Business Finance: Understanding the Finances of Your Business

Business Finance: Understanding the Finances of Your Business
ISBN-10
1505842654
ISBN-13
9781505842654
Series
Business Finance
Category
Business & Economics
Pages
136
Language
English
Published
2015-01-23
Publisher
CreateSpace
Author
H. Peter Muth, Ph.d.

Description

Having started several companies, and advised business owners in many countries, I realize that no two businesses follow the same path from start-up to maturity: Many entrepreneurs are creative individuals, and some feel that no book can possibly improve on what their own instinct tells them. And many new ventures will indeed succeed, despite the owner's lack of methodical preparation and despite early mistakes, because of the brilliance of the business idea, the hunger of the market for the product or the determination of the promoters, and their laudable resistance to setbacks and defeats. Their founders are 'new-business artists'.But not all new-business owners are geniuses with a sure touch for business success. This book is meant primarily for 'new-business craftsmen' – individuals who want to run their own business and do not have the success-instinct of the new-business artist, and those who work in difficult environments that make thorough preparation a prerequisite for survival. This book is meant to help them through the financial aspects of their apprenticeship as entrepreneurs.Far too many small businesses fail in their early years because of the owners' lack of understanding of the basics of business finance or, worse, their complete lack of interest in financial matters. “As long as I am a good roofer, plumber, barber, baker, retailer, or . . ., I'll be all right financially” is an assertion that often precedes debt default, insolvency and bankruptcy. Before writing this book, I taught several courses on “Understanding the Finances of Your Business” at Maine State Prison. The course participants' questions and the lively classroom discussions – and the fact that several students dropped out because I made the subject appear too complicated – taught me much about the necessity of presenting the basics of business finance effectively. I am indebted to my students over the years for inputs they may not even realize they made.My son Eric Muth, a finance professional, took great pains to ensure that I would not be blind to the many common features of small-business finance – my primary focus – and business finance in general. I am deeply grateful to him for his meticulous substantive and stylistic editing. I warmly thank Dr. Fred Gerlach, William T. Reagan, Ed Ross, Bob Tabor, Ed Tosswill, and Greg Warmke, who commented on draft versions of Business Finance and made valuable suggestions on content and presentation. Without their input, this would be a lesser book. However, I am ultimately responsible for the content, and all factual errors and omissions are mine alone.A diligent auditor rakes through million-dollar accounts in search of missing or misplaced cents; Susan Tosswill scours documents for errant commas, missing periods and skewed alignments. The manuscript I handed her had all of these; the finished book is presentable because of her attention to detail and her comprehensive knowledge of the laws of grammar, punctuation, and style.I thank the Publisher of the Series for permission to use material from earlier books in the Series, Franchising, Business Planning, Credit Analysis, and Starting a Business.H. Peter MuthNovember 2014

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