Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs : What You Really Need to Know about the Numbers

by Berman, Karen

• ISBN13: 9781422119150
• ISBN10: 1422119157
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-09
• Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services, Inc.

Summary

If You're an Entrepreneur or Company Owner, you face tremendous challenges in starting and running a business. Amid all the pressures, it can be easy to overlook just how important "the numbers" are to a growing company. Do you know your burn rate? Do you understand that you can be making a profit and still run out of cash? What financial information will your investors want to see-and why?

Author Biography

Karen Berman and Joe Knight, founders of the Los Angeles-based Business Literacy Institute, work with some of the world's best known and most respected organizations, including American Express, CVS Caremark Corp., General Electric, and Southwest Airlines John Case is a successful business book author

Table of Contents

Preface: What This Book Is About	p. xi
The Art of Finance (and Why It Matters)
What Is Financial Intelligence?	p. 3
A Primer on the Art of Finance	p. 11
Part 1 Toolbox: Financing your business; Building a financial staff	p. 19
The (Many) Peculiarities of the Income Statement
Profit Is an Estimate	p. 25
Cracking the Code of the Income Statement	p. 30
Revenue: The Issue Is Recognition	p. 38
Costs and Expenses: No Hard-and-Fast Rules	p. 43
The Many Forms of Profit	p. 54
Part 2 Toolbox: Understanding variance; Calculating percent of and percent change	p. 60
The Balance Sheet Reveals the Most
Understanding Balance Sheet Basics	p. 65
Assets: More Estimates and Assumptions (Except for Cash)	p. 71
On the Other Side: Liabilities and Equity	p. 81
Why the Balance Sheet Balances	p. 86
The Income Statement Affects the Balance Sheet	p. 89
Part 3 Toolbox: Employees as assets; Expense vs. capital expenditure	p. 94
Cash is King
Cash Is a Reality Check	p. 99
Profit [not equal] Cash (and You Need Both)	p. 103
The Language of Cash Flow	p. 110
How Cash Connects with Everything Else	p. 114
Why Cash Matters	p. 122
Part 4 Toolbox: Cash accounting; Free cash flow	p. 125
Ratios: Learning what the Numbers are Really Telling You
The Power of Ratios	p. 129
Profitability Ratios: The Higher the Better (Mostly)	p. 135
Leverage Ratios: The Balancing Act	p. 141
Liquidity Ratios: Can We Pay Our Bills?	p. 145
Efficiency Ratios: Making the Most of Your Assets	p. 148
Part 5 Toolbox: Which ratios are most important?; The power of percent of sales; Sustainable growth rate	p. 154
How to Calculate (and Really Understand) Return on Investment
The Building Blocks of ROI	p. 161
Figuring ROI: The Nitty-Gritty	p. 168
Part 6 Toolbox: A step-by-step guide to analyzing capital expenditures	p. 178
Applied Financial Intelligence: Working Capital Management
The Magic of Managing the Balance Sheet	p. 183
Your Balance Sheet Levers	p. 186
Homing In on Cash Conversion	p. 191
Part 7 Toolbox: Working with your banker; Accounts receivable aging	p. 195
Creating a Financially Intelligent Company
Financial Literacy, Transparency, and Your Business's Performance	p. 199
Financial Literacy Strategies	p. 205
Putting Financial Intelligence to Work: Growing Your Business	p. 211
Part 8 Toolbox: Open-book management; Understanding Sarbanes-Oxley	p. 218
Sample Financials	p. 221
Exercises to Build Your Financial Intelligence-Income Statement; Balance Sheet; Cash Flow Statement; Ratios	p. 225
Under Armour and eBay Financial Statements	p. 255
Notes	p. 263
Acknowledgments	p. 265
Index	p. 269
About the Authors	p. 285
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.