Personal health budgets are an important new tool to improve the lives of people living with long-term conditions and disabilities by giving them greater choice and control over their healthcare.This is the first step-by-step guide to their implementation. Using current evidence and best practice identified by pilot sites, Delivering personal health budgets contains everything there is to know about the purpose and history of personal health budgets, the evidence for their effectiveness and the challenges they pose to traditional healthcare systems. It describes the essential infrastructure needed for personal health budgets and includes implementation checklists.The book focuses on how personal health budgets can be implemented to achieve the best possible outcomes for individuals, while real life stories from personal health budget holders bring their potential vividly to life. Delivering personal health budgets is essential reading for commissioners, healthcare providers, clinicians and policy makers who are looking for an informative and authoritative guide.

Praise for "Yours for the Asking: An Indispensable Guide to Fundraising and Management"

"Reynold Levy is a master at persuading people to give money--lots of money--to worthy causes. Now he shares his wisdom with us all--and at a bargain price "
--Tom Brokaw

"Ren Levy is the master of his trade. He can squeeze big dollars out of a stone and he tells here just how to do it. Anyone raising money for a good cause must read this book "
--John C. Whitehead, former Co-Chairman and Senior Partner of Goldman Sachs and former United States Deputy Secretary of State

"Ren Levy has written the definitive handbook on fundraising. It should be required reading for boards of directors and senior staff of nonprofit organizations. The lessons learned from Ren's broad experience are equally relevant to corporate executives as they endeavor to establish and strengthen customer relationships."
--Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo

"I have raised money for a living for several decades. But I could not articulate better than Reynold Levy has done in Yours for the Asking the many secrets to successfully acquiring investors. If you wish to learn how to politely and effectively ask for contributions to a favorite organization or cause, you really need to purchase this highly readable, enjoyable and useful book."
--David Rubenstein, Co-founder and Managing Director, The Carlyle Group

The finance basics that experts and top professionals understand. Get results fast with this quick, easy guide to the fundamentals of Finance. Includes how to: * Analyse a business from its financial reports * Understand a Profit and Loss account * Make sense of accounting jargon * Build a financially sound business plan * Deal with revenue, profit and cashflow

Business of all sizes have a problem: How do you knowin real timewhether you are earning the profit you need to grow or even just stay in business? And which products or services are doing the heavy lifting in contributing to profit? Financial statements tell only part of the story. They are backward looking, for one thing, and they generally show results only in the aggregate. Worse, they never seem to reflect the hard work you're doing on a daily basis. As one manager said, If I'm adding 25% profit to every job, why am I getting barely 5% net profit at the end of the year? Improving Profit: Using Contribution Metricsto Boost the Bottom Line solves this dilemma. As this book shows, Contribution-Based Activity (CBA) measures focus on two key levers that are fundamental to the operation of any business: financial contribution and units of activity. Knowing how to use these levers gets your company off the treadmill and on your way to stellar profitability. And as the 21 case studies show, CBA is surprisingly easy to apply to businesses of all types and all sizes. What is financial contribution? Simply the amount above and beyond the cost of goods or materials sold that contributes to covering overhead and creating profit. As entrepreneur, business consultant, and professor Keith Cleland shows, few managers actually know the financial contribution their products and services make, nor how to amplify that contribution by incremental adjustments to one or both levers. As you'll learn, the financial tool Cleland created, TARI (Target Average Rate Index), provides insight into each product's value. You'll not only learn which products are contributing the most to the bottom line, but how to unlock the profit potential in run-of-the-mill products or services. Improving Profit will help you: Restore and boost profit levels for your entire operation Relate your daily efforts toa transaction'sactual profitability Focus on the two key performance indicators that can help you identify and solve problems affecting finance and productivity Help everyone in the companyfrom CEO to janitorunderstand how their activities help or hinder the company's fortunes Make effective financial decisions

If you've ever wondered why your results don't match your hard work, hopes, and dreams, read this book. As the case studies make clear, identifying and applying TARI results in a significantand often dramaticboost to the bottom-line. What you'll learn Readers will learn to: Improve the profitability of a job, product, service, or department Price products and services correctly Conserve cash and avoid financial crunches Win desirable quotes and tenders Identify and track productivity Who this book is for

This book is for business managers, directors, consultants, students, professors, CPAs, and business advisers of all types. Table of Contents Background to Contribution-Based Activity (CBA) Kitchen Utensil Manufacturer Taken to the Cleaners Printing Business Multiplies Net Profit by 500% Furniture Manufacturer Climbs Out of the Red Contractor Overcomes Competition to Make a Profit Horticultural Equipment Proprietor's Moment of Truth Wholesaler Nets $2.5M in 10+ Months Jeweler's Changed Focus Turns Red into Black Upmarket Cafe Learns How to Stay on Track Diesel Repair Shop Rescued from Sand-Up- Hill Country Garment Maker Multiplies Net Profit by 700% Switchboard Manufacturer Climbs into the Black Baker Identifies W here the Rubber Meets the Road Architectural Practice Eradicates a Malignant Cancer Accounting Firm Wins by Losing a Third of Its Fees Legal Firm Transfers Productivity to the Bottom Line Contractor Increases Strike Rate to 1 in 4 Hot Bread Baker Discovers More to Bread than Flour Window Manufacturer's Flawed Foundation Multi-Home Contractor Discovers a New Way Home Award-Winning Hairdressing Salon Cuts Its Way Out of Bankruptcy Multi-Department Store Whitewashes the Past 14 Businesses Explore CBA/TARI Questions Answered Fast-Track Problem Resolution Guide Definition of Terms The Business Wheel Epilogue: Why Contribution Metrics?

In this practical and engaging guide, top fundraising consultant Mal Warwick introduces an entirely new and revolutionary approach to fundraising strategy and planning. He shows nonprofit organizations how to set fundraising goals based on mission and how to select, implement, and stay with the right strategies to meet those goals. His five fundamental fundraising strategies are Growth, Involvement, Visibility, Efficiency, and Stability (GIVES), all of which link directly to specific and appropriate fundraising goals. The decision as to which strategy to use springs from the organization's mission, and all fundraising activities are focused on fulfilling that mission.

Through real-world examples, Warwick shows readers how to choose a primary strategy that will drive both long-term fundraising planning and day-to-day fundraising activities. He then takes them step by step through the process of integrating the strategy into current operations, evaluating its progress, and sticking to the chosen strategy while facing the inevitable changes, obstacles, and setbacks that nonprofits encounter every day. He also provides self-tests to help readers determine which strategy and tactics will be most effective for their organizations. The Five Strategies for Fundraising Success ensures that organizations make informed, productive decisions about their futures.

Asking is more than a skill it's a lifestyle The Ask is your personal manual for building the best, most fulfilling personal and professional life possible. Crafting the perfect ask can fund your new business, support your favorite charity, and get more quality time with your significant other but it can do so much more than that. It can change your life. In learning how to ask for what you really want and deserve, you lose your fear of rejection and judgement. You create the greatest sense of self-worth that no one can give you, you give it to yourself when you ask. The critical moment is when you turn your skills inward and make the hardest asks, the ones you ask yourself. This book is designed to make you an Exceptional Asker, and in the process, give you the confidence and skills you need to achieve all your goals and realize your dreams. You'll learn how to prepare, what words to use, what to avoid, and how to follow up, and you'll purge the natural hesitancy that has been holding you back for so long. Asking is about empowerment. It shows the world that what you want matters. It defines who you are, where you're going, and who will be by your side. This book provides over 175 sample asks, with clear actionable steps to help you claim your space in relationships, at work, and in the world. * Rewrite your own rulebook and find empowerment in asking * Learn the simple five steps to craft the perfect ask * Discover the secret of the ask its two sentences and a question * Remove your Money Blockers and turn a bad ask into a win * Conquer the hardest asks you'll ever make the ones you ask yourself Mastering the art of the ask reconfigures your approach to life, and changes the way you tackle challenges and goals. The Ask gives you the skills and the mindset you need to accomplish anything you can dream.

This text focuses on CONTROLLING FOODSERVICE COSTS topics. It includes essential content plus learning activities, case studies, professional profiles, research topics and more that support course objectives. The text and exam are part of the ManageFirst Program (R) from the National Restaurant Association (NRA). This edition is created to teach restaurant and hospitality students the core competencies of the Ten Pillars of Restaurant Management. The Ten Pillars of Restaurant Management is a job task analysis created with the input and validation of the industry that clearly indicates what a restaurant management professional must know in order to effectively and efficiently run a safe and profitable operation. The ManageFirst Program training program is based on a set of competencies defined by the restaurant, hospitality and foodservice industry as those needed for success. This competency-based program features 10 topics each with a textbook, online exam prep for students, instructor resources, a certification exam, certificate, and credential. The online exam prep for students is available with each textbook and includes helpful learning modules on test-taking strategies, practice tests for every chapter, a comprehensive cumulative practice test, and more! This textbook includes an exam answer sheet to be used with the paper-and-pencil version of the ManageFirst certification exam.

An authoritative handbook on risk management techniques and simulations as applied to financial engineering topics, theories, and statistical methodologies

The Handbook of Financial Risk Management: Simulations and Case Studies illustrates the prac-tical implementation of simulation techniques in the banking and financial industries through the use of real-world applications.

Striking a balance between theory and practice, the "Handbook of Financial Risk Management: Simulations and Case Studies" demonstrates how simulation algorithms can be used to solve practical problems and showcases how accuracy and efficiency in implementing various simulation methods are indispensable tools in risk management. The book provides the reader with an intuitive understanding of financial risk management and deepens insight into those financial products that cannot be priced traditionally. The "Handbook of Financial Risk Management" also features: Examples in each chapter derived from consulting projects, current research, and course instructionTopics such as volatility, fixed-income derivatives, LIBOR Market Models, and risk measuresOver twenty-four recognized simulation modelsCommentary, data sets, and computer subroutines available on a chapter-by-chapter basis

As a complete reference for practitioners, the book is useful in the fields of finance, business, applied statistics, econometrics, and engineering. The "Handbook of Financial Risk Management" is also an excellent text or supplement for graduate and MBA-level students in courses on financial risk management and simulation.

Banks take very large risks by consistently herding in the same perilous directions while believing they are safe and unique. This book presents a risk management framework to understand conformity and deviance within investment banks and other large organizations. It suggests that some groups understand the dynamics of this conformity to their advantage. This requires a deeper understanding of the risk in risk management. Fraudsters can game the system to their advantage legally and illegally; therefore risk managers must understand the interplay of multiple logics in order to govern and manage risk. Featuring short illustrative cases of massive risk mismanagement, this book walks the reader through four risk management perspectives (economic, institutional, evolutionary and contrarian) that explain why and how economic rationality is overridden by social forces. By understanding conformity and deviance, groups within organizations will be better equipped to manage risk and go against the tides of conformity to their advantage.

Derived from the international literature on experiences with performance budgeting five elements which constitute performance budgeting as a comprehensive system can be identified in this book. This new definition is then applied to the German state level in order to investigate whether performance budgeting is effective in Germany, in detail, whether it actually leads to a reduction of public expenditure. With a survey in the state Ministries of Finance and an individually constructed panel dataset, the impact of the German performance budgeting reforms on their major aim, the enhancement of fiscal discipline, is empirically analyzed. The main result is that the potential of expenditure savings is prolonged by the enormous investments in the beginning.

Praise for GETTING RICH YOUR OWN WAY

"Save yourself ten years of hard work. Read Brian's powerful book and let him show you the shortcut to success. He'll show you the fastest way for you to get rich."
-Robert Allen
author, Multiple Streams of Income

"Millions of people start with nothing and become wealthy as the result of doing certain things in a certain way, over and over again. This book by Brian Tracy shows you how you can achieve all your financial goals, starting from wherever you are today."
-Jack Canfield
coauthor, Chicken Soup for the Soul(R): Living Your Dreams and The Power of Focus

"This is the only book you need to read to become wealthy! It is loaded with practical ideas and strategies to propel you onwards and upwards."
-Nido Qubein
Chairman, Great Harvest Bread Company
founder, National Speakers Association Foundation

"Another great book from Brian Tracy. Tangible, practical ideas that will make you money and make you rich!"
-Bill Bachrach
President, Bachrach & Associates, Inc.

"Brian Tracy has put together a masterpiece of common sense for getting rich. If you wish a different life, commit now to different actions-read this book!"
-H. J. (Jim) Graham
President and CEO, Cyber Broadcast One, Inc.

"Brian Tracy shows you how unlimited wealth starts in the mind, and how anyone can focus their time and energy to earn millions. It's the readable, riveting primer for countless new American fortunes."
-Peter Montoya
CEO, Peter Montoya Inc.

How much risk should we take? A Short Guide to Risk Appetite sets out to help all those who need to decide how much risk can be taken in a particular risky and important situation. David Hillson and Ruth Murray-Webster introduce the RARA Model to explain the complementary and central roles of Risk Appetite and Risk Attitude, and along the way they show how other risk-related concepts fit in. Risk thresholds are the external expression of inherent risk appetite, and the challenge is how to set the right thresholds. By progressively deconstructing the RARA Model, the authors show that the essential control step is our ability to choose an appropriate risk attitude. The book contains practical guidance to setting risk thresholds that take proper account of the influences of organisational risk culture and the individual risk preferences of key stakeholders. Alongside this, individuals and organisations need to choose the risk attitude that will optimise their chances of achieving the desired objectives.

The Perfect Guide to Little Space Living#1 Best Seller in Small Homes & Cottages "Joshua and Shelley get you thinking about what you can do to live a little simpler, even if you're not building a tiny house." Mario Soto, Tiny House MD. With this tiny homes idea book, learn how to redefine what a house is and master organization, location, and happiness to make the best of your little space. You'll want to live in a mini house after reading this book. Tiny House Basics is an adventure in off-grid living. In their debut book, mini house living experts Shelley and Joshua Engberg show how you can join the revolution to downsize without giving up everything you hold dear. As avid campers and off roaders, together they help you enter the world of comfortable and entertaining small spaces. Learn the best tips and tricks to owning tiny homes. Whether it's cottage-style small houses or a mini getaway house, Tiny House Basics makes tiny house plans practical and accessible. With advice easily applicable to any small home, including spaces like apartments and studios, this micro living book turns any little space into the mini house of your dreams. Inside, find advice on small home interior design and learn: How to maintain a good relationship in a little space The pros and cons of off-grid living and on-grid living How to make your small space feel big Practical storage solutions and design tips Small space living with pets If you're looking for ways to ramp up your little space, coffee table books for tiny homes, or small modern house gifts-like Tiny House Designing, Building, & Living; Small Space Style; or The Little Book of Living Small-then you will love Tiny House Basics.

The third book in the Healthcare Payment Systems series, Prospective Payment Systems examines the various types of prospective payment systems (PPS) used by healthcare providers and third-party payers. Emphasizing the basic elements of PPS, it considers the many variations of payment for hospital inpatient and outpatient services, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, long-term hospital care, and rehabilitation facilities along with other providers. The book describes the anatomy of PPS, including cost reports, adjudication features and processes, relative weights, and payment processes. It outlines the features and documentation requirements for Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Groups (MS-DRGs), the Medicare Ambulatory Payment Classifications (APCs), Medicare HHPPS, Medicare Skilled Nursing Resource Utilization Groups (RUGs), and private third-party payers. Provides a framework for understanding and analyzing the characteristics of any PPS Discusses Medicare prospective payment systems and approaches Includes specific references to helpful resources, both online and in print Facilitates a clear understanding of the complexities related to PPS-covering specific topics at a high level and revisiting similar topics to reinforce understanding Complete with a detailed listing of the acronyms most- commonly used in healthcare coding, billing, and reimbursement, the book includes a series of case studies that illustrate key concepts. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges with PPS-including compliance and overpayment issues-to provide you with the real-world understanding needed to make sense of any PPS.

Now in its ninth edition, Financial Management for Decision Makers provides students with a unique focus on the practical application of financial management and its role in decision making. Covering topics such as financial planning, making capital investment decisions, and financing a small business, it provides an ideal introduction to the world of financial management. New to this edition: * A new chapter on international aspects of financial management, which explores the benefits and problems associated with internationalisation and the management of foreign exchange risk * Updated explanations throughout including greater coverage of behavioural finance and share valuation methods * Increased number of activities, giving more opportunities to engage with the key concepts * Updated Real World examples, which provide connections between the theory and practice of financial decision making This text is ideal for undergraduates from a non-accounting or non-finance discipline taking an introductory module in financial management. It is also suitable for postgraduate students enrolled on certificate and diploma courses in financial management, as well as those enrolled on Diploma in Management Studies and MBA programmes. The text can also be used by finance and accounting students as a foundation for further study. Visit go.pearson.com/uk/he/resources to gain access to a suite of resources which accompany this text: * For instructors: Solution's manual and PowerPoint slides * For students: Opportunities to practise and additional support given through a companion website Peter Atrill is a freelance academic who has worked with leading institutions in the UK, Europe and SE Asia. He was formerly the Head of Business and Management and Head of Accounting and Law at Plymouth Business School, Plymouth University.

Catastrophic risk is one of the most significant and challenging areas of corporate risk management. Analyze this risk for your company with Catastrophic Risk and make sure you have sufficient resources to absorb losses and avoid financial distress.

The first comprehensive volume to address this topic from a financial perspective, this book is a guide to the worst financial risks threatening companies and industries today. Author Eric Banks begins with a consideration of ?catastrophe? and its mplications, looks at the state of actuarial and financial modelling of catastrophe risks, and discusses the creation of a risk management framework that will enable the efficient and secure management of exposure. Catastrophic Risk is essential reading if you're a corporate treasurer, CFO, or insurance/financial risk manager responsible for corporate risk management. Order your copy today.

Put the principles of the market approach to valuing businesses to work!

This is an indispensable, hands-on workbook to help valuation experts (and those who want to be) better understand the application of methods used in the increasingly prevalent market approach to valuing businesses. With convincing evidence of value for both buyers and sellers, the market approach can end stalemates and get deals closed. Acclaimed for its empirical basis and objectivity, it's the model most favored by the IRS and the United States Tax Court--as long as it's properly implemented.

A companion to the definitive book on the topic, The Market Approach to Valuing Businesses, Second Edition, this workbook includes questions and exercises that bring the concepts to life. It parallels the book and helps readers understand the methodologies. It also provides practical experience in applying the relevant theories and formulas. Perfect for CPAs, appraisers, corporate development officers, intermediaries such as brokers and investment bankers, venture capitalists, and consultants, this workbook can also be the basis for dynamic in-house training programs.

Risk analytics is developing rapidly, and analysts in the field need material that is theoretically sound as well as practical and straightforward. A one-stop resource for quantitative risk analysis, Practical Spreadsheet Risk Modeling for Management dispenses with the use of complex mathematics, concentrating on how powerful techniques and methods can be used correctly within a spreadsheet-based environment. Highlights Covers important topics for modern risk analysis, such as frequency-severity modeling and modeling of expert opinion Keeps mathematics to a minimum while covering fairly advanced topics through the use of powerful software tools Contains an unusually diverse selection of topics, including explicit treatment of frequency-severity modeling, copulas, parameter and model uncertainty, volatility modeling in time series, Markov chains, Bayesian modeling, stochastic dominance, and extended treatment of modeling expert opinion End-of-chapter exercises span eight application areas illustrating the broad application of risk analysis tools with the use of data from real-world examples and case studies This book is written for anyone interested in conducting applied risk analysis in business, engineering, environmental planning, public policy, medicine, or virtually any field amenable to spreadsheet modeling. The authors provide practical case studies along with detailed instruction and illustration of the features of ModelRisk (R), the most advanced risk modeling spreadsheet software currently available. If you intend to use spreadsheets for decision-supporting analysis, rather than merely as placeholders for numbers, then this is the resource for you.

"This is an impressive step in the development of company reporting. The proposed reporting system, based on business definition, business position, business reputation, and advanced cash flow, is actually a revelation. It shows a new way to expand today's business reporting systems, matching development trends in society. I see it as a welcome and even necessary step to bring company reporting in line with today's requirements."
--Pierre Berhin, international fund manager

"I just read Chapter Four . . . extremely interesting and very much in tune with the needs of companies today. Especially the parts about baseline reporting, business definition, and client relationships. It is amazing how many important international companies that I have done consulting for have such internal disasters going on and apply very little of the concepts that you speak of. I believe your book will be received very well and hopefully be placed on required reading lists for business students around the world."
--Christian G. Foucher, international business consultant performance management specialist

"A true enterprise risk management process. Not only should this book have an impact on how society and commerce look upon how we create, preserve, lose, or destroy value and how we account for our business activities, but also on the way we perceive and react to risks and opportunities. Through their teachings and business practices, the authors have significantly changed my own perception of the vast variety of factors and circumstances (risks) that may threaten the health and well-being of organizations."
--Per E. Aakenes, Chairman The Swedish Risk Management Association

"Accountingspecialists know that traditional accounting concepts are no longer adequate to describe today's companies, but for the most part they, and corporate managements themselves, have nothing to replace the current system. Now, along come Hans V. A. Johnsson and Per Erik Kihlstedt with Performance-Based Reporting, a clear and convincing description of why the old system can't work and what system can."
--Peter J. Wallison, Resident Fellow American Enterprise Institute

The successfully proven alternative system for relevant business reporting through performance management

Performance-Based Reporting shows businesses how traditional accounting fails to provide meaningful measures for performance and presents radically innovative and thoroughly tested methods for performance-oriented management, assessment, and reporting. Twenty-five years in the making, this helpful book also presents The Baseline Approach to management, assessment, and reporting--composed of eighty-percent accounting-free methods.

Performance-Based Reporting presents the culmination of intense experiments involving more than 1,500 businesses and over 4,000 executives. It definitively proves the need for new tools for realistic business planning and management in an unpredictable world. These tools already exist, and this helpful guide walks readers through the process of implementing them to help firms improve their ability to predict the direction they should take in the future.

Business is the language of numbers--but not everyone in businesses understands how to read the myriad of financial statements that are necessary. Author Norb Schwarz provides readers with accessible information to understanding financial statements such as annual reports; cash flow statements; income statements; balance sheets and so much more. Filled with accessible information including definition and explanations--this book is essential for all family businesses members who don't have a firm handle on these essential skills.

The complexity of governments today makes the accountability desired by citizens difficult to achieve. Written to address performance policies within state and national governments, Government Performance and Results: An Evaluation of GPRA's First Decade summarizes lessons learned from a 10-year research project that evaluated performance reports produced by federal agencies under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). The results of this project can help answer a wide variety of questions in political economy and public administration, such as: What factors make performance reports relevant and informative? Has the quality of information disclosed to the public improved? Why do some agencies produce better reports than others? Has GPRA led to greater availability and use of performance information by federal managers? Has GPRA led to greater use of performance information in budget decisions? What steps would make federal management and budget decisions more performance oriented? The book documents the current state of the art in federal performance reporting, measures the extent of improvement, compares federal performance reports with those produced by state governments and other nations, and suggests how GPRA has affected management of federal agencies and resource allocation by policymakers. It also identifies obstacles that must be overcome if GPRA is to deliver on the promise of performance budgeting. The authors chronicle the improvements observed in federal performance reporting through the lens of the Mercatus Center's annual Performance Report Scorecard. As budget shortfalls and new debt burdens increase interest in public management and budgeting techniques that allow governments to do more with less, this is an appropriate time to take stock of what GPRA has accomplished and what remains to be done. By comparing best performance reporting practices in the US federal government with those in states and other countries, this book speeds the diffusion of useful knowledge at a critical time.

Organizational encounters with risk range from errors and anomalies to outright disasters. In a world of increasing interdependence and technological sophistication, the problem of understanding and managing such risks has grown ever more complex. Organizations and their participants must often reform and reorganise themselves in response to major events and crises, dealing with the paradox of managing the potentially unmanageable. Organizational responses are influenced by many factors, such as the representational capacity of information systems and concerns with legal liability. In this collection, leading experts on risk management from a variety of disciplines address these complex features of organizational encounters with risk. They raise critical questions about how risk can be understood and conceived by organizations, and whether it can be 'managed' in any realistic sense at all. This book is an important reminder that the organisational management of risk involves much more than the cool application of statistical method.

"Dr Marcelo Cruz is rightfully acknowledged as a world expert in the quantification of operational risk. He has set out to produce a book that is comprehensive yet also comprehensible to non-mathematicians - and is to be congratulated for succeeding in this aim. This book should be regarded as essential reading for all professional risk managers, irrespective of their particular lens of perception." Brendan Young, Chairman, Operational Risk Research Forum

"As a technically trained analyst, Marcelo Cruz summarizes a wide range of mathematical techniques. As an experienced capital markets trader and risk manager, he provides real world examples of their relevance for operational risk. This will be a common reference work in the field for years to come." David M. Rowe, Ph.D., Group Executive Vice President for Risk Management Sun Gard Trading and Risk Systems

Operational risk is an important, yet little explored, area within risk management. The need to model and measure the risks arising from operational errors and to allocate capital against them will be soon become a regulatory requirement for financial institutions. In this book, Marcelo Cruz provides a quantitative look at the subject, presenting several mathematical models that can be used and adapted to measure, manage and hedge operational risk.

Based on the author's extensive experience, the book maps out state-of-the-art mathematical and statistical techniques that can be used to model operational risk. In addition, the book describes a variety of appropriate models that can be applied to specific structures or areas, including operational risk database modeling, stochastic models, statistical distributions for frequency and severity, extreme value theory, operational VaR models, artificial intelligence models, dynamic multifactor models, Bayesian analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, stress test/ scenario analysis, real options, state-space models and the Kalman filter, Markovian stochastic models and others. These models have been tested with real data in real operational events. Based on this experience, numerous examples are sited throughout.

Modeling, Measuring and Hedging Operational Risk provides a complete quantitative reference for all those involved in modeling and managing operational risk as well as for those involved with developing hedging products for operational risk within insurance companies and derivatives houses.

Praise for Competing for Capital

"An indispensable guide for investor relations and communication counselors alike. With more individual investors in the market than ever before, this book makes navigating the new regulatory playing field much more possible--and makes clear the path to victory."
--Michael W. Robinson
Director, Levick Strategic Communications; Former Director of Public Affairs and Policy, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Director of Media Relations, NASD

"More than simply writing a textbook on IR, Bruce Marcus shares his wealth of experience and critical viewpoint with those seeking to understand a fast-changing profession."
--June Filingeri
President of Comm-Partners LLC, Investor Relations Consultant, and Educator

"Bruce Marcus puts some solid ground under the shifting landscape of being an investor relations professional. A must-read primer for public companies."
--Robert C. Roeper
Managing Director, VIMAC Ventures, LLC

"As the song lyrics go, 'everything old is new again, ' but this time with a vengeance. Disclosure has always been the touchstone of securities laws, but now more disclosure is required on a real-time basis with heightened accountability. Competing for Capital is a must-read for those in the securities industry, providing insights into securities markets, the information age and technology, and their impact on the job of investor relations professionals. Investors come in all shapes and sizes from around the globe, and investor relations personnel have their work cut out for them to provide clear, comprehensible, and comprehensive information, accessible to the novice and sophisticate alike. Competingfor Capital shows them the way."
--Donna L. Brooks, Esq.
Partner, Shipman & Goodwin, LLP

"Competing for Capital puts our recent turbulent financial marketplace in context, provides solid information for both new and experienced investor relations practitioners, and offers insights into the future of IR--all in Bruce Marcus's easy-reading style."
--Dixie Watterson
IR consultant, Communica Partners

"Competing for Capital aptly illustrates how investor relations has become a major corporate responsibility in generating trust, and how the profession must realize now more than ever that the needs of investors have changed because of technology, regulation, and globalization."
--Mark Kollar
Managing Director, Cubitt Jacobs & Prosek

Preparation. Planning. Execution. It's all here!

Finally, a clear and compelling guide to the key components shared by all campaigns. Illuminating case studies, practical tools, proven strategies, and helpful hints displayed throughout the book highlight solutions to common stumbling blocks that can trip up even the experienced campaign professional. Emphasis is given to new tools available through the Internet, such as Web sites for prospect research and the use of electronic media to help make your organization's case stand out among the competition.

Order your copy today!