Using Accounting and Financial Information

Accounting often is referred to as “the language of business”; unfortunately, many business professionals lack the fluency in this unique language required to perform basic nancial analysis, prepare budgetary forecasts, or compare competing capital investment alternatives. 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 nance. Using Accounting and Financial Information targets professionals with limited exposure to—or formal training in— accounting or related nance 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 of 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 nance colleagues; (2) understand the structure and the elements of general-purpose nancial statements, (3) identify both the usefulness and the limitations of accounting information; (4) prepare basic nancial forecasts; and (5) make sense of commonly used decision-making models.