Chapter 13

Keeping Track of Finances

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Keeping essential records

Bullet Understanding the main accounting reports

Bullet Finding an accountant

Bullet Meeting profit goals

Bullet Evaluating financial performance

Bullet Meeting legal obligations

Every business needs reliable financial information for both decision making and accountability. No one is going to be keen to pump money into your venture if you can’t demonstrate that you know what’s likely to happen to it. Reliable information doesn’t necessarily call for complex bookkeeping and accounting systems: simple is often best. As the business grows, and perhaps takes on outside investors, you require more sophisticated information. That’s when using a computer and some of the relevant software packages may be the best way forward. But even with a computer errors can occur, so you have to know how to recognise when financial information goes wrong and ...

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