Companies expect managers to use financial data to allocate
resources and run their departments. But many managers can’t read a
balance sheet, wouldn’t recognize a liquidity ratio, and don’t know
how to calculate return on investment. Worse, they don’t have any
idea where the numbers come from or how reliable they really are.
In Financial Intelligence, Karen Berman and Joe Knight teach the
basics of finance—but with a twist. Financial reporting, they
argue, is as much art as science. Since nobody can quantify
everything, accountants always rely on estimates, assumptions, and
judgment calls. Savvy managers need to know how those sources of
possible bias can affect the financials—and they need to know that
sometimes the numbers can be challenged. While providing the
foundation for a deep understanding of the financial side of
business, the book also arms managers with practical strategies for
improving their companies’ performance—strategies such as “managing
the balance sheet” that are well understood by financial
professionals but rarely shared with their nonfinancial colleagues.
Accessible, jargon-free, and filled with entertaining stories of
real companies, Financial Intelligence will help nonfinancial
managers be smarter and more confident in their everyday work.
