In The Theory of Corporate Finance, Michael J. Brennan has brought together a set of major papers which defines the current status of the theory of corporate finance. This authoritative collection emphasizes recent research, while also including representative classics in the field. The main paradigms in corporate finance are addressed in these volumes, with particular attention to the problems raised by information asymmetries and the responses to them. Major sections deal with issues including shareholder objectives, agency and monitoring, adverse selection and signalling, reputation, and contracting and incentives. The Theory of Corporate Finance also covers the application of the paradigms of corporate finance to particular aspects of corporate financial decisions and relationships. These include initial public offerings of common stock, the role of debt contracts, the relation between financial structure and the real asset and product markets, capital investment decisions, hedging and disclosure policy, insider trading, the effect of taxes on financial policy, takeover contests and the assignment of voting and control rights, and corporate bankruptcy. Michael J. Brennan's two volume set brings together key articles and papers which represent the current state of the financial theory of the corporation, ensuring that this collection will be an invaluable resource for scholars, students and practitioners of finance and financial economics.

Statistical techniques can be used to address new situations. This is important in a rapidly evolving risk management and financial world. Analysts with a strong statistical background understand that a large data set can represent a treasure trove of information to be mined and can yield a strong competitive advantage. This book provides budding actuaries and financial analysts with a foundation in multiple regression and time series. Readers will learn about these statistical techniques using data on the demand for insurance, lottery sales, foreign exchange rates, and other applications. Although no specific knowledge of risk management or finance is presumed, the approach introduces applications in which statistical techniques can be used to analyze real data of interest. In addition to the fundamentals, this book describes several advanced statistical topics that are particularly relevant to actuarial and financial practice, including the analysis of longitudinal, two-part (frequency/severity), and fat-tailed data. Datasets with detailed descriptions, sample statistical software scripts in "R" and "SAS," and tips on writing a statistical report, including sample projects, can be found on the book s Web site: http: //research.bus.wisc.edu/RegActuaries.

Praise for The handbook of Financing Growth

"Once again, Kenneth Marks and company have hit the mark with a comprehensive analysis of corporate and commercial finance, which is both readable and up-to-date. This book is a must for any entrepreneur, middle-market company CFO, or graduate student looking for a thorough presentation of real world financial solutions. I highly recommend it."
--Barry D. Yelton, Senior Vice President and Region Manager, Federal National Payables, Inc.

"This is a valuable tool to anyone raising capital. I've seen firsthand how the current environment is filled with dead ends for those seeking to grow their business. Having a blueprint for the process will save time and resources; two things any growth company can ill afford to spend. By looking at the process and explaining the various components of how capital forms, the authors provide necessary insight toward a productive effort. Anyone considering a capital raise should embark on that journey with this resource."
--Christopher Gaertner, Head of Technology Investment Banking, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch

"All principals involved in financing their growth should keep a copy of this book handy and refer to it frequently for guidance. It provides clear guidelines and case studies that can be used by any of the 27 million firms in the U.S. that want to grow."
--James F. Smith, PhD, Chief Economist, Parsec Financial Management

"Ken Marks and team have done a great service here to top management of middle-market companies, their advisors, as well as the investment community in understanding growth financing. This book is a perfect combination of being comprehensive (the glossary alone contains over 650 terms) yet very understandable. Too bad that more books written on this subject aren't written the way this one is."
--Bob Grabill, President and CEO, Chief Executive Network

"I am enthusiastic about this Second Edition of The Handbook of Financing Growth. The authors have updated chapters throughout and introduced a very useful, 'new project leadership' tool in Chapter 2. I can't imagine a more complete business financing guide. And, because of the tremendous amount of business wisdom contained herein, this book is valuable for its general business planning guidance alone. Highly recommended; a copy belongs in every entrepreneur's library "
--Peter Pflasterer, entrepreneur and founder, JPS Communications, Inc.

"Considering the many financing challenges in the midst of our global recession, as a leading trade association for M&A professionals, we believe the new edition of The Handbook of Financing Growth is essential reading for any business owner, advisor, or investor. This ambitious sharing of 'hands on' experiences will surely prove to be very rewarding for any decision maker in the private capital marketplace today "
--Michael R. Nall, CPA, CM & AA, and founder, Alliance of M&A Advisors

The tools and information that build effective compliance programs Enterprise Compliance Risk Management: An Essential Toolkit for Banks and Financial Services is a comprehensive narrative on managing compliance and compliance risk that enables value creation for financial services firms. Compliance risk management, a young, evolving yet intricate discipline, is occupying center stage owing to the interplay between the ever increasing complexity of financial services and the environmental effort to rein it in. The book examines the various facets of this layered and nuanced subject. Enterprise Compliance Risk Management elevates the context of compliance from its current reactive stance to how a proactive strategy can create a clear differentiator in a largely undifferentiated market and become a powerful competitive weapon for organizations. It presents a strong case as to why it makes immense business sense to weave active compliance into business model and strategy through an objective view of the cost benefit analysis. Written from a real-world perspective, the book moves the conversation from mere evangelizing to the operationalizing a positive and active compliance management program in financial services. The book is relevant to the different stakeholders of the compliance universe - financial services firms, regulators, industry bodies, consultants, customers and compliance professionals owing to its coverage of the varied aspects of compliance. Enterprise Compliance Risk Management includes a direct examination of compliance risk, including identification, measurement, mitigation, monitoring, remediation, and regulatory dialogue. With unique hands-on tools including processes, templates, checklists, models, formats and scorecards, the book provides the essential toolkit required by the practitioners to jumpstart their compliance initiatives. Financial services professionals seeking a handle on this vital and growing discipline can find the information they need in Enterprise Compliance Risk Management. Enterprise Compliance Risk Management: An Essential Toolkit for Banks and Financial Services is a comprehensive narrative on managing compliance and compliance risk that enables value creation for financial services firms. Compliance risk management, a young, evolving yet intricate discipline, is occupying center stage owing to the interplay between the ever increasing complexity of financial services and the environmental effort to rein it in. The book examines the various facets of this layered and nuanced subject. Enterprise Compliance Risk Management elevates the context of compliance from its current reactive stance to how a proactive strategy can create a clear differentiator in a largely undifferentiated market and become a powerful competitive weapon for organizations. It presents a strong case as to why it makes immense business sense to weave active compliance into business model and strategy through an objective view of the cost benefit analysis. Written from a real-world perspective, the book moves the conversation from mere evangelizing to the operationalizing a positive and active compliance management program in financial services. The book is relevant to the different stakeholders of the compliance universe - financial services firms, regulators, industry bodies, consultants, customers and compliance professionals owing to its coverage of the varied aspects of compliance. Enterprise Compliance Risk Management includes a direct examination of compliance risk, including identification, measurement, mitigation, monitoring, remediation, and regulatory dialogue. With unique hands-on tools including processes, templates, checklists, models, formats and scorecards, the book provides the essential toolkit required by the practitioners to jumpstart their compliance initiatives. Financial services professionals seeking a handle on this vital and growing discipline can find the information they need in Enterprise Compliance Risk Management.

Written by Ron Mattocks, "Zone of Insolvency" shines a bright and urgent light on the real issue of creating financial strength across the whole spectrum of nonprofit organizations. This insightful book uniquely shows you how to rise above "business as usual" with workable solutions to launch your organization out of the Zone of Insolvency and into financial viability.

In this book, first published in 1971, the author develops and tests a productivity system based on Added Value as the measure of company income and output. The theory behind the system is that the behaviour of a company can best be explained in terms of its need to create an income. From this, it follows that its effectiveness depends on the efficiency with which it uses all the resources at its disposal to create this income. If it is accepted that the need is to create an income, then the efforts of the employees, the objectives of individuals, the pricing procedures, and the control systems must be co-ordinated to achieve this end. This title will be of interest to students of management, economics, and business studies.

The 2017 Fifth International Conference on Management and Technology in Knowledge, Service, Tourism & Hospitality (SERVE 2017) was held on 21-22 October 2017 and on 30 November 2017, in Bali, Indonesia and at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia. The theme of the conference was "Financial and Economic Tools Used in the World Hospitality Industry". Conference contributions dealt with various interdisciplinary research topics, particularly in the fields of social sciences, economics, business, management, education, and finance. Through this conference proceedings volume, we propose to launch a renewed discussion of how financial and economic tools can be used in the world hospitality, service, and tourism industries. The purpose of this volume is to develop new theoretical and empirical knowledge that explores the possibilities of developing tourism, hospitality, service industries in sharing economy. These proceedings should be of interest to academics and professionals in the wider field of social sciences, including disciplines such as education, psychology, tourism and knowledge management.

Following a series of corporate scandals, legislators have company executives in their sights, and are arming themselves with ever-greater regulatory firepower. All agree that good governance is essential - but must not be allowed to stifle business performance.

"Beyond Governance" develops the concept of Enterprise Governance, an emerging framework which unites Performance, Conformance and Corporate Responsibility and shows how addressing all of these areas in a concerted, coordinated fashion will deliver value to the organisation and its stakeholders. In particular, it focuses on the skills, processes and systems that are required to deliver excellence in each of these areas, giving readers a practical insight into the issues and an understanding of best practice in each area.

Many firms are rethinking their finance activities in the light of e-commerce, shared service centres, business intelligence technology and cost pressures. "Beyond Governance" explores the challenge of building a modern, flexible finance function, describing the emerging role of the new CFO and how finance professionals should respond to this new business environment.

Using theoretical frameworks to explore the political, organizational, and cultural dynamics of performance budgeting, this book examines the adoption of performance budgeting in a variety of countries, how it has been implemented, and why it succeeded or failed. Chapters include case studies from a wide range of continents and regions including the U.S., Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Each case study pays careful attention to the unique historical, political, and cultural contexts of reform and closely examines how performance informed the budgetary process. Chapters investigate theory-driven analysis, focusing on common themes related to international policy diffusion, organizational change, stakeholder politics and gaming, communication and information management, principal-agent dynamics, and institutional constraints. Contributors include both scholars and seasoned practitioners with extensive experience in implementing or advising performance budgeting reforms. With emphases on both theories and practices, this book is written for graduate courses in public budgeting and comparative public administration, providing theoretical insights into budgeting reforms in developing countries, as well as practice-relevant and actionable recommendations for current and future policymakers and budget reformers.

SAVE MONEY IN 2021 WITH THIS SIMPLE AND FOOLPROOF JOURNAL ________ 'Experts claim it could help some people cut spending by up to 35%' Mail Online People in Japan are masters of minimal living, able to make do with less in all aspects of life, whether it's de-cluttering personal belongings or savvy seasonal cooking. But at the heart of all this is the kakeibo: the budgeting journal used to set saving goals and spend wisely. It's simple: at the beginning of each month you sit down with your kakeibo and think about how much you would like to save and what you will need to do in order to reach your goal. There is space to jot down your weekly spending and reflect on the month just gone. A kakeibo ensures helps make saving a part of your everyday life, while also giving you the opportunity to reflect and improve every month. Get a grip on your spending and start to achieve your goals, by finding ways to save for the things that really matter in your life. Don't give up what you want most for what you want now . . . This is the Japanese Journal that puts more money in YOUR pocket every month. 'The simple art of keeping track of your finances . . . this is about being financially mindful rather than letting a gadget do the thinking for you' The Sunday Times

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.

The place of money capital in the theory of the firm has remained a relatively neglected question in traditions of economic analysis. In this highly integrative work, issues in production, pricing, capital investment and financial theory are brought to new levels of interdependence. Developing a three-part argument, Money Capital in the Theory of the Firm deals successively with the theoretical issues and analytic motivation, the neoclassical tradition and postclassical perspectives. In doing so, it presents a self-contained foundation in the basic structures of microeconomic analysis relating to optimize decision making in the firm and in the accounting concepts and statistical apparatus of probability theory relevant to the neoclassical aspects of the argument. Additionally, the book provides the essential mathematical development of such advanced topics as utility functions defined over stochastic arguments, the equilibrium theory of financial asset prices and yields, the cost of money capital, and investment decision criteria. This book makes an important contribution to the formation of new and analytically richer perspectives in the important area of economics it addresses. It will be of particular interest to those working in economic theory and microeconomics, and their advanced students.

'One of the best books written on entrepreneurship in recent years' FINANCIAL TIMES In business, everyone can see the first bounce of the ball. It is the second bounce that is uncertain. Ronald Cohen, one of the world's leading private-equity investors, argues that the entrepreneur's aim is to take advantage of that uncertainty: for it is only in situations of uncertainty that significant gains can be made. Putting it another way, successful entrepreneurs know how to turn risk into opportunity. The book is essential reading for entrepreneurs, wannabe entrepreneurs and all those who want to apply entrepreneurial approaches in all walks of life. It provides relevant background on the development of entrepreneurship and of the venture-capital and private-equity industry through the prism of Cohen's experience at Apax. It provides guidance about how to take advantage of business opportunity: the right people and the right money and the roles played by personality and luck and underlines the importance of ethics.

Drawing on the expertise of business professionals and academic analysts, this volume explores country trends in the areas of public policy, government debt, taxation changes, political stability, corruption, and foreign investor risk trends. The handbook enhances its data and analysis through graphs, charts and boxed summaries of key points. It helps business professionals better understand the often volatile investment climates in Asia, and prepare them for the challenges ahead.

This book for advanced students and professionals in management and finance explains the financial appraisal of capital budgeting projects. It develops basic concepts, principles and techniques and applies them to case studies in forestry, property and international investments. Resource constraints are introduced to the capital budgeting decisions with a variety of worked examples using linear programming techniques. All calculations are extensively supported by Excel workbooks on the Web, and end of chapter questions.

The theory of Value at Risk (VaR), which quantifies the probability of large losses in financial transactions, won the Nobel Prize in economics for Robert Merton. As trading systems have become more complex, however, the dangers of very large losses have become more acute. The near collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, based on the VaR theory, is perhaps the most spectacular example: it was not stable against large and sudden fluctuations in the financial markets. This collection of papers by leading researchers addresses the weaknesses of VaR and how it might be possible to circumvent them. A crucial question is to establish what is a good measure of risk, and the further developments of VaR are considered in this light.

Management accounting has been the basic toolbox in business administration for decades. Today it is an integral part of all curricula in business education and no student can afford not to be familiar with its basic concepts and instruments. At the same time, business in general, and management accounting in particular, is becoming more and more international. English clearly has evolved as the "lingua franca" of international business. Academics, students as well as practitioners exchange their views and ideas, discuss concepts and communicate with each other in English. This is certainly also true for management accounting and control. Management Accounting is becoming more and more international. ?Management Accounting and Control? is a new textbook in English covering concepts and instruments of management accounting at an introductory level (primarily at the Bachelor level, but also suited for general management and MBA courses due to a strong focus on practical relevance). This textbook covers all topics that are relevant in management accounting in business organizations that are typically covered in German and Central European Bachelor courses on management accounting and control. After a general introduction to the field of management accounting and control the book discusses cost management as an extension of cost accounting. Typical cost management instruments such as target costing, life cycle costing and process-based costing approaches are explained in detail. Differences between Anglo-American activity-based costing (ABC) and German process-based costing are highlighted. The book then turns to an extensive discussion of planning and budgeting tasks in management accounting with a strong focus on the practical application of the topic such as developing a budget in practice. Another chapter is dedicated to a comparison of traditional budgeting with modern /alternative budgeting approaches. A major part of the book is dedicated to the broad area of performance management. The relevance of financial statement information for performance management purposes is discussed in detail. In addition, the most widely spread financial performance indicators are illustrated using real-world examples. The book also includes detailed content on value-based management control concepts. In a consecutive chapter, performance measurement is linked with strategy while extensively discussing the Balanced Scorecard as a key tool in strategic performance management. The remaining parts of the book deal with management reporting as one of the main operative tasks in management accounting practice. The book closes with insight into new fields and developments that currently influence management accounting practices and research and promise to play an increasingly important role in the future.

This study focuses on the role of institutions and organizations in the development of corporate finance from the Italian merchant banks of the Renaissance through the formation of conglomerates and leveraged-buy-out partnerships in contemporary Wall Street. It also puts forth a compelling argument for the closer integration of historical and quantitative research methodologies in financial theory. The epilogue contains an original algorithm that explains the relationship between the short-term, firm-specific factors and longer-term environmental elements that have shaped the historical development of finance.

"This investment is all about integration of processes, data, technology, and, crucially, our culture. Knitting together our people and getting them to share and communicate is critical." PHIL BENTLEY, CFO, CENTRICA

"We look to globally share our information on brands, knowledge, consumer insights…What we need now is outstanding decision-support tools, built around our structured database…We need an analytical environment which will fuel our growth, not just cut our costs." GARY FAYARD, CFO, THE COCA COLA COMPANY

"What differentiates success in this industry is the ability to execute. This, coupled with our installed infrastructure represents our competitive advantage. More and more, we are being asked to build total solutions." JIM DALEY, CFO, EDS

"Our mantra in finance: driving superior performance and being more proactive. What, exactly, does this means? Driving functional excellence, setting standards, and developing KPIs for risk management and decision support. Our priorities in finance? Playing our part in developing our global business approach." WOLFGANG REICHENBERGER, CFO, NESTLE

Today, the CFO's role has moved beyond that of understanding and harnessing the awesome resources of eBusiness to proactively integrating those resources - across business functions, alliance partners, and geographic boundaries to create a truly global company. The CFO as Business Integrator is a practical, results-driven guide to reaping the benefits of new integration technology and shaping a new, forward-driving finance agenda around the financial supply chain, managed services, and advanced analytics and decision-support.

One of Silicon Valley's most successful angel investors shares his rules for investing in startups. There are two ways to make money in startups: create something valuable-or invest in the people that are creating valuable things. Over the past twenty-five years, Jason Calacanis has made a fortune investing in creators, spotting and helping build and fund a number of successful technology startups-investments that have earned him tens of millions of dollars. Now, in this enlightening guide that is sure to become the bible for twenty-first century investors, Calacanis takes potential angels step-by-step through his proven method of creating massive wealth: startups. As Calacanis makes clear, you can get rich-even if you came from humble beginnings (his dad was a bartender, his mom a nurse), didn't go to the right schools, and weren't a top student. The trick is learning how angel investors think. Calacanis takes you inside the minds of these successful moneymen, helping you understand how they prioritize and make the decisions that have resulted in phenomenal profits. He guides you step by step through the process, revealing how leading investors evaluate new ventures, calculating the risks and rewards, and explains how the best startups leverage relationships with angel investors for the best results. Whether you're an aspiring investor or a budding entrepreneur, Angel will inspire and educate you on all the ins of outs. Buckle up for a wild ride into the world of angel investing!

Benefiting from the authors' many years of teaching undergraduate and graduate students and practitioners, here is a clear, comprehensive, practice-oriented text for public budgeting courses. Rather than presenting each budgeting concern in mind-numbing detail, the book offers a commonsensical view of public budgeting and its importance to current and future public managers. The text is designed to show readers how managers relate to budgeting and how their actions make a difference in the operation and performance of public organizations. The book covers the historical development of public budgeting, sources of public revenues, revenue management, budgeting processes and formats, operating techniques, politics within public budgeting, and more. "Budgeting for Public Managers" is concise, clearly written, well illustrated, and grounded in the real-world concerns of public managers. Each chapter concludes with a helpful list of additional reading and resources for readers who want to dig deeper into budgeting practice and application.

Examine what would happen if we were to deploy blockchain technology at the sovereign level and use it to create a decentralized cashless economy. This book explains how finance and economics work today, and how the convergence of various technologies related to the financial sector can help us find solutions to problems, such as excessive debt creation, banks getting too big to fail, and shadow banking. The Blockchain Alternative offers sensible corrections to outdated and incorrect dogmas, such as the efficient markets hypothesis and rational expectations theory. You'll also be introduced to universal basic income, the consequences of going cashless, why complexity economics needs to be understood and what kinds of tools and theories you'll need to redefine the existing definition of capitalism. While the book does discuss technologies and methods that are primed for our future, a number of references are made to economic history and the works of great thinkers from a different era. You'll see how the blockchain can be used to deploy solutions that were devised in the past, but which can serve as the antidote to our current economic malaises. You'll discover that what is required today is not an adaptation of the old theories, but a new methodology that is suited to this new era. Without undertaking such an endeavor, one will always be burdened with a definition of capitalism that is out of kilter with the evolution of our digital humanity. What would this mean to monetary and fiscal policy, market structure and our current understanding of economics? More importantly would we need to change our current understanding of capitalism? And if we were to change our perceptions, what would the future version look like? This book answers these questions, and analyses some of the most pertinent issues of our generation. What You'll Learn Examine fractional banking, debt, and the financialization of assets Gain a firm understanding of the "too big to fail" theory, smart contracts, and Fintech Review economics and agent-based modelling Use the blockchain and complexity economics to rethink economics and capitalistic systems Who This Book Is For The primary audience is bankers and other finance professionals, policy makers, and students of finance and economics. The secondary audience is anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the current financial system, the blockchain, and the future of capitalism. Praise for The Blockchain Alternative "...a bold and pioneering effort to make sense of how emerging digital technologies might be used to reshape public policies, including macroeconomic and social policies, in basic ways. Everyone interested in this very important emerging question should read this book." - Dr. Sanjay G. Reddy, Associate Professor of Economics at The New School for Social Research and Research Associate of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. "Writing on blockchain today is analogous to writing about the internet, before it became massively distributed. The book pushes us to think about the quantum leap that this technology may infer to our capitalist model, if scaled at the pace described by the book. Written with the support of strong empirical models but also with an open mind towards the future, this is a must read for anyone interested in becoming part of the new economic infrastructure" - Dr. Mark Esposito, Harvard University's Division of Continuing Education & Judge Business School, University of Cambridge "With a rigorously balanced dosage of versatility and rationale we are allured into a multifaceted trajectory across ingrained yet functionally arcane economic models, only to plunge into a conceptually revolutionary realm which irreversibly stimulates us into envisaging a fascinating novel scheme of world order". - Ioana Surpateanu, Political Adviser to the European Parliament "If there is only one book that I am reading on how blockchain is going to change our lives, it will have to be "The Blockchain Alternative." - Dr. Terence Tse, Associate Professor of Finance, ESCP Europe Business School

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. This book presents the concept of value as the central component to success and longevity of the global ICT industry player, Huawei. It provides examples of how Huawei focuses on customers to pursue sustainable and profitable growth rather than focusing on capital market valuation which is a familiar scenario among Western companies. It is the business departments that are the creators of value for Huawei, while the finance department is tasked to provide support and services to those business departments during the value creation process. The book illustrates how Huawei Finance sets rules, allocates resources, and builds centers of expertise all over the world to address future uncertainties. More than a decade ago Huawei dedicated seven years to implement the Integrated Financial Services (IFS) Transformation Program with the help of IBM consultants. This book also draws on the leading concepts and successful experience of the IFS Transformation Program. Huawei Finance adopts three types of centralized vertical management from the top down: treasury, accounting, and auditing. It does not transfer such central authority down to lower levels, but delegates all other authority to business organizations across all levels. This management model represents the focus of this book. Built on Value provides an overview of Huawei's finance management and will help academic researchers in Business/Management, as well as practitioners in industry, an accurate and in-depth understanding of Huawei as a company.

The 21st century has witnessed swift change in every sphere of the human endeavour. Regulatory re-alignment, digitalisation and economic and political developments have contributed to paradigm shift in banking, trade, finance and the shipping industry virtually transforming the landscape. International Trade Finance is an essential tool for bankers, exporters/importers, shippers, consultants, teachers and students navigating the procedures of international trade finance. The book addresses basic topics relating to international trade including letters of credit mechanism, collections of bills, trade customs and practice. New to this revised edition, it covers SWIFT updates, supply chain system, UKEF, Blockchain technologies, the implications of BREXIT, NAFTA, Mexico, Canada and other bilateral agreements and their implications, the US sanctions, terrorist financing and anti-money laundering provisions, and a check list to control financial crime risks in trade finance. The extended metaphor of the book is that of an arm chair tour covering fundamentals to the nuances of the hard core of the subject matter and enabling the readers to deal with complicated implementation issues in a forthright and comprehensive fashion.