Commercial Awareness and Business Decision Making Skills: How to Understand and Analyse Company Financial Information » (New Edition)

Paul Rodgers trained as a chartered accountant before working in the computer industry. He subsequently moved into the training sector where he has specialised in financial and management skills for more than seventeen years, whilst keeping in touch with the commercial world as a director of a large training organisation and its publication function. Clients have included participants from international accountancy practices, banks, government departments plus a wide range of retail and service companies. Since the introduction of international accounting rules, his skills in this area have been required by numerous organisations preparing for the transition. He also continues to provide a broad spectrum of training as well as undertaking editorial assignments for both professional bodies and private clients. His most recent projects are the establishment of an accountancy division within a leading City based training company and the design of bespoke training courses for the legal sector

Do you want to see financial documents as a story of what your business has accomplished and draw meaning from a wealth of information that would have previously been unavailable to you?

The financial statement phrasebook and dictionary element of this book will help you to understand the wealth of information contained within financial documents. Take commercial documents and visualise how they interact with the work of an accountant-understanding accounting terminology not only assists your own understanding, but will also enable you ‘talk the talk’ so that others in business will understand you.

• Understand the impact of choices in accounting treatment upon the financial data an entity produces
• Use tools to complement the financial data, and enable you to ask perceptive questions that elicit answers that would not otherwise be made available
• Develop an approach that enables you to review previous unseen financial information efficiently and effectively
• Add value within a commercial business environment
• Understand the groundswell movement towards international harmonisation of accounting rules and the need for general awareness of this fact
• A worked case study shows the interpretation of the international rules in practice.

This book is an invaluable springboard to those starting out in the world of accountancy

Introduction; The purpose of financial information - Getting inside the mind of an accountant - Getting inside the mind of an economist - Financial and management accounts-Why care about the differences - The building blocks - Seeing double!; Matching the Numbers to the Buying and Selling Process; The snapshot-Assets and liabilities; The Video-Income and expenses; Cash is King; The tricks people play-Provisions - Dealing with uncertainty - Commercial substance over legal form; Adding Value - Common size accounts - Ratio analysis made easy - Understanding risk; Pictures and Words-Understanding the extras;. Yet another professional-The Auditor!; Key point summary.