The Fast Forward MBA in Finance

Numbers are the language of business, and John Tracy is a master at pulling the important ones out of the mountain of figures generated by your accounting department. In The Fast Forward MBA in Finance, he shows you how to find the crucial numbers and make the most of them. Working within the framework of the financial statement, Tracy clearly explains how to use key financial and accounting tools and techniques to cut to the quick of all your crucial finance-related business problems.

But that's only half the story, because like all the books in this series, The Fast Forward MBA in Finance gives you the information you need when you need it most — now!

• Preface
• Part 1: Financial Statements for Mangers
  • Chapter 1 — Getting Down to Business
    • Accounting System Overview
    • The Internal Functions
    • The External Functions
      • External Financcial Reports
    • A Word about Accounting Methods
    • End Point
  • Chapter 2 — External Financial Statements — What the World Knows About Your Company
    • Measuring Profit: The Income Statement
    • Measuring Cash Flow: The Cash Flow Statement
    • Measuring Financial Health: The Balance Sheet
    • End Point
  • Chapter 3 — Income Statement for Managers
    • Information for Managers
    • Gross Margin: The First Line of Profit
    • Variable Operating Expenses
    • Fixed Expenses
    • From Operating Earnings (EBIT) to the Bottom Line
    • End Point
  • Chapter 4 — Financial Condition and Cash Flow for Managers
    • Where Does the Balance Sheet Come From?
    • Balance Sheet for Managers
    • Operating Assets and Liabilities
    • Sources of Capital (to Finance Net Operating Assets)
    • Cash Flow Statement for Managers
      • Cash Flow from Profit (Operating Activities)
      • Depreciation: More than an Add-Back
      • Other Cash Sources and Uses
    • End Point
• Part 2: Management Analysis
  • Chapter 5 — Operating Ratios: Indispensable Benchmarks
    • Connections between the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet
    • Operating Ratios and Relationships
    • Accounts Receivable ← Sales Revenue
    • Inventory ← Cost-of-Goods-Sold Expense
    • Prepaid Expenses ← Operating Expenses (Except Depreciation)
    • Sales Revenue ↔ Property, Plant, and Equipment
    • Depreciation Expense ←Property, Plant, and Equipment
    • Accounts Payable: Inventory ← Inventory
    • Accounts Payable: Operating Expenses ←  Operating Expenses (Except Depreciation) 
    • Accrued Expenses: Operating Expenses ← Operating Expenses (Except Depreciation)
    • Accrued Expenses: Interest ← Interest Expense
    • Income Tax Payable ← Income Tax Expense
    • Sales Revenue ↔ Cash
    • Sales Reveneu ↔ Assets
    • Solvency Ratios
    • End Point
  • Chapter 6 — Evaluating Business Investment Performance
    • Return on Investment
    • The Pivotal Role of Income Tax
    • The Nature of Return on Equity (ROE)
    • Financial Leverage
    • Achieving ROE Goal
    • End Point
    • Postscript
      • Income Tax: Not So Simple
      • Balance Sheet versus Other Values for Debt and Equity
  • Chapter 7 — Capital Needs of Growth
    • Growth and ROE
    • Planning for Growth
    • Developing the Master Budget
      • Key Budgeting Assumptions
    • Is the Budget Feasible?
    • Capital Turnover Analysis
    • End Point
• Chapter 8 — Breaking Even and Making Profit
  • How Did They Do That?
  • Fixed Costs
    • Fixed Operating Expenses versus Depreciation Expenses
    • Owner/Manager Salaries and Other Expenses
    • What about Interest Expense?
  • Computing Operating profit
  • The Breakeven Hurdle
  • Using Breakeven Volume to Compute Profit
  • The Third Way to Compute Profit
  • Margin of Safety
  • End Point
• Chapter 9 — Sales Volume Changes
  • The Business Environment: Constant Change
  • Sales Volume Increases
  • Operating Leverage
  • What about Cash Flow?
  • Sales Volumes Decreass
  • End Point
• Chapter 10 — Sales Price and Cost Changes
  
  • Sales Price Increases
  • Cash Flow at Higher Sales Price
  • Sales Price Decreases
  • Changes in Product Cost and Operating Expenses
  • End Point.
• Chapter 11 — Price-Volume Trade-Offs
  • Introduction
  • Ten Percent Sales Price Reduction to Generate Ten Percent Volume Increase
  • A Special Case: Sunk Product Costs
  • Decrease in Cash Flow at Lower Sales Price and Higher Sales Volume
  • Sales Volume Increase Needed to Just Keep Even
  • Giving Up Ten Percent Sales Volume for Ten Percent Sales Price Increase
  • End Point
• Chapter 12 — Cost-Volume Trade-Offs
  
  • Product Cost Increases: Which Kind?
  • Variable Cost Increases and Sales Volume
  • Better Product and Service Leading to Higher Sales Price
  • Decreases in Product Cost and Variable Expenses Causing Sales Volume Decreases
  • Subtle and Not So Subtle Changes in Fixed Operating Expenses
  • End Point
• Chapter 13 — Survival Analysis: Turning Loss Into Profit
  
  • When Things Go Wrong
  • Profile of a Loser
  • First: Some Questions about Fixed Expenses
  • What's the Problem?
  • Improving Unit Contributing Margin
  • End Point
• Chapter 14 — Service Businesses
  
  • Different, Yet the Same
  • Service Business Example
  • Ten Percent Changes
  • Cash Flow Changes
  • Trade-off Decisions: Be Careful
  • End Point
• Chapter 15 — Sales Mix and Cost Allocation
  
  • Sales Mix Analysis
  • Fixed Expenses: Allocate or Not?
  • Fixed Manufacturing Overhead Cost Allocation
  • End Point
• Part 3: Management Control
  • Chapter 16 — Management Control and Budgeting
    
    • Thrust of Management Control: Follow-through on Decisions
    • Management Control Information
    • The Foundation: Internal Accounting Controls
    • The Cash Flow Statement: A Tool for Fraud Detection
    • Guidelines for Management Control Reporting
      • Need for Comparative Reports
      • Frequency of Control Reports
      • Profit Control Reports
      • Financial Condition and Cash Flow Control Reports
      • Investment Performance Measures in Control Reports
    • Brief Overview of Budgeting
    • The Frustrating Fringe of Profit Robbers
      • Sales Price Negatives
      • Product Cost and Variable Expense Negatives
      • Sales Volume Negatives
      • Excess Capacity: A Ticking Downsizing Time Bomb?
    • End Point
  • Chapter 17 — Manufacturing Accounting
    • So, You're Not a Manufacturer
    • Product Makers versus Product Resellers
    • Basic Manufacturing Costs and Company Example
    • Computation of Unit Product Cost
    • Deliberate Misclassification of Manufacturing Costs
    • Idle Production Capacity
    • Manufacturing Inefficiences
    • Excessive Production
    • End Point
• Part 4: Capital Investment
  • Chapter 18 — Determining Future Returns for Capital Investment
    
    • Macro versus Micro Business Investment Analysis
    • Capital Investment Example
    • Analysis of the Investment
    • Determining Future Returns to Earn Target ROE
    • Lease versus Buy
    • End Point
  • Chapter 19 — Discounting Future Returns from Capital Investment
    
    • Spreadsheet versus Mathematical Analysis of Capital Investments
    • The Basic Equation of Mathematical Techniques
    • Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)
      • One Period, One Future Return
      • Two Periods, Two Future Returns
      • Two Periods, One Future Return
      • Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
    • Cash Registers Investment Example Revisited
    • Regarding the Cost-of-Capital Parameters
    • End Point
• Appendix A — Glossary of Key Terms, with Management Commentary
• Appendix B — Topical Guide to Figures

Pretty good.