Chapter 3
Figuring Out the Figures
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the main accounting reports
Making sure your books balance
Evaluating financial performance
Getting to grips with pricing
According to statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the five-year survival rate of new businesses in the UK in 2022 is 38.4 percent. That means that two in three start-ups don’t make it to their fifth birthday, and a third don’t make it to their second birthday. Some sectors, particularly those that need any form of premises or equipment, have even lower survival rates. Nursing homes, despite obvious demand, have double the average failure rate. Putting this information right at the front of this chapter is not intended to put you off starting up. Rather, the aim is to reinforce the vital importance of understanding finance. Poor financial management is consistently rated as one of the top three reasons why businesses fail, and is at least as likely a reason for failure as finding too few customers.
Every business needs reliable financial information for both decision making and ...
Get Starting & Running a Business All-in-One For Dummies, 4th Edition (UK) now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
