I recently mentioned that my new book on forecasting, Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting (Wiley & Sons, 2010), will be out early next year.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for insights on the Beyond Budgeting principles and their application (as well as for general insights on improving organizational planning and control capabilities), here’s a link that provides reviews and ordering information on the following three titles:

• Beyond Budgeting: How Managers Can Break Free from the Annual Performance Trap (Harvard Business School Press, 2003) by Jeremy Hope and Robin Fraser. The book offers a primer on the 12 Beyond Budgeting principles and a framework for implementation. It also features real-life case studies of European organizations that have successfully used Beyond Budgeting to transform themselves into best-in-class examples. It was developed as a result of the initial Beyond Budgeting research efforts. It speaks to both the process changes and leadership changes that enable organizations to manage more adaptively and more productively.

• Reinventing the CFO: How Financial Managers can Transform Their Roles and Add Greater Value (Harvard Business School Press, 2006) by Jeremy Hope. This book was developed from a series of interviews of CFOs from leading organizations. It lets you see the mind-set of highly regarded CFOs throughout various industries. It emphasizes the shift toward making finance an integral part of strategic planning rather than a purely number-crunching function. The greatest response has come from how people relate to Jeremy’s definition of the seven roles of the CFO. These are (1) freedom fighter, (2) analyst and advisor, (3) architect and advisor, (4) warrior against waste, (5) master of measurement, (6) regulator of risk, and (7) champion of change. The multiple roles a CFO plays must be adapted to the challenges his or herr organization faces.

• Implementing Beyond Budgeting: Unlocking the Performance Potential (John Wiley & Sons, 2008) by Bjarte Bogsnes. This book includes a series of actual implementation lessons culled from the implementation efforts helmed by Bjarte Bogsnes at both Borealis and StatoilHydro. This is the first of many stories that I see emerging as implementation leaders share how they are transforming finance.

If you find that your job requires you to participate in “low-IQ” processes, please take time to read one of these books. It may help you begin to find ways to help your organization stop doing some dumb things. ###