Managing Financial Information examines a subject that managers fear and resent but that lies at the heart of every organisation. Beginning with an explanation of how the finance department fits into the business as a whole, the book goes on to take the reader carefully through the construction of a balance sheet, the trading and loss account, the cash statement and the manufacturing account, explaining the different roles of each. The language of financial information can often seem arcane. Managing Financial Information explains such vital terms as profit and loss, added value and cost benefit analysis, and includes a large selection of straightforward exercises and examples to give a backbone to your understanding. Reading this book will enable the reader to confidently interpret and use: management ratios; costing concepts and techniques, including absorption costing, standard costing and marginal costing; cash flow; cash budgets and master budgets. Readable and direct, Managing Financial Informationis the best introduction to the business of understanding finance today. With an introduction by the late Professor Ian Beardwell, former IPD Vice President of Membership and Education.