Since the 1970s, the practice of financing major private and public sector capital-intensive projects has shifted to an ever-greater reliance on private funding sources, as opposed to direct financing through the issuance of corporate or government bonds. In the 1990s, these financing practices have undergone further changes with the increasing globalization of capital markets, the growth of derivative instruments, and the rapid increase in information technology that enhances cash-management practices. Today's project financing market is increasingly using sophisticated capital market, bank and agency financing mechanisms as well as using derivative instruments for asset and liability management. Thus, financial market innovations are bringing the once separate fields of project financing and international finance more closely together. This is the first book to treat both topics as an interrelated whole, for contemporary project financing cannot be fully understood without a good working knowledge of the international financial markets that have developed the various financing techniques and funding sources being used. The book provides an in-depth description of cross-border project financing as a technique for financing capital-intensive projects, as well as an overview of certain financing and derivative instruments currently available in the global financial markets. The first part of the book provides an overview of certain funding and derivative instruments currently used in the international financial markets, including a general overview of financial innovations that have occurred in recent decades. Topics covered include an introduction to the syndicated Euro-credit market; an overview of various marketable debt securities actively used in the international financial markets; an introduction to depositary receipt as an innovative way of raising cross-border equity capital; an elaboration of the derivative instruments most commonly used in the project financing arena, including interest rate, currency and commodity swaps; and finally an overview of banks' off-balance sheet activities as a critical driving force for the participation of banks in the international financial and derivative markets. The second part of the book provides an in-depth analysis of project financing that concentrates on the financier's perspective. Topics covered include a general overview of the project financing industry; a step-by-step description of a typical cross-border project finance transaction; a description of the main characteristics and advantages of project financing as opposed to more traditional corporate lending practices; an overview of appraisal techniques for assessing project financing; a comprehensive analysis of the different risk management techniques used in project financing for reducing, distributing and hedging risks; and a brief overview of certain limited-resource financing schemes. The book includes a special focus on the various stages of the risk management process for project financing, elaborating on the different stages of risk identification, risk assessment, risk reduction, risk distribution and hedging and insurance. The authors also provide a comprehensive glossary of terms relating to international finance and project financing. This book will fulfill the need for an essential text on project financing as well as a professional reference guide.

Rationalization is concerned with making the most effective use of the resources available. In many places where this process is taking place it is plagued with public opposition and misunderstanding. Hitherto, rationalization in the acute care sector has primarily been concerned with closing sites, closing beds, moving beds between services, and moving beds from one site to another. This book discusses the need for rationalization in the context of health service reforms and future strategy. It considers recent changes in the health service, the case for rationalization, health care needs, the role of public relations, the future of the acute care hospital, site and facilities appraisal, and the costs of rationalization. The text is essential reading for managers and clinicians involved in acute care services, non-executive members of boards and trusts, and students of health services management.

Thrive in a changing industry by putting your people first Advisory Leadership is a practical and highly executable guide for financial advisors and finance professionals looking to thrive in today's changing financial services industry. Written by a leading financial advisor with practice improvement expertise, this book shows you how to master the art of leadership while remaining agile and adaptable. You'll learn the seven steps you must take to keep pace and thrive amidst the industry's evolution, with clearly articulated explanations and motivational action items. The discussion covers patience, integrity, compassion, respect, consistency, encouragement, and courage the foundations of success and continued growth and shows you how to practice what you preach with real strategies for living the vision and being a true leader. The financial services industry is at a crossroads, between a generation on the cusp of retirement and the new generation stepping in to take its place. This transition has been called a crisis of culture, of values, and of communication, but it's really an opportunity. This book faces the changes head-on, and delivers practical solutions that start and end with your greatest resource your people. * Unlock the secrets to a people-first company * Speak openly, walk the walk, and promote personal growth * Reward firm-wide collaboration and a team mentality * Reshape your company's DNA to thrive in today's financial environment The industry's overarching question is one of differentiation: how can your firm stand out amid the rise of robo-solutions and an unpredictable future? Advisory Leadership shows you how a people-focused company culture can elevate a firm from surviving to thriving.

Bridging the gap between the quantitative viewpoint of management science and the practical, day-to-day needs of project cost management, this well-balanced reference/text offers comprehensive coverage of an integrated cost management program. Emphasizing a systematic approach to cost control, Cost Management of Capital Projects presents the use of method study techniques to increase the effectiveness of procedures and improve the productivity of resources...addresses risk management...describes the planning phase of capital projects and demonstrates how scheduling and cost estimating are used to monitor performance...pinpoints methods to identify misleading information that may enter the system...defines productivity and production...outlines a system that measures performance against predetermined standards...explains how to control performance...and much more. Written by an acknowledged expert in both the industrial and academic aspects of the discipline, Cost Management of Capital Projects is an indispensable reference for cost engineers; and engineering, construction, and project managers; as well as an incomparable text for all upper-level undergraduate, graduate, and continuing-education students in business and engineering.

An honest assessment for how to determine your individual relationship with charitable giving in today's world

From world-renowned philanthropists Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies comes a comprehensive guide on how to be a canny, street-smart, effective philanthropist, regardless of your income level. It is also a perfect companion for nonprofit program and development executives who would like to introduce donors to their work and their organizations.

Despite their critical importance to philanthropy, donors have few resources for solid information about making their gifts-deciding what type of gift to give, how to structure it, the tax implications, what level of follow-up and transparency they should ask for and expect, and countless other complexities. This book fills that vacuum and helps you gain a special understanding of philanthropy as a business undertaking as well as a deeply personal, reflective process.

Drawing on decades of experience, the authors offer a fresh, enlivening approach to the nonprofit enterprise that, too often, is undervalued and thought of as the province of the burnt-out and the overwhelmed. Along with its many candid insights and memorable anecdotes, "The Art of Giving" also offers instruction on how to create a business plan for giving that works for you.

Originally published in 1976, this book discusses the management skills needed to evaluate, implement and control computer-based operation. Every chapter contains detailed check lists which guide the reader to formulate policies to deal with real situations. It provides a practical look at an indispensable tool of management, with a set of guidelines to help get the most out of the available technology.

Managerial decisions are considerably influenced by taxes: e.g. the choice of location, buying or leasing decisions, or the proper mix of debt and equity in the company's capital structure increasingly demand qualified employees in an economic environment that is becoming more and more complex. Due to the worldwide economic integration and constant changes in tax legislation, companies are faced with new challenges - and the need for information and advice is growing accordingly. This book's goal is to identify and quantify possible tax effects on companies' investment strategies and financing policies. It does not focus on details of tax law, but instead seeks to address students and practitioners focusing on corporate finance, accounting, investment banking and strategy consulting.

If you are starting or selling your own business, or wanting to expand your company, business plans are essential. Get expert guidance on how to make an impact with your business plan and successfully communicate your strategic vision. Whether it is to raise finance, sell a business or develop a specific project, this is your one-stop guide to producing the most professional and convincing business plan for a new venture. This 7th edition now features even more practical exercises, useful templates and top tips to help you write a comprehensive and compelling plan, as well as content on digital developments such as crowdfunding, online retailing and digital marketing. The Creating Success series of books... Unlock vital skills, power up your performance and get ahead with the bestselling Creating Success series. Written by experts for new and aspiring managers and leaders, this million-selling collection of accessible and empowering guides will get you up to speed in no time. Packed with clever thinking, smart advice and the kind of winning techniques that really get results, you'll make fast progress, quickly reach your goals and create lasting success in your career.

The power of purchasers exposes the weaknesses of conventional thinking on the costs and benefits of priorities. Health policy analysts now have to develop rational criteria to support decisions in a process which may be inherently intuitive. This authoritative and practical text points the way towards clear choices in resource allocation and the implications of these choices on expenditure diverted among different health care programmes.

This work focuses on the application of fundamental cost engineering principles to the capital and operating costs estimation of major projects. It provides detailed coverage of profitability, risk, and sensitivity analysis. This third edition: discusses novel strategies for calculating preliminary estimates using MasterFormat; presents new information on estimating the retrofitting and extension of existing plants; contains current international cost data; and more.;A solutions manual is available to instructors only.

In every developed country, health care managers, clinicians, purchasers and providers are having to extract greater output from cash-limited resources. This book reviews a wide range of areas of current concern together with the practical experience of those responsible for improvement and change. The opportunities and pitfalls they identify should stimulate innovation and fresh ideas in those faced with similar situations.

This book concerns itself with the key question: how to improve health in a cost effective and politically acceptable way. What makes people healthy? Why are the poor less healthy than the rich? Why do some countries have a better health record than others? An Introduction to Health is divided into four parts comprising the determinants of health, health service planning, health service financing, and controlling costs and securing user-friendly services.

The training and culture of dental practice is based on clinical treatment and patient care. However in order to run their practices efficiently dentists and their staff must have business acumen and knowledge for which most are unprepared. This clear and authoritative guide presents the facts of practice finance explains how practice income can be maximised through its various sources and identifies the pitfalls and opportunities for further development. The 'New Contract' and reforms to the NHS system emphasize the need for the dental profession to respond effectively to the changed environment and this concise and comprehensive reference has been designed to meet this need.

A convenient and up-to-date reference tool for today's financial and nonfinancial managers in public practice and private industry

If the very thought of budgets pushes your sanity over the limit, then this practical, easy-to-use guide is just what you need. "Budgeting Basics and Beyond, Fourth Edition" equips you with an all-in-one resource guaranteed to make the budgeting process easier, less stressful, and more effective. The new edition covers rolling budgets (forecasts), activity-based budgeting, life-cycle budgeting. Cloud computing, Balanced Scorecard, budgeting for nonprofit organizations, business simulations for executive and management training, and much more Includes several new software packages, computer-based models and spreadsheet applications, including Value Chain Management software, Financial Planning and Performance software, Web 2.0, Cloud computing, and capital budgeting softwareFeatures case studies, illustrations, exhibits, forms, checklists, graphs, samples, and worked-out solutions to a wide variety of budgeting, planning, and control problemsOffers financial planning and new types of financial modeling, variance analysis, Web-based budgeting, active budgeting illuminating "what-if" analyses throughout, spreadsheet applications, break-even analysis, project analysis, and capital budgeting

"Budgeting Basics and Beyond, Fourth Edition" is a practical, easy-to-use problem-solver and up-to-date reference tool for today's financial and nonfinancial managers in public practice and private industry.

This book presents case material on modern small business enterprises, in the form of profiles. These are constructed on a consistent basis for 17 small firms, and use a contemporary framework drawn from business strategy and industrial organization. Each profile is designed to show how an entrepreneur has tried to achieve a competitive advantage in the market-place by fighting against "extended rivalry", market competitors, buyers, suppliers, substitutes and potential entrants. As well as looking at comprehensive and defensive strategies, the book extends analysis to financial structure, including discussion of reasons for cash flow problems and problems associated with excessive "gearing". A comparative analysis of the profiles, grouped according to the degree of market concentration and associated market structure, enables new conclusions to be reached about resources of competitive advantage. The authors bring varied insight from managerial economics, industrial organization and small firms' consultancy. Their criterion was that the analysis should always be well-grounded in the reality of small business existence.

Arms investors with powerful new tools for measuring and managing the risks associated with the various illiquid asset classes With risk-free interest rates and risk premiums at record lows, many investors are turning to illiquid assets, such as real estate, private equity, infrastructure and timber, in search of superior returns and greater portfolio diversity. But as many analysts, investors and wealth managers are discovering, such investments bring with them a unique set of risks that cannot be measured by standard asset allocation models. Written by a dream team of globally renowned experts in the field, this book provides a clear, accessible overview of illiquid fund investments, focusing on what the main risks of these asset classes are and how to measure those risks in today's regulatory environment. * Provides solutions for institutional investors in need of guidance in today's regulatory environment * Offers detailed descriptions of risk measurement in illiquid asset classes, illustrated with real life case studies * Helps you to develop reliable risk management tools while complying with the regulations designed to contain the individual and systemic risks arising from illiquid investments * Features real-life case studies that capture an array of risk management scenarios you are likely to encounter

Authors have attempted to create coherent chapters and sections on how the fundamentals of maintenance cost should be organized, to present them in a logical and sequential order. Necessarily, the text starts with importance of maintenance function in the organization and moves to life cycle cost (LCC) considerations followed by the budgeting constraints. In the process, they have intentionally postponed the discussion about intangible costs and downtime costs later on in the book mainly due to the controversial part of it when arguing with managers. The book will be concluding with a short description of a number of sectors where maintenance cost is of critical importance. The goal is to train the readers for a deeper study and understanding of these elements for decision making in maintenance, more specifically in the context of asset management. This book is intended for managers, engineers, researchers, and practitioners, directly or indirectly involved in the area of maintenance. The book is focused to contribute towards better understanding of maintenance cost and use of this knowledge to improve the maintenance process. Key Features: * Emphasis on maintenance cost and life cycle cost especially under uncertainty. * Systematic approach of how cost models can be applied and used in the maintenance field. * Compiles and reviews existing maintenance cost models. * Consequential and direct costs considered. * Comparison of maintenance costs in different sectors, infrastructure, manufacturing, transport.

Essentials of Modeling and Analytics illustrates how and why analytics can be used effectively by loss prevention staff. The book offers an in-depth overview of analytics, first illustrating how analytics are used to solve business problems, then exploring the tools and training that staff will need in order to engage solutions. The text also covers big data analytical tools and discusses if and when they are right for retail loss prevention professionals, and illustrates how to use analytics to test the effectiveness of loss prevention initiatives. Ideal for loss prevention personnel on all levels, this book can also be used for loss prevention analytics courses. Essentials of Modeling and Analytics was named one of the best Analytics books of all time by BookAuthority, one of the world's leading independent sites for nonfiction book recommendations.

This book takes the readers step by step through the key skills and knowledge, to enable them to take control of their budget. It is helpful for the reader to learn how to find out the rules governing their budget, why budgets overspend and underspend and how to make a bid for increased funding.

1. The Origins and Purposes of Accounting and Budgeting.

2. Accounting and Budgeting Systems in Public and Nonprofit Organizations.

3. The First two A's of Budgeting: Approval and Adoption.

4. The Third A: Allocation.

5. Making a Budgeting System Work.

6. Understanding the Language of Accounting.

7. Tracking Financial Information: Core Accounting Processes.

8. Understanding Financial Statements.

9. Integrating Accounting and Budgeting Systems for Better Managerial Control.

10. Linking Past, Present, and Future Through Adjustments.

11. Conducting Manager Audits and Analysis.

Praise for "Fast Close: A Guide to Closing the Books Quickly"

"Steve captures the essence of the problems affecting the financial close process within corporations of all sizes; from the period close of subledgers and general ledger through financial reporting, and the relationship and interdependencies of governance, people and technology. A must-read for the corporate controller."
--David Taylor, ACMA, MBA, VP Strategy, Trintech Inc.

""Fast Close: A Guide to Closing the Books Quickly," Second Edition is a must-read for today's busy controllers. Steven Bragg points out everything that can be done outside the close that you just never realized didn't actually have to be part of the month-end close process Very commonsensical approach "
--Kathleen Schneibel, mba, cpa, Controller/CFO for Hire, KMAS Consulting LLC

"A well-executed 'fast close' can bring many valuable benefits to any company, from improving organizational performance to transforming accounting executives from financial historians to trusted advisors. In Fast Close, Second Edition, Steve systematically breaks down the steps required to achieve a fast close in both public and private companies, providing financial executives with tips, checklists, and a cost-effective road map to implement fast close procedures in virtually any company."
--Matthew Posta, Esq., CPA, Vice President of Finance, Key Air, LLC

FROM THE FIRST EDITION

"This is an outstanding book in which Steve reveals his secrets to a fast close. Having personally experienced his (one-day) fast close for years and enjoyed the beneficial impact on my company, I highly recommend this book for all financial officers who desire to have a large, favorable impact on their company."
--Richard V. Souders, President and CEO, Kaba Workforce Solutions

"This is a terrific book and the best I have read on the subject. Scott covers the economics and management issues in professional services with great authority and insight." Peter Doyle, Professor of Marketing, Warwick Business School
"What I find generally so praiseworthy is the balance of theory and practical application that runs throughout the book. Clearly, Mark Scott is someone well versed in the whole range of management sciences, yet able to ground this perspective in the world of real experience. This book accomplishes this in a natural, coherent and very readable way." John Zweig, CEO Specialist Communications Businesses, WPP Group USA Inc.
Spanning a diverse range of activities from accountancy to marketing communications, the professional services industry now accounts for up to 170f employment in the Western economies and had worldwide revenues in 1999 of around $800 billion. It is continuing to experience one of the most spectacular growth rates of any Western-dominated industry and is progressively cornering an ever larger share of industrial value added.
Yet, it remains one of the most unanalysed and undocumented areas of business acitivity. It has been subjected to little scrutiny and received minimal attention from the capital markets. This book aims to change all that!
The Professional Services Firm is intended for three key audiences:
* managers and owners of professional services firms who want to understand the strategic options they face and how to improve their financial performance.
* investors who want to understand how they can exploit the largely untapped and misunderstood opportunity the industry holds.
* managers inindustrial and service sectors who want to understand how to emulate the two critical skills mastered by PSFs - hiring, developing and retaining the best intellectual talent available and exploiting collective knowledge to achieve differentiation and to-die-for margins.
This seminal book provides not only the first real insight into the structure, strategy and economics of this huge and prosperous industry but also an excellent guide to understanding the challenges and opportunities it faces. Mark C. Scott's analysis of the professional services industry is an indispensible guide for anyone involved in these types of companies wishing to maximize performance and profitability.

Quality costs help to show the importance of quality-related activities to management; they demonstrate the cost of non-quality to an organization; they track the causes and effects of the problem, enabling the working out of solutions using quality improvement teams, and then monitoring progress. As a technique in the introduction and development of TQM, quality costing is a powerful tool for enhancing a company's effectiveness. Quality Costing provides pragmatic advice on how to set about introducing and developing a quality costing system and using the data that emerges. This third edition (strengthened by additional data from a range of organizations) provides sound practical guidance on how to define, identify, collect, measure, analyse, report and use quality costs. This established text has proved invaluable to managers and quality professionals, students and academics alike - the new edition ensures its continued position as the leading book in the field.

Now updated with new measurement methods and new examples, How to Measure Anything shows managers how to inform themselves in order to make less risky, more profitable business decisions This insightful and eloquent book will show you how to measure those things in your own business, government agency or other organization that, until now, you may have considered "immeasurable," including customer satisfaction, organizational flexibility, technology risk, and technology ROI. * Adds new measurement methods, showing how they can be applied to a variety of areas such as risk management and customer satisfaction * Simplifies overall content while still making the more technical applications available to those readers who want to dig deeper * Continues to boldly assert that any perception of "immeasurability" is based on certain popular misconceptions about measurement and measurement methods * Shows the common reasoning for calling something immeasurable, and sets out to correct those ideas * Offers practical methods for measuring a variety of "intangibles" * Provides an online database (www.howtomeasureanything.com) of downloadable, practical examples worked out in detailed spreadsheets Written by recognized expert Douglas Hubbard creator of Applied Information Economics How to Measure Anything, Third Edition illustrates how the author has used his approach across various industries and how any problem, no matter how difficult, ill defined, or uncertain can lend itself to measurement using proven methods.