Managerial-finance

"The First Book of Common Sense Management" is a title which says it all -"common sense". To me, that is 99% of being a good manager, using good old fashioned common sense. Unfortunately, too many managers don't see this and make numerous managerial mistakes, which in turn causes poor employee morale and turnover problems. If they had read this book, they would see the error of their ways and may even be better managers as a result.

In this day in age, it would benefit managers to know how to train and keep good help instead of making the kinds of mistakes that cause people to resign in disgust. Knowing how to empower your employees, stroke their egos and praise them for a job well done instead of constantly criticise and point out errors and problems is a big job, but one that a good manager ought to learn how to do. This book gives you the tools to know how to do those things and to foster good will and high productivity in your department or office.

Poor management has been the cause of more than one company's demise, and in these uncertain financial times, it is the wise manager who will read this book and keep his or her company afloat and keep good employees productive and happy. It may even be the difference between the life and death of a company. A company will survive that is well managed and has satisfied and motivated employees that will produce. Managers, this should be mandatory reading for each and every one of you. Pass this around your board room or management staff. Make everyone read it and read it again if need be. Yours is the choice - good company morale and high productivity or poor employee morale, low productivity and company death. Frankly, were I a manager, I would choose the latter.

This book champions many of the beliefs I've held for years at working at Big 4, regional, and small public accounting firms. Mainly, that time sheets, hourly rates, billable hours, etc. is a completely misguided and outdated manner to try to capture costs and price services.

I just resgined from a firm to start my own practice. While there, I was discussing this book with one of the firm's Partners. When I suggested the radical idea of no timesheets, he replied, "how will you know the people are working." As this book effectively points out and analyzes, firms just aren't hiring the right people!

The book does get a bit redundant at times, and does put forth some ideas that seem a bit crazy (such as 100% money back gaurantees in your engagement letters if the client doesn't like the service). However, I think that overall the book does make some very excellent points. Firms that are courageous enough to make changes based on ideas generated from this book may be the "firms of the future"

Finally, despite the title, this book is for CPAs and CPA firms. Lawyers and other service providers will not get as much out of it. For those starting firms, or for those looking for ideas to improve their current firms, this book should help.

After reading this book, you'll need to place it alongside your desktop dictionary, Thesaruas and Ron's first book "The Professional's Guide to Value Pricing. This is how strong of an impact their message has made on me.

After reading the first two editions of Ron's book, I didn't think he would be able to improve much on the message of switching to Value Pricing. Boy, was I wrong! He and Paul Dunn have done an amazing job of getting the reader to think differently. As with the radical theme of trashing the timesheet in "The Professional's Guide to Value Pricing", they do a masterful job of convincing you why the old "Revenue Equation" must be replaced with the forward-thinking "Profit Equation". They go on to introduce other new topics not found amongst professional services firms such as developing your Intellectual, Structural and Social Capital, emphasizing effectiveness over efficiency and of course Value Pricing. As is typical of Ron's writing style, and complemented by Paul, their reasoning for making this paradigm shift is well supported and well reasoned.

I've been using practicing Value Pricing for about 5 1/2 years now and I can tell you that it works. In my own firm, I've slowly begun implementing some of their new concepts but with a new perception. I'm convinced these principles will work for me and they can for you as well.

After reading this book, you'll definitely want to keep it handy as a useful reference guide!

Paul Dunn & Ronald J Baker's new book "The Firm of the Future and the Future of the Firm" challenges the old paradigms of the professional firm and clearly shows the way forward.

Although aimed at the professional firm, the book is relevant to all service businesses.

If you attended Paul Dunn's seminars and read Ronald J Baker's books, then this will be a useful refresher. If you haven't - then oh boy what a ride! Let the journey begin.

In addition this book introduced to me the concept of Intellectual Capital, a framework that I'll certainly use in the future.

As a culinary educator, I find this book both informative and user-friendly. The Excel spreadsheets and "Fun on the Web" exercises add interesting and useful technological components. The text gets to the point on all issues without belaboring the theoretical aspects of food and beverage cost controls. The book covers junior and senior level concepts in a readable format suitable for freshmen and sophomores. It is a book for all levels with real life examples. I would recommend it to anyone, be it from education or industry.

This book is a must-read for any foodservice manager who is interested in an accurate, to the point, and technologically advanced review of food and beverage cost control methods. Controlling labor and food costs have never been more important than in today's environment. Those managers who master control procedures will succeed, and this book helps them to do just that.

The author's use of Excel spreadsheets really helps learning, as does the large number of realistic industry examples. Even the Internet plays a part in the book's usefulness when the authors refer readers to applicable web sites. Best of all, the concepts (especially those related to labor control) that are presented are useful to the managers I work with regardless of their culture or even the continent in which they work.

I recommend the book to all hospitality managers, and I would recommend it to any serious student of hospitality.

A great find! This little book helped me get up to speed with Premiere Pro quickly. It is not a watered down "for dummies" book, but is not an 800-page bible either (which I don't need!!). Instead it gets right down to business and shows you how to get through your first couple projects with ease. The full color, price and ease of use make this a great package.

This book is certainly a great way to get your chops, being taught by someone who uses the application for real world work - on a daily basis.

I've followed Tim around the web for years, on different forums and as a respected expert editor and Adobe guru. You can find him online and pick from his reviews, articles and posts that all clearly demonstrate his qualifications and insights before you buy the book... But no need, it's cheap! Very easy to get way more than 15.00 of value from this book. You really can't go wrong.

It's far better than trudging through a boring black and white book (typical software manual) that covers everything but what you really want to know! The book is laid out very well, lots of color. It offers a very visual method of learning the app and why the different parts of the app are there..what they do.

I've used Premiere for 4 or 5 years now. Premiere Pro is quite different. This book is a great primer and companion for learning the ins and outs of this newly revamped Non-Linear Editor.

Do NOT attempt to buy this book used. It can only be used once, due to a login code that comes with the book. As much as this book and the game it describes are worthless, if you are required to have this book, just pay your fee and try as hard as you can to convince your professor that this game is a waste of time. There are much better ways to learn how to run a company and to find the maximum point of a profit curve.

This book, and software, was written by a professor at the University of South Carolina. He first introduced it in the 1980's. He has been cashing in on it ever since by attempting to update it every few years. He requires all of his students to buy it, and use it. It is poorly written, in need of clearer explanations, and in my opinion is nothing more than a rehashed introductory accounting textbook. What a ripoff! If you want to learn corporate finance don't buy this book. I'm watching you Leroy.