Biography
Les Coleman is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the University of Melbourne. His main research interest is financial decision making by firms and funds, and he has published two research monographs (by Gower and Springer), four book chapters and nearly 30 journal articles. Les trained originally as an engineer, and spent over 20 years in senior management positions with Anglo American and ExxonMobil Corporations in Australia and overseas.
More recently Les completed a PhD in Management at the University of Melbourne where his thesis was published as Why Managers and Companies Take Risks (Springer, 2006).
Outside the University, Les has part time appointments with two investment managers. He has been a trustee of two superannuation funds, and a director of ten companies involved in finance, retail and distribution. He has written and spoken widely on finance and investment strategies, and for four years was a weekly columnist with The Australian newspaper.
"Despite its lurid title, this is a serious book. Drawing on decades as a financial practitioner, Coleman (Univ. of Melbourne, Australia) offers a blunt analysis of modern finance. Although his depiction of theory divorced from practice is familiar, Coleman's portrayal of applied finance and suggestions for reform are notable. His interviews with financial fund officials and comprehensible interpretations of arcane financial instruments provide some feel for the inner workings of the financial sector, which collapsed so spectacularly in 2008. Coleman argues that executives causing the death of a company, like individuals causing the death of a person, should be prosecuted. Bankrupting a company that is "too big to fail" should never leave its CEO "too big to jail." Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above." — R. S. Hewett, Drake University, in CHOICE , March 2015
