Managing By The Numbers: A Commonsense Guide To Understanding And Using Your Company's Financials

by Chuck Kremer, Ron Rizzuto, John Case

Everyone interested in building a stronger business needs to understand and use the information captured in financial statements. In Managing by the Numbers, business education and accounting experts Chuck Kremer and Ron Rizzuto team up with open-book management authority John Case to demystify the numbers. They present a practical, common-sense approach to reading financial statements and to managing the three bottom lines of business financial performance: net profit, operating cash flow, and return on assets. The book features numerous exercises and examples (with associated templates available on the Web), a powerful new management tool known as “The Financial Scoreboard,” and an extensive glossary. Managing by the Numbers is an essential resource for entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, and anyone eager to improve their mastery of the financial side of running a business.

Genres: Business, Finance, Accounting, Nonfiction

198 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2000

Reviews

[Omi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a convert! This is a must-read for any business owner. If you hate math and numbers, don’t worry, this presents the concepts in an easy to understand way. Financial statements make your head swim? This book turns them into the vital measures of your business’ health that they really are. The last two chapters are pure magic.

[Thien M · Rating 3 out of 5]

decently good at explaining basic accounting topics

[Lynley Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the subtitle says, it’s a common sense guide to understanding the financials of your business. It’s written for small businesses, with everyday language and examples. I have an MBA, but as a small business owner I definitely found this book to be an extremely useful and helpful resource. The education and corporate experience lack the specific ground-level brass tacks that are needed to manage a small business.

But I cant help but wonder what happened to poor Bill and Carolyn, whose business we get to know so well in this book, when smartphones and wifi were later invented. Were they able to pivot? Maybe now they’re running a “we fix smartphones” business, or a Verizon franchise? Or maybe they liquidated their inventory of modems and dot matrix printers and sold out sometime during the George W. Bush administration? (Perhaps they found a buyer on Ask Jeeves or Yahoo?)

The answers to these burning questions are lost to the sands of time. But the answers to your questions about financial statements can probably be found in this book.

[Kate Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has never studied business or finance before I found this book incredibly insightful. It broke down financial information into easy to understand pieces without babying the reader. It also focused on the core details of business and finance so that readers are able to participate in these discussions at work. The common thread examples throughout the book provide the reader with clear visuals of what is going on, and the tables and additional resources are very valuable. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an introduction to finance that is not watered down.

[Ryan Murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an extremely helpful book for understanding how to read a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. How to analyze this data to see where your business is in trouble, where you should invest, and how to project your goals for the coming year in a trackable, actionable way. Recommended.

[Tiffani Bussie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Assigned for one of my MBA claases. Very practical advice. Easy read. I liked the fictional business they used throughout the book to help illustrate points. Recommend for small business owners.

[Agas · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far it has been good and easy to understand.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Had to read it for an MBA class and can only say I wish I'd read it sooner!!!

[Aubrey]

Read this book for an SMB accelerator and this book was great for what I was trying to learn about for the first time.

[Sofia DR · Rating 4 out of 5]

technically i finished this last semester but it wasn’t a full like finish yk? teachers who skip segments…

i did like it tho and thought it was good

[Agatha Groom Venters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd always assumed that financial reports were best left to CPAs, that they were simply too complex to be understood by a layman. I found it not only useful, but I also really got into it and wanted to start looking at everyone's financials to see if I could help them improve their business with my new knowledge.
Anyway, I think this book is immensely useful for self-employed people and small business owners. You'll learn not only about the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow statement, but also how they work together to give you both big-picture views of your financial data, but also insight on how the small details fit together to tell you where you can improve your business.
Really fascinating read, can't wait to pick it up again for a refresher.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for non-accountant business owners. It explains what reports you should look at and what you should look for in them. It explains how to watch your business over time.

There are plenty of small business that go out of business while showing a profit. Learn to keep your eyes on your cash flow.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book...if you are a small business owner and don't know much about business (me). Would anyone else find this interesting? Yikes, I hope not.

[Derrick Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book for understanding business finance. I buy this for my managers ... I must have bought 30 copies over the last 20 years. It’s out of print ... thank goodness for Amazon used books!

[Jennifer Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

goodo

[Fengyang Song · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is way too basic to be of any real meaningful use.