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Finance for Non-financial Managers,” published by McGraw-Hill, is an excellent starting point in learning the financial concepts behind successful corporate management. 

The book explains in plain language the key elements of finance in a company, from financial statements to operating ratios to debt and equity financing. No arcane terminology, no unexplained buzzwords, lots of real world examples.

Here are some excerpts from my McGraw-Hill business book, to give you an idea of the valuable information and easy reading style you will find when you buy this book.

Ch 6: 
Remember, any increase in receivable balances greater than the monthly increase in sales is an interest-free loan to your customers. And that, dear reader, sinks companies.

Ch 8: 
All costs are fixed in the short term, and all costs are variable in the long term.
All costs are uncontrollable in the short term; all costs are controllable in the long term.

Design incentives to match results you want:
It is not uncommon for managers to incentivize their workers to achieve more with less cost. That's called increasing productivity. But the most successful management performance reward programs recognize the distinction between costs that can be controlled by the employee and those that cannot. Avoid simply challenging an employee or supervisor to meet bottom line goals that he or she cannot really control or significantly influence. 

Ch 11:
Use short-term debt ONLY for short-term needs
Business owners squeezed for cash to expand sometimes make a big mistake. Because they can often get short-term financing easier than long-term financing, they borrow short-term money, then renew or stretch out their repayment, using the money to satisfy long-term needs such as multi-year marketing programs, new product development and introduction, and so on. If the long-term plans take longer to bear fruit than they had expected, the businesses find themselves being strained for cash to repay short-term debt that can no longer be delayed, and the working capital of their companies can be badly damaged in the process. 
The key: Use short-term debt for working capital requirements that will generate the funds to repay the loan in accordance with its terms. Use long-term debt to finance long lead-time projects for which the timing of a return is uncertain. 

Ch 12:
Regardless of how difficult it is to do, the entrepreneur starting a company from scratch must almost always put up the initial money from his or her own resources. This is so for several reasons:

• There may be no one else who believes the idea can work until the founder proves it to the doubters and enlists their support with later investments, or
• The founder wants to keep as much of the stock ownership as possible, and there is often the belief, or at least hope, that the idea will succeed without any outside funding, and then the founder will "own it all," or
• Would-be investors have suggested to the founder that they may invest, but only if the founder has meaningful personal funds invested first. This is referred to as "having skin in the game." Don't ask where the analogy arose, I don't think either of us wants to know. 

For more exerpts of Finance for Non-Financial Managers, please visit the book reader at amazon.com.

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