Guide to Financial Management: Understand and Improve the Bottom Line

by John Tennent, The Economist

Overview

A practical and accessible overview of the fundamentals of business finance — now in its third edition.

Managers are constantly expected to make decisions that reflect a full understanding of the financial consequences. In the absence of formal training, few people are prepared for the responsibilities of dealing with management reports, budgets, and capital proposals, and find themselves embarrassed by their lack of understanding.

This book is a practical guide to understanding and managing financial responsibilities. Each chapter examines actual tasks managers have to do, from "how to assemble a budget," "how to read variances on a report," to "how to construct a proposal to invest in new equipment," exploring the principles that can be applied to each task, illustrating practical ways these principles are used, and providing guidance for implementation.

Guide to Financial Management will help readers understand financial jargon, financial statements, management accounts, performance measures, budgeting, costing, pricing, decision-making, and investment appraisal. This third edition has been fully revised and expanded with detailed examples from 100 leading businesses around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610399999
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	08/21/2018
Series:	Economist Books
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	659,099
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

John Tennent is a coauthor of The Economist Guide to Business Modelling and The Economist Guide to Cash Management. He is an accountant, who for the past twenty years has been involved in training and consultancy with firms such as Unilever, BOC, BAE, Kraft, Thomson Corp, Cable & Wireless, BT, St Gobain, and EMI.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Defining a successful business 1

2 Business structures 13

3 The role of the finance department 20

4 Financial statements and accounting systems 30

5 Accounting concepts and principles 51

6 Investors 77

7 Treasury management 106

8 Cost to serve 120

9 Product pricing and profitability 145

10 Portfolio management 162

11 Investment appraisal 179

12 Business planning, budgeting and reporting 219

13 Cash flow forecasting 251

14 Operational ratios and measures 278

15 Stockmarket and investor measures 306

16 Working capital management 325

17 Published reports and accounts 349

18 Accounting complexities 362

Glossary of financial terms 375

List of companies cited 386

References 389

Index 391