Page 12 - Finance for Non-Financial Managers

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board of directors, and perhaps even outsiders the finan-
cial implications of the results you have achieved and the
results you expect to deliver in the future. Preface xi
Regardless of your path, your career success depends on
your doing these things reasonably well, and you cannot do that
without a respectable knowledge of finance and accounting.
Notice I didn’t say a thorough knowledge and I didn’t say you
need to understand how accountants process detailed informa-
tion. I didn’t even say you had to get it right every time,
because accountants don’t either. But you do need to be com-
fortable talking the language of finance at the nontechnical
level, so that you can communicate effectively in either direc-
tion. And that is the purpose of this book.

How to Use This Book
Chapter 1 sets the stage for the book. It discusses how events in
the business world today have increased the need for financially
savvy managers. Business managers and owners today need to
have both financial integrity and a degree of financial compe-
tence not previously expected of them. It is no longer good
enough to keep poor accounting records in the belief that the
accountants will clean it all up at the end of the year, so the
company can file correct tax returns. It is no longer good enough
to scan a financial report to find the profit number for the month,
so that the rest of the report may be ignored. It is no longer good
enough for a manager to be ignorant of financial terminology if
he or she wants to climb the corporate ladder, or even be
demonstrably successful in a current job. You need more.
Chapters 2 through 6 cover the basic financial reports you
should typically see on a monthly basis, with lots of tips on
reading, understanding, and using the information they contain.
For that reason we suggest that, as your first objective, you
read, and perhaps reread, Chapters 2 through 6 in order, until
you feel comfortable with them.
Then we suggest you proceed to Chapters 7 and 8, which