HACKER Q&A
📣 quotient

What are the best books on accounting/finance for CEOs?


I thought I knew accounting & finance reasonably well as a casual investor in public and private markets, but as with most things -- the deeper I dive, the more I realize how little I know.

I'm the CEO of an early-stage technology company in an industry with meaningful financial nuance, and I'm trying to learn more deeply about how other companies thought about their key financial metrics, where to apply which ones, and how different business models lend themselves to different forms of financing. (My question is particularly inspired by another thread on HN, The Games People Play with Cash Flow[0].)

I'd appreciate any book recommendations for accounting & finance in this direction, hopefully deep in detail and aimed at executives. Intermediate/advanced texts are fine.

[0] https://commoncog.com/blog/cash-flow-games/

  👤 oogway8020 Accepted Answer ✓
As a Software Developer, after working with CEO/CFO/Accountants on Managerial (Cost) Accounting Projects, I started appreciating it as one of the most important areas in the business. Started casually studying it so I can easier understand it in software requirements. If Costing Analysis and especially Overhead are important in your business, classic textbooks by Horngren and/or Garrison are great and also there is an excellent series on Managerial Accounting by prof. Mark Meldrum on youtube
👤 Rastonbury
I expected that article to be about how companies are fleecing investors by juicing or manipulating reported cashflows (https://www.ft.com/content/40eb1369-5b14-40b9-a3d5-478ca3420...) but its Finance 101 from b-school curriculum not "cashflow games"

I second, Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies

Its may be a bit dense/academic but its a great read for anyone interested in value creation and looking through the 'value' lense should underpin every single business decision.

👤 erhserhdfd
If you have an appetite for a more in-depth book, the McKinsey book "Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies" is a classic that is taught in many business schools and used extensively in practice. Although the title is specific to valuation, it covers the basics of financial statements and also offers solid guidance on leveraging financial data to drive strategy.

I would recommend selectively reading the chapters based on your specific situation and previous level of knowledge. It appears used copies are available on Amazon for about $25.

👤 tizia
In my opinion, the best books are the one of Brealey and the one of Damodaran both on Corporate Fianance.