
3
Why Understand Finance?
F
inance matters to all companies because they
all have to bring in money and spend it in or-
der to do business. On the bringing-in side,
smart managers consider questions like these:
• How much of our money comes from the own-
ers? How much from sales? How much from
borrowing?
• Which of our product lines and regions earn
the highest profi ts? Which ones fail to perform?
• How long does it take to collect money that
customers owe us?
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