Business Finance For Managers

An Essential Guide to Planning, Control and Decision Making

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Product code: 19538
ISBN: 0749438509
448 pages
Format: Pb
Published by: Kogan Page, 2004, 3rd edition

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Business Finance For Managers - front page cover image

Description of Business Finance For Managers

Many managers assume that finance should be left in the hands of the accounts department. The truth is that any manager in control of a budget should be confident of their ability to control it. The role of a manager necessarily involves understanding financial jargon, knowing what financial statements mean and being able to contribute to discussions about finance.

Acting as a comprehensive and accessible handbook to the world of business finance, this fully updated third edition of Business Finance for Managers gives detailed, practical advice on all aspects of financial planning, control and decision making. The book will enable you to:

- become comfortable with the language of finance
- learn how to read and interpret management and audited accounts, including balance sheets, profit-and-loss accounts and cash flow statements
- become skilled at identifying strengths and weaknesses in financial statements and budgets
- contribute confidently to decisions relating to investment, taxation and finance
- be aware of the complexities involved in mergers and takeovers

Whether you are a manager in a small or large business or a business student wanting to improve your understanding of business finance, this book will provide you with the confidence you need to take control.

Business Finance For Managers - Chapter headings

Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Introduction
Crucial errors in finance
The content and sequence of the book

PART I. THE PURPOSE AND CONTENT OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

2. The profit and loss account
The profit and loss account
The measurement of profit or loss
The nine major types of income
Expenditure
Statement of total recognized gains and losses

3. The balance sheet
Misconceptions about the balance sheet
Key items in the balance sheet
Financing the assets
What a balance sheet does not tell you
Summary
Other balance sheet items

4. The cash flow statement
The eight categories of cash flows
Reconciliations
Strategic cash flow planning
Complications in preparing cash flow statements
Summary

5. Cash forecasting
A cash forecasting example
Presenting cash forecasts in funding negotiations
Control against cash forecasts
Summary

PART II. TESTING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

6. Ratio analysis
Financial stability ratios
Profitability ratios
Trends in the financial structure
Productivity ratios
Competitiveness ratios
Investment ratios
Types of investment strategy
Summary

7. Working capital
The real meaning of working capital
Over-trading
Working capital ratios
Effective management of working capital
Summary

PART III. FINANCIAL PLANNING AND CONTROL

8. Budgeting
The purposes of budgeting
Length of budget period
Key elements of a good budgeting process
The sequence of budgeting
The purchasing and production budget
Zero-based budgeting
Cost reduction
The final elements of the budgeting process
Summary

9. Financial control
Variances
Departures from budget
The qualities of an effective financial control system
Summary

10. Total costing
Principles of cost attribution with more than one product or service
The cost centre approach
Activity based costing
Transfer pricing
Summary

11. Contribution costing
Using the fixed and variable cost classification to set sales targets
Capacity costs and their effect on a profit forecast
Operating leverage
Summary

PART IV. FINANCE TECHNIQUES FOR DEVELOPING THE ORGANIZATION

12. Capital investment decisions
The appraisal tools
Errors in forecasting project cash flows
The impact of forecasting errors on project viability
The weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
Profitability index
Accept/reject criteria in project evaluation
The 10 priorities of an excellent approach to capital investment
Summary

13. Financial strategy and shareholder value
Competitive advantage
Shareholder value
The standard shareholder value model
The real drivers of growth
Strategic initiatives that help to enhance shareholder value
Linking value enhancement to remuneration
Shareholder value in a diversified business
Summary

14. Foreign currency transactions and translations
The risks associated with foreign currency transactions
Types of transactions
Recording transactions
Exchange risks and rewards
Summary

15. Mergers and acquisitions
Reasons for take-over activity: the buyer perspective
The valuation of businesses in take-over negotiations
Exchange mechanisms
Group accounts
Special considerations in mergers and acquisitions
'Unbundling'
Summary

16. Any other business
Corporation tax
Group accounts
Deferred tax
Leased assets
Pension funds
The life of a business
Summary of our meeting

Appendix

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