Financial Analysis and Decision Making

How can you use your company's assets more productively?Are you at risk of running out of cash?Are you giving your shareholders the best value for their investments?Good questions. "Financial Analysis and Decision Making "shows you how to use the tools of financial analysis to arrive at answers that are both easy to grasp and based on reality, not CPA-speak.This uniquely accessible book emphasizes the impact of accounting information on strategic business decisions, and explains how financial and nonfinancial professionals can use that information to solve a variety of business questions and problems. Plain-English descriptions, sample problems, real-world case studies, and more show you how to: Look "inside" financial data for clues to past, current, and future performance Apply proven risk management principles to everyday business problems Control product costs to increase per-unit profits and gain competitive advantage A fundamental understanding of financial analysis is an essential--but often overlooked--prerequisite to making sound strategic decisions. "Financial Analysis and Decision Making "helps you understand what the numbers are saying and use that understanding to improve the performance of your business at every level."Financial analysis is about shaping the future. It provides the tools management needs to make sophisticated judgments about complex and challenging business issues. This book embraces a broad range of financial analyses and can be used as a primer by finance, accounting, and general management on the tools and techniques to solve financial problems and make effective business decisions."--From the IntroductionLocked inside thelanguage of financial analysis are the keys to understanding your toughest business problems. "Financial Analysis and Decision Making "translates that language, showing you how to use the financial elements of your business to solve common problems, improve all-important cash flow, and dramatically enhance your company's competitive positioning and profitability.Whether you are a veteran of finance or a nonfinancial manager charged with improving your firm's financial performance, this all-encompassing book will explain the meaning and value of today's most important financial tools including: Income statements, balance sheets, and statements of cash flows--the foundations of financial analysis How to use ratios and other performance measures to detect problems and isolate their root causes Methods for evaluating proposed capital projects, and the strengths and weaknesses of each More than just presenting these tools and techniques, "Financial Analysis and Decision Making "plainly states the rationales behind each and explains how to integrate them into everyday decision-making. You learn about the factors that drive interest rates and, subsequently, the yields required to induce outside investments. Budgets are transformed from necessary nuisances into essential devices for managing operations on an ongoing basis. Explanations of standard deviation show you how to use this all-important measure to forecast outcomes and set strategic goals.Cash is oxygen to your company, and proper financial analysis ensures that your supply of oxygen will never be cut off. Learn what the numbers "really -"mean, and how you can use them to improve your skills for both gathering pertinentinformation and solving a myriad of business problems, with the comprehensive and comprehensible "Financial Analysis and Decision Making."