Gorrod examines the many challenges for the next generation risk management system. Dramatic changes in market conditions, budgetary constraints, the evolving nature of risk within the financial organization, as well as the requirements of increasing regulation in the global market place have resulted in a totally different environment for risk systems. These applications must be functionally richer, have greater performance, provide seamless and improved integration, as well as being quick to deploy and cheaper to deliver and support. Recent advances in technology have provided a number of tools to help the risk technologist. This book summarizes these new trends and also arms the reader with the knowledge, tools and approaches required to survive in this new environment. Covering the requirements of the trader and risk manager, to how to decide whether and how to out-source or develop in-house, this book acts as the handbook for risk technologists to survive these challenges.

In the estimating, planning and management of any project, large or small, an understanding of the impact of risk is critical. This book explains how the growing number of people choosing to or forced to organise their work as projects can make realistic assessments of the uncertainty affecting costs, timescale and revenue, before commitments are made. A clear analysis of the role of uncertainty is combined in this concise and practical handbook with simple, cost-effective techniques for measuring and modelling the overall risk to a project’s budget and schedule. There is advice and help here for the whole project team, including project managers; bid managers; project sales professionals; planners; estimators; managers running a project-based business; and consultants and auditors advising a projects business. Drawn from the author’s extensive experience on projects ranging in scale from a few man-months to hundreds of man-years, the book will beelevant to anyone involved in a project-based business. Examples are presented as simple models, built in spreadsheets using the @Risk software package. No more than basic knowledge of Lotus 1-2-3^® or Excel^® will be required by the reader.

Mission Statement: The mission of the book series is to be consistent with the mission statement of the International Public Management Network (IPMN) that will sponsor the series. The mission of IPMN and the book series is to provide a forum for sharing ideas, concepts and results of research and practice in the field of public management, and to stimulate critical thinking about alternative approaches to problem solving and decision making in the public sector. The book series editors will seek to facilitate exchange and cooperative work among scholars interested in transformational change in the public sector in individual nations and around the world. Our intent will be to create and sustain a dialogue on emerging management concepts, methods and technology so that readers can learn about innovation and change in public sector organizations throughout the world. IPMN presently includes members representing 70 different countries approximately 600 representatives from these nations. As such, we have a solid base of subscription support for the book series within IPMN. For more information on IPMN see the website at: http://www.willamette.org/ipmn/about.html In addition, we want the series to appeal to members of the Public Sector section of the Academy of Management and to the members of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. Both editors belong to and participate actively in AOM and APPAM.

Financial analysis, modellng, simulation and knowledge engineering have become essential to the survival of every enterprise. This thorough and comprehensive book looks at the development and use of financial models for analysis and decision-making, showing the reader how to apply these methods in his or her own work.

OpRisk Awards 2020 Book of the Year Winner! The Authoritative Guide to the Best Practices in Operational Risk Management Operational Risk Management offers a comprehensive guide that contains a review of the most up-to-date and effective operational risk management practices in the financial services industry. The book provides an essential overview of the current methods and best practices applied in financial companies and also contains advanced tools and techniques developed by the most mature firms in the field. The author explores the range of operational risks such as information security, fraud or reputation damage and details how to put in place an effective program based on the four main risk management activities: risk identification, risk assessment, risk mitigation and risk monitoring. The book also examines some specific types of operational risks that rank high on many firms' risk registers. Drawing on the author's extensive experience working with and advising financial companies, Operational Risk Management is written both for those new to the discipline and for experienced operational risk managers who want to strengthen and consolidate their knowledge.

The modern business climate demands a new risk management strategy Mastering Strategic Risk: A Framework for Leading and Transforming Organizations is a comprehensive guide to redesigning organizational systems to better manage the risks and complexities of the modern world. Based on the notion of "Create, Facilitate, and Support," the book provides a roadmap to ensuring optimum performance in even the most challenging circumstances. Whether applied to a system or an entire organization, the ideas presented can help unlock a business's potential and ensure a sustainable advantage. Modern business leaders face unprecedented challenges, and risk management has become a strategic priority. Traditional management frameworks are outdated, and cannot be re-tooled to effectively account for the demands and complexities of the 21st century. Instead of adjusting old, ineffective models, businesses are better served by implementing an entirely new model custom-built to lead organizations through today's business environment. Mastering Strategic Risk describes this brand new framework, and provides the tools and background leaders need to remain effective in this new age. Topics include: * The three forces behind customer behavior, competitive advantage, and a culture of discipline * New major change agents that drive complexity and intensity * Tools that help identify and mitigate the biggest risks to operations * A new HR model to drive peak performance and galvanize employees The book contains well-known real-world examples from Wachovia, Toyota, World-Com, and Citrix, that illustrate key concepts within the new framework and demonstrate the core elements of modern risk management. For the savvy leader looking to push an organization to the next level, Mastering Strategic Risk: A Framework for Leading and Transforming Organizations provides a brand new model for effective management.

Risk Analysis: Foundations, Models, and Methods fully addresses the questions of "What is health risk analysis?" and "How can its potentialities be developed to be most valuable to public health decision-makers and other health risk managers?" Risk analysis provides methods and principles for answering these questions. It is divided into methods for assessing, communicating, and managing health risks. Risk assessment quantitatively estimates the health risks to individuals and to groups from hazardous exposures and from the decisions or activities that create them. It applies specialized models and methods to quantify likely exposures and their resulting health risks. Its goal is to produce information to improve decisions. It does this by relating alternative decisions to their probable consequences and by identifying those decisions that make preferred outcomes more likely. Health risk assessment draws on explicit engineering, biomathematical, and statistical consequence models to describe or simulate the causal relations between actions and their probable effects on health. Risk communication characterizes and presents information about health risks and uncertainties to decision-makers and stakeholders. Risk management applies principles for choosing among alternative decision alternatives or actions that affect exposure, health risks, or their consequences.

Managing productivity and profitability in retailing has taken on a particular role since the onset of the recession of the late 1980s. Productivity can be improved simply by rationalising low performing stores, merchandise ranges and by reducing the number of suppliers and employees. However, this is not necessarily a long term solution. The purpose of this text is to propose a means by which a more proactive approach may be taken to improving both productivity and profitability. The book develops a model based upon management ratios typically used in retailing businesses for planning and control purposes. The model encourages the use of existing performance data to evaluate overall company productivity and profitability together with performance characteristics of individual functions. An additional feature of the approach is the facility to explore the impact of changes to the retail offer suggested by customer research responses. To facilitate the use of the concepts and the model used, a disk is also available, containing the application of the model to a number of the case studies and a facility for the user to input their own data.

Lawrence W. Tuller pens an invaluable resource for business owners or buyers looking for accurate small business appraisals. How much a small business is worth can be difficult to determine, but when a business is about to change hands, a fair and objective valuation is crucial to the sale. This completely revised and updated book outlines the major valuation methods, including discounted cash flow, excess earnings, asset value, and income capitalization. This edition includes completely new material on the following topics: exploring the 8 myths of business valuations; using the Internet for research; and advice on startups and first generation service businesses. With this book, appraising a business has never been easier-or more accurate!

A new, more accurate take on the classical approach to volatility evaluation Inside Volatility Filtering presents a new approach to volatility estimation, using financial econometrics based on a more accurate estimation of the hidden state. Based on the idea of "filtering", this book lays out a two-step framework involving a Chapman-Kolmogorov prior distribution followed by Bayesian posterior distribution to develop a robust estimation based on all available information. This new second edition includes guidance toward basing estimations on historic option prices instead of stocks, as well as Wiener Chaos Expansions and other spectral approaches. The author's statistical trading strategy has been expanded with more in-depth discussion, and the companion website offers new topical insight, additional models, and extra charts that delve into the profitability of applied model calibration. You'll find a more precise approach to the classical time series and financial econometrics evaluation, with expert advice on turning data into profit. Financial markets do not always behave according to a normal bell curve. Skewness creates uncertainty and surprises, and tarnishes trading performance, but it's not going away. This book shows traders how to work with skewness: how to predict it, estimate its impact, and determine whether the data is presenting a warning to stay away or an opportunity for profit. * Base volatility estimations on more accurate data * Integrate past observation with Bayesian probability * Exploit posterior distribution of the hidden state for optimal estimation * Boost trade profitability by utilizing "skewness" opportunities Wall Street is constantly searching for volatility assessment methods that will make their models more accurate, but precise handling of skewness is the key to true accuracy. Inside Volatility Filtering shows you a better way to approach non-normal distributions for more accurate volatility estimation.

Cut warranty costs by reducing fraud with transparent processes and balanced control Warranty Fraud Management provides a clear, practical framework for reducing fraudulent warranty claims and other excess costs in warranty and service operations. Packed with actionable guidelines and detailed information, this book lays out a system of efficient warranty management that can reduce costs without upsetting the customer relationship. You'll dig into the whole spectrum of warranty fraud, from simple sloppy procedures to systematic organized crime, and get to know the fraudulent parties, the victims, as well as the objectives and methods of the fraudulent activities in different scenarios. You'll learn how to implement controls to detect and reduce fraudulent claims and decrease the overall warranty costs. The impact of fraudulent claims is plainly spelled out alongside detailed descriptions of typical symptoms and process gaps present in diverse companies. A comprehensive, multi-modal framework for robust warranty management is presented as a template for revamping your own company's strategy. Fraudulent warranty claims occupy an estimated 3-15 percent of the average company's warranty costs, which generally average between 1-4 percent of sales. Many companies are unaware of the issue or struggle to take action against the claims for fear of upsetting business partners, or because they lack tangible evidence. This book details a robust warranty control framework that institutes transparency and control over the whole warranty chain supporting the process far beyond just fraud reduction. * Understand the different actors (customers, sales channels, service agents, warranty providers, etc.) and different forms of warranty fraud * Uncover issues in your company's warranty processes * Learn methods to detect and prevent fraudulent activities * Implement a robust system of warranty cost control Warranty fraud is a major cost-control issue for most companies, but the sensitive nature of the topic leaves most reluctant to share their experiences and divulge their strategies. Warranty Fraud Management brings warranty fraud out into the open, and provides a clear, actionable framework for cost-savings through fraud reduction.

The valuation of intangible assets has become a central issue in the practice of management. When companies undertake alliances or licensing agreements, effect mergers, sell or purchase brands, or evaluate R&D projects, a key issue is how each party puts a financial value on the intangible contribution. Valuations also have a tax implication, particularly in transnational operations. The contributors, including academics from five nations and expert practitioners from leading accounting and consulting companies, cover intellectual property strategy of global firms, valuation of human capital, and valuation techniques for the transfer or sale of brands, licenses, and other intangible assets.

In addition, the contributors address the special needs of the software and pharmaceutical sectors in separate chapters. This book includes tools, metrics, and models that are of interest to academics as well as global executives. Recommended for valuation experts, scholars, international tax specialists, executives (especially those involved in alliance negotiations, brand equity, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and intellectual property management), and officials in such supranational institutions as the EU, OECD, UNCTAD, WTO, IMF, and World Bank.

Learn to understand the language of finance so you can confidently make the correct financial decisions within your business.

It is essential for managers to understand financial information such as departmental budgets, forecasts, strategy plans and targets, this book will show readers how to transform seemingly complex financial information and statistics into data that makes sense.

Readers will learn the language of finance, helping them identify the warning signals and understand key performance indications and ratios. They will learn how to make better financial decisions, identify ways to increase profits and increase their confidence in approaching capital projects and making sound business decisions.

The FT Guide to Finance for Non-Financial Managers will help readers:

• Understand finance and financial reports
• Communicate more coherently and comprehensively with financially astute third parties such as shareholders and investors
• Be better positioned to understand the health of their business or business unit
• Take a more proactive role in helping the business achieve its goals
• Have a better understanding of finance which will allow them to enhance their own careers
• Have a more comprehensive understanding of accountancy and appreciate that data has strengths and weaknesses.

Financial Engineering is a text with a methodological thread, making it appropriate as a reference text. Risk management and measure and control of volatility is a major theme, but broader financial issues are also covered to provide the reader with a conceptual framework to manipulate and evaluate financial instruments. Errington's text analyses the spectrum of financial engineering including explanations of financial axioms and mathematical techniques with a summary of the instruments and worked examples of how they operate. As well as risk management, arbitrageurs are also catered for, to show how instruments can be valued, deconstructed and repackaged.

"Accounting for Improvement" offers concrete and constructive demonstrations of the possibilities of designing participative forms of organization. Field experiment cases illustrate how the operational level can assume a new significance in competitiveness and strategic positioning. In this way, the relevance of the accounting function to the improvement of productivity and quality is restored.

Several broadly applicable lessons can be learnt, among them: how companies can strengthen their competitive base by patient improvement; how people with operative jobs can take command of their work situation and improve it in quality as well as efficiency.

New bottom-up, people-orientated, empirically-founded approaches to decentralised participative management demonstrate a place for individuals and teamwork in today's "lost relevance" and "smart machine" environment.

Make a fast, effective impact on the financial success of your business. Setting the optimum price for your products and services that's right for your customers and market, is vital to success. But how do you know what you're charging is doing the best job possible? In this smart, savvy Authority Guide, pricing expert Shaz Nawaz takes you step by step through everything you need to know to build a solid, reliable pricing strategy for your business. Thrive, flourish and open the door to instant increased turnover, the best customers and accelerated growth with the key to profitable pricing.

News Professor Cheng-Few Lee ranks #1 based on his publications in the 26 core finance journals, and #163 based on publications in the 7 leading finance journals (Source: Most Prolific Authors in the Finance Literature: 1959-2008 by Jean L Heck and Philip L Cooley (Saint Joseph's University and Trinity University). Based on the authors' extensive teaching, research and business experiences, this book reviews, discusses and integrates both theoretical and practical aspects of financial planning and forecasting. The book is divided into six parts: Information and Methodology for Financial Analysis, Alternative Finance Theories and Their Application, Capital Budgeting and Leasing Decisions, Corporate Policies and Their Interrelationships, Short-term Financial Decisions, Financial Planning and Forecasting, and Overview.The theories used in this book are pre-Modigliani-Miller Theorem, Modigliani-Miller Theorem, Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing Theory, and Option Pricing Theory. The interrelationships among these theories are carefully analyzed. Meaningful real-world examples of using these theories are discussed step-by-step, with relevant data and methodology. Alternative planning and forecasting models are also used to show how the interdisciplinary approach is helpful in making meaningful financial management decisions.

"Fundraising Analytics: Using Data to Guide Strategy Fundraising Analytics" shows you how to turn your nonprofit's organizational data?with an appropriate focus on donors?into actionable knowledge. The result? A vibrant, donor-centered nonprofit organization that makes maximum use of data to reveal the unique diversity of its donors. It provides step-by-step instructions for understanding your constituents, developing metrics to gauge and guide your success, and much more.

This work provides a comprehensive look at the latest developments in lease financing. Rather than offering an exposition of leasing theory, Nunnally, Plath, and Johns present the application of this theory to actual business situations. The various types of leases are clearly delineated, including their advantages, disadvantages, and appropriate use. In emphasizing decision-making techniques, the authors incorporate into the volume the tax implications of leasing, the lease versus buy material, and the major contributions of academic research in leasing, with an explanation of how the research both increases the use value of leasing and applies to actual financing problems.

The volume is written in a clear, readable style and is divided into five subject areas: leasing concepts, analytical foundations of leasing, reporting for leases, evaluating lease transactions, and the role of leasing in modern financial management. The authors begin the book with a description of the types of leases and their tax, cash flow, and profit implications. A full chapter focuses on the fundamental techniques of time value of money and capital budgeting, which underlie lease analysis; these techniques are subsequently used to illustrate basic principles of lease valuation. Simple numerical examples introduce different lease valuation methods, and explain how to calculate rate of return and identify the appropriate rate of discount. Several contract provisions that complicate lease valuation problems are discussed, including variable rate lease payments, leveraged lease arrangements, and sale-and-leaseback transactions. The work concludes with a survey of contemporary leasing practices and costs. This study will be an important asset for all types of financial managers, as well as for students in finance and accounting courses and for both public and academic libraries.

Also Available as a Time Warner AudioBook

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In the past, companies taught their employees about quality. In today's unstable economy, employers must stress the importance of profitability. Now with scores of examples from the global marketplace, the bestselling coauthor of The Profit Zone and Profit Patterns takes you to a higher level in the art of business. Each of the twenty-three chapters in this concise, challenging book presents a different, powerful business model…and a provocative dialogue between an extraordinary teacher called David Zhao and his young protégé. Revealed are the invisible but significant governing principles that allow businesses to survive and prosper in any economic climate. By participating in each session with the exuberant, challenging master, you too will learn how your company and your competitors generate profit...what approach best applies to your profit-making strategy...what specific actions your organization can take in the next ninety days to improve its bottom line...and more.

"Risk is an inescapable feature of investing, and risk, more than anything else, is what this fine book is all about."
–Peter L. Bernstein

Praise for this Second Edition

"For those looking for a serious introduction to the concepts and tools of quantitative financial analysis, this is a great book. The focus is economics and statistics as applied to financial markets. Though the topics are technical, the author’s wit and good sense of humor are evident throughout."
–Bob Litterman, head of the Quantitative Resources Group, Goldman Sachs Asset Management

"This book is an essential resource for the thoughtful practitioner and serious student of finance. Kritzman straightforwardly introduces the reader to tools and concepts of huge significance in finance and investment management today. Neither brain candy nor mental steroids, this book is solid intellectual protein. Buy it. Study it. Bulk up."
–Robert F. Bruner, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Executive Director of the Batten Institute, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia

"This is a wonderful collection of wide-ranging essays on financial analysis written by a preeminent practitioner in a remarkably lucid style . . . don’t leave home without it!"
–Andrew W. Lo, Harris & Harris Group Professor, MIT Sloan School

Praise for the First Edition

"In one book, Mark Kritzman covers the key tools of modern investment practice. Clear, concise, and always to the point, the treatment is succinct but never superficial. This valuable volume should be included in the library of every serious investor."
–Dr. William F. Sharpe, Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University and Nobel Prize Laureate, 1990, Economic Sciences

"Mark Kritzman makes the recondite transparent, the technical accessible, and the horrendously complex elegantly simple. Keep this book close at hand and you won’t have to figure out these difficult issues again (and again and again)."
–Jack R. Meyer, President and CEO, Harvard Management Company, Inc.

This book is designed as a guide to the world of finance. It provides an opportunity to learn the language of the financial world. It also sets out the concepts and conventions of managerial finance and the main topographical features of the new territory of the statement of financial position, (balance sheet) income statement and cash flow statement. The information is offered in as simple a manner as the subject matter allows. Even a layman will glean valuable tips on how to manage finance in terms of systems and units of administration, and thus be better equipped to understand financing and investment decisions. The book is ideal for the first year student as additional reading material in order to grasp basic concepts. The book is also written for executive courses such as 'Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers". Given the above, the book can be subscribed by all universities offering financial management as a subject, as well as all other organisations offering executive training. The book is also ideal as reading material for non-financial managers that want to get to grips with the basic principles of the subject matter.

Learn how to use managerial economics to diagnose and solve business problems with Froeb/McCann/Ward/Shor's MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS: A PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH, 6E. This breakthrough text, designed specifically for upper-level and M.B.A. students like you, offers a succinct and fast-paced, yet challenging, approach full of invaluable insights. This edition incorporates less math and fewer technical models, graphs and figures than traditional managerial economics texts, while emphasizing the real decisions that today's managers face daily. The authors use models only to help you determine why mistakes are made and how to fix them. The latest economic updates introduce the most recent economic developments and current economic challenges worldwide. You learn how to apply economic theory to even the most formidable business challenges as interactive applications and MindTap digital resources reinforce understanding. Meaningful insights make this learning guide useful now and throughout your business career.