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Comment by yuy910616 | Hacker News Reader

Any book recommendations for someone who would like to learn more about GAAP, accounting, operational earnings, and/or how to evaluate stocks?

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* Best introduction: Financial Intelligence, Revised Edition: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean (Berman, Karen, Knight, Joe, Case, John, imusti)

* Then read this, all of it, except perhaps most of the exhibits: Most recent Costco annual report (10-k).

* Berkshire Hathaway annual letters, Transcripts from Berkshire annual meetings

* Great follow-up: Financial Shenanigans, Fourth Edition: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks and Fraud in Financial Reports (Schilit, Howard, Perler, Jeremy, Engelhart, Yoni, McGraw-Hill Education)

* Absolute classic (but needs to be updated): The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. (Graham)

* On investing in general: Margin of Safety (Seth Klarman)

* Great intro to valuation, with the caveat that modern finance and concepts like WACC may not necessarily be useful to your investing strategy: Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies (Tim Koller, Marc Goedhart, David Wessels)

* Another classic (but needs to be updated): Security Analysis (Graham and Dodd)

I've read those in more-or-less that order, interspersed with plenty of other useful books that you'll discover depending how deep you go. The most important thing is reading 10-ks.

this is very helpful. Thank you stranger

> Most recent Costco annual report (10-k)

Never thought of reading it. Thanks for the tip. Why do you recommend it so highly?

It's simple and there's enough information in it to value the business. The goal is getting up to speed reading 10-k's as fast as you can.

Read the last twenty years of Buffet's letters.

No snark intended. His letters intended for investors are the best use of your time rather than a book someone wrote for vanity.

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is a classic.

Graham's approach shaped Buffett's. Personally, I found The Intelligent Investor to be more clearly written than Buffett's letters. It more clearly left me with a framework for how to approach value investing.

Excellent book, and a timeless classic to be sure. I do find Buffet's letters very useful for making sense of the current landscape though.

thank you

Security Analysis by Graham and Dodd was what Buffett used, since II wasn't out yet. A more difficult read as well, also seemed a bit dated when I read through it a decade ago.

Whenever someone asks me about sources on investing, I say the same thing - though I phrase it as 'buy one share of Berkshire Hathaway, it comes with a lifetime subscription to the thoughts of the most successful investor alive today'

Since one share of BRK is almost $350,000 my guess is that not a lot of people you've said that to have followed your advice.

BRK.B costs only 1/1000th of the A class shares, and you still get the letters. I couldn't afford an A class share either if that was all that was available.

One share of BRKB, Berkshire Hathaway class B, is around $230, which makes it much more affordable than the A shares.

thank you.

I think the recommendations you're getting here to read Buffett's letters, The Intelligent Investor, etc. are good, but if you're completely new to accounting, I think starting with more basic texts would be a better idea.

Two that I liked and still refer to from time to time are How to Read a Financial Report by John A Tracy and Financial Statements: A Step-By-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports by Thomas R Ittelson.

awesome. I'll check them out. thank you

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