Accounting is often referred to as the language of business; unfortunately, many business professionals lack the fluency in this unique language required to perform basic financial analysis, prepare budgetary forecasts, or compare competing capital investment alternatives. And while there is no shortage of financial-related textbooks or reference manuals, most assume that readers have educational backgrounds—and/or have had years of professional experience—in accounting, financial analysis, or corporate finance.
This book targets professionals with limited exposure to—or formal training in—accounting or related finance disciplines. These individuals often include—but certainly are not limited to—engineers, information technology specialists, retail managers, entrepreneurs, marketing directors, construction contractors, attorneys, and even bankers who are making career transitions from consumer lending positions to become commercial loan officers.
The primary purpose of this book is to help managers and business owners from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to (1) converse more effectively with their accounting and finance colleagues; (2) understand the structure and the elements of general purpose financial statements; (3) identify both the usefulness and the limitations of accounting information; (4) prepare basic financial forecasts; and (5) make sense of commonly used decision-making models.
Keywords
accounting, accruals, assets, balance sheet, breakeven, budgeting, capital budgeting, cash flow, cost–volume–profit analysis, decision making, deferrals, discounted present value, equity, expenses, financial analysis, financial forecasting, financial management, financial statements, income statement, internal rate of return, liabilities, liquidity, net present value, payback period, pro forma financial statements, profitability, revenue, solvency, statement of cash flows, time-value of money