Title: Managing Information: Core Management
Price: £19.99
ISBN: 0 7506 5828 2

The stated intention of this new work is to produce three books in one but at an introductory level designed to cover the syllabuses of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development:

Information systems: Contribution of information systems/information technology to organisations, systems concepts and attributes, planning, reviewing and controlling with information systems, serving the end user – spreadsheets, databases, e-mail and desk-top publishing, software application for human resources and other areas, legislation and security.

Finance: Sources and application of funds, accounting documentation – cash statements, profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, interpretation of accounts – management ratios, costing and budgeting.

Statistics: Sources and uses of statistics, presentation of statistics, interpretation – measures of average, measures of distribution, correlation, time series, index numbers, significance tests, use of current software for computation of statistics.

The authors are stated as Diana Bedward, former Head of Department of HRM and Graduate Business School (probably Luton but not clear!) and currently runs her own business and John Stredwick, Senior Lecturer, Luton Business School and a consultant on Reward and Flexible Working Practices.
That the authors are true academics is illustrated by the separate lists of tables and figures. Why they think that the reader is bothered with their numbering system is lost on your reviewer.

This work is not an easy read. However, that is no fault of the authors but of the publishers. By stipulating a margin on the left of the page, which is three times that on the right of the page they ensure that the text virtually disappears into the gutter in the centre of the book. If the publishers took the trouble to read their own books then surely they would stop this practice.

This book will be suitable for undergraduates/postgraduate human resources students and all business students who need to take introductory modules in Finance, Statistics and Information Systems.

Review by Dr Jeff Wooller (President of the Institute of Professional Financial Managers www.ipfm.org)