Reviews (17)

Great source for managers
This is one of those few books that is simple yet not simplistic. Book is written for corporate managers whose job responsibility is outside the decipline of finance, however who can benefit from knowing the finance at the fundamental level. Book does not go into "mechanics" of finance and focuses more on the "essense" of finance. Written with the simplicity of small business yet with questions to be asked in large corporations. I would strongly recommend this book to all my managers.

Very helpful and on an understandable level.
Helpful to managers to give them insight into where accountants are projecting and where hard numbers are coming from.You are able to see sources of manipulation.

Strongly recommended to all business managers, both the novice and the experienced
Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide To Knowing What The Numbers Really Mean by Karen Berman and Joe Knight (owners of the Los Angeles-based Business Literacy institute) with management expert John Case is an innovative and "user friendly" instructional guide to proper and intelligible management of finances and business oriented decision making. Financial Intelligence is an impressive compendium of guidelines and information including the basics of financial measurement, reading income statements, balancing sheets, cash flow statements, separating hard data from the assumptions and estimates, the mechanics of analysis, calculating ratios, return on investment, working on capital, knowing the difference between cash and profit, financial literacy and transparency and how to recognize how the two can boost performance. Financial Intelligence is very strongly recommended to all business managers, both the novice and the experienced, as everyone has something to learn.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business Writing    5. Business/Economics    6. Cash Management    7. Corporate Finance    8. Corporations    9. Finance    10. Financial Accounting    11. Financial statements    12. Management - General    13. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (3)

How to redefine a role "that is fast becoming obsolete"

Refocusing the CFO's Role and Reducing Workload!
Of the original 36 "excellent" companies listed in the '82 book "In Search of Excellence," only two (Wal-Mart and IBM) remained in the '02 Forbes top 100 companies based on similar criteria.Jeremy Hope believes that CFOs must adapt their activities in such an era of rapid change.
How CFOs move beyond managing numbers
Jeremy Hope's REINVENTING THE CFO: HOW FINANCIAL MANAGERS CAN TRANSFORM THEIR ROLES AND ADD GREATER VALUEtells how CFOs are moving beyond managing numbers and reports: now companies except them to provide strategic support and leadership to enhance manager performance and bottom line alike - on top of their jobs of budgeting and processing transactions. Jeremy Hope has co-founded the Beyond Budgeting Round Table, a nonprofit collaborative helping organizations improve performance management - and REINVENTING THE CFO tackles the nuts and bolts, outlining seven roles CFOs must embrace to change their company's finance operations. An excellent set of reflections on the changing CFO role and how to achieve the most from it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Executives    4. Business/Economics    5. Chief financial officers    6. Corporate Finance    7. Corporations    8. Finance    9. Management - General    10. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (4)

Finance Book Review - Jameson Thottam (formerly with Morgan Stanley, Homestore and IndyMac Bank)
This is an OKAY book,
Good place to start
Explains the basics, not so detailed that a novice can't follow it.If you're already a finance manager (as opposed to a manger without a finance background), I suggest something a little more advanced.

Nice Overview- Not so nice coverage
I bought this book to rehash some of the necessary and critical financial concepts learnt in school. Objective was to a. Make informed decision with knowledge of some finance terms (like top-line growth) B. Make more familiarity with the standard yet not so frequently used financial tools (like cash flow statement).
Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business enterprises    4. Business/Economics    5. Corporate Finance    6. Corporations    7. Finance    8. Budgeting & financial management   

Reviews (2)

Excelent real life cases
This book does capture the findings from the work of Beyond Budgeting Roundtable in a excellent way. The cases in the book are real and are brilliant proofs of the fact that it is possible to run even a large corporation with out traditional budget models. I�m really looking forward to the follow up.

Good Book on Relatively New Topic
As a business consultant with many years experience in budgeting, I found this a very useful overview of a relatively new topic in finance. The authors clearly show the limitations of the traditional budgeting process and present a comprehensive alternative. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Management    6. Management - General    7. Budgeting & financial management   

Reviews (2)

An OD book with a solid combo of theory and practice
Finally, an OD book with a solid combination of theory and practice.The theory in this book is the most comprehensive model for OD I've ever seen.Simons' model incorporates all functional areas of business.He does an excellent job of looking at the whole organizational picture. This is where many authors have fallen short with theories that only cover one or two functional areas of business leaving you to guess at how to incorporate the rest.This cross-functional approach to OD is not just refreshing; it's quite necessary in today's business environment.
Eloquent and Essential Practicality

Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Leadership    6. Management - General    7. Organization    8. Organization Theory    9. Organizational Behavior    10. Organizational Behavior In Business    11. Organizational change    12. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (22)

Why you need a value proposition
While this book is very thorough, with some work it's possible to glean some very important approaches to how to manage work. I have used it to develop value propositions in teams and help shape the focus of an organization. It's worth spending time with if you struggle with priorities and focus.

Very Helpful
Very helpful in clarifying concept and application by dmonstrating many different prctical cases covering all industries.
Practical Strategy Implementation Book by Jameson Thottam
An excellent book for those who wish to develop roadmaps on Strategy and filled with insider trading tips on how to implement strategy throughout the life cycle of an organization.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Forecasting    6. Human capital    7. Intangible property    8. Investments & Securities - General    9. Management    10. Strategic planning    11. Business strategy   

Reviews (26)

An interesting read
An interesting read for the serious investor.The central tenet of the book might be stated as "investors do not earn superior rates of return on stocks that are priced fully to reflect future performance - even for the best value-creating companies - which is why great companies are not great stocks."This book posits that investors can read market expectations contained in a stock's price and anticipate revisions in those expectations to achieve superior returns.It book provides a detailed, step-by-step way to accomplish this process.
A Refreshing Look at Market Performance
There is no question stock prices climb and fall based on investors' current perceptions of their future performance.
Is it just me
Seeing the other 5-star reviews makes me wonder, eihter those reviewers are clueless or I might have missed something big.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Economics - General    5. Finance    6. Investments & Securities - General    7. Stocks & shares   

Reviews (2)

Authoritative and Well Written
Gompers and Lerner have written the best book on venture capital thus far. The authors have done a great service to entrepreneurs, VCs, and the entire business community with this work. Absolutely Phenomenal Book
I can't say enough good things about this book!Gompers and Lerner provide a crystal clear explaination of the role venture capital plays in the economy and offers an insightful view of how venture capital will change in the future.Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Finance    6. Forecasting    7. New business enterprises    8. Small Business - Capital Generation    9. United States    10. Venture capital    11. Budgeting & financial management    12. Ownership & organization of enterprises   

Editorial Review

"Until a few years ago," notes journalist-consultant Udayan Gupta, "venture capitalists were hardly on anyone's radar screen."That's not the case these days, as financiers who used to work behind the scenes now regularly set markets afire with their public support of high-profile technology and Internet stocks. In Read more

Reviews (15)

A great way to learn the who and what of the VC industry
While this book was written at the height of the Internet boom and contains nothing but some intimations of the subsequent crash (some of the VCs stated that they suspected returns would turn negative sometime in the near term), it is a fascinating capturing of the history of the venture capital industry in the words of those that built it.It is not a book on how to become a VC or how to submit your b-plan in a way to attract VC money.If you want books on getting investment money, I recommend - The Venture Capital Cycle - by Paul Gompers or for angel money - Angel Investing - by Mark Van Osnabrugge.
AN INVALUABLE PEEP INTO THE WORLD OF VENTURE CAPITAL
Many of the yesteryear superstars from the boom hitech sector may have unceremoniously gone belly up, and VC is not exactly as "hot" as it was at the turn of the century, but turns out that circling overhead the dot-com carnage was an enthusiastic Gupta scribbling detailed notes of what was going on in the industry. He rounded up a flock of 35 leading venture cap investors, from early pioneers such as Eugene Kleiner and Arthur Rock to current industry stars Geoff Yang and John Doerr. Had them reveal a great deal of gripping skinny on their ventures, solid facts from actual deals they'd worked on. Organized the stash of all this collective wisdom into a neat little bound volume -- and voila - we have a ripper of a book! Questioning
I opened this book with anticipation that I would be presented with an insightful examination of how the greats of the venture capital world worked with thier investments. What I found was a one-sided exploration about why these folks were great but not any of the grit that they must have faced to become the success that they are. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Businessmen    5. Case studies    6. Corporate Finance    7. Economic History    8. Finance    9. Industries - General    10. Venture Capital    11. Ownership & organization of enterprises    12. USA    13. General Business   

Reviews (4)

Very good Book for a practitioner
I found the book very useful in practice. It gave you a lot of details.

Very poorly written
I found Arditti's writing to be simply attrocious.What the marketplace needs is a clear, concise guide to instrument structure and valuation, and Mr. Arditti writes in circles.As an example, his chapter on option pricing refers to "using the methods used previously in this chapter" without referring to how to apply these to the method just introduced.The method just introduced was explained using numbers that were presumably fabricated, but lord only knows, because the author can't be bothered to specify how his example was structured. He knows how to design derivatives and make them work
I am completely satisfied with this book. He knows how to design derivatives and make them work. This book does a remarkable job of explaining the theory and practice of derivative securities. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Derivative securities    6. Finance    7. Financial Markets    8. Investments    9. Investments & Securities - Futures    10. United States    11. Investment & securities   

Reviews (8)

What's good in it?
First of all, this book doesn't give the pleasure of good reading. C'mon, what kind of pleasure do you expect from a 500 pages book with very small fonts?
BEST ANALYSIS OF ACTIVITY BASED COSTING AND HOW TO GUIDE
Kaplan and Cooper have put together an outstanding guidebook for managers to follow in order to reap the most significant benefits from activity based costing and other cost management techniques.The great merit of this book is that it does not preach to the reader the latest management fad, but rather goes through a thorough analysis of budgeting processes, highlighting benefits and drawbacks of each.They do not claim ABC is the best approach, and even praise some simpler methods that are more adequate for certain companies.Instead, they point to the circumstances in which ABC can provide outstanding results to companies. The very best book on activity-based management.
I have read this book cover to cover and have re-read chapters.Kaplan ensures that you grasp the fundamental concepts by keeping things simple. He illustrates the concepts with easy to understand examples. I gained very little knowledge from the first 3 ABM books I read, but after reading "Cost and Effect," I felt that I had a good enough grasp of the fundamentals to actually implement a costing system. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - Financial    2. Activity-based costing    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Case studies    7. Corporate Finance    8. Corporations    9. Employees    10. Finance    11. Management    12. Management Accounting    13. Rating    14. Cost accounting   

Reviews (5)

superficial book
This book is extremely superficial and unimaginative, giving only scant information and profiles from a number of companies of a few finance careers.

good, but the Vault guides are better
In my opinion there is more and better objective information on Finance and investment banking careers in the Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking and in the Vault Guide to Finance Interviews, which have the added benefit of being able to be purchased on vault.com and downloaded immediately.Good luck.

better information in the Vault guides
In my opinion there is more and better objective information on Finance and investment banking careers in the Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking and in the Vault Guide to Finance Interviews, which have the added benefit of being able to be purchased on vault.com and downloaded immediately.Good luck. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business & Economics    3. Career/Job    4. Careers - General    5. Careers - Other Specific Fields    6. Careers / Job Opportunities    7. Corporate Finance    8. Finance    9. Advice on careers & achieving success    10. Careers guidance   

Reviews (3)

Very good, but not great
I really enjoyed the book for the most part.There are some great topics discussed.I especially enjoyed the chapter on nonprofit/corporation alliances.The downside: I thought the two chapters regarding Boards were lacking.Overall, it's definately worth checking out.

To much money for the lack of versatility
The book is great.But, the E-book has a lot of inconveniences comparing vs. a regular book, such as: Harvard Business Review on Nonprofits
The book is solid and accurate review of some crucial questions nonprofits are dealing with today. Anybody interested in topics as leadership, financial matters, founding, strategic alliances, entrepreneurship,excellence in performance and establishing trust in the field of thenon-profit business, will benefit from reading a particular chapter or thewhole book. Different authors, all experts in their fields, with practicalaxperience participate to a wide focus of the topics in question. What ismissing in my opinion is maybe an article dealing with internal marketing -the nonprofits are mostly services and in this field a performance isinevitably linked to people performing the service. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Management    6. Non-Profit Organizations Management    7. Nonprofit Organizations & Charities    8. Nonprofit organizations    9. Business ethics    10. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (1)

great book to understand financial functions
I read the Japanese version of this book. This is one of the best finalce books I've ever read. This book helped me to understand much better the future of financial businesses. It is especially good in explaining: whatis the rationale for financial intermediaries to exist,how capitalmarkets evolved, why corporations hedge by themselves, and how asymmetricinformation affects financial instruments. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Accounting - General    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Finance    5. Financial institutions, Intern    6. Financial institutions, International    7. International - General    8. International Finance    9. Management    10. Multinational corporations    11. Macroeconomics   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Finance    5. Finance    6. Human Resources & Personnel Management    7. Personnel departments    8. Budgeting & financial management   

Reviews (2)

Chock full of facts
Dense read.Definitely not a book you can "skip" through.However, after having read many books onVC, I can easily say this is the best historical overview (up to 1991) of the US VC industry I know.Amust-read if you're serious about understanding the VC industry, its pastmistakes, and where it's going.

O.K.
O.K.Standard HBS fare, many pages of text and charts devoted to simple concept ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Finance    4. Personal Finance - General    5. Venture Capital    6. Investment & securities    7. Ownership & organization of enterprises   

Reviews (8)

Basic thoughts already captured by others
I do not know what the other readers are crowing about.The ideas in this book are a repacking of ideas widely disseminated in the CV field.If you have already been exposed to the basic strategies of CV, don't waste your time with this book.

Could Become a Business "Classic"
Mason and Rohner do indeed provide a "new model for corporate innovation" based on the assumption that if done right, venturing offers several substantial benefits to the mature corporation that, in combination, cannot be obtained elsewhere: "access to exceptional talent, the means to focus on important new opportunities that didn't fit into the established mold and culture, and the ability to experiment with different ways of organizing and operating that were more suitable to the issues at hand and to future growth." In turn, the mature corporation offers a great deal to fledgling start-ups that they couldn't obtain through any other method: "access to rich resources, including deep domain experience and knowledge, technology, established brand, supplier, and customer bases." After years of rigorous research and analysis, Mason and Rohner concluded that "the dual-value propositions for corporate venturing" offer a unique and compelling opportunity for a mutually beneficial codependency, one which "reveals a clear path for success -- a new model for corporate venturing, one that lives up to its potential and is sustainable over time." With precise and eloquence, Mason and Rohner explain HOW. Essential tool in your corporate innovation kit
Innovate or evaporate seems to be the mantra of most management gurus. Asked how to facilitate innovation these gurus usually lack an answer. Mason and Rohner are different as they show in this excellent book. Combining a clear framework with interesting examples this is a must read.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate & Business History - Strategies    5. Development - Business Development    6. Finance    7. Leadership    8. Strategic Planning    9. Technological innovations    10. Venture capital    11. Business strategy    12. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (4)

GREAT GREAT GREAT
Terrific book great for helping to get a finance job! A must buy for any MBA.

A solid book
I help manage the career center an elite business school in the Northeast - and this is one of our most popular books.Along with the VaultReports.com Guides, this book is essential preparation for a career ininvestment banking.

Great!!!!
Terrific book great help for getting a job in finance.Great information direct for a huge number of the top finance firms. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Career/Job    2. Careers - General    3. Careers / Job Opportunities    4. Directories    5. Financial institutions    6. Financial services industry    7. United States    8. Vocational guidance    9. Finance    10. Yearbooks, annuals, almanacs    11. c 1990 to c 2000   

Reviews (1)

He is what he is
When we were studyingcorporate finance and policy, our teachers use to recommend us Gordon's articles and books; they called him father of finance. His articles were true classics; even after passage of few decadesthey remain as applicable as they were then. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Case studies    4. Corporate reorganizations    5. Corporations    6. Entrepreneurship    7. Finance    8. Management    9. Management - General    10. Mergers & Acquisitions    11. Organization Development    12. United States    13. Industry & Industrial Studies    14. Ownership & organization of enterprises   

Reviews (1)

Breakthrough Thinking on the Creation of Value
This book was written for decision-makers in organizations which are in current or imminent need of (a) benchmarking and comparing the value of their growth opportunities, (b) aligning the value of private growth opportunities with public market valuations, and (c) replacing complex calculations with simple and transparent methods. Amram re-examines and re-evaluates several of the core concepts which she and co-author Nalin Kulatilaka discussed in a previous work, Real Options: Managing Strategic Investment in an Uncertain World. However, as she explains in her Preface, she has since drawn two strong conclusions. "First, in many [but not all] applications, real options is not the right tool. I'll raise this issue through this book [Value Sweep] and show how to combine real options with other strategic perspectives. Second, decision analysis (and decision analysis coupled with real options) is quite an expansive approach; it can handle a lot of detail. Often, however, the detail overwhelms the rationale."