We all love a top 10 list.
When it comes to finance, books come in three distinct categories.
Accounting Text books – avoid like the plague!
Firstly the long often dry and tedious text books that sometimes have to be studied to gain professional qualifications – I would advise steering well clear of these and leaving them to the accountants and lawyers who have to study them!
Personal Finance Self Help Books
Secondly, there are the personal finance self-help type books that try to teach you something as quickly as possible – there are many of these but if in doubt, the dummies books are always a good place to start.
The Exposé
And finally there is my favourite category – the exposé – a book that relies on research and investigative journalism to give you the inside story.
This is where the crime, corruption and incompetence comes in, with a little greed thrown in for good measure.
These are my favourite type of books – read on for the countdown from number 10 to number 1.
No 4 – All that Glitters – The Fall of Bearings – John Gapper and Nicholas Denton
Authors John Gapper and Nicholas Denton were both journalists working for London’s Financial Times newspaper at the time of the collapse of Barings – Britains oldest merchant bank, brought about by “Rogue Trader” Nick Leeson.
“All that Glitters” is a comprehensive account of the history of Barings bank and its collapse.
It delivers great insight into the history, formation and changes in the company and the characters who played a key role in the development of the bank.
By taking this route, the authors give us a fasciniating insight into the political power struggles and clashing relationships at board level at the time of its demise.
Poor management control at the most senior level left the bank vulnerable and when the small futures trading team, led by Nick Leeson in Singapore incurred huge losses, this resulted in the total collapse of Barings.
Whilst a book that goes into great detail about the collapse could have the potential to be a difficult read, the journalistic writing style of the authors maintains a fascinating and entertaining read – highly recommended.
“When a single ‘rogue trader’ brought down Barings, Britain’s oldest merchant bank,
it was two Financial Times journalists who discovered crucial details about Nick Leeson’s secret account and the rescue talks with the Sultan of Brunai.
In this superb book they tell the full story.
Even in the 1980s, the cosy patrician clique at Barking Brothers could not control Barking Securities,
where young and thrusting children of the Thatcher revolution were storming into new markets and generating unprecedented profits.
Communication and lines of accountability eventually became so confused that directors earning huge bonuses blindly transferred £700 million into Leeson’s black hole.
This vivid narrative cuts through the strange jargon of straddles and strangles, “rocket scientists” and “gamma geeks”,
to uncover vicious power struggles, towering egos and monumental incompetence.”
Epping Accountant – Transform Accounting – The Accountants in Essex
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