Customer comments on this selection.
 Excellent Primer or Refresher
This book is an excellent primer or refresher course on the basics of finance and accounting in business. This book is clearly not aimed at finance or accounting folks working in business today as the presented material is far too high level and basic. However, if it has been some years since you have dealt with this material in school, if you have always been on the periphery of this material at work, or if you have never encountered these subjects, then this is a great book to get you going.
The very thought of the subject matter might make some sleepy, but credit to the authors for covering this subject in a short, concise, and relevant way. To the extent that a book of this type could be considered a "page turner" I think this book is it. The subjects are covered using every day language in an efficient and quick moving manner. You never get bogged down in any one subject or esoteric detail and there is nothing academic about the writing style.
On the back cover of the book it is mentioned that the Harvard Business Essentials is designed to provide "comprehensive advice"... While this is clearly marketing speak, it is still quite untrue. There is nothing comprehensive about this book so folks should be careful about taking the Harvard name and the notion of "comprehensive advice" as if this is some sort of definitive text on the subject of finance in business. The material is at the level of the most basic introductory course and if you go in understanding this and desire something to either get you going on the subject or refresh your memory from long ago study, I think this book will fit the bill nicely.
 Great Book, Wrong Audience
"Finance for Managers" is short and clearly-written. It's a good book for non-business people (like me) who want to be smarter readers of business and economic news. However, it strikes me as too elementary to be of value to real non-financial managers (the supposed audience), who studied business at college and already know the basics of discounted present value, ratio analysis, the risks and rewards of leverage, and so forth. The good thing about "Finance for Managers" is that it NEVER goes beyond the bare basics. But that's also the bad thing.
A nice survey of financial reporting
The book contains a number of good articles, introducing some important, basic accounting and finance concepts for non-financial managers. The chapters on Financing Operations and Growth, Budgeting, Practical Tools for Management Decisions and Valuation Concepts were the most informative and relevant. Others, like Taxation and The Time Value of MOney were too simplistic. An OK book if you have limited time to devote to the subject, but it really won't do much more than introduce you to some useful vocabulary, so you won't feel completely intimidated when dealing with your finance staff.
 Highly reccomended
If your knowledge of Financial Management is limited or shallow this is your book: Clear, direct, brief, full of examples and easy to read.
 Finance for Managers (Harvad Business Esssentials)
It wasn't all what I had expected - I thought it would have given a deeper insight also to the financing aspects.
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