5 comments about Healthcare Finance: An Introduction to Accounting and Financial Management.

1. Very good textbook: gives you all the necessary foundations for understanding the financial issues in healthcare.



2. This purchase was to help me with my course and go hand in hand with the engimatic book. However, it hit highlights but was not helpful to me in question answers and reviews for test. If you want a book with definiton's to help you , this is a 5 . If you want help with the Gapenski engima , its a 1.



3. The problem with this book is it is written too much like a book and not like a textbook. It is nearly impossible to find the equations that are embedded in the text if you are trying to do a quick reference on a concept. In addition, the index is horrible which leaves me constantly googling concepts that I need for the case studies since you can never find them in the book. Also, I'm not really sure how the book distinguishes itself as "health care" there is little to no health care specifics as far as finance goes. In all reality it isn't a great book especially if it is for your first finance class and you're better off looking up academic journals for a the health care finance perspective.



4. This book is a waste of time. It includes a bunch of definitions that are not all that well organized and do not explain the concepts in the text book. Save your money. The text book is relatively easy to read and understand. You do not need this and it will not help.



5. This book is a complete waste of time. The definitions are not even the same as the one's in the glossary. It skips major points and you need to go hunting to find where it is in the book. You spend more time doing that than if you just took your own notes.

5 comments about Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy.

1. Alike most readers who have reviewed the book on these pages, I approached "Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management" with much gusto. Despite the catchy title, I soon discovered that the stake did not match the sizzle.
   
   What is undobtedly the most valuable contribution of the book is its practical approach to managing corporations as portfolios. The book contains a number of proven examples that a pactitioner is sure to find useful. This is also what the author promises to do: to write a book from the point of view of a practitioner for the purposes of enlightening a fellow practitioner. So much so good.
   
   From the perspective of an (customer) portfolio management expert (i.e. advanced level practitioner), I found the book quite "light" on all of the key words in the title: corporate portfolio management, aligning investment proposals, and organizational strategy. In more practical terms, the book does not manage to answer the question stated on the cover: how to align investment proposals with organizational strategy?
   
   All in all, I find the book an OK source if you are an absolute beginner and need to get a first glimpse of the subject matter. For anyone with more ambitious aims, the book may not live up to its promise.



2. Definitely one of the best books that I have read on the subject! It combines well the academic aspects of portfolio management with honest insights into corporate realities. And the well-paced narrative makes it a great read!



3. The book highlights a significant problem in the corporate world. The seven deadly sins section idenitifies key challenges found in many companies while the case studies provide real world examples of those leading the charge. Good job!



4. The book provides a sophisticated yet practical approach to Corporate Portfolio Management (CPM) which invites managers to consider many facets that will challenge or support the CPM initiatives.
   
   My favorite part is the section where Sanwal lists "the deadly sins" of CPM. These negative examples provide managers tools to anticipate organizational difficulties and adjust their proposals on CPM proactively.



5. I lead my company's IT portfolio management effort, and this is one of the most well-written strategy books I've ever come across. It does an amazingly good job of demystifying what can be a complex topic.
   
   Major pros of the book:
   - No jargon, acronyms and generally useless platitudes and overgeneralized frameworks like I've seen in other books on the topic. Straightforward, conversational tone makes the book very easy to read.
   - Very practitioner oriented
   - American Express case study - What the company has achieved is remarkable and definitely the best example I've seen
   - 7.5 deadly sins of corporate portfolio management - These were spot on
   
   Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy

5 comments about Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing: A Simpler and More Powerful Path to Higher Profits.

1. This book has given me a great insight in an easier way to allocate resources down to costumers and products using Time-driven cost driver rates.
   
   However, I am a bit sceptical about the Capacity Cost rate, which seems to be the key element to this models success... especially the way the authors describes the way to calculate this rate.. But with some methodical procedure behing when implementing the model, it is possible to get good results.... that's my experience
   
   All in all, it is a great book about the fundamentals when wanting to use TDABC in your business.



2. I finished reading this book by Bob Kaplan - TIME-DRIVEN ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING last week.
   
   Its a great book for folks familiar with the basic concepts and applications of Activity-based Costing/ABC. In a way Kaplan makes an apology to readers of his earlier books and ardent fans of ABC, for making their lives difficult with the practical implementation approaches for ABC, and offers to make up for it by proposing a change to the new approach called Time-driven Activity-based Costing or TDABC. Personally I would have preferred the term "Capacity-driven Activity-based Costing".
   
   Ofcourse one cannot help but be sympathetic to Bob Kaplan. Having interacted with him in the past, I had an opportunity to see at close range the genius of this man and the range of his knowledge. The book is certainly a big leap in our knowledge-base and tools for managing for managing companies better.
   
   Kaplan aso originated another methodology "THE BALANCED SCORECARD" (BSC), several books on the subject, and co-founded another firm to offer servies around it. He is however, no longer associated with the firm in any management capacity, and the firm is financially troubled.
   
   I recommend Kaplan's BSC books wholeheartedly, but if you are looking to implement at your organizations, I would recommend inviting select independent consultants who have more experienced at this, than the one's available at this firm.
   
   Professionals with a serious interest in TDABC could also do well to reach out directly to Bob Kaplan and his new firm (The Acorn Group), and his former students for consulting advise.



3. Product purchase acknowldgement was near immediate, billing timely, receipt of product within three days and the exact product ordered received. Excellent.



4. This is the book that I have been waiting for a long time. It addresses the major issues about the calculation of the resource drivers. Because it is based on linear regression model, it has a more scientific base than the previous ABC method. It can also be easily integrated into dynamic Activity-Based Costing Simulation model.



5. Activity-based costing can provide important insights; however, it also can be complex and difficult to implement and sustain. Time-driven activity-based costing more straightforwardly uses time as the primary metric for assessing costs, since almost all costs have a time dimension. Robert S. Kaplan and Steven R. Anderson provide a thorough, if highly technical, introduction to time-driven activity-based costing. Chapter by chapter, they show readers how to estimate process times, calculate capacity cost ratios, and plan and implement a TDABC system. Their detailed case studies illustrate the benefits of this clear, sophisticated tactic for budgeting, cost management, process improvement, benchmarking and acquisition evaluations. getAbstract thinks their book will be important to any executive, manager or academician who must understand operational costs.

1 comments about Principles of Auditing and Other Assurance Services w/ACL CD.

1. This is a good book for auditing student. I cann't think of another reason anyone would want to buy the book exept for a class however.

5 comments about The Seven Keys to Managing Strategic Accounts.

1. As an MBA candidate who spends far too much time reading textbooks, I found Seven Keys a welcome change in my business reading. It's readable, well-organized, full of real-world examples, and it lets me quickly know how I can ready an organization for effective strategic account management. These authors clearly have busy people in mind. I read the chapters that were of particular interest and then I read the remainder. Time well-spent.

   Jay Readey

   MBA Candidate, Yale University School of Management




2. In today's marketplace key account (relationship) management is imperative. With the ever changing/increasing demands placed on these accounts it is even more important to develop a focus and a strategic game plan behind them. This book is a must read and a must have on your bookshelf. It's laid out in a friendly manner (the seven keys) and is easy to read. Whether you currently have a strategic account management program in place, are looking at implementing a new program, or are looking how to fine-tune an existing one -- the 7 Keys to Managing Strategic Accounts will help you in the process. Make sure you have a program that really works!



3. This is a very educational book that every company should read and buy into before attempting a SAM program. I enjoyed the real world exmaples even though they did sometimes leave me feeling a bit 'sold to'(and I usually like that!)
   But the reason I've only given this book 4 stars is that it's written very much for the analytical reader, an MBA who absorbes information would love this book. But I am not one of those and would like to have seen a higher emotional content and some more human aspects.
   This however should not stop you from buying this book. In fact if you are considering a Strategic Account Management program you MUST read this now.



4. Over the last three years, we have been using "The Seven Keys..." as the bible to follow in our implementation process. Every person involved is required to read the book. It has become our organization's often-quoted bible for account management. A must read!



5. One of the best books for account managment. Really helped us in developing our model.

3 comments about Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs: What You Really Need to Know About the Numbers (Financial Intelligence) (Financial Intelligence).

1. 
   Several years ago, I read and reviewed Finance for Managers, one of the volumes in the Harvard Business Essentials series. The material provided in it is drawn from a variety of sources which include William J. Bruns, Jr., Michael J. Roberts, and Robert S. Kaplan as well as Harvard Business School Publishing and Harvard ManageMentor®, an online service. Samuel L. Hayes served as subject advisor to Richard Luecke, author of this and other books in the Harvard Business School Essentials Series as well as more than 30 other books in the series as well as several dozen articles. What we have in Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs, co-authored by Karen Berman and Joe Knight with John Case (also author of Open-Book Management and The Open-Book Experience), are information and advice that respond directly to the needs of those who are planning to launch a new company or have only recently done so. I think the material will also be of substantial benefit to decision-makers in companies that seek to become more entrepreneurial.
   
   At a GE annual meeting, then CEO Jack Welch explained why he thought so highly of "small, sleek" business operations: "For one, they communicate better. Without the din and prattle of bureaucracy, people listen as well as talk; and since there are fewer of them they generally know and understand each other. Second, small companies move faster. They know the penalties for hesitation in the marketplace. Third, in small companies, with fewer layers and less camouflage, the leaders show up very clearly on the screen. Their performance and its impact are clear to everyone. And, finally, smaller companies waste less. They spend less time in endless reviews and approvals and politics and paper drills. They have fewer people; therefore they can only do the important things. Their people are free to direct their energy and attention toward the marketplace rather than fighting bureaucracy." This seems to have served as a model for "bowing up" of GE after Welch became its CEO in 1981. At that time, its market value was $14 billion; twenty-three years later, it was more than $410 billion.
   
   I share all this by way of creating a frame-of-reference for what is provided in this volume, a new edition of a book first published (entitled Financial Intelligence) in 2006. Although the focus in this second edition is on entrepreneurs, the material provided will help all managers to develop the entrepreneurial mindset to which Welch refers, and, to acquire a highly-developed financial intelligence quotient (FIQ). Moreover, they can then do everything they possibly can to develop a high-level of FIQ among others at all levels and in all areas of their organization. In the Preface, Berman and Knight explain what their reader will learn:
   
   1. How to read the three major financial statements (i.e. income, balance sheet, and cash flow) and how to interpret what they contain
   
   2. How to calculate critical ratios and to understand what they reveal
   
   3. Why net cash in a given time period is not the same as profit and why a company needs both profit and cash
   
   4. How to use various return on investment (ROI) tools to analyze big purchases in order to make certain the investments add sufficient value to the business
   
   5. How to manage working capital that helps to improve a company's cash flow and profitability even when there is no change in sales or expenses
   
   6. How to use the three main methods for establishing the value of a business (i.e. the price-to-earnings ratio method, the discounted cash flow method, and the asset valuation method) "and many other tricks of the financial trade"
   
   "Along the way, we'll let you in on the finance profession's little secret, which is that finance is as much art as it is science." Berman and Knight explain why understanding this "little secret" is so important to acquiring a high-level of financial intelligence.
   
   They carefully organize their material within 30 chapters that are divided among eight sequential Parts: The Art of Finance (and Why It Matters), The (Many) Peculiarities of the Income Statement, The Balance Sheet Reveals the Most, Cash Is King, Ratios: Learning What the Numbers Are Really Telling You, How to Calculate and (Really) Understand Return on Investment, Applied Financial Intelligence: Working Capital Management, and Creating a Financially Intelli9gent Company. They also provide three appendices: Sample Financials, Exercises to Build Your Financial Intelligence - Income Statement; Balance Sheet; Cash Flow Statement; Ratios, and Under Armour and eBay Financial Statements. At the conclusion of each Part, there are contributions to the filling of the reader's "Toolbox."
   
   Other reviewers will have their own reasons for admiring this book. Here are three of mine. First, this is not a "Finance for Dummies" although a financial novice will find nothing in it that is over her or his head. With consummate skill, Berman and Knight present and explain substance without compromising it. And when doing so, they prepare each reader to help others to increase their own FIQ by providing a model for those initiatives. In fact, Berman and Knight consider those efforts to be so important that they devote the final three chapters (Part Eight) to explaining how to create a financially intelligent company. I also appreciate this book because the authors immediately establish and then sustain a personal (rather than professorial) rapport with their reader. They use direct address throughout the narrative. For readers who are financial novices, they anticipate and address the concerns. For other readers with more developed FIQ (especially CFOs, comptrollers, office managers, and accountants) they offer a systematic review of material (e.g. nomenclature and core concepts of finance) that is already familiar to them. However, there is much to be said for reminders of what can sometimes be neglected or ignored. Finally, I appreciate the dozens of examples drawn from real-world situations that illustrate some of Berman and Knight's key points. This is especially appropriate, given the conversational (rather than professorial) tone that they sustain throughout the narrative.
   
   One final point: All organizations have an urgent and constant need to reduce (if not eliminate) waste. Increasing the FIQ of as many workers as possible will enable them to recognize and, better yet, understand the bottom-line impact of waste and will thus be more likely to become not only involved but engaged in efforts to help their organization to reduce (if not eliminate) waste. If I were a CEO of a company, I would purchase a copy of this book for every line manager and make it required reading. And if my company has not already devised and then implemented an FIQ education program, to be implemented throughout the enterprise to varying degree, I would immediately appoint a cross-functional team of my best and brightest to do so.
   
   I congratulate Karen Berman and Joe Knight together with John Case on a brilliant achievement. Bravo!



2. As a classic small business owner who wears every hat, including CFO but not being very good at it, this book is an invaluable resource for me. I am one of those people who picked up Berman and Knight's original Financial Intelligence and said, "Hey, I need this information for myself and my business." The book takes you through the basics of P&Ls and balance sheets and cash flow and all of the financial mumbo jumbo that you aren't taught unless you go to business school, and turns it into tangible, easy to digest concepts that even someone with no financial acumen or education can understand. The most enlightening part of the book is the premise that finances are an art as well as a science. I always believed that numbers are numbers and they don't lie. Berman and Knight set me straight and set me free, teaching me that even as a non-financial expert, I can understand, manage and interpret my own bottom line.



3. Financial issues always plagued my businesses for years - lost one due to lack of financial understanding now I see where I made my mistakes. This book will help me with my new busines - I plan to buy copies for everyone in my company.

5 comments about Creating Value Through Corporate Restructuring: Case Studies in Bankruptcies, Buyouts, and Breakups.

1. You'd be surprised by how few business schools offer courses on bankruptcy and restructuring. I know that I was. I came to Wharton this year to teach "Advanced Corporate Finance" in the MBA program. In preliminary "due diligence," I discovered there were no finance electives on bankruptcy and restructuring. To bridge the gap, I decided to conclude my course with two modules, one on Corporate Restructuring and the other on Bankruptcy.

   Material for both modules came straight from Gilson's book. Students relished the case studies. They fueled many of the most lively and engaging discussions we enjoyed all term. Students are worried about the economy. For the first time, many also sense career opportunities in the area of distressed debt. When I planned the course, I counted on both to spur interest in the modules.

   What I didn't count on was how well Gilson's cases would frame virtually all other material that I covered. Key lessons resurfaced from all modules: Financial Analysis and Forecasting, Capital Structure Policy, Capital Budgeting, and Mergers and Acquisitions. In each case, revisiting the ideas in the context of bankruptcy and restructuring threw them into high relief. So much so that I was able to substitute restructuring cases for those I had intended as "comprehensive" case discussions.

   As important for educators, Gilson's cases provide all necessary background information about how key legal and procedural aspects of the Bankruptcy Code influence managers' decisions. In Gilson's cases, the decisions featured are crucial to determining how to maximize value in distressed situations, as well as how to distribute it when all is said and done.
   
   In the final analysis, aren't these *exactly* the issues that MBA courses in corporate finance should address? My students at Wharton this term sure thought so. In the spring, my two sections are also already full. I've been told the "buzz" is mostly due to Gilson's restructuring material. Hopefully, some value was created in the delivery. Nonetheless, I couldn't recommend any material more highly for anyone planning to teach a spring term corporate finance course.




2. This book is a complete waste of time. It is just a collection of case studies bundled together and resold. There is no analysis done. The cases are merely reprinted word for word from the original HBS cases. There are three short intros to the different sections, but once again nothing useful. Great marketing ploy, lousy book.



3. This is a very good case book, complete with intricate case studies illustrating numerous aspects of challenges often faced in restructuring in bankruptcy. However, the book assumes a level of knowledge about M&A concepts that many readers may not have. Consequently, I would recommend using this book in conjunction with another excellent text by DePamphilis entitled Mergers and Acquisitions: Integrated Approach. There are two editions. The second edition is more complete and up to date. It also tackles some of the problems illustrated in this book.



4. What a waiste of money.... The writer has not included any anlyses or real solutions to the cases that a provided. Unless you are a student in a class that use this book, this book gives you absolute nothing.



5. Someone (perhaps it was I) has said that bankruptcy is corporate finance with negative signs. This has always been true but it is amazing how far mainstream finance has gone to try to resist the comparison. The resistance must be, must have been more cultural than economic, because it is axiomatic that anything is a bargain at the right price, and that there is no more or less money to be made in "distress investing" than in any other. Two generations ago, there seems to have been only one person in American that really understood this point - the late Max Heine, who made his grubstake by investing in out-of-favor railroad bonds in the Great Depression, and then riding the wave of prosperity that emerged in World War II. In the same vein, 40 years ago just about any bankruptcy judge would have looked on an "assigned claim" as some kind of monster.

   Times have changed. Now everybody's an arbitrageur. The "vulture investors" have their conferences, their social clubs, and for all I know, their own softball team.

   Stuart C. Gilson"s "Corporate Restructuring" symbolizes the sea change from the old attitude to the new. It adds the imprimatur of the Harvard Business School to the notion that vulture investing is just another way of making money. As others have noted, this isn't a work of high theory - indeed it has a kind of slapdash, direct-off-the-photocopier feel that is remarkably common in business publications. For fancy theory, you look elsewhere - in law to the likes of Douglas Baird or Lucian Arye Bebchuk; in finance to the developing lore of "real options." But the case studies are an excellent device for getting a sense of the texture and possibilities of vulture investing. It can be read with profit alongside Hilary Rosenberg's "The Vulture Investors." Ambitious students who want the full theoretical framework will match it with David G. Luenberger's "Investment Science." But Gilson's work has merit on its own as one kind of introduction to this revolution in investment thinking.

5 comments about Managerial Economics, Sixth Edition.

1. This book is leaps and bounds more impressive than most managerial economics books. The newest concepts in economics like auctions, moral hazard, sophisticated pricing and adverse selection are given full chapter treatments. Not only do the authors clearly explain these concepts, but they show how they are applied in the business world.
   
   I was also impressed with their revised game theory chapter. Instead of the usual dry mathematical treatment, the chapter uses game theory to illustrate the importance of strategic principles. I found the chapter more helpful than any other treatment on game theory.
   
   The authors are professors at The Wharton School and use the book in their class. I can see why Wharton is a top ranked business school. Their students definitely have an advantage in learning from this book.



2. This is not your average dry and boring managerial economics book. The writing is great, it covers all the major topics, and there are plenty of real life applications. THIS BOOK ROCKS.



3. It was the text book of this course.
   It's not really needed to buy it to catch up with this course,
   but this book has good samples and cases to read.



4. This was a recommended text for one of my classes thats why I bought it.It does not have enough examples to follow and also confusing(other students complained about it as well).I know there are better texts out there,would never recommend this book.



5. This is an excellent book to start Economics. I have purchased this book for my MBA and found it very easy to learn.

4 comments about Schaum's Guideline of Managerial Accounting.

1. like other books of SHIM & SIEGEL this book is also very simple for following althoug it is an advance book in the managerial accounting area.



2. This book is great! It gives you really good examples of cost accounting problems. It includes easy to understand solutions in every chapter. I'm a current CMA candidate and this book helped understand many of costing procedures that I had difficulty grasping in college. Excellent review material!



3. This book is what got me through managerial accounting in my MBA program. As a dyslexic mathphobe I was very nervous about taking an accounting class and I was not comforted at all by a professor who only seemed to speak in numbers and a textbook that confused even my friend - the CPA.
   
   This book is clear, concise, and to the point and has tons of exercises/problems with a the answers fully worked out and explained. This book helped me get an A in my class - I highly recommend this book to everyone who needs help in managerial accounting.



4. Inside managerial accounting are bases for cost accounting, too. Most Cost Accounting textbooks are at a managerial emphasis, so this book helps with both managerial and cost accounting subjects.

5 comments about Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization.

1. How can a manager gain a real picture of a company's performance? Real Numbers: Management Accounting In A Lean Organization helps managers understand management accounting practices, which often produce complex financial statements which have little to do with reality. Each of the authors is a CFO who probes management accounting systems and how simplicity and clarify can be restored to an organization's accounting system. The authors provide some solid, invaluable advice on tweaking accounting practices to get the most from facts and figures generated by accountants.



2. The book's presentation makes a case for accurate and timely information that is easily understood and actionable. Whereby it is now time to take the benefits learned from implementing lean manufacturing on the shop floor into the office and remove the blinders of old traditional accounting systems. Doing so transforms the accountant from bean counter to a valued partner in the business.

   Discussions include:

   * a strong section on performance measurement - what the financial team should be measuring in place of current traditional accounting reports.

   * how to streamline the process and bring about meaningful change

   * a practical methodology for making the transition away from cost accounting - to go from micro accounting to macro accounting

   * plain English management financial systems - what they are, why to use, benefits, and how to get them using the one day close method

   * new concepts in budgeting (the lean budget) and capital planning whereby one looks at reduction in inventory and flexibility instead of per part cost

   * lean acquisitions - what to do with all that new found cash

   The final three chapters are my favorite where Jean and Orest take their boardroom management skills and depart wisdom to the reader. Here it is explained why the CEO and CFO must become active leaders, the benefits of breaking from tradition, and the twelve principles of lean accounting.

   This is a must read book for everyone who wants to shed the role of bean counter or who has struggled with bean counters and their misunderstanding the accounting side of lean manufacturing.

   Rick Anderson
   President
   TTW Inc. - WinMan software




3. Most lean accouting books - in fact most books - present what they consider the solutions, the final answer. Real Numbers does present some answers, but more importantly, they provide the direction. By painting a picture of the ideal state that we should all be shooting for, they give us the guideposts to help us make progress and improvements day after day after day. This is much more powerful, because the progress that follows reading and applying this book can last for years. It is also more flexible because we can adopt what they are teaching to a wide variety of settings and companies. Furthermore, the authors have done it - they were there making it work. I think 10 years from now we will still be referring to this book as an important contribution to lean accounting and to accounting in general.



4. The book "Lean Thinking" by James Womack and Daniel Jones came out 10 years ago. I must confess I was rather underwhelmed by it at the time, but now lean is impossible to ignore - organisations of all sizes, in all sectors - from local authorities, to transport, to manufacturing - are adopting lean management. Lean is now on the agenda of organisations everywhere, and that means that accountants are increasingly being required to know lean techniques.
   
   I strongly believe that "lean accounting" is a set of skills that will be much in demand in future, and I believe, equally strongly, that management accountants are well placed to take advantage of this opportunity. "Real Numbers: Management Accounting in a Lean Organization" appears to offer an insight into management accounting in lean organisations, and the skill sets we need to adopt to be a key part of the lean revolution. The book opens with a fine description of the challenge - "Accounting departments produce information that runs late and is often misleading. Few managers fully understand the columns of numbers and variances presented in their reports".
   
   The book then spends 25 pages arguing the case for change. A five page summary I could accept, but this seems excessive - surely my buying this book presupposes that I accept the arguments ?. I am looking to be enticed into the exciting new arena that lean accounting offers; I am looking to be inspired; and to be given tools to empower me in this field. Unfortunately, "Real Numbers" keeps regaling me with the problems of cost accounting. We are constantly reminded of the drawbacks of absorption costing, but never quite led into the promised new land.
   
   And that is the main problem with this book. It seems to lack a clear direction, or even structure. Instead it meanders between apparently random thoughts, without much raising my level of excitement or interest. For example, the chapter on performance measures provides some interesting ideas, particularly on making ROI relevant to employees at all levels, and on using "total lead time" in indicators rather than just process time, but it fails to show how it all ties together. There are no worked examples, or "Balanced Scorecard" type structures to integrate different measures. Indeed, the book lacks worked examples throughout and this is another major weakness.
   
   After the chapter on performance measures, we have a long and apparently structureless section about streamlining the finance function. This is more a random collection of thoughts, including how the desks should be rearranged, than any structured approach to restructuring the accounts department.
   
   But there are interesting sections in the book. The chapter on remodelling the profit and loss account is useful (though, I suspect, pretty familiar territory to management accountants), and it contains a valuable warning that in the early years of lean, financial statements can show a reduction in profitability as stocks are liquidated; though this can be countered with the clear cashflow benefits. There is also some intriguing discussion of introducing Kaizen (breakthrough improvement) teams into the accounts department - sounds fun !. And the chapter on introducing the lean philosophy to capital budgeting (using lifecycle costs, including the impact on working capital) is excellent - though, again, is let down by a lack of worked examples.
   
   The book closes with an illustration of how the cashflow benefits of lean finance future growth, with some outstanding examples from US enterprises. The final line of the book exhorts accountants to "rediscover your relevance". It is a shame the authors didn't use this mantra more in its writing. The overall pace is ponderous, the style meandering, and the lack of worked examples is a real omission.
   
   The last book I read on lean accounting - "Who's Counting? A Lean Accounting Business Novel" (available on Amazon.com) was a hammy introduction to the concepts of lean accounting, but at least it was readable and had a clear direction. I much prefer it to this uneven and poorly structured mixture. I don't see how you could introduction lean management to the finance department using this book. While there are some interesting sections, overall it is a disappointment, I am sad to say.



5. This book is written in a simple manner for managers and operation people, as well as for controling and financial people. Failure of implementing JIT/Lean or QRM is often due to false understaning of the operations part itself and resistance of employees for change, but on the other side as well keeping old cost accounting practices and therefore numbers/reports not showing the improvements made. To judge improvements, you first need to know about what different cost exist and their real leverage. E.g. many companies still believe, inventory cost is a single digit percentage of a part cost p.a. ..
   
   Traditional cost management has some basic flaws, mainly considering that modern companies have a different structure compared to the ones, when most cost accounting methods where developped in the past. Without changes in cost accounting thinking related to what is going on in your company, even succesful operational changes will never become visible. In the worst case the numbers shown by your actual system will even show worse performance and JIT/Lean or QRM will be quickly dropped! Unfortunately even intelligent people have some trouble to really interpret reports and we often do not dare to ask simple questions as e.g. can I really see something out of this numbers? I'm not stupid, but often I must confess not to see something of real value out of some crunched number. We should more often start to ask ourself, what the hell we are doing with numbers? Without this critics, we are flying blind most of our time - and succes should not only be a question of luck..
   
   Accuracy or precision is not the same and the book provides you good information, where the pitfals may be. Lean means as well, that more closures and more frequent simple cost information is better for operation purpose, than looking monthly back.
   
   Any good and "heavy" book about JIT/Lean or QRM should provide some information about adaptation of your cost accounting system. Once again, as a very positive example to be mentionned here, the book Quick-Response-Manufacturing does so by explaining one aspect - more detailled information will be provided by this book here.
   
   I loved the expression of the authors about "change the reports, not the people.. ". There lies a lot of wisdom in this word.
   
   Best Regards,
   Oliver