Outside of the accounting and finance departments, not many business people are interested in the finer points of financial reports. But every manager must have a thorough understanding of what their finance and accounting staffs do, why they do it, and what these reports really mean.

This indispensable book demystifies the role that accounting and finance play in a corporation and demonstrates how financial decisions are manifestations of company goals. The author's crystal-clear examples show how managers can connect corporate financial information directly to their own strategies and actions. To demonstrate these connections, the author covers such essential topics as:

* Balance sheets and income/cash flow statements * Reading and understanding annual reports * Fixed-cost and variable-cost issues * Financial analysis, budgeting and forecasting.

A comprehensive guide that lets you play the options game with confidence
Due to the uncontrollable elements associated with options, many traders find themselves without practical strategies for specific situations. The Option Trader's Guide to Probability, Volatility, and Timing offers traders a variety of strategies to trade options intelligently and confidently in any given situation. With detail and objectivity, this book sets forth risk assessment guidelines, explains risk curve analysis, discusses exit methods, and uncovers some of the biggest mistakes options traders make. The Option Trader's Guide provides readers with strategies for trading options as well as expert advice on when to implement those strategies.

A complete options course from the renowned trading instructor.

Options trading continues to capture the mind of the sophisticated individual investor. This book presents a full options trading course by a well-known options trading instructor. The Options Course progresses from introductory concepts through to more sophisticated strategies for the intermediate-level trader. Learn how to trade futures and stocks with call and put options, and much more. Case studies and real-life examples are included.

George Fontanills (Boston, MA) is President of the Global Investment Management Corporation. His seminar series, Optionetics, has been one of the most popular seminars on the market.

Praise for The Financial Numbers Game "So much for the notion 'those who can, do-those who can't, teach.' Mulford and Comiskey function successfully both as college professors and real-world financial mercenaries. These guys know their balance sheets. The Financial Numbers Game should serve as a survival manual for both serious individual investors and industry pros who study and act upon the interpretation of financial statements. This unique blend of battle-earned scholarship and quality writing is a must-read/must-have reference for serious financial statement analysis." -Bob Acker, Editor/Publisher, The Acker Letter "Wall Street's unforgiving attention to quarterly earnings presents ever-increasing pressure on CFOs to manage earnings and expectations. The Financial Numbers Game provides a clear explanation of the ways in which management can stretch, bend, and break accounting rules to reach the desired bottom line. This arms the serious investor or financial analyst with the healthy skepticism required to drive beyond reported results to a clear understanding of a firm's true performance." -Mark Hurley, Managing Director, Training and Development Global Corporate and Investment Banking, Bank of America "After reading The Financial Numbers Game, I feel as though I've taken a master's course in financial statement analysis. Mulford and Comiskey's latest book should be required reading for anyone who is serious about fundamentally analyzing stocks." -Harry Domash, Investing Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle and Publisher, Winning Investing The Financial Numbers Game identifies the steps businesses may take to misstate financial performance and helpsits readers to identify those situations where reported results may not be what they seem.

In today's business environment, a knowledge of finance and skills in budgeting and financial planning are more important than ever before. Totally updated and revised, this highly anticipated Third Edition provides new information on five such key topics as interpreting financial statements; information technology in finance; planning capital expenditures; information technology and your firm; business valuation, and much more. Top experts in each field explain the basics of cost-volume analysis, forecasts, and budgets, and reveal how to create a winning business plan. Ideal reading for any manager or executive who needs a "refresher course" in finance.

Les Livingstone, PhD, MBA, CPA (West Palm Beach, FL), runs a national consulting firm which specializes in complex business research and expert testimony in large commercial lawsuits. He was chairman of the Division of Accounting and Law at Babson College.

Theodore Grossman (Wellesley, MA) is a senior member of the faculty of Babson College with an appointment in information technology and accounting.