Karen Berman (1962–2019)

Stock analysts don't have a monopoly on the income statement. This book suggests how to look at the financials as an employee. Of course, there are good reasons to be attentive to the stock market, and "Financial Intelligence" covers a lot of the same ground as investor guides. But the authors also make a good case for focusing on cash as well as profit. Yes, we do like to see cash on payday. The discussion of profitability, leverage and efficiency ratios are especially useful. The authors also recite a litany of financial scandals from AIG to Xerox, reminders of how many assumptions are baked into earnings reports and how easy it is to change recipes.… (mais)

The best book I've found about how to understand accounting and the 3 financial statements from a business owner's point of view. Should be called The Art of Finance because it explains the assumptions behind where the numbers go and how much leeway someone has to adapt the results based on those assumptions. It gets a bit wonky in the later section on ratios - most of these are more useful for bigger, more complex companies. But the it goes into working capital which is vital to any growing company.… (mais)