We recommend:
Berman, Karen, and Joe Knight, with John Case. Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean. revised ed. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
In Financial Intelligence, Berman and Knight teach the basics of finance—but with a twist. Financial reporting, they argue, is as much art as science. Because nobody can quantify everything, accountants always rely on estimates, assumptions, and judgment calls. Savvy managers need to know how those sources of possible bias can affect the financials. While providing the foundation for a deep understanding of the financial side of business, the book also arms managers with practical strategies for improving their companies’ performance—strategies (such as managing the balance sheet) that are well understood by financial professionals but rarely shared with their nonfinancial colleagues.
Harvard Business School Publishing. HBR Guide to Finance Basics for Managers. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2012.
This installment in the HBR Guide series explains financial statements and shows how to use the information they contain to make better business decisions. Among the topics covered: growing profits by streamlining your business, working your assets to boost growth, understanding balance sheet levers, and learning to speak the language of ROI. The book also investigates what the financial statements do not tell you, along with the “five traps” of performance measurement.
The following works (organized in reverse chronological order) may also be helpful:
Mason, Roger. Finance for Non-Financial Managers in a Week: A Teach Yourself Guide. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012.
Matias, Anthony J. Budgeting and Forecasting: The Quick Reference Handbook. Cambridge, MA: Matias & Associates, 2012.
Shoffner, H. George, Susan Shelly, and Robert A. Cooke. The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course: Finance for Non-Financial Managers. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.
Fields, Edward. The Essentials of Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers. 2nd ed. New York: Amacom Books, 2011.
Weaver, Samuel C., and J. Fred Weston. Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
Siciliano, Gene. Finance for Non-Financial Managers. Briefcase Books Series. New York: McGraw-Hill Briefcase Books, 2003.
Kemp, Sid, and Eric Dunbar. Budgeting for Managers. Briefcase Books Series. New York: McGraw-Hill Briefcase Books, 2003.