Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Introduction -- Part One The fundamentals of business finance -- 01 Financial business reports -- Who uses financial information and why -- Accounting branches -- Bookkeeping - the way transactions are recorded -- Cash flow -- The profit and loss account (income statement) -- The balance sheet -- 02 The rules of the game -- Fundamental conventions -- Accounting conventions -- The rule makers -- International accounting standards -- Protecting investors -- 03 Analysing financial reports -- Analysing accounts -- Accounting ratios -- Some problems in using ratios -- Getting company accounts -- Using financial data to improve performance -- 04 Finance as a value creator -- Cost, volume, pricing and profit decisions -- Profit maximization vs shareholder value -- The cost of capital -- Future investment decisions -- Outsourcing -- Shares and markets -- Part Two Corporate capital structures -- 05 The role of business structures in financing business -- Corporate structures -- Help and advice on business corporate structure -- 06 Debt finance -- Bank lending -- Local financing initiatives -- Bonds, debentures and mortgages -- Asset usage financing -- 07 Equity -- Private equity -- Public capital -- What investors want -- Hybrids -- Money for free -- Part Three Financial strategies and special topics -- 08 Risk management -- Gearing - leverage -- Customer default -- Online and distance trading -- Foreign exchange -- 09 Business tax and reporting procedures -- Principles of taxation -- Tax types -- Auditors - the gatekeepers -- Filing accounts -- Directors' responsibilities and duties -- Values and the accounting reports -- 10 Mergers and acquisitions -- Going on the acquisition trail -- Valuing a target -- Limit the risks -- City code on takeovers and mergers -- 11 Business plans and budgets -- Forecasting.

Economic cycles -- Business plans -- Budgets and variances -- 12 The core -- Marketing -- Organizational behaviour -- Motivation -- Strategy -- Shaping strategy - tools and techniques.