Finance for Executives: A Practical Guide for Managers - Softcover

Fernandes, Nuno

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9899885401 ISBN 13: 9789899885400

Publisher: NPV Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

The book Finance for Executives: A Practical Guide for Managers meets the needs of global executives, both finance as well as non-financial managers. It is a practical and fundamental finance reference book for any manager, as it makes a perfect balance of financial management theory and practice. It focuses on corporate finance concepts from value creation to derivatives, including cost of capital (and WACC), valuation, financing policies, project evaluation, and many other essential finance definitions.

Finance for Executives makes finance simple and intuitive, through the use of real world data (brief company case studies and empirical examples of concepts), Excel financial modelling tools, and practical short chapters.

Target Audience
This finance book is appropriate for business executives, from all backgrounds, seeking to

• Focus on the links between financial management and the strategy of their company, be it a private or publicly traded company
• Discover how to create value for their company and boost its financial performance
• Understand the key topics of corporate finance for non-financial managers
• Create a cost of capital culture within a company
• Refresh and broaden their understanding of the latest financial concepts and tools
• Learn about financial management for decision makers – including financing and dividend policies, company valuation, mergers and acquisitions (M&As), project evaluation, cost of capital (WACC) estimation, or risk management and derivatives

Finance for Executives is suited as a finance textbook for corporate finance programs, executive education courses, as well as in MBA, master’s, and executive MBA programs. Indeed, the book is based on many years of executive education and consulting with world-class corporations from all continents of the world.
What Is This Book About?

Finance should be fun, and practical as well. With this book at hand, you will have access to a set of tools that will help you develop your intuition for solving key financial problems, improve your business decisions, and formulate strategies.

This finance for managers’ reference book is based on

• Simplicity - The core concepts in corporate finance are simple, and will become intuitively clear after using this book
• Conciseness - The chapters are short and self-contained to appeal to busy executives who are keen on value-added activities
• Practical focus - The key concepts of financial management are explained (and linked to Excel modelling tools), while you learn to identify the problems and pitfalls of different managerial choices
• Application of theory to practice - It highlights key academic research results that are relevant for practitioners
• Real-world focus - The book includes empirical data on several companies and industries around the world. Working with real-world problems and real-world data is more fruitful than theoretical discussions on formulas

Excel Templates

An Excel spreadsheet containing all the financial models used in the different chapters is available for download from the book’s website. Practitioners will find the file easy to customize to their own requirements. It is useful in a variety of situations: value creation and its decomposition into managerial drivers or key performance indicators (KPIs), cost of capital (WACC) estimation, project evaluation, mergers and acquisitions, company valuation, derivatives valuation, etc.

About this title

From the Author:

Finance is an exciting and key area for executives to master. Over the course of my career, I have developed a significant number of educational programs for executives that cover many fields in finance and their links with business. These included finance for non-financial managers programs, as well as training programs for experienced finance managers.

But I always faced a challenge. One question was frequently asked after these sessions: "This was great, and I'd like to know more about it. Can you recommend a book for me to read that covers these topics?" Most finance textbooks are too complex and long, and the practical relevance for executives is obscured by more theoretical and technical topics. Some other books are too basic and limited in scope, covering only a very limited set of topics, such as accounting ratios. When faced with this question, eventually I would recommend a couple of chapters from one book, some readings from another, or the kind of 1000-page handbook that people love to carry on the plane back home.

After several years, I realized that too many people were asking for the same thing, but "that thing" did not exist in the market. That is why I decided to write this book.

I have noticed when working with general managers that many of them fear finance, the culprits often being jargon, complicated math, and non-standard concepts that do not make intuitive sense. In this book, I try to avoid all this. In addition, the book presents several practical examples of key finance tools, how they link with strategy, and how to implement them with Microsoft Excel.

This book has been designed to meet the needs of executives, both financial managers as well as non-financial managers. Any executive who wants to probe further and grasp the fundamentals of strategic finance issues will benefit from this book.

From the Back Cover:

An excellent teach-yourself finance primer for non-financial executives, and, I dare say, even for most finance executives. The simple and lucid style enables effortless learning of key concepts, the understanding of which is greatly enhanced by relevant and practical examples from the real world. This is a must-read for all executives, regardless of job description.
     Ravi Kant, Vice Chairman,Tata Motors, India

Professor Nuno Fernandes' work is the finance reference book for the desk of ANY manager. This guide gives them, in simple yet comprehensive form, the practical explanations behind all the concepts of modern-day finance. I have partnered with Professor Fernandes for many years at IMD, addressing managers of my own company or his MBA students, and I have always appreciated his pragmatic approach to finance management. He undoubtedly is the right person to put such practical book together.
     Michel Demaré, Chairman of the Board, Syngenta, former Chief Financial Officer, ABB, Switzerland

Finance for Executives is easy to follow, and makes a boring subject actually quite exciting. The true art of teaching is to explain even the most complex subject in a simple, comprehensible, and engaging way. Professor Nuno Fernandes has succeeded in doing exactly this.
     Severin Schwan, Chief Executive Officer, Roche Group, Switzerland

The perfect balance of practice and theory. Finance can be hard for the uninitiated. Without sacrificing academic rigor, Finance for Executives conveys finance's key topics in a fun, practical, and concise manner.  The newest academic insights and empirical findings are seamlessly weaved into an essential practical finance guide for any executive.
     Geert Bekaert, Professor of Finance, Columbia Business School, USA

A key tool to improve your business decisions.  Success in business is based on the foundation of solid financial performance. Finance for Executives helps readers identify and resolve the trade-offs involved in financially sound business strategies. This book is complete with Excel spreadsheets and practical examples that allow managers to reflect on the material in each chapter, practice by doing, and, ultimately, enhance their own business decisions.  Worthwhile!
     Thilo Mannhardt, Chief Executive Officer of Ultrapar SA, Brazil

A must-have for your list of favorites.  Finance for Executives captures the core knowledge about corporate finance that every contemporary business executive needs to possess. The book is gracefully written and well organized, combining clear explanations for every topic, supported by thorough analysis and relevant empirical evidence. 
     José Manuel Campa, Professor of Finance, IESE Business School, Spain

About this edition

• Publisher: NPV Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 9899885401
• ISBN 13: 9789899885400
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 350