Ross, Essentials of Corporate Finance, 10e, focuses on what undergraduate students with widely varying backgrounds and interests need to carry away from a core course in business or corporate finance. The goal is to convey the most important concepts and principles at a level that is approachable for the widest possible audience. To achieve this goal, subjects are distilled down to its bare essentials (hence, the name of this book), while retaining a decidedly modern approach to finance. Also, understanding the "why" is just as important, if not more so, than understanding the "how" - especially in an introductory course.

Readability and pedagogy are key. Essentials is written in a relaxed, conversational style that invites the students to join in the learning process rather than being a passive information absorber. Essentials downplays purely theoretical issues and minimizes the use of extensive and elaborate calculations to illustrate points that are either intuitively obvious or of limited practical use.

There are three basic themes visible throughout Essentials: emphasis on intuition/commonsense, a unified valuation approach, and a managerial focus.