and readable style. After introductory chapters covering the legal environment of business, Legal Aspects of Corporate Management and Finance provides students with context and essential legal concepts relating to contracts, agency law, partnerships, corporations, commercial paper, debtors and creditors. The text provides the vocabulary and legal savvy students will need to talk in an educated way to customers, suppliers, employees, creditors, shareholders, government regulators and other stakeholders — and to their own lawyers.","contributors":[{"id":3095,"contribution":"Author","primary":true,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Don","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Mayer","location":"University of Denver","background_text":"Don Mayer now teaches law, ethics, public policy, and sustainability at the Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, where he is Professor in Residence. His research focuses on the role of business in creating a more just, sustainable, peaceful and productive world. With James O'Toole, Professor Mayer has co-edited and contributed content to Good Business: Exercising Effective \u0026 Ethical Leadership (Routledge: Taylor and Francis, 2010). He is also co-author of International Business Law: Cases and Materials, in its 5th edition with Pearson Publishing Co. He recently served as the first Arsht Visiting Ethics Scholar at the University of Miami. After attending Kenyon College (philosophy) and Duke University Law School, Professor Mayer served as a \"JAG officer\" with the United States Air Force during the Vietnam conflict, and went to private practice in North Carolina. He went to Washington D.C. in 1984 to attend Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned his LL.M. in International and Comparative law in 1985. He began an academic career in 1985 at Western Carolina University, and was a full professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan for many years before coming to the University of Denver. He has taught as a visitor at California State Polytechnic University, the University of Michigan, the Manchester Business School Worldwide, and Antwerp Management School. Professor Mayer has won numerous awards from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, including the Hoeber Award for best article in the American Business Law Journal, twice won the Maurer Award for best article on business ethics, and three times won the Ralph Bunch Award for best article on international business law. His work has been published in many journals and law reviews, but most often in American Business Law Journal, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Business Ethics Quarterly."},{"id":3096,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Daniel","middle_name":null,"last_name":"Warner","location":"Western Washington University","background_text":"Daniel Warner is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Washington, where-- following military service--he also attended law school. After some years of civil practice, he joined the faculty at the College of Business and Economics at Western Washington University in 1978 where he is now a professor of business legal studies in the Accounting Department. He has published extensively exploring the intersection of popular culture and the law, for which publications he has five times received the College of Business Dean's Research Award for \"distinguished contributions in published research.\" He served eight years on the Whatcom County Council, two years as its Chair. He has served on the Faculty Senate, on various university and college committees including chairman of the University Master Plan Committee; he has been active in state Bar Association committee work and in local politics, where he has served on numerous boards and commissions over 30 years."},{"id":3097,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"George","middle_name":"J.","last_name":"Siedel","location":"University of Michigan","background_text":"George J. Siedel's research addresses legal issues that relate to international business law, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Recent publications focus on proactive law and the use of law to gain competitive advantage. His work in progress includes research on the impact of litigation on large corporations and the use of electronic communication as evidence in litigation. Professor Siedel has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. Following graduation from law school, he worked as an attorney in a professional corporation. He has also served on several boards of directors and as Associate Dean of the University of Michigan Business School. The author of numerous books and articles, Professor Siedel has received several research awards, including the Faculty Recognition Award from the University of Michigan and the following awards from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business: the Hoeber Award, the Ralph Bunche Award and the Maurer Award. The Center for International Business Education and Research selected a case written by Professor Siedel for its annual International Case Writing Award. His research has been cited by appellate courts in the United States and abroad, including the High Court of Australia. Professor Siedel has served as Visiting Professor of Business Law at Stanford University, Visiting Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University, and Parsons Fellow at the University of Sydney. He has been elected a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University's Wolfson College and a Life Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation. As a Fulbright Scholar, Professor Siedel held a Distinguished Chair in the Humanities and Social Sciences."},{"id":3098,"contribution":"Author","primary":false,"corporate":false,"title":null,"first_name":"Jethro","middle_name":"K.","last_name":"Lieberman","location":"New York Law School","background_text":"Jethro K. Lieberman is professor of law and VP for Academic Publishing at New York Law School, where he has taught for more than a quarter century. He took his B.A. in politics and economics from Yale University, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. He began his teaching career at Fordham University Law School and before that was VP at what is now the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. For nearly ten years he was Legal Affairs Editor of Business Week Magazine. He practiced antitrust and trade regulation law at a large Washington law firm and was on active duty as a member of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps during the Vietnam era. He is the author of The Litigious Society (Basic Books), winner of the American Bar Association’s top literary prize, the Silver Gavel, and also of A Practical Companion to the Constitution: How the Supreme Court Has Ruled on Issues from Abortion to Zoning (University of California Press), among many other books. He is a long-time letterpress printer and proprietor of The Press at James Pond, a private press, and owner of the historic Kelmscott- Goudy Press, an Albion hand press that was used to print the Kelmscott Press edition of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the 1890s."}],"subjects":[{"id":2,"name":"Business","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"HF5001","visible_textbooks_count":144,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business"},{"id":67,"name":"Administrative Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K3400","visible_textbooks_count":14,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/administrative-law"},{"id":62,"name":"Civil Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K623","visible_textbooks_count":26,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law-civil-law"},{"id":19,"name":"Finance","parent_subject_id":2,"call_number":"HG173","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance"},{"id":68,"name":"Constitutional Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K3154","visible_textbooks_count":19,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/constitutional-law"},{"id":64,"name":"Contract Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7265","visible_textbooks_count":25,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/environmental-law"},{"id":63,"name":"Criminal Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"KB3790","visible_textbooks_count":20,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/criminal-law"},{"id":11,"name":"Law","parent_subject_id":null,"call_number":"KF385.A4","visible_textbooks_count":99,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/law"},{"id":66,"name":"Property Law","parent_subject_id":11,"call_number":"K7200","visible_textbooks_count":22,"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/property-law"}],"publishers":[{"id":170,"url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_legal-aspects-of-corporate-management-and-finance/","year":null,"created_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","updated_at":"2018-09-07T12:22:37.000-05:00","name":"Saylor Foundation"}],"formats":[{"id":321,"type":"Online","url":"https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_legal-aspects-of-corporate-management-and-finance/","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null},{"id":322,"type":"PDF","url":"http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Legal%20Aspects%20of%20Corporate%20Management%20and%20Finance.pdf","price":{"cents":0,"currency_iso":"USD"},"isbn":null}],"rating":"4.5","textbook_reviews_count":1,"reviews":[{"id":3007,"first_name":"Lynn","last_name":"Norbury","position":"Certified Master Tutor, Supervisor of Science Tutors and Lab Technicians","institution_name":"Central Oregon Community College","comprehensiveness_rating":4,"comprehensiveness_review":"This text provides the roadmap and identifies the necessary skills to enable a self-directed learner to successfully complete an online course.  It has interactive skills-development tests and quizzes which make it an effective practice tool rather than just a textbook of words and pictures.  It does not contain an index or a glossary.","accuracy_rating":5,"accuracy_review":"It's grounded in cited research and the text contains few errors.  ","relevance_rating":5,"relevance_review":"This text has the right blend of specificity and generality to remain a relevant tool for learners even while our online applications and platforms are rapidly changing.   ","clarity_rating":5,"clarity_review":"Short paragraphs and concise language make it readable, and the concepts are communicated in a direct manner.","consistency_rating":5,"consistency_review":"The book starts with a roadmap for maximizing the skills needed for successful completion of learning online.   The text frequently refers back to this roadmap for clarity.  Visually and content-wise, the book has a consistent presentation style.","modularity_rating":5,"modularity_review":"Each chapter is a complete module in itself.  This book could be readily deconstructed and its chapters embedded in any online course to aid students, for example, with effective reading (SQ3R) strategies and email communications. Each chapter includes links to practice exercises and quizzes to help a student assess their own learning.","organization_rating":5,"organization_review":"The book flows well from the roadmap through its chapters, yet the true beauty of this textbook is in it's modularity.  This book is a tool which I intend to included in my personal reference library.","interface_rating":4,"interface_review":"Navigating the online book was straightforward, but I had to learn by trial and error how to enlarge text or images.  Accessing quizzes or exercises through the links imbedded in the text was seamless.","grammatical_rating":4,"grammatical_review":"One chapter title finishes its title with a preposition.  That should be changed to a proper sentence by placing the object ahead of the verb.  Otherwise, it is written with short, concise sentences and is eminently readable.  In fact, it is highly skimmable. ","cultural_rating":5,"cultural_review":"The content addresses the skills required to become an effective online learner, such as time-management, self-discipline, and independent problem-solving.  These skills are not culture specific.  The text would be useful to learners in many countries using any variety of internet platforms and applications.","overall_rating":9,"overall_review":"The online textbook functions truly like a learning tool rather than just a text.  It is appropriate for learners new to self-directed online courses and for experienced learners seeking to refresh their skills.","created_at":"2019-06-21T17:54:06.000-05:00","updated_at":"2019-06-21T17:54:06.000-05:00"}],"url":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/legal-aspects-of-corporate-management-and-finance","updated_at":"2026-04-20T02:07:40.000-05:00"}],"links":{"self":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance.json?page=1","total_pages":4,"total_count":31,"next":"https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/finance.json?page=2"}}