This handbook is primarily intended to serve as a primer for transit system managers who have not had any formal financial education through college classes, professional development programs, or extensive on-the-job programs. The following topics are covered: financial planning techniques for transit (beginning the financial planning process, turning strategy into a financial plan, budgeting, and coping with problems and pitfalls); accounting fundamentals (the accounting process, financial statements, working capital, cost analysis, break-even analysis, the cash and accrual basis of accounting, depreciation); budgeting (purposes of a budget, concepts in budgeting, budget preparation, internal preparation, external review, implementation, analysis techniques); cash control (the operator, the farebox, the vault, receiving vaults/ancillary equipment, vault handling and physical facilities, money counting, money room operators, funds transfer, other loss areas); inventory management (reasons for and requirements of effective inventories); risk management (elements of risk management, risk funding and decision making, property and liability insurance coverages, and establishment of a risk management policy); cash management (cash flow time lines, the concept of float, banking services, cash discounts, cash flow forecasts); debt financing (types of debt, planning and issuing debt); capital expenses (the time value of money, life-cycle costing, vehicle rehabilitation, tax benefit transfer); and automation in financial management. Appendixes explain various debt mechanisms and microcomputer applications. (MN)