According to Bloomberg data, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within 18 months. One of the main causes is poor financial management. Despite it being strikingly obvious that good cash-flow management is vital to a company, many business people fail to manage their finances efficiently. Money Matters! describes the functions of the Balance Sheet and the Profit and Loss Account, and how to use them to record, plan, control and overall manage the business. It deals with Cash Flow and Working Capital, which are the most important money aspects in running a business. If you do not have the money to pay your bills, then the business will not long survive!

Costs are explained — a tedious subject but essential to understand if you are going to successfully make a profit. Then, Break-even tells you at precisely what level of effort you will start to make a profit (or incur loss). Ratios are much more exciting! They provide information on business problems and how to deal with them.

Finally the Budget. This is the most vital element in the whole of management. The budgeting chapter shows how all the pieces of the financial system fit together to make a sensible operating plan.

Having read and digested this 2-part book, the reader will have a very good understanding of the mysteries of money in a business which is often a puzzle to managers. It should not be and it need not be! No business can be managed effectively without knowing what is going on in the money department. This book is a no-nonsense, jargon free guide which gives an insight into how to get information and use it for managing the business in a moneywise and effective way.

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