Accounting and Finance for Your Small Business

Steven Bragg, CPA, CMA, CIA, CPIM, has been the chief financial officer or controller of four companies, as well as a consulting manager at Ernst & Young and auditor at Deloitte & Touche. He received a Master’s degree in finance from Bentley College, an MBA from Babson College, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Maine. He has been the two-time president of the Colorado Mountain Club, is an avid alpine skier and mountain biker, and is a certified master diver.Subscribe to Steve’s free best practices newsletter at www.stevebragg.com E. James Burton, Ph.D., CPA, CFE, is dean of the College of Business and a full professor of accounting at Middle Tennessee State University. He has founded, owned, managed, and sold a number of businesses in a variety of areas from service to manufacturing. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from MacMurray College in economics/business, a Master of Business Administration degree from Murray State University in management, and a Ph.D. in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to over 50 journal articles, he has written Total Business Planning: A Step-by-Step Guide with Forms that has continued through three editions and translation into Norwegian. He resides in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

• Preface xiiiSection I Preparing to Operate the Business 1Chapter 1 Budgeting for Operations 3Definition or Purpose of an Operating Budget 3Signs of Budget Ineffectiveness 4Improvements to the Budgeting System 6Responsibility Accounting 9Budget Tracking and Maintenance 21The System of Interlocking Budgets 25Need for Budget Updating 35Summary 36Chapter 2 Investing in Long-Term Assets and Capital Budgeting 39Definitions 40Overview and Use of Capital Budgeting 41Life Cycles 42Capital Budgeting Sequence 43Producing Numbers to Get Dollars, the Use of Forms, and the Capital Budgeting Model 48Miscellaneous Considerations 65Product Discontinuance 66Bailout 68Summary 69Appendix: Examples and Comparison of Calculations 70Chapter 3 Basic Control Systems 77The Need for Control Systems 77Types of Fraud 79Key Controls 81When to Eliminate Controls 97Summary 99Section II Operating the Business 101Chapter 4 Cash Flow Concerns 103Cash 103What to Do with Excess Cash 105Cash Flows 108Introduction to Cash Flow Budgets 112Indications of Cash Flow Problems 112Managing Cash 113Preparation of the Cash Budget 126Disbursements 127Net Cash Flow and Cash Balances 130Exceptions to Expected Cash Flows 131Summary 132Appendix: Cash Flow Example 133Chapter 5 Financing 143New Businesses 143Zero Working Capital and Zero Fixed Assets 144Types of Financing 148Private Placement of Stock 157Swapping Stock for Expenses 158Stock Warrants 159Stock Subscriptions 159How to Obtain a Bank Loan 160Sources of Debt Financing 167Types of Loan Arrangements 168Restrictions on Loans 171Conditions That a Borrower Should Seek 173Summary 175Section III Evaluating the Operations of the Business 177Chapter 6 Performance Measurement Systems 179Financial Ratios 180Types of Financial Ratios 182Using Performance Measurements for Predictions 193Operating Ratios 196Other Ratios 202The Balanced Scorecard 204Summary 207Chapter 7 Financial Analysis 209Risk Analysis 209Capacity Utilization 215Breakeven Analysis 222Summary 229Chapter 8 Taxes and Risk Management 231Controlling Tax Liabilities 232Risk Management 237Insurance 245Types of Insurance Companies 249Claims Administration 250Summary 252Chapter 9 Reporting 255Federal Government Requirements 255State Government Requirements 262Local Government Requirements 267Creditors 268Equity Holders 269Management Reports 269Summary 286Index 289