Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean

Excellent introduction into corporate financial accounting! It's written in very simple language and makes for an easy read even though the subject could be complicated. It's designed for non-financial managers who would like to understand how corporate finances work but it will work for anybody, including individual investors trying to make better sense of financial state of potential investment.

Stock analysts don't have a monopoly on the income statement. This book suggests how to look at the financials as an employee. Of course, there are good reasons to be attentive to the stock market, and "Financial Intelligence" covers a lot of the same ground as investor guides. But the authors also make a good case for focusing on cash as well as profit. Yes, we do like to see cash on payday. The discussion of profitability, leverage and efficiency ratios are especially useful. The authors also recite a litany of financial scandals from AIG to Xerox, reminders of how many assumptions are baked into earnings reports and how easy it is to change recipes.

Quite good. I went from a weak understanding of basic business accounting to a much better understanding of basic principals. The clearly stated explanations were very helpful and made for an educational read. This is a really great primer for those not trained in accounting, there is no excuse for not having a better understanding of the numbers with a resource like this available.

This book provided exactly what the subtitle says, "A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean".

Absolutely a must-read for anyone who's wondered how money works inside an organization. Easily digestible and very sensibly laid out.

I should re-read it every 2 years to stay fresh.

An Excellent introduction to the Art of Finance. I especially enjoyed examples of companies. I would recommend this to everyone.

Deus Vult
--Gottfried

I included this book in my book: The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. www.100bestbiz.com.