Guide to Financial Management: Understand and Improve the Bottom Line (Economist Books)

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.

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.