Mohamed El-Erian’s “When Markets Collide,” Misha Glenny’s “McMafia,” and Alice Schroeder’s new biography of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, “The Snowball,” are among the finalists tapped for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.

Worth $54,000 to the winner, the prize was created by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the most profitable American securities firm, and the Financial Times to highlight books that provide “the most compelling and enjoyable insights into modern business issues,” the contest organizers said in a statement.

Mr. El-Erian, the co-chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., made the final round with a McGraw-Hill book that steps back from the blur and noise of markets to consider the big picture and offer tips on asset allocation.

Ms. Schroeder, an insurance industry analyst, examines the life and achievements of American value investor Mr. Buffett in “The Snowball,” from Bloomsbury in the U.K. And Mr. Glenny, a journalist who covered the unraveling of the former Soviet bloc, tours the new capitals of organized crime in “McMafia” (Random House) to illustrate the illicit bonanza that followed the fall of the U.S.S.R. and the liberalization of financial markets.

The other finalists were Tim Bouquet and Byron Ousey’s “Cold Steel,” a blow-by-blow account of Lakshmi Mittal’s hostile takeover of Arcelor SA; William Bernstein’s “A Splendid Exchange,” a look at how trade has shaped world history, and Lawrence Lessig’s “Remix,” an examination of American copyright laws in the digital age.

The winner will be announced in New York on October 14.