This volume helps business lawyers refine their understanding of financial statements and business valuation so that they may include the best strategies for the bottom line with legal advice. Chapters 1 through 7 introduce the fundamentals of financial statements and how to interpret them for current interests and the future. Chapters 8-14 address valuation; the methods to chose from, the use of comparables, calculating the return on capital, the costs of debt and equity, and the weighted average cost of capital are all covered. The remaining chapters discuss refinements on the discounted cash flow method; control premiums and minority and marketability discounts; and mergers, acquisitions and other methods of value creation. Updates in this second edition account for newer, more technical initiatives from the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission that require more complex treatment. The author founded The Dickie Group, which provides accounting and finance training to the house legal departments of Fortune 100 companies. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)