Amazon.com

If you find most accounting guides as complex as accounting itself, you'lllove this itty-bitty guide, full of practical techniques that show you how to analyze financial statements, interpret financial data, and measurebusiness performance. On every page, clear text and illustrations cover eachaspect of accounting principles and practices, while simple checklists enableyou to calculate ratios, identify creative accounting, and make soundfinancial decisions. And throughout, accessible charts and diagrams explore different options for financial planning and forecasting. Granted, if you're looking forspecific or in-depth guidance, you may find this book too general in its approach. But if you're looking for a thumbnail guide to the basics, it'll do just fine.

It's worth mentioning that the book is also part of reference publisherDorling-Kindersley's Essential Managers series--20 itty-bitty books onbusiness and career topics ranging from communication, leadership, anddecision-making to the management of time, budgets, change, meetings, people,projects, and teams. Combining the For Dummies series' talent forbreaking down a lot of information into bite-sized bits and sidebars withDorling-Kindersley's signature, crisp graphics on agleaming white backdrop, they don't represent the cutting edge of businessthinking and they don't necessarily reflect any unique individual perspective.

Instead, it's as though someone collated the best general thinking on these 20 topics and rolled them out into 72 brightly designed and easy-to-readpages, studded along the way with boxed tips, color shots of a multiracialcast of "coworkers" animatedly hashing through the workplace issues of theday, and a self-test of one's skills in the topic at hand on the last fewpages of each volume. Again, they're not for anyone looking for in-depth or focused help on any of the subjects they cover, but they'reperfect as a quickie general-interest reference... and let's face it, they're so cute, and look so smart in a neat little stack or row, thatyou'll probably want to buy a whole bunch to give to your entire department or staff. --Timothy Murphy ... Read more

Reviews (1)

easy to understand quickly
if you want konw something about the account,this book can do it in frist step.it is easy to understand quickly. ... Read more

Book Description

BROAD, HELPFUL GUIDANCE AND INFORMATION FOR CONTROLLING COSTS FOR FOODSERVICE MANAGERS AND STUDENTS

In order for foodservice managers to control costs effectively, they must have a confident command of accounting, marketing, and legal issues, as well as food and beverage sanitation, production, and service methods. This fully updated Third Edition of Food and Beverage Cost Control provides students and managers with the wide-ranging knowledge and specific solutions they need to keep costs low and margins high.

Throughout the text, this updated edition integrates the latest material on new technologies that impact cost control in the foodservice industry and the business world. Complete with an accompanying Student Workbook that helps readers earn a certificate from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, highlights of this Third Edition include:

• Apply What You Have Learned feature focusing on practical, real-world applications of topics and concepts
• Expanded coverage of legal issues that may affect a manager’s decisions
• Revised material offering a better understanding of the connection between all parts of the ordering process
• An increased number of Test Your Skills questions that give readers more chances to practice what they have learned
• A bonus disk packed with exercises that utilize manager-developed Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets

Students in foodservice management courses will find Food and Beverage Cost Control, Third Edition a modern and focused treatment of this vital subject. Working managers will appreciate this useful reference as a source of ready-to-use forms and formulas that can be easily applied to their operations. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Food & Beverage Cost Control
As a culinary educator, I find this book both informative and user-friendly.The Excel spreadsheets and "Fun on the Web" exercises add interesting and useful technological components.The text gets to the point on all issues without belaboring the theoretical aspects of food and beverage cost controls.The book covers junior and senior level concepts in a readable format suitable for freshmen and sophomores.It is a book for all levels with real life examples.I would recommend it to anyone, be it from education or industry.

An excellent edition!
This book is a must-read for any foodservice manager who is interested in an accurate, to the point, and technologically advanced review of food and beverage cost control methods. Controlling labor and food costs have never been more important than in today's environment. Those managers who master control procedures will succeed, and this book helps them to do just that.

The author's use of Excel spreadsheets really helps learning, as does the large number of realistic industry examples. Even the Internet plays a part in the book's usefulness when the authors refer readers to applicable web sites. Best of all, the concepts (especially those related to labor control) that are presented are useful to the managers I work with regardless of their culture or even the continent in which they work.

I recommend the book to all hospitality managers, and I would recommend it to any serious student of hospitality. ... Read more

Book Description

Cost-Benefit Analysis presents an authoritative collection of the most important published articles in the field together with an extensive new introduction by the editors. While focusing on the practical side, looking at applications such as education, transportation and the value of life and health, this important volume also emphasizes the essential role of economic theory, with sections on the economic costs of public funds, foreign exchange and labor. The result is an influential selection based on robust and fundamental theoretical propositions - ones that are readily suitable for everyday applications.

This timely volume provides a comprehensive synthesis of the current state of the theory and application of cost-benefit analysis. It draws from a wide range of journals to include the key articles which are the benchmarks in the development of the field. It will be invaluable to academics and practitioners alike.

32 articles, dating from 1963 to 1999 ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is the study guide not the text book
This is the study guide not the text book. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Lots of information on costs and supply chains
Conducting research in supply chain costing, I found this book a very helpful source of information. The concept of supply chain management addressed by the product and the network dimensions are excellent, as this brings all aspects of material and information flows and partnerships in supply chain management together. Dividing each dimision in a decision (product design / network formation) and an operations phase (product manufacture / interfaces) provides a framework for supply chain costing. This framework is used to show how various cost management techniques (e.g. target costing) are applied in supply chains. Still, the interlinkes between the dimension could have been addressed clearer. Furthermore, the aspects of managing all costs along the supply chain are only partly covered. for example, the cost of organisational designs and negotiations / contracting in the supply chain are not discussed. Still, the book is a must for people interested in supply chains and cost management. Both the concepts presented and the case studies provide very valuable information.

Heavy Reading...
This is heavy reading (but then again which book on costing isn't?). However it contain heaps of very useful and relevant approaches to the very elusive and difficult field of supply chain costing. What you find missing in other books on supply chain management is here! ... Read more

Book Description

The 10th edition of this innovative text continues to focus on how managers use accounting information in decision making, planning, and evaluating performance. Time is spent on the basic building blocks of managerial accounting while emphasizing conceptual topics. This text is ideal for both the undergraduate and graduate level Managerial Accounting course. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Do Not Waste Your Time
I purhcased this book for school...DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME on this book. Instructors may love it...instructions in the back of the book say to create certain budgets. BUT, no where in the assigned chapter or even in the text does it provide or explain the type of budget that needs to be created. You are FORCED to go out to the internet and conduct further research. In addition, the book bounces around way too much. You read chapter 6, guess what? You have to go back and re-read chapters 2 and 3 just to figure out what chapter 6 is saying. It's like this all the way through the text book. Then once you read, and re-read and are ready to do some of the problems that are assigned, no where in the text book does it even cover what the problem is asking for! I spent $130 on this book; once I am through with my class I will "toss" this book. It has no meaning and it does NOT teach anything about managerial accounting. Louderback and Holmen must have paid colleges to carry this book...call these folks Accountants? Once you get into the book, it becomes very easy to simply get lost because of the jumping around. If you want to learn accounting, you learn by experience and that is through examples set before you. This book does not provide any of that.

Instructor Perspective
Liked the entrepreneural perspcetive.

Review of the Study Guide for Managerial Accounting
My first Accounting Test consisted of three chapters from my Mangerial Accounting text.My professor was very vague on what material to focuson from each chapter, and did not go over much in of the material in class.Iused the Study Guide for the corresponding three chapters, and after takingthe test was thouroughly satisfied with my preparation for the test. TheStudy Guide has multiple choice questions to cover the objectives of eachchapter.It has True/False questions to test your knowledge of relevantsubject matter.More importantly it gives you extra practice with theAccounting problems.It answered many questions I had after leaving alecture with my professor. When you do not get and answer correct, theanswer guide in the back of the book gives you good explanations of whereyou went wrong.For example, with the multiple choice questions there areexcerpts next to the correct answer.

Ugh
Very dull, very dry, very expensive ... Read more

Book Description

Leaky faucets and cracked pavement aren't the only demands on afacility manager's time and energy. These days, they also need top-notchfinancial skills--to sell their department to senior management, to win fundsfor crucial projects, to become fully integrated into the organization.

Sadly, most facility managers lack even fundamental financial skills. TheFacility Manager's Guide to Finance and Budgeting is the first primerdesigned to teach them the ropes quickly, concisely, and with minimum pain. Thebook explains how to:

* Understand the essential concepts of facility work programs and programmaticplanning and budgeting * Develop and manage an annual expense budget, then evaluate the results * Make financially sound "go/no go" decisions on projects requiring capitalfunding * Pinpoint significant cost-savings and cost-containment areas * Use unit-cost indicators to benchmark facility management initiatives * Create an information system and database that ties directly into the budget. ... Read more

Book Description

Key account management is a natural development of customer focus and relationship marketing in business-to-business markets.It offers critical benefits and opportunities for profit enhancement to both sides of the seller/buyer dyad.

Based on extensive and unique research by Cranfield School of Management, Key Account Management presents a new framework for understanding the development of key account relationships.It incorporates a comprehensive guide to the current practice of key account management, and comments on the challenges for the future of key account management practice.The research was based on in-depth interviews with key account managers, their managers and their main contacts in the customer organization.

Addresses one of the key new areas in strategic marketing practice
Ideal for practitioners and students
Based on the unique expertise of the Cranfield Marketing Faculty ... Read more

Book Description

Anthony and Young's MANAGEMENT CONTROL IN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, 7e includes an abundance of cases that apply to a variety of nonprofit organizations.MANAGEMENT CONTROL IN NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, 7e provides faculty with contemporary management control theory combined with classic and contemporary cases that can be used to augment the learning process. The cases vary in length so that faculty may use this text in a beginning or advanced class. ... Read more

Book Description

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTOM LINE

Traditional cost management systems typically defeat their own purpose by leading corporations to make decisions that ultimately do not optimize performance. These systems are the foundation for decisions that are made throughout the corporation. In order for organizations to increase performance beyond current capabilities, a new approach is needed that addresses issues such as understanding the true impact of various actions on the bottom line–and eliminating methods that distort numbers and narrow options. Explicit Cost Dynamics (ECD) offers such an alternative, and this expertly written, revolutionary book provides an indispensable introduction to the subject. Informative and easy-to-read, Explicit Cost Dynamics:

• Provides an alternative view and understanding of the impact of costs, actions, and time on the bottom line of a corporation
• Explains how this new theory can lead to an overall profit maximization
• Shows that costs can be considered as either a function of activities performed, as a function of resources expended, or of time
• Shows that the difference between explicit dollars flowing into and out of a company is equal to the rate of change of cash

. . . and much more to help CEOs, CFOs, controllers, cost managers, financial managers, and others involved in the decision-making processimprove their organizations’ overall bottom lines. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Easy to grasp and yet informative
This textbook ties everything together very well and in a proper sequence which makes it easy for the reader to understand. Graphical approac made the linkage even more easier and understandable. The cases were quite good too and aid students in applying the concept. Certainly a suitable book for anyone who wants to see how management accounting takes place in an organization . ... Read more

Book Description

The most comprehensive guide to implementing enterprise-wide dashboards

Dashboards are quickly becoming the vehicle of choice for executing several key initiatives being implemented at organizations worldwide. Enterprise Dashboards is a unique, practical guide to creating dashboards that maximize organizational performance using frameworks of Balanced Scorecard, Business Activity Monitoring, and Six Sigma. It includes case studies contributed by DaimlerChrysler, Emergency Medical Associates, and ING Direct and provides usable templates and illustrations that are helpful in real-world dashboard implementations.

Shadan Malik (Troy, MI) is President of iViz Group–a software company in the fields of business intelligence (BI) and dashboards. He is an expert in enterprise dashboards with a breadth of experience in advance analytics, data warehousing, and data visualization. He has more than twelve years of experience architecting and implementing BI solutions, and he also holds two pending patents in the area of data visualization for dashboards. ... Read more

Book Description

Management Accounting in Health Care Organizations offers an introduction to the subject of management accounting and provides a user-oriented approach to the concepts and techniques students need in order to understand management accounting in a health care context. This volume includes the information needed to master the basics of full-cost accounting, differential cost accounting, and responsibility accounting. It describes the uses and limitations of management accounting and the common accounting pitfalls managers face when making routine health care management decisions. This important text is formatted to provide an interactive learning approach. Students prepare answers to problems as they appear throughout each chapter and analyze one or more practice cases at the end of the chapter. Each chapter's practice case is followed by several cases that can be assigned for analysis and discussion in the classroom setting.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

Hardcover version is preferable : ISBN 0787967459
The hardcover version of this book, Management Accounting in Health Care Organizations (ISBN 0787967459) may not have appeared when you searched for this title. The book <> available through this web site. Searching by the ISBN number (0787967459) will ensure you're finding it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Building Public Trust, by Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. and Robert G. Eccles, couldn't be more timely or necessary. Arriving in the wake of a seemingly endless stream of corporate accounting scandals--which in a matter of months have bankrupted Enron and brought WorldCom and Global Crossing down to earth--this book offers a bona fide framework for a new, open form of transparent financial reporting that should prove more palatable to businesses and their stakeholders, and more effective than any of those in misuse today. DiPiazza, CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Eccles, president of Advisory Capital Partners, certainly know of which they speak, and they lay out a highly informed and quite feasible system that actively involves every member of the so-called corporate reporting supply chain: executives, boards of directors, independent auditors, information distributors, third-party analysts, investors, and various other stakeholders. They propose specific ways to develop three key elements (a spirit of transparency, a culture of accountability, and people of integrity) that work together to "create public trust in markets." Based on their extensive firsthand experiences, they further show how using these principles can lead to a scenario where "capital is being allocated more efficiently all over the world." The timeliness of this book is one thing, the content within its pages another, and on both counts Building Public Trust definitely delivers. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Building Public Trust: The Future of Corporate Reporting
The public trust in corporate America has been shaken in the wake of several recent accounting scandals and, as a result, the capital markets are in upheaval. There is, rightfully so, a public outcry for reform - the government has cranked up its regulatory machine and members the class-action plaintiff bar are sharpening their litigation pencils. Many question, justifiably so, whether such attempts at reform are the legal equivalent of putting a bandage on a gunshot wound. In addition, investors and other stakeholders query whether there can be any meaningful reform to the extent that special-interests and their representatives (lawyers and accountants) are successful in jockeying for position in these efforts.

Messrs. DiPiazza and Eccles present a compelling blueprint for wholesale restructuring of corporate reporting and the concomitant rebuilding of public trust in the capital markets. The foundation for their model is built on the values of transparency, accountability and integrity. Their model -- development of a global GAAP, development and application of industry-specific standards, and establishment of guidelines for disclosure of company specific information -- makes sense given the expansion of capital markets across country-specific boundaries, but also is timely given the wide-availability of enabling technology (i.e., the Internet and XBRL).

Meaningful reform cannot be had solely through governmental reform, the lobbying of special interest groups, self-regulation or lawsuits by regulators and disgruntled investors. The end results will likely be half-baked attempts to address the symptoms of the breakdown in corporate reporting and the capital markets, rather than development of a cure. Accordingly, DiPiazza and Eccles stress that meaningful reform through development of their three-tiered model must be had through open dialogue and lines of communication with all members of what they term as the "Corporate Reporting Supply Chain" which, in a nutshell, includes all stakeholders in the capital markets.

"Building Public Trust: The Future of Corporate Reporting" provides, in plain English, a detailed description of the problems plaguing corporate reporting and roadmap to a meaningful solution. The road to reform, however, is long and, as DiPiazza and Eccles suggest, requires that the journey (read: participation) be undertaken by ALL members of the Corporate Reporting Supply Chain. The book is a must read for corporate directors and officers, regulators, lawyers, accountants, analysts, the investing public and all other persons who (or whose clients) have a stake in the smooth functioning of the capital markets.

The time for open debate on reform is now. It is up to members of the "Corporate Reporting Supply Chain" whether they want such reform to take the form of a lecture leading to mandates by the few, or an open dialogue leading to a consensus by the majority. This book provides its readers with a grounding for developing the tools to accomplish the latter...

Another Homerun
Working with Price Waterhouse Cooper, Robert Eccles has delivered the perfect companion to his last book, "The Value Reporting Revolution". If you're interested in investing or just trying to understand what is happening in the world of business, there is no excuse for not reading this book. Not as complex as his last book, "Building Public Trust" is a concise overview of what needs to change in America's accounting system. A quick read and very informative.

Hollow advice from a company that betrays its own employees
There is a bitter irony to the heads of PriceWaterhouseCoopers issuing a publication about inspiring trust in the public in large corporations in the wake of Enron and Worldcom scandals when PwC constantly undermines the trust of its own employees. With an infrastructure that makes it nearly impossible for employees to find their own project work and employment practices that left thousands of employees without a job and insufficient experience to get another one (while still continuing to hire new employees), PwC does a horrible job on taking care of those who work for them. In addition, they are just another example of a company that engages in the same shady, conflict-of-interest business practices as Arthur Andersen, yet they just have not been caught yet. Yet, here they are, trying to issue some sort of definitive work about restoring public trust. If a company like this shows no understanding of how to take care of their own employees, how can one even remotely think that they have any business providing a framework of how to take care of the public.

What Exquisite Timing
Kudos to the authors and their editorial team for managing to publish this quickly enough to become part of the debate. With luck, some of what the authors have to say may even become part of the solution.

Accounting 101
In the current marketplace, its refreshing to see men of stature like Sam DiPiazza and Robert Eccles taking a step in the right direction. If you are an investor, if you have money in public companies, this is a book you must read! ... Read more

Book Description

Written by one of the foremost experts in the field, this book&mdash;the first of its kind&mdash;provides expert guidance on how to perform an operational and strategic assessment of a medical practice. It includes proven suggestions and ideas on how to maximize the operational efficiency of a practice, enhance the medical office revenue stream, position the practice for future success, and maintain and increase income. Contains evaluation and assessment forms, as well as sample financial reports. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good read!
This book is written from the consultants point of view.It provides a step by step assessment of the financial management of a medical practice.It gives a good discussion of the impact of internal controls.The final chapter gives a reasonable illustration of the process.I found it helpful but it did not answer all of my questions.I would recommend it to any practice manager. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is an invitation to study managerial uses ofaccounting information and how accounting information is used in themanagement of an organization. Three themes run throughout the book.First, the accounting system is thought of as a library of financialstatistics. Answers to a variety of questions are unlikely to be foundin prefabricated format; but valuable information awaits thoseequipped to interrogate the library. Second, the information in theaccounting library is not likely to be the only information at themanager's disposal. So knowing how to combine accounting andnonaccounting bits of information is an important, indeedindispensable managerial skill. Finally, the role of a professionalmanager is emphasized.The book also makes demands on the reader. It assumes the reader hashad prior exposure to financial accounting, to economics, tostatistics, and to the economics of uncertainty. A modest acquaintancewith strategic, or equilibrium, modeling and linear programming andthe ability to take a simple derivative is also presumed. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

See below.
A must for graduate students in accounting who wish to undertake a serious study of economic aspects of accounting information design and use. ... Read more

Book Description

Core Concepts of Financial Analysis: A User Approach takes a streamlined approach that focuses on fundamentals and leaves room for additional content. With Wiley’s Business Extra Select program, Instructors can build on the core text by adding articles, cases, and readings from such leading business resources as INSEAD, Ivey and Harvard Business School Cases, Fortune, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Instructors can select a pre-built Business Extra Select CoursePack, or create their own CoursePack from the thousands of articles and cases in the Business Extra Select database. You can even add your own content. CoursePacks can be packaged with the text or purchased separately online. ... Read more

Book Description

Controller's Guide: Roles and Responsibilities for the First Years provides a complete overview of the functions and responsibilities of the controller in a corporation. This quick-reference guide for everyday issues shows controllers how to enhance their performance while avoiding pitfalls, complete with the latest information on:
* Accounting in the corporation
* Accounting principles and standards
* Cost accounting and costing systems
* Ratio trend analysis
* Internal control systems
* Internal audit function
* Globalization
* Recruiting, training, and supervision
* Controller's role in investor relations ... Read more

Book Description

Tips, techniques, and trends on how to use dashboard technology to optimize business performance

Business performance management is a hot new management discipline that delivers tremendous value when supported by information technology. Through case studies and industry research, this book shows how leading companies are using performance dashboards to execute strategy, optimize business processes, and improve performance.

Wayne W. Eckerson (Hingham, MA) is the Director of Research for The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), the leading association of business intelligence and data warehousing professionals worldwide that provide high-quality, in-depth education, training, and research. He is a columnist for SearchCIO.com, DM Review, Application Development Trends, the Business Intelligence Journal, and TDWI Case Studies & Solution. ... Read more