The Real World Of Finance – James Sagner

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A manager’s guide to the radical changes in corporate finance

The Real World of Finance focuses on twelve traditional finance concepts that have been turned upside-down in the last ten years and guides the reader through new finance models so they can implement change in their own organizations. Interspersed throughout the text are examples of what Fortune 500 companies are doing to adapt their financial systems to the 21st century.

James Sagner (White Plains, NY) is a Principal of Sagner/Marks and has managed over 250 large-scale studies for companies and non-profit organizations worldwide. He is a faculty member at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, and author of over forty papers and articles that have appeared in a wide range of industry publications.

Over the years, financial professionals around the world have looked to the Wiley Finance series and its wide array of bestselling books for the knowledge, insights, and techniques that are essential to success in financial markets. As the pace of change in financial markets and instruments quickens, Wiley Finance continues to respond. With critically acclaimed books by leading thinkers on value investing, risk management, asset allocation, and many other critical subjects, the Wiley Finance series provides the financial community with information they want. Written to provide professionals and individuals with the most current thinking from the best minds in the industry, it is no wonder that the Wiley Finance series is the first and last stop for financial professionals looking to increase their financial expertise.

From the Inside Flap

The spectacular corporate triumphs and tragedies of the past ten years point to one indisputable fact: the rules have changed. Financial managers who want to succeed in a complex, global economy must reconsider conventional wisdom and adopt an entirely new set of guiding principles. Challenging twelve traditional finance concepts, James Sagner delivers a compelling vision of the future of financial management in The Real World of Finance: 12 Lessons for the 21st Century.

Drawing upon real-world examples of Fortune 500 companies and including a discussion of Enron, Sagner demonstrates how current practices can set dangerous precedents and expose corporations to undue risk. In the past, for example, a large working capital meant that a company had a store of value to pay its creditors; now an excess of working capital is seen as a drag on performance and a rat’s nest of inventory and accounts receivable problems. Even a concept as simple as “profitability” has been compromised by companies trying to be all things to all customers, failing to separate profitable customers from their unprofitable counterparts, and mistakenly eliminating “marginal” businesses that are in fact critical to the bottom line.

James Sagner concisely explains the realities of a new economy that has shifted its focus away from industry and toward finance, people, and information-all operating in a global environment.With his twelve easy-to-follow lessons, Sagner turns MBA dogma on its head, offering a revolutionary blueprint for success in the volatile new marketplace. He covers a variety of flashpoint topics, including:

• Outsourcing
• Access to credit
•  Strategic planning and capital budgeting
•  Audit and control
• Risk management

Sagner also discusses the external focus of a CFO-acting as a conduit for a company’s financial health to the investment community and the board of directors-and why this new role is critical for a company’s success. The Real World of Finance is an absolute must-read for CFOs, treasurers, financial managers, controllers, and operations managers alike.

From the Back Cover

Rethinking traditional business rules in the new, global economy

In the old, industry-based economy, financial managers concerned themselves with little more than minimizing capital costs and maximizing returns. Today’s CFO, however, not only must act as a financial ambassador between the company, its board of directors, and the investment community, but also must confront radically new takes on bedrock concepts like profitability, working capital, and risk management. With his twelve simple lessons, insider James Sagner turns traditional financial thought on its head and cracks the code to the new economy in The Real World of Finance: 12 Lessons for the 21st Century.

Citing a variety of real-world successes and scandals of Fortune 500 companies, Sagner reveals how outdated financial principles can set dangerous precedents and expose corporations to unnecessary risks. He also shows how these lessons apply to the Enron collapse. He addresses a variety of topics, including:

• Financial responsibilities outside finance
• Noncredit banking services
• Rating agencies
• Investment banking
• The CFO’s focus

Financial managers cannot afford to rely on yesterday’s rules of thumb. With a lively, no-holds-barred style, James Sagner’s The Real World of Finance delivers a practical blueprint for financial success in the twenty-first century.