It’ll be dawn in a couple of hours and I’ll be asleep like Dracula after a long night by the time that occurs.  Unfortunately rather than chasing damsels in distress I’ve been figuring out the time value of money, the net present value, discount rates, payback period, discounted payback period, internal rate of return and on and on.  This week’s assignment has been flat out, no holds barred brutal.  Not because I didn’t read the materials, I did, but because the applied concept question just assumed that with the given information I had that I could figure out the numbers I needed.  Eventually I figured this out.  But not through my handy dandy textbook, oh no.  I had to use The Portable MBA in Accounting and Finance 3rd Ed.  

For those of you considering an MBA program I highly, highly, highly recommend this series of books in addition to any and all textbooks you may be required to purchase.  They are clear, informative, engaging and most importantly, to the point and easily referenced.  And hey, as a bonus when you finish school you will have a nifty little business library full of all of those advanced concepts that an MBA is supposed to just be able to pull out of a hat like a white rabbit.  But since a lot of this is stuff you don’t use everyday, or maybe even every year, I highly recommend keeping plenty of these types of resources around.  It’s why they pay you the big bucks boss.  

If you don’t want to purchase the whole series, stick with the topics that you struggle in.  For me it is all things math related, such as Economics, Accounting, Finance and I bought the overview book for a Cliff Notes version of the full text.  It’s a handy little desk reference to read during lunch or something.  By the way, if you are wondering what an MBA curriculum covers and are just dying to know if it is stuff you would be interested in pursuing academically, browse through a few of these books and see for yourself just how riveting this can be.

Jeez….4AM already.  Hey, don’t ever say I don’t practice what I preach, school is sacrifice and in this case I’ve traded some sleep for a little new knowledge.