Food and Beverage Cost Control

Book Description

Broad, helpful guidance and information for controlling costs for foodservice managers and students

In order for foodservice managers to control costs effectively, they must have a confident command of accounting, marketing, and legal issues, as well as food and beverage sanitation, production, and service methods. This fully updated Third Edition of Food and Beverage Cost Control provides students and managers with the wide-ranging knowledge and specific solutions they need to keep costs low and margins high.

Throughout the text, this updated edition integrates the latest material on new technologies that impact cost control in the foodservice industry and the business world. Complete with an accompanying Student Workbook that helps readers earn a certificate from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, highlights of this Third Edition include:

Apply What You Have Learned feature focusing on practical, real-world applications of topics and concepts
Expanded coverage of legal issues that may affect a manager's decisions
Revised material offering a better understanding of the connection between all parts of the ordering process
An increased number of Test Your Skills questions that give readers more chances to practice what they have learned
A bonus disk packed with exercises that utilize manager-developed Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets

Students in foodservice management courses will find Food and Beverage Cost Control, Third Edition a modern and focused treatment of this vital subject. Working managers will appreciate this useful reference as a source of ready-to-use forms and formulas that can be easily applied to their operations.

Customer Reviews:

Easy to understand.......2006-02-25

This text book is very self-explanatory. Makes learning the information easy and helpful. All books should be written like this one.

Food & Beverage Cost Control.......2002-06-12

As a culinary educator, I find this book both informative and user-friendly. The Excel spreadsheets and "Fun on the Web" exercises add interesting and useful technological components. The text gets to the point on all issues without belaboring the theoretical aspects of food and beverage cost controls. The book covers junior and senior level concepts in a readable format suitable for freshmen and sophomores. It is a book for all levels with real life examples. I would recommend it to anyone, be it from education or industry.

An excellent edition!.......2001-06-19

This book is a must-read for any foodservice manager who is interested in an accurate, to the point, and technologically advanced review of food and beverage cost control methods. Controlling labor and food costs have never been more important than in today's environment. Those managers who master control procedures will succeed, and this book helps them to do just that.

The author's use of Excel spreadsheets really helps learning, as does the large number of realistic industry examples. Even the Internet plays a part in the book's usefulness when the authors refer readers to applicable web sites. Best of all, the concepts (especially those related to labor control) that are presented are useful to the managers I work with regardless of their culture or even the continent in which they work.

I recommend the book to all hospitality managers, and I would recommend it to any serious student of hospitality.

Average customer rating:

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY; THAT'S A QUESTION!

Filled With Useless Information

FOR THE PRICE, THIS BOOK SHOULD BE BETTER

Want to Cheat Someone

Too much info.

Cost Management: Accounting and Control
Don R. Hansen , and Maryanne M. Mowen
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Study Guide for Hansen/Mowen's Cost Management: Accounting and Control, 5th

Intermediate Accounting

Intermediate Accounting

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Accounting Information Systems

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Study Guide for Hansen/Mowen's Cost Management: Accounting and Control, 5th

ASIN: 0324233108

Book Description

COST MANAGEMENT emphasizes that changing conditions often require a change in systems. Emphasizing this point stresses the dynamic and exciting nature of the field. By taking a systems approach -- one that first covers functional-based cost and control and then activity-based cost systems -- students understand how to understand and manage any cost management system.

Customer Reviews:

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY; THAT'S A QUESTION!.......2007-03-16

The text is pretty comprehensive and covers the subject of Cost Management broadly and deeply. Since there are not too many textbooks on the topic; therefore, authors are admired for their devoted efforts they put into. The publisher should understand the matter inside the book and manage the cost of this book and make it afforable to the students.

For students, it's tough beginning before learning "Cost Management", the book incurs too much cost and puzzles students how they should manage their own budgets. Anyway, it might be the strategy of the authors or the publishing company to begin the lessons from the sale. As one scholar said, "Experience is a tough teacher, which gives exams first and teaches lessons thereafter."

As far as the contents are concerned, the book is highly recommended, but at a lower price. Thank you for your time for reading this review.

Filled With Useless Information.......2006-09-01

If you want to wade through useless babble to get to the actual cost accounting, go at it. However, you'll probably buy this book anyway if you have an unscrupulous accounting professor who received a gift basket from the publisher.

In other words, it's useless to the student. However, I'm sure its very profitable for the publisher and the authors.

FOR THE PRICE, THIS BOOK SHOULD BE BETTER.......2006-03-23

This book should have been written better when you consider its expensive price tag. However, the review excercise at the end of the chapter is extremely helpful. I would recommend the book if serious improvements are made. Overall, it is not that bad.

Want to Cheat Someone.......2005-09-30

I made a mistake and chose the book they listed in the Amazon.com. When the book arrived, I saw that what they have listed was only a Study Guide from a really old edition. I must say that they have said this on the listing. That was my mistake. But I wrote them back that I do not want this book, and want to return it. But they do not accept the return and refund of money. They do know that it is hard to find someone again doing this mistake. I looked at the book. This is $ 10 worth, not more. And impossible to sell again. I am a student. I do not have so much money to afford the required book. So I got really frustrated and faced losts of problems in the following weeks and spent a lot of time and energy to get the right book. It is a really sad story and an experience for me. I hope the seller is right know enjoying my $ 139.71.

Too much info........2005-01-04

Too bad we're stuck with whatever book the professor assigns. Often reads like the authors needed to write 1,000 pages, regardless of the complexity of the material. I caught them several times referring to the same item with different terms. In-class instruction on methods will save you a ton of time.

Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls

Average customer rating:

Great for the novice Risk Manager
This book is a must read for all mid-level and executive level managers
Remarkably Succinct Coverage of a Hot New Topic
A well written and thought out book on Risk Management
A Must Read for Risk Management

Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls
James Lam
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471430005

Book Description

Enterprise risk management is a complex yet critical issue that all companies must deal with as they head into the twenty-first century. It empowers you to balance risks with rewards as well as people with processes. But to master the numerous aspects of enterprise risk management, you must first realize that this approach is not only driven by sound theory but also by sound practice. No one knows this better than risk management expert James Lam. In Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls, Lam distills twenty years' worth of experience in this field to give you a clear understanding of both the art and science of enterprise risk management.

Organized into four comprehensive sections, Enterprise Risk Management offers in-depth insights, practical advice, and real world case studies that explore every aspect of this important field.

Section I: Risk Management in Context lays a solid foundation for understanding the role of enterprise risk management in today’s business environment.
Section II: The Enterprise Risk Management Framework offers an executive education on the business rationale for integrating risk management processes.
Section III: Risk Management Applications discusses the applications of risk management in two dimensions–functions and industries.
Section IV: A Look to the Future rounds out this comprehensive discussion of enterprise risk management by examining emerging topics in risk management with respect to people and technology.

JAMES LAM is President of James Lam & Associates, an independent risk advisory firm. Before starting his own firm, Lam was founder and president of ERisk and partner of Oliver, Wyman & Company. In 1997, as chief risk officer at Fidelity Investments, he was named the first-ever Financial Risk Manager of the Year by the Global Association of Risk Professionals. Prior to Fidelity, he was chief risk officer of Capital Markets Services, Inc., a GE Capital Company. Lam graduated with honors from Baruch College and received his MBA from UCLA. He is also currently an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Babson College.

Customer Reviews:

Great for the novice Risk Manager.......2006-07-27

If you are a budding Risk Manager/ Officer or are considering a career move towards Risk Management, this book is a good high-level illustration of what the major sleeves of Risk Management has to offer.

For the experienced risk professional, this is a bit too fundamental.

This book is a must read for all mid-level and executive level managers.......2005-09-21

James Lam has written a remarkably clear and relevant portrayal of how [enterprise] risk management can be used to deliver real value in any business.

During the past year, I developed a course for the Executive MBA program at Villanova University. After reviewing several books on the subject, I chose this one because of its clear and comprehensive coverage of the subject matter.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in understanding risk management from a holistic perspective. This includes risk professionals as well as those involved in line and staff functions.

Remarkably Succinct Coverage of a Hot New Topic.......2005-02-04

You bought Jorion, Pearson, and Hull; you slammed headfirst into the quantitative quagmire of risk management, and you may even have passed the Financial Risk Manager exam, sponsored by the Global Association of Risk Professionals, but are you prepared to become your company's "Risk Champion?" Can you explain to laymen why loss distributions are not normal? Can you illustrate the "sweet spot" in the profit/risk tradeoff? If you aren't quite there yet, pick up James Lam's new book, Enterprise Risk Management, From Incentives to Controls. It's a book you can read on the five hour flight from New York to Los Angeles, and its melodies will linger in your memory. This book has changed the way I communicate with people both in and outside the risk management profession. Read it with a highlighter in your hand, and keep the book within easy reach.

A well written and thought out book on Risk Management.......2004-10-05

This book provides practical and insightful look at risk management and how it can benefit companies. Reading and understanding this book should be a pre-requisite for any person going to take on management position.

A Must Read for Risk Management.......2004-08-23

This book is not only about the theory of enterprise risk management, but also a summary of the author¡¯s experience in practicing risk management for more than twenty years. And what is more, there are several case studies that are deeply analyzed in the book. It is because of this that I think it is an excellent work on enterprise risk management. In addition, it is interesting that the Balance of the Yin and Yang in the Chinese traditional philosophy is applied as Lesson 7 by the author. It is a must read for all business managers and students who want to pursue a career in risk management.

Average customer rating:

Earned Value Simplified
Brings EVMS into perspective
Where is the rest?
One of the best books on Earned Value!
Just Enough

Earned Value Project Management
Quentin W. Fleming , and Joel M. Koppelman
Manufacturer: Project Management Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1930699891

Book Description

"Earned value" is a project management technique that is emerging as a valuable tool in the management of all projects, including and, in particular, software projects. In its most simple form, earned value equates to fundamental project management.

This is not a new book, but rather it is an updated book. Authors Quentin Fleming and Joel Koppelman have made some important additions. In many cases, there will be no changes to a given section. But in other sections, the authors have made substantial revisions to what they had described in the first edition.

Fleming and Koppelman's goal remains the same with this update: describe earned value project management in its most fundamental form, for application to all projects, of any size or complexity. Writing in an easy-to-read, friendly, and humorous style characteristic of the best teachers, Fleming and Koppelman have identified the minimum requirements that they feel are necessary to use earned value as a simple tool for project managers. They have also witnessed the use of simple earned value on software projects, and find it particularly exciting. Realistically, a Cost Performance Index (CPI) is the same whether the project is a multibillion-dollar high-technology project, or a simple one hundred thousand-dollar software project. A CPI is a CPI … period. It is a solid metric that reflects the health of the project.

In every chapter, Fleming and Koppelman stick with using simple stories to define their central concept. Their project examples range from peeling potatoes to building a house. Examples are in round numbers, and most formulas get no more complicated than one number divided by another.

Earned Value Project Management—Second Edition may be the best-written, most easily understood project management book on the market today. Project managers will welcome this fresh translation of jargon into ordinary English. The authors have mastered a unique "early-warning" signal of impending cost problems in time for the project manager to react.

Customer Reviews:

Earned Value Simplified.......2007-08-11

I wish I had had this book much earlier in my project management career! The authors of this book are able to bring the esoteric aspects of Earned Value to the masses. Reading this text is easy - not like a reading text book - and the authors provide (somewhat) "real life" case studies to back up their examples.

One author claims to be an expert in Earned Value, and I believe it after reading his explanations - he is able to cut to the essence of the idea without leaving the important details behind. This book is worth the money, especially if you've read other text about Earned Value - you'll appreciate the simplicity of this one.

Brings EVMS into perspective.......2007-03-23

Fleming and Koppelman have done a decent job of bringing the complex subject of Earned Value Management into perspective. Starting with an interesting history of the subject from its beginnings in 1965, they have broken the subject down into its components and given a clear explanation of the fundamentals. If you're planning on working in the EVMS field any time soon, I would recommend this as a good starting point to familiarize yourself with the subject.

Where is the rest?.......2004-08-16

So far I have found two books dedicated to the topic of earned value: this book by Fleming and Koppelman and another book entitled `Using Earned Value' by Alan Webb. Note that I am not listing the earned value `Cliff notes' entitled `Project Management: The Commonsense Approach" by the Lamberts, which will not add to your understanding of earned value management or analysis, and serves, at best, as a memory jogger on the basic concepts.

"Earned Value Project Management, Second Edition" by Fleming and Koppelman provides a good treatment of the history of earned value and of the calculation methods of its core measurements. However the book falls short in terms of methods of analysis and interpretation of these measurements, which is really where project managers need guidance and expertise. Indeed calculations are automated by the scheduling packages (e.g. Microsoft Project, Primavera, etc.), in other words getting the numbers is never the problem (although some packages have had their share of problems doing this), or let's just say it's the easy part. Obviously one needs to understand how the numbers are calculated and what they mean but this part of earned value does not require a whole book about it. The true challenge in earned value management is the analysis part. Once you have the numbers, you need to understand what they mean to your project, how they trend, how they relate/influence one another and most importantly how you should use them in gauging the health of your project. This information then needs to be translated in either corrective actions (which are hopefully proportional to the problem at hand) or inaction (provided that you have made the conscious decision, based on the data, to keep things as they are). I believe that this is where this book falls short. It gives the reader an understanding of the concepts but lacks in the guidance that is required for a true, practical, and day-to-day application of earned value on projects. In another words, it's a good start but not quite enough.

One of the best books on Earned Value!.......2004-07-19

The reader that is familiar with Project Management Institute books will find it extremely useful and connected to real life. Presents Earned Value definition and how is possible to organize your projects based on Earned Value principles. If you're interested to have results oriented projects, or if you're interested in project performance, or project monitoring, this book is really helpful. I highly reccomend you to read and use it. If you like "not so academic" books, you might find it a little bit too condensed, and probably you'll need to search for something else. Microsoft Projects offers very good definitions of Earned Value, Cost Performance Index and Schedule Performance Index that you might learn as first steps.

Just Enough.......2003-12-20

Earned Value Project Management provides project managers with "just enough" to understand and begin using earned value analysis on projects. Koppelman and Fleming have distilled a complex and often intimidating subject and have made it immediately applicable to projects in any industry. I use this book to explain EVM concepts to my students and find it an invaluable tool in my own work as a project manager.

Average customer rating:

Unnecessarily Complex
A finance textbook full of errors and holes
A Wonderful Approach to Corporate Finance
Good basic overview of finance intersecting corp strategy
Missed the mark! Poor coverage of contemporary issues...

Financial Markets & Corporate Strategy
Mark Grinblatt , and Sheridan Titman
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0072294337

Book Description

The authors began writing the First Edition of this textbook in early 1988. It took almost 10 years to complete this effort, because they did not want to write an ordinary textbook. Their goal was to write a book that would break new ground in both the understanding and explanation of finance and its practice. They wanted to write a book that would influence the way people think about, teach, and practice finance. A book that would elevate the level of discussion and analysis in the classroom, in the corporate boardroom, and in the conference rooms of Wall Street firms. They wanted a book that would sit on the shelves of financial executives as a useful reference manual, long after the executives had studied and received a degree. They were successful in their endeavor. The success of the first edition of Financial Markets and Corporate Strategy was very heartening. The market for this text has expanded every year, and it is well-known as the cutting edge textbook in corporate finance around the world. The book is used in a variety of courses, both for introductory courses and advanced electives. Some schools have even changed their curriculum to design it around this text. The authors have developed this Second Edition based on the comments of many reviewers and colleagues; producing what is a more reader-friendly book. The most consistent comment from users of the first edition was a request for a chapter on the key ingredients of valuation: accounting, cash flows, and basic discounting. This ultimately led to a new chapter in the text, Chapter 9, which is currently available in the "Sample Chapter" section of the book's website. In almost every chapter, examples are updated, vignettes changed, numbers modified, statements checked for currency and historical accuracy, and exercises and examples are either modified or added to. The goal of the Second Edition is to make the book ever more practical, pedagogically effective, and current.

Customer Reviews:

Unnecessarily Complex.......2006-08-28

Author devotes 2 pages to mathematically prove & philosophically justify that a manager should chose the highest NPV project before chosing the next highest NPV project. Such logic continues ad infinitum throughout the 800+ page text. Time for 3rd Ed.

A finance textbook full of errors and holes.......2005-05-07

I am a postgraduate student in finance and this book is on my reading list for corporate finance. I must say that I am not very pleased with this book. First, it seems to skip around from chapter to chapter with no real logical organizational structure. Second, it is full of typos and mistakes -- some that are quite dangerous for a proper understanding of the material. Third, it does not develop fully the statistically techniques in Chapter 4 that it builds on in later chapters. This is a major problem in my opinion. What saves this book from the lowest rating is that it does discuss empirical studies and journal articles, and it does not do an entirely awful job about the more qualitative subjects like adverse selection and capitalization policy.

For what it's worth, I received my undergraduate degree at Wharton and am now at the London School of Economics. Instead of this book, I recommend Brealey and Myer's Principles of Corporate Finance. This is what I used as an undergraduate and is what seems to be the de facto textbook in the top undergraduate and MBA programs.

N.

A Wonderful Approach to Corporate Finance.......2005-04-12

I will admit this book does not take the standard approach to learning corporate finance. The authors discuss a wide variety of common topics, ranging from market models, option valuation, capital structure concepts and decisions, to more specialized topics such as corporate governance and financial risk management.

What is unique about this book, though, is that the authors encourage students to think about problems more broadly than one often sees in introductory texts and courses. For example, the authors encourage the use of decision trees (i.e. binomial models) to value a wide range of assets, not just stocks. If one can value a stock option using a binomial tree, why not use the same framework to value a plot of undeveloped real estate, an untapped mine, or any other "real option" owned by a company?

Another reason this text is excellent is because the authors include a vast survey of recent financial and economic literature relevant for the financial decision-maker. Highly developed markets depend on the signaling of information between investors and management, creditors and debtors, customers and suppliers, and so forth; understanding the implications of these interactions and their subsequent effects is of primary importance to decision-makers.

For example, the "pecking order" theory of capital structure is one of the most well-known concepts in finance, but nonetheless often misunderstood (if you want proof of this, why did investors respond so enthusiastically to every IPO in the late 1990's?). Instead of glossing over an explanation of the theory, the book thorougly explains it and provides problems where the reader can actually work through a simplified model that really reinforces the concept.

While this book served as a good introduction to a wide scope of problems in finance, it was most useful because it helped me to apply economic tools not just to solve but to understand financial problems. The use of decision trees in the simplified, binomial model setting helped me to understand option/project valuation and risk-netural valuation, the linchpin of no-arbitrage pricing. It also has perhaps the most thorough, lucid explanation of Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) I've seen anywhere- for a practitioner trying to understand factor models, this chapter alone makes the book worth it.

I understand that this is a very difficult book and that the problems are beyond what one may expect in a MBA-level course. Nonetheless, finance is an increasingly competitive field whose employers are starting to demand more analytical skills and intiution from recent graduates. In response to the reviewer who said this text is not suitable for CFA preparation, I do agree with that sentiment. First, the CFA program is designed for self-study that any motivated and capable professional can handle, while Grinblatt/Titman is clearly appropriate for a rigorous MBA-level sequence in corporate finance. Second, the CFA exam emphasizes asset valuation and portfolio management, while this book stresses financial decision-making from a manager's standpoint.

While I normally don't like reviews that justify their opinions by offering credentials, I also work on Wall Street and I find the concepts taught in this book to be quite relevant in handling real-world problems.

Good basic overview of finance intersecting corp strategy.......2005-02-25

I bought this book as a recommended supplemental text for a course in Corporate Finance in the MBA program at the U of Michigan Business School. I am very glad to have this book on my shelf of financial books and have benefited from it more than once.

I can recommend it to you strongly by praising it for these reasons:

1) It puts practical flesh on the financial model bones you learned in your first course on finance. There are very good discussions of the basic and well-known fundamental theories and models, but the authors also share with us what tends to happen in the real world. And isn't that what each of us need to add to our theoretical thinking?

2) Each chapter has effective summarizing Key Concepts and Key Terms with plenty of problems to work through and a list of References and Additional Readings that enable the reader to dive deeper into the topic of the chapter just read.

3) The book is helpfully organized into six Parts that provide the framework for the discussion. Parts 1-3 are a review of "Financial Markets and Instruments", "Valuing Financial Assets", and "Valuing Real Assets". This foundation gives the student a good grounding in order to see how these principles are used in the work of managing the capital structure of a corporation. Parts 4-6 discuss the "Corporate Financial Structure", "Incentives, Information and Corporate Control", and "Risk Management". These last three sections are the real meat of the book and where a great deal of its value to the business student lies.

4) Each of the Parts has an effective and brief introduction that sets the tone for what is to be studied. Even better, at the end of each the six Parts there are two very helpful summary sections: "Practical Insights" and "Executive Perspective".

This is a specialized topic. But it is an important topic. This is a very good book that can help a serious student get grounded in some very important principals necessary to managing the financial issues facing every corporation. I recommend it.

Missed the mark! Poor coverage of contemporary issues..........2004-12-22

This text is just below par for MBA / CFA or professional use. The quality of research is very poor. I almost bought this book recently but changed my mind instead for Brigham's "Intermediate Financial Management".

Compared to other finance texts I've used before such Reilly's "Investment Analysis & Portfolio Mgt." or Chew's "New Corporate Finance", Grinblatt's text is way way behind and offers nothing new and of value to my research & professional everyday use....

DON'T BUY this lousy book!

Accounting Control Best Practices (Wiley Best Practices)

Average customer rating:

Very Helpful

Accounting Control Best Practices (Wiley Best Practices)
Steven M. Bragg
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471356395

Book Description

The only practices worth following are the best practices

"Accounting Control Best Practices is succinctly described in one word-thorough. Organizations from manufacturing to hospitals can use this-easily understood by everyone from the data entry clerk in accounting to the CFO."
-Melody Troesser Accountant Cole County Residential Services, Inc.

"There is no authority on accounting or accounting control best practices like Steven Bragg. This guy does the hard stuff-he sees the big picture perfectly yet can also get down in the trenches and dig into difficult and complex areas. His writing is clear and his explanations are simple and sensible."
-Jack W. Boyer, CPA, MCP Boyer & Associates

"Accountants, analysts, and system designers will find this an excellent tool. Real examples define and demonstrate effective control points, while keeping practicality and efficiency in mind. A great addition to my library."
-Clint Davies Principal Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker

"A cornucopia of control ideas organized by process and explained in simple terms to ensure quick implementation."
-Richard B. Lanza, CPA/CITP, CFE, PMP President Cash Recovery Partners, LLC

Destined to become an essential desktop tool in helping professionals tailor a controls system to the needs of their company, Accounting Control Best Practices introduces all of the major accounting and operational processes with hundreds of controls presented in basic, intermediate, and advanced layers-from a basic paper-based system, to computerized systems, to the advanced best practice enhancements in computerized systems.

Customer Reviews:

Very Helpful.......2007-08-27

I recently became Controller for a medium-sized construction company. I found the control activities listed in the book to be a good "mind-jogging" tool as I begin documentation of our internal controls within the accounting department.

Accounting for Decision Making and Control

Average customer rating:

Excellent book
Worse book in my entire MBA program
Bloated with Homework Problems
Great book!
Think Management Accounting Rather Than Cost Accounting

Accounting for Decision Making and Control
Jerold Zimmerman
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0072975865

Book Description

Accounting for Decision Making and Control by Jerry Zimmerman continues to grow in popularity with instructors due to its emphasis on teaching students to critically evaluate and solve actual business problems. Zimmerman is able to achieve this through: 1) Strong conceptual framework; 2) Business orientation focusing on how organizations work; 3) Balance between concepts & practice; 4) Strongest problem material available.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book.......2007-03-02

It contains philosophy and present contept to apply to the decision making. Managerial accounting is more than journal entry and computation. It's about decision making and performance evaluation.

Worse book in my entire MBA program.......2006-11-14

Beware ! This book does perhaps the poorest example explaining any concepts. I have never had so much stress in my life than taking a managerial accounting class with this book. I mean I actually couldn't sleep because of this book!
I took this class last year and I just finished my MBA and I am working on my Phd now, and I thought I would reflect and give some valuable advice to you, my fellow students.

If you don't have a prior managerial accounting background, go read as much as you can before you get into this book. Or you will be completely stressed out, lost and feel that you are a dummy. This book makes smart students feel dum. I mean really dum. You are not dum, the book just lacks clear explanations.

This book deals mostly with managerial accounting. For example if you are paid $100 per day at your job, really you are costing the company more than what you are being paid, really you use resources, like from human resources who hired you, electricity costs, phone costs, IT, etc, so your true cost to the company broken down is probably $160 per day. This is called cost allocation, in a crude example.

Easy concept right?, Just that you will not be able to learn this easily from this book unless you have a deep prior background in this. The good examples Zimmerman(author) gives are spoiled by the majority of his jargon and bad examples.

I honestly found myself at one point reading 1 page for over an hour to understand! (and I am a high A student). In my entire MBA program, I never had a worse book, nor more stress!!!

Ultimately, I had to do many exhaustive Internet searches to learn cost allocation theory.

Some reasons why this book is so bad:

(1) Does not explain many concepts with clear explanations
(2) Uses too much jargon
(3) Shows graphs and vital data one the next pages instead of including them on the same page, Imagine as you read you have to constantly change the page to see the graphs and charts, Very poor!
(4) Zimmeran doesn't want to teach, rather he wants to prove to you that he is smart!

(5) THE WORST
Perhaps the worst is the homework problems in the back. Zimmerman (the author) does not give sufficient examples of how to solve these examples. Nor does the book give the answers. Also, some problems are extremely hard, even the professor of the class had difficulty solving and explaining this. What is the goal of a book if students have to search elsewhere and be stressed out to learn?

I would say that this book is like taking a class in Algebra and having questions and concepts explained in Calculus.

Again, if you don't have a prior background in any of this, go take a class at a junior college on cost accounting to prepare for this book, you will need it. Or you too will be so stressed out!!

Jerold Zimmerman, please don't take personal offense, you may be a smart guy, but the art of education is explaining concepts easily and showing your work, which in my opinion and my fellow students' opinion, overall this book lacks.

GOOD LUCK to all students, and my prayers are with you if you have this book.

Bloated with Homework Problems.......2005-08-30

The most surprising thing was how much of the book is homework problems (blue pages). Viewed edge-on they appear to be ~50% of the pages. Many problems are excessively wordy, fine as novellos but reading 2 pages to get to the issues is often tedious. The text is well written, but I didn't find the subject to have as much meat as other MBA subjects like Finance or Operations Research. I understand it is one of the better books on Managerial Accounting. I have 27 years experience at many companies, so others might find the material more enlightening.

Great book!.......2002-12-24

The great take away from this book is that executives try hard to achieve the optimal solutions for management problems, but that they seldomly succeed. The reason: they underestimate the creativity of their sub-ordinates (and their superiors).
For ages students and lecturers thought management accounting was dull. Zimmerman shows how fascinating this subject can be. The decision making parts show how to calculate optimal solutions for management accounting problems, the control parts make your realize how difficult it is to make the optimal solutions come true. The implication: the amount of consulting work to be done is infinite.

Think Management Accounting Rather Than Cost Accounting.......2002-10-24

Too often management accounting is completely subsumed in cost accounting. Yes, they are part of the same topic, but they have somewhat different emphases. This book covers costs, but it is really more focused on how you allocated decision rights, set measurement criteria, and how you reward people to get the behavior you want. It is also very helpful in clarifying thinking about what could be going wrong if you aren't getting the behavior you wanted out of a given system of measurement and reward.

The writing is very good and the organization of the book is sound and helpful. While there are charts and graphs it is not a book full of color and pictures. It is a book with words and ideas that are helpfully supplemented as needed. But the self-study problems and cases are set off from the main text by being on different color pages. This helps in locating what you are after.

There is a wealth of thought provoking problems and short cases to help promote discussion and provoke your thinking on the topics discussed in each chapter.

Another aspect of the book I really like are the concept questions in each chapter that help you gauge your understanding of what you have just read. The solutions for these are provided in the back of the book so you can know if you are "getting it" or not.

Book Description

Provides and integrated, action-oriented roadmap to all the control system tools and techniques that are needed to manage a business effectively. New accounting techniques including profit wheel analysis, and Strategic profitability analysis. Provides the most comprehensive presentation of the Balances scorecard approach by one of its originators. A carefully integrated structure. For managers and MBAs who are interested in learning more about Management Control Systems.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book, the best book I've ever read.......2007-02-12

The five stars rating is not enough. No need to say more words after all the previous reviews.

Excelent book.......2007-01-11

An excelent help for managing a business. Very practical, proven in real businesses and related with high level strategy

Absolutely Fantastic.......2004-03-02

WITHOUT QUESTION this book is the best practical business text I have ever read. Thank you Robert for unequivocally adding value - in a meaningful and tangible way that can be taken to the market and capitalised on. It's books like this that inspire me to invest (what would otherwise be leisure) time in learning & continuing my education.

The book is clear, concise, comprehensive & practical, and helped wrap together many general strategy concepts into an effective action based set of implementation tools. VERY, VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Comprehensive Integration with Strategy, Easy to Implement.......2000-03-10

I rarely get excited about textbooks, but this particular treatment of strategy, balancing leading and lagging indicators with a view of past, present and future, was enlightening. This book should be a "must read" for any mid- or senior- level manager. It shows how to make your decisions more fact-based and less 'art'. With the coming of age of "management of knowledge" this is a great tool to use to improve business processes. Definitely worth every single penny spent - but especially if you are interested in learning tangible methods!

Average customer rating:

Outstanding Introduction to the Enterprise Software Concept
REVIEW FOR STUDENTS
Why ask why?
Why ERP? No, really, why ERP?
This Book Sucks

Why ERP? A Primer on SAP Implementation
F. Robert Jacobs , David Clay Whybark , and D. Clay Whybark
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0072400897

Book Description

What is Enterprise Resource Planning and why does it matter? Like The Goal, Why ERP? is a short novel about a manager in a furniture manufacturing business who is charged with learning about and implementing a new ERP system, SAP R/3. The story tells of his experience and provides a non-technical, non-programming introduction to the basic concepts and architecture of ERP systems.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding Introduction to the Enterprise Software Concept.......2005-09-07

I am a Professor in the Management Information Systems area and I use this book as a quick and relatively painless introduction for students who know absolutely nothing about the software that supports Integrated Business Systems. It is an excellent read for that purpose. It focuses on why Enterprise Systems are valuable for some companies, the dangers of blind adoption, the value and power of systems integration, and some of the costs associated with implementing these systems. Just as important, it does this in an interesting way. At least more interesting to my students, who are either dual majors in business administration and information systems or straight majors in some area of business administration. While the other reviewers are correct in their blistering reviews of the book from a technologist's perspective, the book is not written for technologists. As the title suggests, it is a primer and primers are written at the most elementary level.

I have not come across a better book for someone with no knowledge of Integrated Business Systems to learn quickly in 119 pages what Enterprise Systems are about.

REVIEW FOR STUDENTS.......2005-04-21

I read this book as a requirement for my Management Informations Systems class. While it is a dry read, I acknowlege that it was a noble effort to present the information in the form of a novel. Do not read this book if you are an expert on SAP or very familiar with ERP systems. This is little more than a text book put in the form of one large example. Keep your expectations low and you'll be fine.

Why ask why?.......2004-10-28

I picked up this little jewel hoping to learn something about SAP's R/3 product and believe me, it took some serious effort to plow my way through this loathsome tale. The Goal has been done to death by everyone, including Goldratt, and this book is a pale imitation of that classic novel. If you know absolutely nothing about MRP or ERP, then this book might be helpful. It does motivate the need for such systems and production controls in general. The book also has some screen shots of SAP's product, so at least you'll have some basic familiarity with that system before you see it on a workstation. I think I'd rather read the User's Guide to R/3 (or to my VCR) than read this book.

Why ERP? No, really, why ERP?.......2003-11-13

I wouldn't even make paper airplanes with this book - because they would suck too. When millions of books were burned in WWII, why did they miss this one?

Not a good read, pick up The Goal or Better Together instead.

This Book Sucks.......2003-11-13

Why ERP? Because I didn't have a choice as to read it or not. I'd rather take a bath in gasoline and light myself on fire than read this thing again.

Inventory Best Practices (Wiley Best Practices)

Average customer rating:

Very organized - fast read - very happy

Inventory Best Practices (Wiley Best Practices)
Steven M. Bragg
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 047167625X

Book Description

The latest best practices for the inventory function
"I don't know how he does it, but Steven Bragg makes reading about a subject such as inventory interesting, informative, and very useful. Reading and implementing even some of the best practices in this book will improve your company. I highly recommend this book for people who deal with inventory and for their managers."
-- Gail W. Sevier, CPA
Member/Manager, Marrs, Sevier & Company LLC
Inventory Best Practices is a powerful tool for selecting best practices that will result in measured improvement in a full range of industry-specific issues and inventory flow concepts.
Nearly 200 best practices from today's leading companies address every phase of inventory activities:
* Purchase
* Receipt
* Storage
* Picking
* Shipment
Inventory Best Practices provides controllers, inventory managers, and CFOs across a broad range of industries with expert methodologies and techniques for driving costs down.

Customer Reviews:

Very organized - fast read - very happy.......2007-03-22

I read close to 5 major books on warehousing, including Excellence in Warehouse Managment. I found most to be little more than books defining warehouse terminology. Bragg has clear ideas to improve warehousing (inventory management). "Nearly 200" says the dustjacket. I'd buy this one again.

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