Beyond the Bottom Line : Advanced Financial Knowledge for Managers

This unusual book combines a compulsively readable story with an explanation of business finance at a strategic level. It is the sequel to The Bottom Line, in which Alan Warner first introduced this remarkably effective learning vehicle, and in it the same characters continue their careers and their personal relationships. Those who have read the first book will know that, while the "novel" element--described by one reviewer as "Dick Francis and Mills and Boon rolled into one"--may not rank as a literary masterpiece, it does make a potentially difficult subject easy to absorb.
Middle-aged, insecure Phil Moorley suddenly finds himself president of a large US food manufacturer, and facing a takeover bid from Universal, his previous employer. He finds that the financial knowledge he acquired in The Bottom Line is not enough to cope with this new challenge. As before, he turns for help to blonde, beautiful management accountant Christine Goodhart.
The takeover battle is resolved and, in the course of it, the reader learns about evaluating an acquisition; price/earnings ratio and market; capitalization; treatment of goodwill; asset valuations, including brands; dividend yield and dividend cover, and the factors affecting share price;
Moorley offers Christine the job as his VP Finance, with consequences which do more for his company than for his marriage. The second half of the book describes how Phil and Christine work together to develop improved management accounting information systems to support their strategic decision-making. The subjects covered include principles of financial measurement, replacement cost accounting, limiting factor analysis, price/volume sensitivities, ratios for competitor analysis, Pareto analysis of product/customer profiles, strategic profitability evaluations, post audit of investment appraisals, and direct product profitability techniques.
The many thousands of managers who have already read The Bottom Line will, despite possible reservations about Moorley's male chauvinism and irritating insecurity, once again be unable to resist reading on. In the process they will consolidate their knowledge of financial matters and be introduced to some advanced but practical concepts of finance rarely dealt with in conventional textbooks.