Finance Confidential
Corporate Finance Insights for Business Leaders
Salvatore Cantale & Polina Bochukova
Every executive eventually hits a moment of truth. A new project, a bold expansion, a promising acquisition — and suddenly the hard questions are right in front of you. Finance Confidential gives you the financial clarity needed to make smarter, more confident choices.
About the Book
Finance Without the Jargon
"Every executive eventually hits a moment of truth. Will this venture be profitable? Will it generate cash flow? Will it create value for shareholders — or destroy it?"
If you can answer these questions with ease, this is not the book for you. But if you have ever thought, "I wish someone would explain how to think about these choices clearly and without the jargon," then Finance Confidential is the book you have been waiting for.
Clear, practical, and built for real-world decisions, this book gives every executive the financial clarity needed to make smarter, finance-based, more confident choices.
Experiential Approach
Each chapter blends storytelling, real-world cases, and academic insights. Finance is not just about numbers — it is about people, decisions, and real-life situations.
Real World. Real Learning.
Every concept is grounded in actual company data — from easyJet Holidays to Under Armour, Britvic, and Carlsberg — so you see how finance truly matters in business.
Built for Executives
Designed for leaders who need to make financial decisions without a finance background. No unnecessary jargon, just clear frameworks and actionable insight.
Academic Rigour
Each chapter distils key takeaways from selected academic papers, giving you the depth of scholarship without the density of a traditional textbook.
Table of Contents
Your Finance Journey
Part Zero
Taking Off on Your Finance Journey
Sets the stage with the strategic and financial mindset at the heart of the book, using easyJet's 2019 launch of its Holidays business as a lens.
Part One
Understanding Financial Performance
Explores financial decision-making, working capital management, and asset-based performance indicators including ROIC, ROCE, ROE, ROA, and EVA.
Part Two
The Fundamentals of Valuation
Makes the case for cash flows, introduces DCF, NPV, IRR, and explores M&A valuation using the 2025 Carlsberg acquisition of Britvic.
Part Three
Landing Your Finance Journey
Applies all tools from Parts One and Two to build the financial business case for easyJet Holidays — a complete, practical capstone.
Epilogue
Reflections, closing remarks, and guidance for your next steps in finance
Companion Resource
Excel Toolkit
Step-by-Step Financial Models
The book includes an Excel toolkit with step-by-step explanations of concrete examples and models. Users can customise the Excel tools to their own requirements, applying the frameworks directly to their own business context.
Password Protected
The file is password protected. The password is the first word of page 257 of the book.
About the Authors
Meet the Authors
Salvatore Cantale is Professor of Finance at IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. His academic and consulting work focuses on the intersection of strategy, business models, and financial results.
At IMD, he directs the Finance for Boards (FFB), Driving Sustainability from the Boardroom (DSB), and Business Finance (BF) programs. He also teaches finance in the MBA program and delivers customized sessions for the Advanced Management Program (AMP) and the flagship Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP) program.
He has carried out consulting services for organizations including APG, MUFG, UniCredit, Lacoste, Pernod Ricard, Unilever, Coca-Cola Hellenic, Tata Motors, and Maersk. His work has appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review, The Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times.
Education
Ph.D. in Finance, INSEAD (France)
MSc in Management, INSEAD (France)
BA in Economics and Finance, Università di Catania (Italy)
Polina Bochukova
Affiliate Learning Manager, Consultant & Executive Coach
IMD Business School
Polina Bochukova is an affiliate IMD learning manager, consultant, and executive coach. She brings extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, and performance improvement for large and mid-size companies.
Her professional experience spans more than 25 years in industry, financial advisory services, and management consulting across Belgium, the US, the UK, and Switzerland. Before joining IMD, she worked at Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services in New York as a valuation consultant, at Solvay S.A. in Brussels in strategic business development, and as a manager in Kearney's Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals practice in London.
These roles provided a strong foundation in financial analysis, strategic planning, and advisory work across complex, multinational environments.
Education
MBA (Finance & Strategy), Yale School of Management
BA in International Business and Political Science, Richmond, The American International University in London
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