Click Here To Puchase From Amazon Mastering Derivatives Markets (3rd Edition): A Step-By-Step Guide to the Products, Applications and Risks

Author: Francesca Taylor

Publisher: Financial Times/Prentice Hall/Pearson Education (Harlow, England)

ISBN-0-273-70978-X

Mastering Derivatives Markets is a nineteen chapter, softbound 426 page book. Content is preceded by author and publisher acknowledgements, a foreword and contributor’s acknowledgements, and followed by a glossary and index.

As a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), I appreciate the inclusion and coverage of IAS (International Accounting Standard) 39 and FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) 133. CPA auditors of firms with significant derivatives-related transactions are, similarly, likely to benefit from reading this book. Internal auditors, frequently involved in risk management issues, represent another group of accountants/auditors likely to benefit from this book.

The questions and answers in the short quizzes at the end of each chapter suggests that this book may also be of great interest to educators, perhaps for MBA-level introductory courses on derivatives, as the book is extremely easy to read and understand (at that level). Therefore, finance and economics professors at universities should consider the adoption of this book as a text or text/course supplement.

Given the recent (mid-2007), highly publicized problems associated with the sub-prime mortgage and real estate markets, an understanding of credit and credit-related derivatives may be particularly helpful to those interested in the financial sectors of the economy. LIBOR (London Inter-bank Offer Rate) coverage, for example, has received frequent reporting and commentary on CNBC and Bloomberg business news cable channels, in recent months.

Further evidence that the investment world is becoming very small, very quickly, was provided when fear of capital gains taxation in late February 2007 sent the Shanghai Composite (SSE) Index down 8.84 percent in a single trading day, and the U.S.-based DOW, NASDAQ, S&P500 and Russell 2000 indexes reacted. Though these U.S.-based indices are not “derived” from non-U.S. indices, the international interdependencies of financial markets (perhaps best characterized as on a “horizontal” level) must be understood, at some basic level, by even the novice investor. These competencies must be supplemented by an understanding of primary assets and those “derived” from them (perhaps best characterized as “vertical,” in nature), and this is where a book of this type represents a useful addition to any library on investing and investments. Certainly, anyone interested in “risk management,” at any level, will benefit from a basic understanding of derivatives, including those related to currencies or foreign exchange.

I was energized by this book and the style of presentation. I would characterize this book as a “primer” on the topic, and truly enjoyed reading this extremely palatable, very well-written work on the topic. It has my highest possible recommendation and will remain in my permanent library.

The above review was contribute 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 

Click Here To Puchase From Amazon Mastering Derivatives Markets (3rd Edition): A Step-By-Step Guide to the Products, Applications and Risks

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