BOOK REVIEWS 285Essentials of Financial Management By Jonathan T. Muzamani, Harare,University of Zimbabwe Publications, 2000, 387 pp. ISBN 0-908-307-71-3,Z$980In an impressively condensed manner, Jonathan Muzamani, lecturer atthe Faculty of Commerce of the University of Zimbabwe, has producedprobably the first textbook on financial management with someZimbabwean flavour. The only other publication nearer to it in its
Zimbabwean flavour is a small publication of 72 pages by Gordon S.Roberts.1 Whilst Roberts- publication only looked at case studies,
Muzamani went further and examined principles of financial managementand enumerated several Zimbabwean case studies.Essentials of Financial Management is essentially a product of theauthor's experience in teaching finance diploma courses, professionalcourses [Chartered Institute of Secretaries (CIS) and Chartered Institute
of Management Accountants (CIMA) in particular], undergraduate coursesand Master of Business Administration (MBA) courses at the University
of Zimbabwe. As a result it integrates various aspects of financial
management in a fashion that elucidates the basic building blocks of thesubject in a manner amenable even to the non-specialist.The author explores the three analytical pillars to finance Š the timevalue of money, valuation and risk management in six sections each withan average of three chapters. Section 1 examines the foundations offinancial management. Section 2 covers the techniques of working capital
management. Section 3 examines capital budgeting techniques. Section 4defines the concept of risk and return. Section 5 looks at valuation andcost of capital concepts. Section 6 examines capital structure theory andpractice. Section 7 examines methods of raising long-term financing,while section 8 examines those for raising short-term and medium-termfinancing. Section 9 examines corporate expansion and failure. Finally,
the text ends with section 10, which discusses financial ratios, budgetingand profit planning. At the end of each chapter, there are practicequestions for which model answers are appended to the text. This makes
the text user-friendly to both the student and instructor.The categories of students likely to find the script useful includebusiness diploma students, undergraduate students taking introductoryfinance courses and MBA students for their introduction to finance course.
For the specialist it is a good reference text because, while it does not go1 Gordon S. Roberts (1984) Financial Management Cases: Zimbabwe (Centre for DevelopmentProjects, Dalhousie University).286 BOOK REVIEWSinto the rigour of modelling of financial theory, it has some usefulreferences for further readings.University of Zimbabwe DANIEL MAKINAThe Dominican Friars in Southern Africa: A Social History, 1577-1990By Phillipe Denis, Leiden, Boston, Massachusetts, Brill AcademicPublishers, 1998, 322 pp, ISBN 0-924-9389, £53,92.Studies on the work of the Dominican friars in Southern Africa abound.They range from specific works such as Mudenge.1 to general works suchas Axelson2 and Mudenge.3 This is in addition to numerous works inPortuguese. Each of the above studies, however, focuses only on specificperiods and areas of Southern Africa; none covers the entire SouthernAfrican region as a whole. In contrast, Denis sets out to provide a morecomprehensive coverage of the region and over a longer period than anyof the above studies. In his words, he sought to gather "in a singlenarrative the disparate stories of Dominican friars in Southern Africaover the past four centuries" (p. ix). This is a daunting task by anystandard, particularly since the Dominicans who worked in SouthernAfrica belonged to no less than five different entities: the Portuguese,Irish, English and Dutch and the Southern African vicariate. Moreover,'four centuries is an awfully long period to cover in one volume and mayeasily lead to superficial treatment of some periods and themes. Theseproblems are somewhat mitigated by the fact that Denis is a member ofthe Dominican Religious Order. As an "insider", therefore, he was able toaccess information that would otherwise be unavailable to lay researchers.The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 deals with thePortuguese Dominicans in Southeast Africa. It argues that the beginningof the Dominican enterprise in South-eastern Africa was facilitated by theclose relationship between the Crown and the Cross. Dominicans actedas agents of the Portuguese Crown in facilitating Portuguese imperialPolicies, in return for financial assistance and military protection. Thiscooperation lasted until the nineteenth century, when a conflict developeder the extent of the state's jurisdiction over Dominican affairs. Overe years> the Dominicans had become increasingly independent. Thisthe £^^^^^ : An aspect of missionary history inS fr^vr" (1973"> PortuSuese in South-East Africa 1600-1700 (Johannesburg. C Struik).ZPH) Muden8e (1988) A Political History of the Munhumutapa c 1400-1902 (Harare,