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Financial intelligence : a manager's guide to knowing what the numbers really mean / Karen Berman and Joe Knight ; with John Case.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublication details: Boston : Harvard Business School Press, c2006.Description: xiv, 257 p. : ill. ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 1591397642 (hardcover : alk. paper)
  • 9781591397649 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subject(s):
Contents:
I: The art of finance (and why it matters) -- You can't always trust the numbers -- Spotting assumptions, estimates, and biases -- Why increase your financial intelligence? -- II: The (many) peculiarities of the income statement -- Profit is an estimate -- Cracking the code of the income statement -- Revenue: the issue is recognition -- Costs and expenses: no hard and fast rules -- The many forms of profit -- III: The balance sheet reveals the most -- Understanding balance-sheet basics -- Assets: more estimates and assumptions (except for cash) -- On the other side: liabilities and equity -- Why the balance sheet balances -- The income statement affects the balance sheet -- IV: Cash is king -- Cash is a reality check -- Profit?: cash (and you need both) -- The language of cash flow -- How cash connects with everything else -- Why cash matters -- V: Ratios: learning what the numbers are really telling you -- The power of ratios -- Profitability ratios: the higher the better -- Leverage ratios: the balancing act -- Liquidity ratios: can we pay our bills? -- Efficiency ratios: making the most of your assets -- VI: How to calculate (and really understand) return on investment -- The building blocks of ROI -- Figuring ROI: the nitty gritty -- VII: Applied financial intelligence: working capital management -- The magic of managing the balance sheet -- Your balance sheet levers -- Homing in on cash conversion -- VIII: Creating a financially intelligent department (and organization) -- Financial literacy and corporate performance -- Financial literacy strategies -- Financial transparency: our ultimate goal.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 658.1511 B516 Available 33111005168238
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Companies expect managers to use financial data to allocate resources and run their departments. But many managers can't read a balance sheet, wouldn't recognize a liquidity ratio, and don't know how to calculate return on investment. Worse, they don't have any idea where the numbers come from or how reliable they really are. In Financial Intelligence, Karen Berman and Joe Knight teach the basics of finance--but with a twist. Financial reporting, they argue, is as much art as science. Because nobody can quantify everything, accountants always rely on estimates, assumptions, and judgment calls. Savvy managers need to know how those sources of possible bias can affect the financials and that sometimes the numbers can be challenged. While providing the foundation for a deep understanding of the financial side of business, the book also arms managers with practical strategies for improving their companies' performance--strategies, such as "managing the balance sheet," that are well understood by financial professionals but rarely shared with their nonfinancial colleagues. Accessible, jargon-free, and filled with entertaining stories of real companies, Financial Intelligence gives nonfinancial managers the financial knowledge and confidence for their everyday work. Karen Berman and Joe Knight are the owners of the Los Angeles-based Business Literacy Institute and have trained tens of thousands of managers at many leading organizations. Co-author John Case has written severalpopular books on management.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I: The art of finance (and why it matters) -- You can't always trust the numbers -- Spotting assumptions, estimates, and biases -- Why increase your financial intelligence? -- II: The (many) peculiarities of the income statement -- Profit is an estimate -- Cracking the code of the income statement -- Revenue: the issue is recognition -- Costs and expenses: no hard and fast rules -- The many forms of profit -- III: The balance sheet reveals the most -- Understanding balance-sheet basics -- Assets: more estimates and assumptions (except for cash) -- On the other side: liabilities and equity -- Why the balance sheet balances -- The income statement affects the balance sheet -- IV: Cash is king -- Cash is a reality check -- Profit?: cash (and you need both) -- The language of cash flow -- How cash connects with everything else -- Why cash matters -- V: Ratios: learning what the numbers are really telling you -- The power of ratios -- Profitability ratios: the higher the better -- Leverage ratios: the balancing act -- Liquidity ratios: can we pay our bills? -- Efficiency ratios: making the most of your assets -- VI: How to calculate (and really understand) return on investment -- The building blocks of ROI -- Figuring ROI: the nitty gritty -- VII: Applied financial intelligence: working capital management -- The magic of managing the balance sheet -- Your balance sheet levers -- Homing in on cash conversion -- VIII: Creating a financially intelligent department (and organization) -- Financial literacy and corporate performance -- Financial literacy strategies -- Financial transparency: our ultimate goal.

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