Sunday, September 11, 2011

Finance Without Fear by William S. Hettinger & John Dolan-Heitlinger - Book review




Finance Without Fear

A Guide to Creating and Managing a Profitable Business


By: William S. Hettinger, Ph.D., John Dolan-Heitlinger, MBA

Published: December 1, 2010
Format: Paperback, 316 pages
ISBN-10: 0982891709
ISBN-13: 978-0982891704
Publisher: Institute for Finance and Entrepreneurship










"to many people, the world of finance is mysterious and intimidating. The simple mention of a profit and loss statement, balance sheet, or cash flow projection creates anxiety and a churning in the stomach", writes internationally recognized financial consultants William S. Hettinger, PhD., and John Dolan-Heitlinger, MBA, in their concise and very reader friendly book Finance Without Fear: A Guide to Creating and Managing a Profitable Business. The authors describe the important principles of finance in everyday language, and take the fear and intimidation out of the concepts, providing an engaging guide to small business finance.



William S. Hettinger (photo left) and John Dolan-Heitlinger recognize that operating a business, without a clear understanding of how money comes into the business and how money leaves the business, puts a company at a severe risk of financial disaster. While passion, creative and innovative thinking, and hard work are important for building a company, they are not enough to overcome a lack of the basic principles of finance.

The authors take the very direct approach that if a business person understands the numbers involved with the company and its operations, that person will have control of the business. Unfortunately, the authors realize that for many business owners and managers, the numbers are intimidating and often thought to be more complicated than they are in reality. This book brings the principles of finance to business people in language they understand, removes any unnecessary complexity, and helps take back the control of the business and its finances.



John Dolan-Heitlinger (photo left) and William Hettinger realize that one of the most intimidating factors in finance is understanding the often complex terminology. The authors simplify the language of finance, removing one of the sources of fear for many business people. With the jargon removed from the discussion, the authors then present each of the critical areas of finance with clarity and in a concise and approachable format. The authors stick to what is really important about finance for a business.

The authors describe how to understand how the company makes money, how the company spends its money, how to gain control of expenditures, working with cash flow, and understanding how the business makes its profits. Another area of finance, that is often overlooked, is in ensuring that current employees and employment applicants understand basic business finance. If the staff doesn't know how the company makes and spends money, and why that is important, they won't be able to address the serious money related decisions that are part of a manager's role.

For me, the power of the book is how William Hettinger and John Dolan-Heitlinger combine a direct and easily understood approach to finance with the tools necessary to put that information to work for the business. The objective of the book is two fold. The first goal is to remove the fear and intimidation that so often surrounds any discussion of business finance. The second goal is to teach the principles of business finance, in a clear and concise manner, to business owners and managers. The authors succeed very well in achieving both of those main objectives.

The authors bolster and supplement their financial principles through case studies that illustrate the concepts in action in real world companies. The book also contains some very easy to understand equations that simplify some seemingly overwhelming and complicated financial questions. These equations are found in every chapter, and they help to transform decision making from guesswork to sound money based results.

I highly recommend the excellent business finance teaching book Finance Without Fear: A Guide to Creating and Managing a Profitable Business by William S. Hettinger, PhD., and John Dolan-Heitlinger, MBA, to any business owner, manager, executive, or employment seeker, who is looking for a very good instruction guide to business finance. This book shares the basic principles of business finance in straightforward language that removes the intimidation factor from the subject material.

Read the finance mystery and fear removing book Finance Without Fear: A Guide to Creating and Managing a Profitable Business by William S. Hettinger, PhD., and John Dolan-Heitlinger, MBA, and discover the real value for any business in learning and understanding how and why finance principles are critical to company success. You will also feel empowered, rather than intimidated, as you gain control of the company through a deeper understanding of the numbers involved in operating the business.

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