In the field of financial risk management, the 'sell side' is the set of financial institutions who offer risk management products to corporations, governments, and institutional investors, who comprise the 'buy side'. The sell side is often at a significant advantage as it employs quantitative experts who provide specialized knowledge. Further, the existing body of knowledge on risk management, while extensive, is highly technical and mathematical and is directed to the sell side.This book levels the playing field by approaching risk management from the buy side instead, focusing on educating corporate and institutional users of risk management products on the essential knowledge they need to be an intelligent buyer. Rather than teach financial engineering, this volume covers the principles that the buy side should know to enable it to ask the right questions and avoid being misled by the complexity often presented by the sell side.Written in a user-friendly manner, this textbook is ideal for graduate and advanced undergraduate classes in finance and risk management, MBA students specializing in finance, and corporate and institutional investors. The text is accompanied by extensive supporting material including exhibits, end-of-chapter questions and problems, solutions, and PowerPoint slides for lecturers.

Don M Chance, PhD, CFA, holds the James C Flores Endowed Chair of MBA Studies and is Professor of Finance at the E J Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University (LSU). He previously held the William H Wright, Jr. Endowed Chair for Financial Services at LSU, and the First Union Professorship in Financial Risk Management at Virginia Tech. Prior to his academic career, he worked for a large southeastern bank.Professor Chance has had numerous articles published in academic and practitioner journals and has authored three books: An Introduction to Derivatives and Risk Management (10th ed.) co-authored with Robert Brooks, Essays in Derivatives: Risk Transfer Tools and Topics Made Easy (2nd ed.), and Analysis of Derivatives for the CFA Program. His recent research examines a variety of topics in risk management and finance.He is often quoted in the media on matters related to derivatives and risk management as well as financial markets and the economy in general. He has extensive experience conducting professional training programs, and his consulting practice (Omega Risk Advisors, LLC) serves companies, organizations, and law firms. He is also involved in the development and writing of the derivatives curriculum in the CFA Program.