Books

How to Use Financial Statements: A Guide to Understanding the Numbers . Bandler, J. ( 1994 ). New York : McGraw-Hill .

In this short book (147 pages), Bandler does an outstanding job of explaining the basic relationships among financial statements. Bandler uses excellent pictures to demonstrate the makeup of financial statements and to show how a single financial transaction can affect statements. This is an excellent reference for people who want to know more and have no previous exposure to understanding basic financial statements.

Budgeting ƒ La Carte: Essential Tools for Harried Business Managers . Tracy, J. A. ( 1996 ). New York : John Wiley & Sons .

Tracy is a very popular financial author who specializes in writing books to help nonfinancial people understand accounting and finance. A browse through the business book section of your local bookstore will turn up several of his books. Budgeting ƒ La Carte utilizes an extra-wide layout that allows the author to use well-drawn examples to show the connections between financial statements. Tracy has also written easy-to-read explanations of why different budgeting decisions can have dramatic impacts on these statements. These explanations should help you be able to speak more knowledgeably with Senior managers about why your solutions will help their profit, position, and cash.

Modern Cost Management and Analysis ( 2d edition ). Shim, J. K, and J. G. Siegel. ( 2000 ). Hauppauge, NY : Barron ‚ s Educational Series .

This book provides a wealth of detail about different types of costs and financial scenarios for many types of businesses. This is a great book to browse through if you are having trouble creating value chains to fit the expense situations in your target organization. It can help give you additional financial terms to use in translating from the language of performance to the language of finance.

The Portable MBA in finance and Accounting ( 3d edition ). Livingstone, J. L, and T. Grossman (eds.). ( 2002 ). Hauppauge, NY : John Wiley & Sons .

The Portable MBA is actually rather thick so don ‚ t plan to put it in your back pocket! You ‚ ll find 18 different authors discussing common financial budgeting and management issues. The book uses case studies, pictures, and examples that you can use in making the case for your contribution to the bottom line. Like Modern Cost Management and Analysis, this book gives you additional financial terms and value examples to use in translating from the language of performance to the language of finance.