article thumbnail

10 Reasons Why Every Manager Should take a Finance Course

Great Leadership By Dan

We just finished a “ Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager ” program this week for a large client. The audience was mostly engineers – program and project managers, the ones in charge of designing and making complex stuff. You’ll be able to hold your own in management and board meetings. They will call you on it.

Finance 246
article thumbnail

A Refresher on Payback Method

Harvard Business Review

There are a variety of ways to calculate a return on investment (ROI) — net present value , internal rate of return , breakeven — but the simplest is payback period. A Refresher on Net Present Value. For that reason, net present value is often the preferred method.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

A Refresher on Internal Rate of Return

Harvard Business Review

There are a variety of methods you can use to calculate ROI — net present value , payback, breakeven — and internal rate of return , or IRR. According to Knight, it’s commonly used by financial analysts in conjunction with net present value, or NPV. A Refresher on Net Present Value.

article thumbnail

Why Some Digital Companies Should Delay Profitability for as Long as They Can

Harvard Business Review

As long as there are strong increasing returns to create , it’s possible that the net present value of my profit harvesting is indefinitely larger if deferred to the future. The Refresher: Net Present Value. Today, AWS is a much more valuable business for the company’s long-termism. So is Google.

article thumbnail

How to Quantify Sustainability’s Impact on Your Bottom Line

Harvard Business Review

We found that sustainable and deforestation-free practices created significant financial benefits for all players in the industry’s value chain. Specifically, our analysis found that the net benefits to ranchers ranged from $18 million to $34 million (12% to 23% of revenues) in net present value projected over 10 years.

article thumbnail

Why We Need to Update Financial Reporting for the Digital Era

Harvard Business Review

Business students have traditionally considered net present value, payback period, and hurdle rates as necessary tools to determine which project to select. So, investors, and therefore managers, might be adjusting their approach to risk accordingly. Traditional companies therefore rely on two strategies.

Report 8
article thumbnail

How Marketers Can Avoid Big Data Blind Spots

Harvard Business Review

That estimate then needs to be tested and adjusted systematically based on the unique situation of the company using the experience and judgment of marketing and sales managers, as well as other internal data (e.g. customer surveys). typically are short-term calls to action and contribute little to building the brand and consumer loyalty.