The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course In Finance For Nonfinancial Managers is a great little book. Every small business owner who hasn't formally studied finance should read it.

Robert A. Cooke covers it all-- sales, cost of sales, expenses, buying, leasing or doing without, the balance sheet and income statement, and much more. This is not a bookkeeping text per se. The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course In Finance For Nonfinancial Managers teaches finance which is a broader topic. A strategic topic needed for successful growth of a company.

Unlike many introductory small business books, The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course In Finance For Nonfinancial Managers does a really good job discussing budgeting and long-range planning. Using the numbers to plan rather than just recording them for the sake of tax-reporting purposes is what finance and financial decision-making is all about.

Further, Cooke makes financial business planning, which is considered by many to be a boring topic, rather fun to read. He follows the new fictional start-up company, The Spouse House Company. The company makes little sheds, Spouse Houses, for spouses who are in the dog house and who need a little shed in the backyard to hang out in until trouble blows over and domestic tranquility is restored.

The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course In Finance For Nonfinancial Managers is not only very readable, but reads quickly at only about 270 pages. That means you will be able to read it twice.