The Manager's Guide to Financial Statement Analysis (Wiley Finance (Hardcover))

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Summary: Helped develop an excellent financial foundation for non-fin
Review: "The Manager's Guide to Financial Statement Analysis" helped develop an excellent financial foundation for me, as a non-financial professional. Reading it wasn't about getting the math correct, it was about telling the story of a company through careful analysis of a company's financial statements. Where once I glided over dollar amounts and percentages, I now read and understand where they come from and what they represent. Since most professionals are responsible for budgets and are likely to be stakeholders in some business or another, it is imperative to have a broad based understanding of financial statement analysis, this is where The Manager's Guide fits in.

Rating:
Summary: A real mixed bag
Review: By "manager," the authors appear to mean "someone who is not financially literate." Although this book does a good job of explaining how to analyze financial statements, I was disappointed that it didn't really contain a practical manager's perspective. Instead, this book is just like many others -- it does a credible job from an academic perspective of explaining financial statements and their use. Don't expect to learn much about applying this to your job as a manager or as a small business professional.

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Summary: Chart your way to positively impact your company's value.
Review: This is an ingenious guide to understanding not only the key concepts of financial statement analyis, but also the levers at the disposal of managers which they can and should employ to proactively improve shareholder value in their firm. The charting methodology the authors have designed is not difficult, but it is nonetheless quite illustrative and well structured. I am using the book to teach a class of forty MBA students from many different countries, and I have found that each chapter fits into a one and a half hour lecture and discussion session very comfortably. From the students' feedback as well as my own background as a former Chief Financial Officer, I am certain that this book will be a valuable tool in any reader's management career.