Brooks uses a tools-based approach that presents the key concepts of finance (or "tools") early on in the text, followed by an application of those concepts to various finance problems. By introducing key finance concepts with personal and business-related finance examples, this text helps readers understand how the tools of finance can help them in any career or business situation. This edition features strengthened material on financial statements, a discussion on yield curves, new and advanced spreadsheet problems, and updated material.

?Financial Management Information Systems: 25 Years of World Bank Experience on What Works and What Doesn?t? was prepared as an updated and expanded version of the FMIS review report drafted in 2003, to highlight the achievements and challenges observed during the design and implementation of Bank funded FMIS projects since 1984.

Management Information Systems provides comprehensive and integrative coverage of essential new technologies, information system applications, and their impact on business models and managerial decision-making in an exciting and interactive manner. The twelfth edition focuses on the major changes that have been made in information technology over the past two years, and includes new opening, closing, and Interactive Session cases.

The World Bank and IMF are placing increasing emphasis on projects aimed at improving the management of public finances. An integrated treasury system forms the backbone for recording and processing all transactions. This book provides a treasury reference model (TRM) to give guidelines for the design of automated treasury systems for governments. It provides detailed flow charts of the functional processes associated with Treasury systems. This book also includes a diagnostic questionnaire that could be used to evaluate country specific requirements as well as a set of sample functional specifications that could be used for procurement and/or development of the application software that would be required to implement these systems.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made good progress in its financial management, aiming to establish itself as one of the best departments in Whitehall in this respect. It has shown strong leadership in raising the profile of good financial management across the Department. Up to 2007-08, however, the FCO has underspent consistently against its budget. The Department has introduced a financial management improvement programme "Five Star Finance", the aim of which is for the department to be a Whitehall leader in financial management. It currently rates itself at three and a half stars on a 1(low) to 5 (high) scale, a rating confirmed by NAO. The FCO operates in a challenging environment in terms of the global nature of its operations. The fluctuations of global currency markets pose particular difficulties for the Department. Until 2007-08, its budgets were protected by the Treasury from exchange rate fluctuations. When this protection was withdrawn, the FCO introduced alternative measures to manage its exposure, principally the forward purchase of major foreign currencies. It needs to ensure that its finance team has the right skills and experience to manage the financial risks it now faces. The FCO is taking action to avoid future underspends against its budget. In other respects, FCO's financial management has improved. The accuracy, reliability and timeliness of its financial reporting have all been enhanced. In 2007-08 it laid its accounts on 30 June, the earliest date it has ever achieved after the March year-end.