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Author(s): Scott E. Harrington and Gregory R. Niehaus

ISBN-10: 978-0-07-233970-3

Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Risk Management & Insurance is designed for a two-semester course in an undergraduate business degree program.  It consists of 29 chapters, organized into an introductory section (chapters 1 through 3), the general theory of insurance markets (chapters 4 through 10), a chapter on loss control and a chapter on legal liability for injuries, a very practical section on personal insurance issues (chapters 13 through 15), a section on employee-employer relationships (chapters 16 through 19), a section on risk reduction for businesses (chapters 20 through 22), and a section on types of contracts used by businesses to reduce risk (chapters 23 through 29).  At 672 pages, the book includes a brief biography of the authors, a preface, and an index.

I happened across this text while searching for a suitable source for a course for Penn Foster, Inc. and their four-year degree program in Business Administration.  The Harrington and Neihaus text was the one I selected.  Some of the other texts reviewed appeared to be written for the graduate level, and I found the Harrington and Niehaus text to be rich with content.  While there are no plans for a 3^rd edition, I would love to see the authors proceed with a later edition, with the following recommendations.

While the text is rich with content, it would benefit from greater structure.  This is not a simple task, given to topic, but an agency theory framework, introduced in the early chapters of the text, could prove useful as the foundation for later coverage.  The text makes frequent references, in context, to agency theory, risk aversion, and moral hazard, all of which might be addressed within this framework.

The text is ideal for a one semester course.  The instructor may select those chapters of greatest interest and practical value to the student.  I particularly enjoyed the coverage provided in the chapters covering personal insurance matters (automobile, homeowners and life insurance) and those covering employee-employer relationships (benefits, retirement plans, workers’ compensation and social security).  These seven chapters possess significant practical value to anyone, including undergraduate business majors.  I would choose to include these chapters in any undergraduate course coverage.

Perhaps a new edition could include additional web site references, where updated sites may have become available since this 2^nd edition was published.

Many of the tables are quite well-developed, and, while it is possible that a later edition might benefit from greater parsimony, the foundation is well-developed and I recommend this text, for classroom use as well as a possible addition to a personal finance library, as a reference tool.

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The above review was contributed by: Anthony (A.J.) Cataldo II Ph.D    Professor of Accounting, West Chester University. Dr. Cataldo holds a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , MAc ( University of Arizona)  unofficial minor in Marketing , BSBA  (University of Arizona). He is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant:  Click Here to view Anthony's Reviews