The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting [Hardcover]

John Leslie Livingstone (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047118425X | ISBN-13: 978-0471184256 | Publication Date: August 21, 1997 | Edition: Second Edition

This Second Edition of The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting brings you all the in-depth, authoritative coverage of its bestselling predecessor-expanded and updated-plus an important selection of new topics crucial to business success. It's the ideal resource for every manager and professional who needs to use numbers as business tools, gain competitive advantage, and manage the enterprise more efficiently.

John Leslie Livingstone has reassembled his all-star lineup of leading professors and practitioners in finance, accounting, and law from across the United States. These experts provide practical, jargon-free explanations of key finance and accounting topics. Special features of this new edition include: New chapters
* Computers and information technology in F&A
* Analyzing income statements
* Managing financial risk

Broad coverage
* Understanding financial statements
* Financial forecasting and budgeting
* Break-even and cost-volume-profit analyses
* Product pricing
* Strategies to minimize business income tax
* Evaluating an acquisition target
* Managing foreign exchange risk exposure- and much more

Versatility
* Applies to large corporations, midsize companies, and start-ups
* Useful in nonprofit organizations as well as businesses
* Helps sales, service, production, and marketing managers speak the language of F&A experts

The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting, Second Edition offers a five-star education at a take-out price. Whether you read it cover-to-cover, use it as a handy reference, or both, it helps you ask the right questions and understand the answers you receive. Best of all, it's a practical toolkit for measuring and improving your business.

The Portable MBA Series

The Portable MBA, with over 350,000 copies sold, continues to provide instant "MBA literacy" to managers, professionals, and business owners. Wiley's Portable MBA Series takes this idea one step further by providing readers with a continuing business education. Titles provide comprehensive coverage of the primary business functions taught in MBA programs, as well as focused coverage of today's vital business topics.

Praise for the First Edition:

"Straight from second-year business school courses, the book is full of up-to-date financial and managerial information that will help transform your company from start-up to blue-chip." -Entrepreneur

"Practical, useful, and accessible. Of immense use to everyone in both business and nonprofit organizations, from the smallest start-up, to the largest corporation." -Eliza G. C. Collins Center for Executive Education, former Senior Editor, Harvard Business Review

Here's a complete step-by-step course in "executive number-crunching" for busy managers and professionals who don't have time for a formal MBA program. Written by a team of top business school professors, this book acquaints you with the financial and accounting concepts, strategies, tools, and techniques used at today's leading corporations. And, thanks to its practical, real-world approach and jargon-free language, readers with no prior background in finance and accounting quickly learn how to:
* Read and interpret financial statements
* Develop and use sophisticated cost-analysis tools
* Perform financial forecasting and budgeting
* Create sound business plans
* Use proven strategies for minimizing business income tax
* Master the pros and cons of going public
* Evaluate and act on mergers and acquisitions
* Manage foreign exchange risk exposure
* And much more

Read The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting and learn how to use sophisticated financial and accounting tools to manage your enterprise more efficiently.

Get the expertise without the expense from an all-star team including:
* Jeffry A. Timmons, Harvard Business School
* William W. Alberts, University of Washington
* Eugene E. Comiskey and Charles W. Mulford, Georgia Institute of Technology
* William C. Lawler, Babson College
* Les Heitger, Indiana University
* Robert Anthony, Harvard Business School

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Now in its second edition, this business bestseller offers a concise, yet comprehensive crash course in accounting and finance drawn from the second year of a typical MBA program. Using an accessible, "real world" approach, it covers everything from developing business plans and budgeting, to interpreting financial statements and the how-tos of mergers and acquisitions. Plus new chapters provide the essentials on computer technology. Written by contributors from leading business schools.

From the Inside Flap

Getting an MBA degree is costly and time-consuming. And if all you need is MBA-level coverage of a particular subject, it might not be worth the effort. For busy executives and business leaders who need to master the essentials of finance and accounting—or just brush up on the basics—The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting, Fourth Edition is the ultimate resource.

Now in an entirely revised and updated edition, this bestselling reference is packed with in-depth, authoritative coverage of crucial topics in finance and accounting. Professors Grossman and Livingston have assembled the best contributors on the subject, with chapters from top professors and practitioners in finance, accounting, and law. These expert contributors provide clear, jargon-free explanations of key finance and accounting topics to help business professionals demystify even the most complex subjects.

Packed with valuable and practical information that is applicable to virtually any business, from the smallest start-ups to the largest corporations in the world, the Fourth Edition covers all the vital basics you need to know:

• Analyzing business profitability

• Understanding financial statements

• Performing a break-even analysis

• Computing the cost of capital

• Managing foreign currency exposure

• Taking your company public

• Building a successful e-business

• Evaluating a merger or acquisition target

• Maximizing information technology resources

• Planning capital expenditures

• Calculating a business valuation

• Making sense of Sarbanes-Oxley

• And much more

Plus, the Fourth Edition includes entirely new chapters on discounted cash flows, capital structure, corporate governance and financial reporting integrity, outsourcing, and careers in finance and accounting. And, for the first time, a new Portable MBA Web site offers free tools and resources—including handy downloadable guides, summaries, and spreadsheets. Whether you're starting a new business or just taking on new management responsibilities, this comprehensive resource includes fifty percent new material, making this edition an essential resource for efficient and effective enterprise management. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; Second Edition edition (August 21, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047118425X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471184256
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #209,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical easy-to-understand guide to key topics, December 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting (Hardcover)

Well written explanations of important subjects, such as how to find essential information in financial statements, how to price products and make profitable bids, legally minimizing taxes for your small business, managing financial risks with options, hedges and derivatives, using your computer for financial analysis, etc. etc. Why spend time and money for an MBA when its all here.

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars decent but flawed, April 28, 2001

By 

Leo E. Walsh "ebraynz" (Mentor, Oh United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is the best in its class., January 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting (Hardcover)

This book has the quality of a one year course in finance and accounting. Even if you have only a high school diploma you can understand it. Don't let this comment fool you. The authors of this book have made complex concepts seem simple.