Pending books

1. Security Analysis, on going, 1st time.

2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Fundamentals,  half through, pending, 1st time.

3. Lords of Finance,  first chapter read, currently pending, 1st time.

4. The Collapse of Complex Societies, first chapter read, pending, 1st time.

5. The Creation, half through, on going, 1st time.

6. Techniques of  Management Accounting, first chapter read, pending, 1st time.

7. Accounting Information Systems- Control and Process, first chapter read, pending, 1st time.

8. Accounting: Text and Cases(Part II, Management accounting) , , pending, 1st time.

9. OCA Oracle Database 11g: SQL Fundamentals I Exam Guide ( Exam 1Z0-051), pending, 1st time.

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Incoming / on the way:

1. Law 101, bought from Amazon.cn

2. Life in Cold Blood(DVD)

On idle plant expenses

“Example: The practical implications of this point are illustrated by the
case of New York Transit Company, a carrier of oil by pipe line. In 1926,
owing to new competitive conditions, it lost all the business formerly carried
by its principal line, which thereupon became “idle plant.” The depreciation,
taxes and other expenses of this property were so heavy as to
absorb the earnings of the company’s other profitable assets (consisting
of a smaller pipe line and high-grade-bond investments). This created an
apparent net loss and caused the dividend to be passed. The price of the
stock accordingly declined to a figure far less than the company’s holdings
of cash and marketable securities alone. In this uncritical appraisal
by the stock market, the idle asset was considered equivalent to a serious
and permanent liability.

In 1928, however, the directors determined to put an end to these
heavy carrying charges and succeeded in selling the unused pipe line for
a substantial sum of money. Thereafter, the stockholders received special
cash distributions aggregating $72 per share (nearly twice the average
market price for 1926 and 1927), and they still retained ownership of a
profitable business which resumed regular dividends. Even if no money
had been realized from the idle property, its mere abandonment would
have led to a considerable increase in the value of the shares.

This is an impressive, if somewhat extreme, example of the practical
utility of security analysis in detecting discrepancies between intrinsic
value and market price. It is customary to refer with great respect to the
“bloodless verdict of the market place,” as though it represented invariably
the composite judgment of countless shrewd, informed and calculating
minds. Very frequently, however, these appraisals are based on mob
psychology, on faulty reasoning, and on the most superficial examination
of inadequate information. The analyst, on his side, is usually unable to
apply his technique effectively to correcting or taking advantage of these
popular errors, for the reason that surrounding conditions change so rapidly
that his own conclusions may become inapplicable before he can
profit by them. But in the exceptional case, as illustrated by our last example,
the facts and the logic of the case may be sharply enough defined to
warrant a high degree of confidence in the practical value of his analysis.”

                                                — Security Analysis