ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the extensive so that the reader can become exposed to the essentials of business. It discusses financial accounting, which is what appears in annual reports and is submitted to government agencies like the Security and Exchange Commission. The chapter presents finance from an engineering and technical management perspective. Typical businesses prefer engineering decisions that result in higher profits. A cheaper engineering solution may produce higher profits if a resulting lower price causes an increase in sales. Like engineering, business has a large number of words and phrases with precise meanings. In the business world, business topics are included in the subject of finance. The world of finance is replete with contracts and other legal documents that have monetary value. Legal documents like these that have monetary value are called financial instruments. Since companies come in many sizes, it is often difficult to compare financial performance using raw accounting numbers.
