Finance for non-financial managers.
Why should you buy this book? There are certainly others to choose from, each with a viewpoint that reflects the author’s background and opinions. Why this one? Why this particular author’s background and opinions? The answer is communication: this book is in a sense a communication manual for...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
McGraw Hill
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dspace.uniten.edu.my/jspui/handle/123456789/15381 |
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| Summary: | Why should you buy this book? There are certainly others
to choose from, each with a viewpoint that reflects the
author’s background and opinions. Why this one? Why this particular
author’s background and opinions? The answer is communication:
this book is in a sense a communication manual
for non-financial managers.
I believe there is a great need for better communication
between financial and non-financial professionals, for a better
tool to help the non-financial manager understand the language
of finance, and for the financial professional to learn the terminology
that has meaning for the non-financial manager. I
believe this book will play a part in enabling that better communication.
That is, in fact, its purpose.
Why me? I spent eight years of my early working life as a
practicing CPA. I felt the frustration that came from not speaking
the same language as my clients and the difficulty in getting
the information I needed from people who didn’t really understand
why I could possibly need it or what I could do with it.
Then there were the 14 years as a financial officer inside several
companies, responsible for trying to find a common language
so I could provide business managers what they needed to run
their departments, divisions, and corporations. Most recently, I
have spent over 15 years as an advisor to business managers
and entrepreneurs on financial matters.
Over each of those phases of my career, I’ve become known
for my ability to translate complex or esoteric financial concepts
into plain language. I understand better than most both the
accountant’s and the business manager’s viewpoints. Not surprisingly, they often speak different languages. The results are
usually less than satisfactory for both. This book is my attempt
to facilitate a better understanding between them, since their
common objective is the greater success of the enterprise that
employs them both.
What should you hope to get from this book, or any book on
this subject? I believe the answer is:
• The viewpoint of an author who speaks the language of
finance, but thinks more like a line manager than an
accountant,
• Examples of the typical, standard financial reports, with
plenty of explanation—in English—that will help you
understand those same kinds of reports when you see
them in your company,
• Examples of financial reports you may not see in your
company yet, but that you might want to, because they
could give you valuable information, and
• Some help in mastering the tools of finance where they
can be useful to you, without wasting time explaining the
deep details that will likely never benefit you.
If you are now or intend to become, at some point in your
career, the manager in charge of a profit center or perhaps the
owner of your own business, you will need to have a working
knowledge of a lot of the information in this book. You are or
may become:
• The person your staff looks to for guidance in budgets
and other financial management matters,
• The person your boss or the home office expects to consistently
achieve your assigned financial targets—or even
the person who sets those targets,
• The person who is responsible for directing the finance
and accounting function that supports your unit or company,
and
• The person who can effectively explain to staff, boss, board of directors, and perhaps even outsiders the financial
implications of the results you have achieved and the
results you expect to deliver in the future.
Regardless of your path, your career success depends on
your doing these things reasonably well, and you cannot do that
without a respectable knowledge of finance and accounting.
Notice I didn’t say a thorough knowledge and I didn’t say you
need to understand how accountants process detailed information.
I didn’t even say you had to get it right every time,
because accountants don’t either. But you do need to be comfortable
talking the language of finance at the nontechnical
level, so that you can communicate effectively in either direction.
And that is the purpose of this book. |
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