Corporate Finance For Dummies – UK

Learn to: Make sense of the maths and equations associated with corporate finance Understand the key concepts and terminology Get to grips with accounting statements, cash flow, business valuation, risk management and more The fast, easy way to get to grips with the basics of corporate finance The maths, concepts, formulas and problems associated with corporate finance can be daunting to the uninitiated! Corporate Finance For Dummies covers all the basics, including accounting statements, cash flow, raising and managing capital, choosing investments, managing risk, determining dividends, mergers and acquisitions and valuation. It serves as an excellent resource to supplement corporate finance coursework and as a primer for exams. Know the whys and wherefores – find out what corporate finance is all about, understand the vital role it plays in business organisations and meet the people who use it Learn to read Financialese – down-to-earth explanations of key terms and calculations (and why they're used) make learning to read complex financial information fast and easy Assess assets – discover how to accurately assess the current and future values of major assets, including capital assets, stocks, bonds, derivatives and more Make risk manageable – get the lowdown on Modern Portfolio Theory, capital structure assessment and other core concepts in financial risk management Rate performance – learn to measure a company's financial performance, forecast future performance and assess the performance of other companies for potential mergers and acquisitions Open the book and find: Plain-English definitions of corporate finance jargon Ratio analysis techniques for making financial statements useful The main ways corporations can raise capital The lowdown on acquiring, managing and valuing debt How to value capital investments, plus stocks, bonds and derivatives Ten things you need to know about behavioural finance A brief introduction to international finance

Introduction 1 Part I: Getting Started with Corporate Finance 5 Chapter 1: Introducing Corporate Finance 7 Chapter 2: Navigating the World of Corporate Finance 15 Chapter 3: Raising Money for Business Purposes 35 Part II: Reading Financial Statements as a Second Language 45 Chapter 4: Seeing What You’re Worth with the Balance Sheet 47 Chapter 5: Getting Paid with the Profi t and Loss Account 59 Chapter 6: Easy Come, Easy Go: Understanding the Cash Flow Statement 69 Chapter 7: Making Financial Statements Useful with Ratio Analysis 77 Chapter 8: Measuring Financial Wellbeing with Special–Use Ratios 97 Part III: Placing Valuations on the Price Tags of Business 115 Chapter 9: Determining Present and Future Values: Time Is Money 117 Chapter 10: Looking to the Future with Capital Budgeting 125 Chapter 11: Bringing on Your Best Bond Bets 143 Chapter 12: Being Savvy When Shopping for Shares 159 Chapter 13: Measuring Valuations of the May–Be: Derivatives 177 Part IV: Walking in a Risk Management Wonderland 189 Chapter 14: Managing the Risky Business of Corporate Finances 191 Chapter 15: Through the Looking Glass of Modern Portfolio Theory 203 Chapter 16: Entering the Science Lab: Financial Engineering 223 Chapter 17: Assessing Capital Structure 239 Part V: Understanding Financial Management 249 Chapter 18: Assessing Financial Performance 251 Chapter 19: Forecasting Finances Is Easier than Predicting the Weather 273 Chapter 20: Spelling out the ABC of M&A 289 Part VI: The Part of Tens 309 Chapter 21: Ten Things You Need to Know about International Finance 311 Chapter 22: Ten Things You Need to Understand about Behavioural Finance 325 Index 337

Steve Collings is Audit and Technical Director for Leavitt Walmsley Associates Ltd. Steve is a regular contributor to AccountingWEB.co.uk and is the author of IFRS For Dummies and the UK edition of Financial Accounting For Dummies. In 2011, Steve was named Accounting Technician of the Year at the British Accountancy Awards. Michael Taillard, PhD, MBA, owns and operates OPII Schools, an award-winning national private school and tutoring company designed as a philanthropic experiment in macroeconomic cash flows as a form of urban renewal.