Finance for Executives: Managing for Value Creation

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Corporate Finance practitioners
Review: ‚Finance for Executives' is invaluable for everybody who needs to analyse companies and wants to know whether investment, financing or business decisions create value. It is written very clearly and is therefore easy to understand. It offers plenty of practically relevant examples, mostly based on one company which is being analysed in its different aspects throughout the whole book. Moreover, every chapter finishes with review problems (including solutions) and useful references. Some chapters offer appendices with mathematical proofs or additional in-depth analysis. - You will not be satisfied with this book if you are looking for a scientific, theoretical text. However, your expectations will be exceeded if you are a practitioner who wants to make an impact in a consulting or investment banking environment. - What does make this book so special? After working through it, you will be able to easily put into practice what you read.

Rating:
Summary: Finance for Executives: Managing for Value Creation
Review: Designed especially for experienced executives, this volume offers a concise fourteen-chapter introduction to the world of financial management.
An introductory text written specifically for executives involved with financial matters and financial management, intended to fill the gap between introductory accounting and finance manuals for non-financial managers and advanced texts in corporate finance. Material emphasizes rigorous analysis but avoids complicated formulas that have no direct application to decision making. Mathematical derivations of formulas are given in appendices. Most chapters are self-contained. Coverage includes balance sheets and income statements, financial diagnosis and management, investment decisions, financing decisions, and business decisions. Includes a glossary and review problems. The authors are affiliated with the European Institute of Business Administration. This second edition includes new case studies.

Rating:
Summary: A readable, relevant reference for every business person.
Review: Every business owner, executive, accountant, banker and maybe even your lawyer should have this valuable book on their desktop! The authors demystify the art of finance and suggest pragmatic approaches and solutions for every day capital uses and needs. This attractive and attractively priced book is written in an innovative way, making it a useful quick desktop reference as well as an MBA level finance text. The glossary by itself is worth the price of the book. How astounding that the authors are both French, yet write with more clarity in English than any American finance writer I have read of late! Vive la readability!

Rating:
Summary: A readable, relevant reference for every business person.
Review: Every business owner, executive, accountant, banker and maybe even your lawyer should have this valuable book on their desktop! The authors demystify the art of finance and suggest pragmatic approaches and solutions for every day capital uses and needs. This attractive and attractively priced book is written in an innovative way, making it a useful quick desktop reference as well as an MBA level finance text. The glossary by itself is worth the price of the book. How astounding that the authors are both French, yet write with more clarity in English than any American finance writer I have read of late! Vive la readability!

Rating:
Summary: Learn more about Finance for Executives!
Review: Finance for Executives provides a concise yet thorough 14-chapter introduction to financial management designed especially for executives. The book is organized around the underlying principle that firms should be managed with the objective of creating value for their owners. Self-contained chapters make it a perfect reference text, particularly useful for readers who want to learn the financial concepts on their own outside of the traditional classroom.

While many finance books overburden their readers with numbers, equations, and formulas, Finance for Executives makes judicious use of math. Whenever a formula is presented, the intuition behind it is explained and detailed applications are provided. Mathematical derivations of formulas are confined to chapter appendices.

Topics in the book are presented in the context of financial management problems that executives face on a daily basis. For consistency, the book uses examples from the same set of companies across all topics covered. Also, new terms are defined in the text as they are introduced.

To test your understanding, review problems are provided at the end of chapters with detailed solutions.

Gabriel Hawawini (Ph.D., New York University) is Henry Grunfeld Chaired Professor of Investment Banking at INSEAD - the European Institute of Business Administration. He has also taught finance at New York University, Columbia University, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he won the Helen Kardon Moss Anvil Award for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Hawawini is the author of ten books and over 60 research papers. Besides serving as Vice President of the French Finance Association, he has organized, directed, and taught in management development programs at INSEAD and around the world.

Cluade Viallet (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is Professor of Finance at INSEAD and Visiting Professor of Finance at Northwestern University. Before joining INSEAD, he worked as a project manager at a major oil company and as chief financial officer of a service company in Paris. Professor Viallet has been President of the European Finance Association and has published widely in leading academic and professional journals. He too has organized, directed and taught in management development programs in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Latin America.

The authors have extensive expertise teaching this course to executives, and the material in this text has been used by over 2000 managers around the world.

Table of Contents PART I: INTRODUCTION TO CORPORATE FINANCE. 1. Financial Management and Value Creation: An Overview. 2. Understanding Balance Sheets and Income Statements. PART II: EVALUATING AND MANAGING THE FINANCE FUNCTION. 3. Assessing Liquidity and Operational Efficiency. 4. Measuring Cash Flows. 5. Diagnosing Profitability, Risk and Growth. PART III: MAKING VALUE-CREATING INVESTMENT DECISION. 6. Using the Net Present Value Rule to Make Value-Creating Investment Decisions. 7. Alternatives to the Net Present Value Rule. 8. Identifying and Estimating a Project's Cash Flows. PART IV: MAKING VALUE-CREATING FINANCING DECISIONS. 9. Raising Capital and Valuing Securities. 10. Estimating the Cost of Capital. 11. Designing a Capital Structure. PART V: MAKING VALUE-CREATING BUSINESS DECISIONS. 12. Valuing and Acquiring a Business. 13. Making Value-Creating Decisions in an International Environment. 14. Managing for Value Creation.

Rating:
Summary: Readable , practical and ..maybe the best...
Review: In my humble opinion ,this maybe one of the best books of Finance... It is practical,direct to the point,the examples are clearly stated so that you can follow the concepts and central ideas and most important : you really can understand everything in an easy way....no sweat here..
You can apply almost everything in this book to your daily practice. No matter your years of experience , FFE will refresh you and reinforce your knowledge. I always have this book on my desk for reference.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Corporate Finance practitioners
Review: This book is great as an introduction to the major concepts of finance. If you are looking for an advanced refernce book, this is not the one. But if you want to refresh your memory, or want a quick overview of concepts and methods, I can't think of a better book.

Rating:
Summary: Great overview in simple terms and easy to follow
Review: This book is great as an introduction to the major concepts of finance. If you are looking for an advanced refernce book, this is not the one. But if you want to refresh your memory, or want a quick overview of concepts and methods, I can't think of a better book.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptionally clear and up-to-date text on Corporate Finance
Review: This is an exceptionally clear book that provides an up-to-date treatment of Corporate Finance that is accessible and practical. A must have!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Corporate Finance practitioners
Review: ‚Finance for Executives' is invaluable for everybody who needs to analyse companies and wants to know whether investment, financing or business decisions create value. It is written very clearly and is therefore easy to understand. It offers plenty of practically relevant examples, mostly based on one company which is being analysed in its different aspects throughout the whole book. Moreover, every chapter finishes with review problems (including solutions) and useful references. Some chapters offer appendices with mathematical proofs or additional in-depth analysis. - You will not be satisfied with this book if you are looking for a scientific, theoretical text. However, your expectations will be exceeded if you are a practitioner who wants to make an impact in a consulting or investment banking environment. - What does make this book so special? After working through it, you will be able to easily put into practice what you read.