Standard & Poor's Fundamentals of Corporate Credit Analysis 1st Edition

I had the pleasure of working with one of the authors 15 years ago. But don't let that sway you. I truly appreciate the scope and effort put into this book. We will use it as an outline for how our analysts should approach analyzing a credit. Chapter 3 alone is worth the price of admission as the authors list the elusive "qualitative" factors that go into a credit rating, beyond what the ratios tell you it should be. While the book barely scratches the surface of certain analytical methods (the Merton Model got 1/2 a page), and it is written more for the layman or student, I still learned many things. And I've been in the business 20+ years. The prior reviewer, and many others will say they wished they wrote this book. I will too. I even briefly started my own version recently. But I first turned to S&P's ratings criteria as an outline. As such, the right people wrote this book. The authors fully used the vast resources and data mining of S&P. This certainly feels like a team effort. The telecom analyst wrote a piece on the rapid decline of telecom credits in 2000-2002, and other professionals added real life examples. The book organizes itself in the top down approach to analysis. It starts with sovereign risk, then moves to industry, then company business/competitive risk. It then highlights the ratios to look for, and also gives data on seniority and recovery values for specific levels of debt. It then uses these tools to analyze a fictional company. It ends with case studies that cover M&A, sovereign risk and other topical reviews that act as a real life summary to what you just learned. Highly recommended. Well done.

This book is long overdue. It typically takes a credit or corporate banking professional several years and several levels (analyst, senior analyst, associate/assistant vice president, and finally, vice president) to piece together the knowledge and analytical skills presented within this wonderful book. The book offers a comprehensive foundation in business, financial, and strategic analysis (among several other related topics) in a very easily digested and understood manner. I guess my only complaint is that I didn't have the opportunity to write it myself!! I would advise every credit or relationship management team leader to purchase this book for their entire team -- particularly for their analysts and associates (although... on second thought, perhaps everyone on the team should have a copy in their desk drawer.) Bottom line: Highly-recommended. AAA+++

I purchased this book as a review/primer for a full credit training course with my employer. I am two years out of school and wanted to give myself a solid background as the training was graded and competitive.This book gives a solid background on the fundamentals that one would need to understand. It is by no means exhaustive. The training I went through was six weeks and this book totaled roughly the equivalent of one week of class work and independent study. That said, it touches on every major area so I felt very prepared going into each and every class. Also, the case studies at the end were especially useful as part of the class (and every similar class I am aware of) includes a full case study/credit presentation as the final report.I would highly recommend this book for anyone preparing for a similar training program or to transition into any corporate credit analysis position, however, it is not a substitute by any means. I believe it would also serve as a great refresher or reference book for someone returning to the industry or even someone with experience.

This book provides handy reference materials for preparation for practical examinations. The learning topics are well organized and written for easy understanding. I like, in particular, the methodical ways the authors guide the readers to arrive at a conceptual credit rating for a company. Happy to keep it on the desk for convenient reference.

If you need a basic guide to credit analysis this book is great. Understand that it is a practioner's guide moreso than an academic textbook which means it's shorter and less detailed. I would recommend supplementing it with an actual textbook on financial statement analysis and financial risk management if you do not have a financial background. Overall though it's worth the price.

Nice product.

I'm about to start a job as a credit analyst, and this book was great in helping me understand some of the minutia. It is very readable and understandable to anyone with at least a little bit of financial acumen. Very good book, 5 stars.

I had read other reviews saying that this book is quite topical, and I have to say they were right. I work for a community bank analyzing small businesses, there was almost nothing in here that was of use to me. I realize that this is SP and that the type of analysis they do involves large corporations, but it was still too generic and too specific in all the wrong places. I would have really appreciated a chapter on how to analyze distressed borrowers, but there was nothing in here on this subject beyond the obvious.