Product Description

"The latest edition goes beyond ho-hum analysis techniques and provides concrete problem solving. The text is sprinkled with real-world problems (and the analytical tools to solve them) that will be familiar to accounting professionals everywhere. A must-have for anyone looking to improve their company's decision making . . . and their own role in it."
—George R. MacEachern President, Grosvenor Financial Services

"Steve Bragg has presented yet another comprehensive reference tool for the finance professional. Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide is the perfect reference guide for today's controller, presenting not only traditional financial analysis information, but also various types of analyses that will benefit any type of organization. This book is a must-have for any financial professional desiring to make a relevant contribution to his/her organization."
—Jodi Nefzger, CPP Director of Finance, Masonic Home of Missouri

Today's proactive controllers can soar past their mundane responsibilities and become active participants in their corporation's success with the visionary tools found in Steven Bragg's Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition.

Now updated to include analyses of intangible asset measurement and performance improvement as well as evaluation methods to determine which products and services should be eliminated, Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition helps financial managers upgrade their skills so they can answer their organization's call for company operations reviews, investment evaluations, problem reporting, and special investigation requests. Controllers prepared to address this growing need for more innovative financial analysis will open doors to a variety of promotions and high-level interactions with other departments.

Become a highly valued member of your company's infrastructure with the indispensable tools found in Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #398319 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From the Inside Flap
Corporations rely on their controllers and financial managers to provide a wide array of accounting functions, from processing accounts payable and receivable transactions to closing the books in a timely manner. Accomplishing these activities are the foundation of a successful career. However, in order to be truly notable and recognized as an innovative thinker in an organization, a controller must acquire first-rate skills in the area of financial analysis.

Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition helps controllers, financial managers, and treasurers develop and apply top-notch financial skills in their jobs and throughout their com-panies. By obtaining a broad knowledge of skills and applying them to a multitude of situations, readers will achieve deep insights into why their company performs as it does, and can transmit this information, along with recommendations for improvements, to other members of the management team, enhancing the corporation's overall financial performance.

With a focus on operational analysis as well as wide-ranging coverage of all other financial analysis topics, this updated Second Edition provides a thorough analysis of topics that will help further readers' careers, including:

• New: What-if analysis
• New: Intangible asset measurement
• New: Eliminating products and services
• Using Microsoft Excel® to conduct financial analysis
• Evaluating capital investments, financing options, and cash flows
• Evaluating acquisition targets
• Increasing shareholder value
• Determining the breakeven point
• Forecasting future business conditions
• Evaluating operations, processes, and managers
• Analyzing risk
• Determining the cost of capital
• Using sample analysis reports

Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition provides hard-to-find coverage of management performance review systems, process cycle analysis techniques, and capacity analysis methods, plus checklists, advice, detailed examples, and comprehensive explanations of many internal areas. This guide is an indispensable tool for the controller who is interested in enhancing career opportunities in the field.

From the Back Cover
"The latest edition goes beyond ho-hum analysis techniques and provides concrete problem solving. The text is sprinkled with real-world problems (and the analytical tools to solve them) that will be familiar to accounting professionals everywhere. A must-have for anyone looking to improve their company's decision making . . . and their own role in it."
—George R. MacEachern President, Grosvenor Financial Services

"Steve Bragg has presented yet another comprehensive reference tool for the finance professional. Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide is the perfect reference guide for today's controller, presenting not only traditional financial analysis information, but also various types of analyses that will benefit any type of organization. This book is a must-have for any financial professional desiring to make a relevant contribution to his/her organization."
—Jodi Nefzger, CPP Director of Finance, Masonic Home of Missouri

Today's proactive controllers can soar past their mundane responsibilities and become active participants in their corporation's success with the visionary tools found in Steven Bragg's Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition.

Now updated to include analyses of intangible asset measurement and performance improvement as well as evaluation methods to determine which products and services should be eliminated, Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition helps financial managers upgrade their skills so they can answer their organization's call for company operations reviews, investment evaluations, problem reporting, and special investigation requests. Controllers prepared to address this growing need for more innovative financial analysis will open doors to a variety of promotions and high-level interactions with other departments.

Become a highly valued member of your company's infrastructure with the indispensable tools found in Financial Analysis: A Controller's Guide, Second Edition.

About the Author
STEVEN M. BRAGG, CPA, CMA, CIA, CPM, CPIM, has been the chief financial officer or controller of four companies, as well as a consulting manager at Ernst & Young. He received a master's degree in finance from Bentley College, an MBA from Babson College, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maine. He has also written or cowritten the following books: Accounting and Finance for Your Small Business, Accounting Best Practices, Accounting Reference Desktop, Advanced Accounting Systems, Controllership, Cost Accounting, Financial Analysis, Just-in-Time Accounting, Managing Explosive Corporate Growth, Outsourcing, Sales and Operations for Your Small Business, and The Controller's Function.

Customer Reviews

Too simple for the real world
This book does not provide any information that could not be found in a college level textbook. The assumptions and examples provided in the book are over simplified. If you are anything higher than a junior accountant I would suggest you purchase something else. Calling this book a "Controller's Guide" is just plain wrong.

A MUST HAVE...PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE; INSIGHTFUL!
After over 10 years in the field serving as a Controller, Business Manager, and Consultant, finally a practitioner's book that hits the target. Given the vast topic, Bragg nails the critical issues...gets you in & out of each topic quickly and provides an array of useful tools for analysis, presentation, and discussion. The KISS principle at work! Other books may cover more detail, present more elaborate formulas and in general overwhelm the reader. Bragg doesn't. You'll find his summaries quite helpful: Commonly Used Ratios; Symptoms & Solutions; and Exhibit 6.11 Recommended Analyses by Type of Acquisition, for example. Full of practical, hands-on topic reviews, examples, and analytical thinking. Numerous Exhibits showing practical layouts for presenting information...have saved me time & eliminated the need to reinvent the wheel. A must have for my reference tools...and could have eliminated several books in my MBA. Do what's in this book & do it well and you'll build a solid reputation for you and your team. I liked this book so much that I added Bragg's books "Sales & Operations For Your Small Business" and "Accounting & Finance For Your Small Business" to my tools, too...and have been equally pleased.

Comprehensive!
This book really provides a managerial perspective on financial analysis and includes information on such topics as risk analysis and process cycles and aren't always covered in other books of this nature. Subject matter is well presented.