The 201 tools contained in this small, highly useful book range from Acid Test (doing a quick ratio of financials) to Z-Scores. Each tool is listed alphabetically, its use explained, and instructions on how to use it is provided. What I particularly liked is the worked examples that accompany each tool.

As an IT consultant who specializes in service delivery this book is not one I would normally include in my professional library. I was introduced to it when a colleague and I were writing a white paper on recovery management. We were searching for a way to link business imperatives to justification for investment in recovery strategies. We found one piece of the puzzle in this book - the Altman Z-Score. This tool predicts whether or not a company is likely to enter into bankruptcy within one or two years. This led to the development of a copyrighted model that addressed survival level objectives, and also became a key part of the Tarrani-Zarate Information Technologies Management Model. All this from a single entry in a small book!

Aside from discovering a relatively obscure, but important, tool I also found other useful tools in this book. Because I am not a business consultant or financial expert the tools were like a cram course in financial management for non-financial people. For example, I was able to apply some of the tools to personal financial matters - the real costs of a loan become quickly apparent when you compute them. I was also able to employ some of the tools to conduct realistic cost/benefit analyses, examine trade-offs supporting approaches to projects, etc. In this respect this small book has significantly improved my professional skills and has inspired me to read other books on financial management.

I strongly recommend this book - collection of tools really - to anyone who deals with finance, anyone who has P&L responsibilities, and business and IT consultants. The latter group will find this book to be invaluable for developing proposals, deliverables and project plans that add value.

14 of 15 found the following review helpful:


GREAT!  Jan 11, 2002
This book saved me through four accounting courses three finance courses and two real estate courses. It is well organized and easy to locate any formula that is needed.

8 of 8 found the following review helpful:


An OK reference book  May 03, 2009 By A. Bentley
I use a few books as reference books during my ratio analysis of a companies position, and this one is just a backup. It's got tons of formulas, but most of the ones included in THIS book, you NEVER need to use in an analysis of financial statements.

The book seriously lacks explanations of what the ratios and formulas mean. It just vaguely states at the end of each formula who might use it and why, but doesn't go into the detail you'd want. The book just doesn't sit right. If you want a good reference book for ratio analysis of financial statements, than get "Business Ratios and Formulas: A Comprehensive Guide" By Steven M. Bragg

7 of 8 found the following review helpful:


Effective refresher ... Efficient reference  Jan 06, 2007 By HMC
I recommend this text to financial professionals I teach ... VERY helpful to clear the cobwebs several years after college!

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:


Nice Handbook for Accounting students  Feb 20, 2007 By Rav
The book is a nice handbook for students majoring in Finance and Accounting students. It has all the necessary explanations of the formulas along with good examples.As a person with some exposure to Finance and Accounting,I found the book to be extremely useful for students and pros in this field.

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