The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 704 pages
• Published by: Wiley
• Edition: 3rd Edition October 19, 2001
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0471061859
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0471061854
• Book Dimensions: 10 x 7.2 x 2 inches
• Weighs: 3.1 pounds

Product Description
The latest volume in the bestselling series

In today's business environment, a knowledge of finance and skills in budgeting and financial planning are more important than ever before. Totally updated and revised, this highly anticipated Third Edition provides new information on five such key topics as interpreting financial statements; information technology in finance; planning capital expenditures; information technology and your firm; business valuation, and much more. Top experts in each field explain the basics of cost-volume analysis, forecasts, and budgets, and reveal how to create a winning business plan. Ideal reading for any manager or executive who requirements a "refresher course" in finance.

Les Livingstone, PhD, MBA, CPA (West Palm Beach, FL), runs a national consulting firm which specializes in complex business research and expert testimony in large commercial lawsuits. He was chairman of the Division of Accounting and Law at Babson College.

Theodore Grossman (Wellesley, MA) is a senior member of the faculty of Babson College with an appointment in information technology and accounting.

Publisher Description
Nationally renowned experts offer essential and practical advice for all businesses ranging from small startups to large corporations. Provides clear concise guidance on how to do a breakeven analysis; prepare a budget; implement a business plan; decide whether to incorporate your business; evaluate an acquisition target and much more. Enables readers to pick up the basics in finance and accounting without incurring the considerable time and expense of a formal MBA program. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting (Hardcover) As a liberal arts major, I desperately needed to familiarize myself with business finance concepts during the year prior to my MBA program (I'll start B-School in Fall 2001), and turned to "The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting" for help due to the "best in class" reputation of the series. Though not entirely disappointed, I really do not feel this book lived up to its top billing. I found a lot of the sections unclear, mostly because the authors skimp on the necessary math, trying to describe numeric concepts with words; Sort of like "using a screwdriver to carve roast beef," as Tom Robbins once quipped. Additionally, the Portable MBA series' format, with different authors each writing a chapter, detracts from the book's cohesiveness. A book by one author (or several edited into one continuous voice) tends to hold together better. For example, I got more out of the briefer introduction to fiscal management, "Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager" by Steven Finkler due to its one-voice cohesiveness than I did from the Portable MBA. On the up side, the first chapter is a brilliant exposition on how day-to-day business activities translate into the standard accounting reports. This section also illustrates how a manager can use spreadsheets to observe how changing prices or costs affect the "bottom line," and how financials can be used to build a strategy. I also found the chapter on budgeting quite helpful. However, when the book delves into finance, the lack of math really begins to take its toll. If it weren't for the Finkler book, I doubt I would have the faintest idea what capital budgeting was all about. All things considered, "The PMBA in F&A" is a decent but flawed book. However, when it is on, it is brilliant.