The world of finance can be a minefield for the unwary. Without training, very few managers are prepared for the challenges of dealing with management reports, budgets and capital proposals, and find themselves embarrassed by their lack of understanding.

This classic book, now in its third edition, supplies a step-by-step guide to the whole territory: ‘how to assemble a budget’, how to read variances on a report’, how to construct a proposal to invest in new equipment’.

By examining the actual things that managers have to do, each chapter explores the range of principles that can be applied, illustrates practical techniques and provides general guidance.

This book will help the reader understand financial jargon, financial statements, management accounts, performance measures, budgeting, costing pricing, decision-making and investment appraisal. New material brings this edition up to date with chapters on crowdfunding and the influence of global uncertainty on the best-laid financial plans.

 

John Tennent is co-author of The Economist Guide to Business Modeling and The Economist Guide to Cash Management. He is an accountant, who for the past 20 years has been involved in training and consultancy with firms such as Unilever, BOC, BAE, Kraft, Thomson Corp, BR, St Gobain and EMI.