Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This concise yet comprehensive introduction aims to outline the core principles of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), laying them out in an accessible manner with minimum technical detail. The applied nature of the subject is emphasized by showing how each of the principles is applied to an actual public policy intervention, covering transport, education, health and the environment. Robert J. Brent demonstrates how economic efficiency and equity can be combined as social objectives to help determine decisions that can increase satisfaction for all. Covering the fundamental principles, this book presents applications for every concept discussed and lays the foundations for further study in the field. It combines distribution with efficiency as the objectives of public policy, compares the CBA methodology with competing methods of allocating resources that satisfy basic needs, and analyses CBA from the perspective of modern applied welfare economics. The main conclusion is that CBA is the basis for understanding any kind of public policy decision regardless of the field of study, be that government expenditure, taxation or regulation, and irrespective of the tangible or intangible outcome the policy is attempting to influence. Both accessible and erudite, the Advanced Introduction to Cost Benefit Analysis will be essential reading for students of health, education, transportation, public finance, regulation, environmental and development economics, and political science, as well as the general reader interested in understanding how public policy should be implemented. Furthermore, the insightful analysis will appeal to practitioners working in government, public institutions and NGOs.

In today's increasingly litigious climate, corporate directors can be held personally liable for the financial misconduct of corporate employees. In this comprehensive volume, Fertakis provides the practical information corporate board members need to correctly interpret the financial data and operating statements presented to them for review and approval. Written in a style accessible to directors who are not financial specialists, the book shows how to spot clues in financial statements to potentially serious underlying problems, how to evaluate and understand financial presentations, and how to obtain an accurate picture of a company's financial affairs.

This volume, inspired by and dedicated to the work of pioneering investment analyst, Jack Treynor, addresses the issues of portfolio risk and return and how investment portfolios are measured. In a career spanning over fifty years, the primary questions addressed by Jack Treynor were: Is there an observable risk-return trade-off? How can stock selection models be integrated with risk models to enhance client returns? Do managed portfolios earn positive, and statistically significant, excess returns and can mutual fund managers time the market? Since the publication of a pair of seminal Harvard Business Review articles in the mid-1960's, Jack Treynor has developed thinking that has greatly influenced security selection, portfolio construction and measurement, and market efficiency. Key publications addressed such topics as the Capital Asset Pricing Model and stock selection modeling and integration with risk models. Treynor also served as editor of the Financial Analysts Journal, through which he wrote many columns across a wide spectrum of topics. This volume showcases original essays by leading researchers and practitioners exploring the topics that have interested Treynor while applying the most current methodologies. Such topics include the origins of portfolio theory, market timing, and portfolio construction in equity markets. The result not only reinforces Treynor's lasting contributions to the field but suggests new areas for research and analysis.

Until recently, profit in the television industry went to the owners of the conduit, the distributors of content. As the industry enters the digital age, the distribution bottleneck will disappear and be replaced by the content creators themselves. This book explains patterns of profitability from the golden age of television to the emerging digital age. Television today is not just 500 channels: it is countless millions of hours of programming stored on video servers around the world. For media companies wanting to create value in this new era, including the major networks, digital branding is key. Just as consumers manage to make their way in 30 seconds through a 100-foot aisle jammed with hundreds of boxes of cereal by reaching for a box of whatever name brand product they know and love, viewers will also navigate through the vast wasteland of content by returning to their favorite digital brand.

This book provides detailed historical data, financial models, and informed discussion of profitability trends in the industry. It offers a framework for understanding and predicting profitability and describes the nature of branding as it applies to the television industry. It shows how a handful of dominant brands will emerge as sought-after organizers of content. Investors, industry consultants and executives, policy makers, students and academics will all find this book fascinating and informative.

All organizations, institutions, business processes, markets and strategies have one aim in common: the reduction of transaction costs. This aim is pursued relentlessly in practice, and has been perceived to bring about drastic changes, especially in the recent global market and the cyber economy. This book analyzes and describes "transactions" as a model, on the basis of which organizations, institutions and business processes can be appropriately shaped. It tracks transaction costs to enable a scientific approach instead of a widely used "state-of-the-art" approach, working to bridge the gap between theory and practice. This open access book analyzes and describes "transactions" as a model...

This book is the first attempt to re-define objective risk. It addresses the cost of running out of capital as a generalized cost syndrome and explains how it is possible to describe this cost in such a way as to give it practical, real-life significance for personal finances, company finances and the economy as a whole. The discussion begins by presenting an intuitive and useful definition of risk: the probability of prospective capital shortfall. From this point it establishes a risk theory and expands the work of major thinkers such as Frank Knight and John Maynard Keynes, and adds reserve capital as a new financial risk management tool, with an economic function that is different from savings. This book will be of interest to economists, politicians, and decision makers as well as to the general public.

Take control of your investment decisions The investment industry is in a state of inertia. Recent events highlight an overreliance on mathematical foundations and flawed investment models. Investors need to find new paths to effective wealth creation. The Empowered Investor provides a proven framework for wealth creation. Built around 7 key principles and practical real-world examples, the book provides insight into the limitations of traditional investment concepts, and illustrates how investors can take control of their investments. Instead of relying on often flawed financial advice, investors need to develop their own investment approach, drawing on their unique skill sets and experiences. This book: -Presents a practical strategy for wealth creation, based on practical experience and sound theoretical foundation; -Provides real world cases and excerpts from interviews with highly successful investors; -Demonstrates how investors can build on their core strengths, exploit opportunities and differentiate their investments; -Illustrates how to protect a portfolio from threats and risks This book will help you: -Build on your core strengths; -Identify and make the most of new opportunities; -Cultivate quality networks; -Differentiate your investments; -Protect yourself against threats and risks; -Understand and manage the time dimension; -Execute with efficiency. Written in a practical and straightforward manner, The Empowered Investor provides a robust strategic toolkit for investors, bringing the individual to the core of the investment strategy and creating new opportunities for wealth creation.

The question that faces governments and militaries the world over is how best to allocate resources for management of defence in the new age. This book, by Shri A.K. Ghosh who has an economics background, explores the framework for change in resource allocation and capability building. It emphasises the importance of introducing programming in Indian defence to serve as a link between defence planning and budgeting. The mismatch between defence planning and budgeting needs to be connected by the introduction of resource constrained budgeting, having a multi-year perspective. The RMA, force modernisation, cost-benefit analysis, management of risks, and internal and external audits are among the many issues the author has provided a perspective on. It is argued by the author that defence needs to be viewed as a giant business and, where possible, business practices should be introduced. The book is recommended reading for the planners and decision-makers of defence management and will benefit readers from the armed forces as well. The lay readers interested in the subject of national defence and security will also find it useful and interesting.

Managers in all types of organizations and at all levels of supervision have the responsibility to investigate using negotiation and ADR to determine how they can reduce the harmful impact of litigation. The book deals with recognizing and understanding the problems, costs and reasons behind excessive litigation. The author describes the strong relationship that occurs between improving one's negotiation skills and making use of formal ADR techniques designed to resolve disputes. This book is for managers at the higher levels of supervision and in both private and public organizations, in-house attorneys and attorneys from outside legal firms that service corporate accounts.

The author first addresses the issue of the history and reasons behind the proliferation and expense of lawsuits in the business world. A risk-return framework is presented to help managers assess the costs, both direct and indirect, of alternative actions they can take. The impact of wrongful-dismissal suits is given an in-depth discussion. After addressing the traditional client-lawyer model, the author offers tools such as the legal-dispute audit, the manager's dispute resolution decision tree, and detours to lawsuits. A thorough analysis of both negotiations and ADR techniques follows. The book concludes with chapters on arbitration, mediation, mini-trials, and private judging. A list of where to find service providers, professional societies, and research organizations is also included.

To create an enhanced quality of life, attract business relocation, and enhance equity in access to public infrastructure, governmental bodies must take certain precautions with their money. Budgeting at such a high level requires careful evaluation and research that addresses every aspect of financial management. Capital Management and Budgeting in the Public Sector provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of long-term capital planning, annual capital budgeting, capital budget execution, and public spending evaluation. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as fiscal federalism, political regime, and project execution management, this book is ideally designed for managers, accountants, professionals, practitioners, and researchers working in the areas of public finance and/or international development.

A firM's value consists of its assets-in-place and growth opportunities: its investment opportunity set. IOS plays a major role in determining a firM's corporate and accounting strategies, and how the marketplace reacts to them. Riahi-Belkaoui shows how IOS can be examined, measured, and used as one way to understand the various accounting and nonaccounting strategies espoused by management. His book fills a gap in the literature on this timely and provocative topic, and provides useful knowledge for upper management, academics, and graduate-level students.

The importance of the IOS concept is beginning to be acknowledged in the literature of empirical accounting, finance, and management. There, the investment opportunity set is introduced as an explanatory or moderating variable of the relationship between accounting and economic phenomena and various predictor variables. Riahi-Belkaoui explicates a concept of growth opportunities or IOS (Chapter 1) and provides a general model for its measurement (Chapter 2). He shows its role in a general valuation model based on dividend yield and price earnings ratio (Chapter 3), in the relationship between profitability and multinationality (Chapter 4), in the determination of capital structure (Chapter 5), in a general model of international production (Chapter 6), in a general model of corporate disclosure (Chapter 7), in the relationship between systematic risk and multinationality (Chapter 8), in a model of reputation building (Chapter 9), and earnings management (Chapter 10). He goes on to discuss its role in explaining the relative market value compared to the accounting value of a multinational firm in Chapter 11, and in differentiating between the usefulness of accrual and cash flow based on valuation models in Chapter 12.

(Music Pro Guide Books & DVDs). Martin Kamenski, a practicing CPA, unleashes years of tax experience on the creative community. He offers explanations in language that is easy for the most number-illiterate to understand. His Chicago-based practice serves clients nationwide and offers artists and creative professionals the explanations they need to make sense of the tangled web of the IRS. Kamenski provides guidance about when to treat yourself as a business. He will advise on the important considerations before incorporating. He will shatter some of the most prevalent (and costly) myths existing in the artistic community. Suitable for any actor, writer, musician, dancer, photographer, director, model, visual artist, band, production company, etc., etc., etc., Kamenski has taken the very fine-tuned method of explaining taxes that made his practice successful and condensed it in a book that will pay for itself tenfold. The playing field is about to be leveled. Prepare to feel in control of your financial future!

Computer programs that simulate complex processes in the real world can provide a quantitative tool for determining how much debt can be added safely to a company's capital structure. The increasing number of bankruptcies and defaults in today's international business arena result from debt overload and point to major shortcomings in the conventional financial evaluation process. In this book, Roy L. Nersesian describes why current methods of risk management fail and how computer simulation can be employed to determine the safe level of debt more accurately. Because the decision to add debt to an organization requires favorable, and essentially independent, decisions from both the borrower and lender, it is necessary to quantify both perspectives. Through actual examples readers will learn how to do this and to translate an actual business situation into a simulation model or program.

Current evaluation systems, according to Nersesian, fail to incorporate the cyclical nature of business activity. They result all too often in an overly optimistic projection of cash flow. Simulation techniques are better able to incorporate the transience of good times and put quantitative analysis of risk on par with quantitative analysis of reward. Simulation techniques also reduce the role of speculative, and highly subjective, judgment. For example, decisionmakers who are not familiar personally with a particular business area, assign more risk to that area than those who are. A quantified risk management system enables executives to rank projects by the degree of risk much as they currently rank them by degree of profitability. The book presents the concept of simulation in terms that can be understood by generalists in corporations and financial institutions. At the same time, it provides computer programmers with an understanding of risk management principles. It will provide a valuable resource for: financial executives, planners and strategists in corporate and governmental organizations; bank lending officers; and computer programmers working with these organizations.

Financial management practices are likely to have a marked effect on the financial performance of a corporate enterprise. Therefore, sound financial decisions/practices can contribute towards meeting the desired objective of having profitable operations. This subject assumes paramount significance in view of the present dynamic and turbulent business environment, which has produced more intense competition and smaller profit margins across the world. In this context, the financial management practices of the corporates in India, a country with a vast potential for economic growth, can offer valuable insights. The present study explores whether there has been a major change in the financial performance (measured in terms of profitability) and financial policies/decisions of the sample companies over a fixed period (2000-2001 to 2010-2011), with a special focus on pre and post-recession analysis. It delves deeper into current research areas such as zero working capital, real options in capital budgeting, pecking order in capital structures, and clause 49 as reflected in the financial management decisions of sample companies, and provides a broader perspective by identifying trends (if any) in certain aspects of financial decision-making over the past two decades. A comprehensive study, covering all the major aspects of financial management practices, also contains an inter-sectoral study (among the sample companies) and develops an index of professionalism in financial management based on the practices of the sample companies. The book is primarily targeted at teachers/students of finance, management, commerce, accounting and related professional disciplines/fields. Practitioners/professionals will find it an invaluable text that helps guide them to better decision-making.

Economic Risk in Hydrocarbon Exploration provides a total framework for assessing the uncertainties associated with exploration risk from beginning to end. Numerous examples with accompanying microcomputer algorithms illustrate how to quantitatively approach economic risk. The text compares detailed assumptions and models of economic risk, and presents numerical examples throughout to facilitate hands-on calculations using popular spread-sheet packages on personal computers.
Key Features
* Covers economic risk from exploration through production models
* Brings methods to a level where all can be done on a PC
* Analyzes numerical examples from the real world
* Removes "mystery" from how economics is done
* Addresses assumptions in models and shows how they influence projections

An important roadmap for fundraising in today’s multicultural communities

Raising money in today’s diverse communities is a growing challenge for fundraisers and philanthropists, requiring thoughtful strategies, successful collaborations, and a respectful understanding of people’s differences.

In this groundbreaking new book, the author examines today’s four major ethnic groups–African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American–in terms of their diverse histories, traditions, and motivations, and then applies this information to the proven components of successful fundraising. The result is a timely and important look at how fundraisers can use an understanding of ethnic differences to create a vibrant and balanced nonprofit center through both individual and collective efforts.

In clear, easy-to-understand language, Cultivating Diversity in Fundraising answers the following critical questions:

• Who are diverse donors?
• What are their charitable traditions and interests?
• What fundraising methods will be successful in diverse communities?
• What can fundraisers do to include more diversity in fundraising efforts?

Designed as a guide to fundraising as well as a strategic update for existing fundraisers, this book should be required reading for anyone working in today’s nonprofit sector.

Payment systems are the indispensable infrastructure for financial markets and business activities. Every commercial trade and financial transaction is finalized only when the final settlement is made through a payment system. If operational failures would occur in a payment system, preventing smooth transfers of funds, national economies and financial markets would be thrown into extreme confusion and seriously damaged. Therefore, the safety and efficiency of payment systems is incredibly important for national economies and financial systems to function effectively. Payment System Technologies and Functions: Innovations and Developments is valuable tool for those interested in learning about payment systems, including academics and researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, relevant parties of authority and central banks, and professionals in payment business who need a complete understanding of payment systems. This reference promotes a better understanding of payment systems and encourages progress on enhancing the safety and efficiency of payment systems.

Bloomberg says "sell," but CNBC says "buy." "Don't you dare tap your home equity " says one money expert. "Home equity line rates are at all time lows," the other expert says. Who are you supposed to believe? Does this sound familiar to you? If so, "The One Minute Financial Planner" is for you. Written to bridge the gap arising from a school system somewhat lacking in sound money management principles, The "One Minute Financial Planner" is filed with useful truths and actionable, easy-to-implement steps that will help make any reader more financially confident. Divided into six general segments, the articles inside the book will help you address misconceptions about dozens of situations that arise every day, whether it's using a stop-loss order for your biggest stock position or figuring out if your revocable living trust does everything you want it to. The "One Minute Financial Planner" is practice, not theory. Written by a practicing financial planner with over six years' experience at two major Wall Street firms, it breaks down the complex world of finance into sixty common misconceptions people have about investing, planning, and retirement. Best of all, each topic is short, clear, and ends with several real-world, right-now things you can do to improve your financial literacy. Got a minute? Spend it with the "One Minute Financial Planner." Your financial well-being may depend on it.

Financial analysis, based on ratio analysis, has been used as a tool for analyzing the financial strength of corporations. Although ratio analysis is generally used as a univariate strategy, the accounting and finance literature has evolved to include multivariate-based models in financial analysis, and these models can be used to explain important economic events and often predict them. Thus, in an exhaustive coverage of the economic events to which they can be applied, Riahi-Belkaoui discusses these models in a way that will have special value to corporate management, financial planners, and to their colleagues in the academic community who specialize in business and economic analysis.

This textbook provides a fundamental overview of the application of engineering economic principles to transportation infrastructure investments. Basic theory is presented and illustrated with examples specific to the transportation field. It also reviews the history of transportation finance, as well as current methods for funding transportation investments in the U.S. Future problems and potential solutions are also discussed and illustrated.