C H A P T E R  
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The Fascinating World of Finance

Many decisions that you make, no matter what level you are in the organization, have a financial impact. For you to grow on the job, and within your organization, you must understand financial data at a basic level. This will enable you to make better decisions in both your professional and personal lives.

This chapter therefore aims to provide a basic awareness of accounting and finance for anyone in information technology, marketing, operations, and human resources. The contents of this chapter will help you gain a better understanding of the financial objectives of your organization and how they intertwine with such things as IT strategy, product development, project management, and so forth. This chapter will thus help you put your new understanding to use in your respective functional area. It will also help you work out the financial implications of your day-to-day decisions, help you make decisions that have a positive impact on the financial health of business and, finally, prompt you to make better use of the resources allocated to your projects and administrative division.