Managing By The Numbers: A Complete Guide To Understanding And Using Your Company's Financials [Paperback]

Chuck Kremer (Author), Ron Rizzuto (Author), John Case (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2000

Everyone interested in building a stronger business needs to understand and use the information captured in financial statements. In Managing by the Numbers, business education and accounting experts Chuck Kremer and Ron Rizzuto team up with open-book management authority John Case to demystify the numbers. They present a practical, common-sense approach to reading financial statements and to managing the three bottom lines of business financial performance: net profit, operating cash flow, and return on assets. The book features numerous exercises and examples (with associated templates available on the Web), a powerful new management tool known as “The Financial Scoreboard,” and an extensive glossary. Managing by the Numbers is an essential resource for entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, and anyone eager to improve their mastery of the financial side of running a business.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Chuck Kremer, Ron Rizzuto, and John F. Case believe "50 percent of small-company owners and managers don't get complete, timely information about their business's financial performance" and "90 percent don't really understand or use the information they do get." Kremer, a business-literacy consultant, Rizzuto, a university finance professor, and Case, a business journalist, further contend that such data and their proper application are critical to the successful operation of any small business. That's why they've assembled Managing by the Numbers as a self-help guide to the ins and outs of corporate finance. In the first section, they show how to decipher three major reports that everyone should review monthly (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow). In the second, they discuss how resultant figures tie in to "three bottom lines of business" (net profit, operating cash flow, return on assets) that can be examined collectively. And in the third, they explain ways that stimuli for each can be optimized to achieve overall business goals. The combination allows you to "translate your financial understanding into better financial performance," the authors conclude. While much of the material may seem intimidating, it is presented clearly and could indeed provide an edge in today's hypercompetitive business environment. --Howard Rothman

About the Author

Chuck Kremer, CPA, is Senior Business-Literacy Consultant for Boulder-based Educational Discoveries. An originator of “The Financial Game for Decision Making™,” he teaches financial-literacy courses to managers and executives around the country.Ron Rizzuto, PH.D., is a professor of finance at the University of Denver, where he co-founded the entrepreneurship program at the Daniels College of Business.John Case is executive editor of the newsletter division at Harvard Business School Publishing. A former senior editor and senior writer for Inc. magazine, he is the author of numerous feature stories and several books on entrepreneurship and open-book management. Chuck Kremer, CPA, is Senior Business-Literacy Consultant for Boulder-based Educational Discoveries. An originator of “The Financial Game for Decision Making™,” he teaches financial-literacy courses to managers and executives around the country.Ron Rizzuto, PH.D., is a professor of finance at the University of Denver, where he co-founded the entrepreneurship program at the Daniels College of Business.John Case is executive editor of the newsletter division at Harvard Business School Publishing. A former senior editor and senior writer for Inc. magazine, he is the author of numerous feature stories and several books on entrepreneurship and open-book management. Chuck Kremer, CPA, is Senior Business-Literacy Consultant for Boulder-based Educational Discoveries. An originator of “The Financial Game for Decision Making™,” he teaches financial-literacy courses to managers and executives around the country.Ron Rizzuto, PH.D., is a professor of finance at the University of Denver, where he co-founded the entrepreneurship program at the Daniels College of Business.John Case is executive editor of the newsletter division at Harvard Business School Publishing. A former senior editor and senior writer for Inc. magazine, he is the author of numerous feature stories and several books on entrepreneurship and open-book management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738202568
• ISBN-13: 978-0738202563
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars three bottom lines, August 8, 2000

By 

Buddy Del Rosario "buds" (city of angels) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Managing By The Numbers: A Complete Guide To Understanding And Using Your Company's Financials (Paperback)

after having read the accounting game, lessons from the lemonade stand, I ordered the this book from amazon which goes more into detail the analysis of the three financials - the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows. here, the authors show the importance of these and how they relate to one another. ever watch people who really know what they are doing when they examine a set of financial statements? don't you envy them? well, not anymore. as this book explain in quite easy to understand terms and that in any business there is not just one but three bottom lines which are net profit, operating cash flow(ocf) and return on assets(roa). the simple truth is that you need all these three to see the big picture. The book also applies different techniques such as the dupont equation, trend analysis and the financial scorecard in understanding a companies financials . if you ever get intimidated by financial statements, you probably don't have this book.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Business literacy training, made easy, June 16, 2000

By 

John Schuyler (Denver) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Managing By The Numbers: A Complete Guide To Understanding And Using Your Company's Financials (Paperback)

The authors do a great job of de-mystifying accounting. Finance is the language of business, and everyone, especially entrepreneurs, should know the basics. How else will you know the score? The need for this knowledge applies whether you are watching your business or the company that you work for.

The centerpiece of MANAGING BY THE NUMBERS is the "Financial Scoreboard" (a.k.a. Mobley Matrix), a clever way to visualize the interrelationships between starting and ending balance sheets, the income statement, and the cash-flow statement. The emphasis is on cash, the lifeblood of any business.

The authors also advocate sensible "three bottom-line management," where the primary monitors and measures of business health are Net Profit, Operating Cash Flow, and Return on Assets. The explanations are easy to follow and convincing. Minimal technical terms are employed, and these are explained in everyday, conversational language. A glossary summarizes key concepts.

Much of the book is written in the form of a novel: a story about a small company that sells computers to small office/home office (SOHO) businesses. This story provides most of the examples, providing a logical thread throughout.

I think this is the easiest and most satisfying way to learn a lot of accounting, comfortably, in a book of just under 200 pages. It's a great one for reading on an airplane.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucid, logical, lovely!, July 31, 2000

By 

Wiliam W. Casey (Golden, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Managing By The Numbers: A Complete Guide To Understanding And Using Your Company's Financials (Paperback)

I got half-way into this book before it was time to take my vacation in Italy. Would a (relatively) sane person take a finance book to Tuscany? Yes, if this is the book!

It beautifully connects the dots on various key financial concepts, making them ACCESSABLE and USEFUL. Managing By The Numbers goes beyond good writing, which it has aplenty, to good thinking: it introduces a way to think about money that is as compelling as it is elegant.

Thank you, dear authors, for dispelling the fog and, at least for this business owner, handing over some dandy tools.