Financial Intelligence for IT Professionals What You Really Need to Know About the Numbers

Preface : what is financial intelligence? The art of finance (and why it matters to IT) You can't always trust the numbers Spotting assumptions, estimates, and biases Why increase your financial intelligence? Toolbox : getting what you want; the players and what they do The (many) peculiarities of the income statement Profit is an estimate Cracking the code of the income statement Revenue : the issue is recognition Costs and expenses : no hard-and-fast rules The many forms of profit Toolbox : variance; percent calculations; line of sight The balance sheet reveals the most Understanding balance sheet basics Assets : more estimates and assumptions (except for cash) On the other side : liabilities and equity Why the balance sheet balances The income statement affects the balance sheet Toolbox : employees as assets; expenses vs.capital expenditures Cash is king Cash is a reality check Profit ? cash (and you need both) The language of cash flow How cash connects with everything else Why cash matters Toolbox: free cash flow Ratios: learning what the numbers are really telling you The power of ratios Profitability ratios: the higher the better (mostly) Leverage ratios: the balancing act Liquidity ratios: can we pay our bills? Efficiency ratios: making the most of your assets Toolbox: ratios for the business; ratios for it; leading vs. lagging indicators; percent-of-sales analysis; ratio relationships How to calculate (and really understand) return on investment The building blocks of roi Figuring roi: the nitty-gritty Toolbox: the roi of an it project Applied financial intelligence: working capital management The magic of managing the balance sheet Your balance sheet levers Homing in on cash conversion Toolbox: understanding accounts- receivable aging Creating a financially intelligent it department (and organization) Financial literacy and corporate performance Financial literacy strategies Appendix: putting it into practice Notes Acknowledgments Index About the authors