About.com

Goodbye and Good Luck

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:25:14 +0000

Friends and Readers: I am leaving About.com effective April 30. I've enjoyed my time here but it is time for me to move on. Please continue to read my articles on About.com as the information on finance will help you in your small businesses. I will also be writing about finance on my new blog. I hope I have interesting and helpful information for you as we move into the future.

Accounting Reporting Standards - FASB and IFRS may soon be one

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:00:23 +0000

There isn't much different in international accounting reporting standards (IFRS) and GAAP (US accounting reporting standards). In the interest of globalization and transparency between companies of different countries, the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. has been trying for a number of years to come up with a convergence of the two that satisfies both accounting professional, the business community, and investors in the U.S. and in foreign countries.

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Need a Bankruptcy Attorney?

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:56:12 +0000

Are you considering filing bankruptcy for your small business? If you are, you need a business bankruptcy attorney. Don't just go out into your local community and hire the first attorney you find. Bankruptcy is an important and possibly expensive step. You need the best representative you can find.

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Use Profitability Ratio Analysis to Satisfy your Investors

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:44:41 +0000

In this very aggressive and nervous financial market, investors are looking at the bottom line. They want to know a company's return on equity and return on investment and they don't want to fool around. Doing a complete profitability analysis and having it available for your investors is a smart thing for any publicly traded firm to do.

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Time Value of Money is the Backbone of Finance

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 09:49:27 +0000

In your business, you always need to know what to pay for something - an asset, for example, like a monetary investment or plant and equipment. In order to know what to pay for it, you have to able to calculate its present value. You will accrue payments from many types of investments. If these payments are equal and consecutive, they are called annuities. As a business person, you need to be able to calculate the present value of two types of annuities - ordinary annuities, which pays you payments at the end of a time period and annuities due, which pays you at the beginning of the time period, in order to know what to pay for your investments now.

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What Type of Accounting Information System do you use for your Business?

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:28:39 +0000

Accounting is the language of business and all businesses have to have some method of gathering and classifying their business transactions. That's where accounting information systems come in. If you own a very small business, possibly a home-based business, you may use a system like QuickBooks. If you own a large business, you may use a much more complex system that integrates modules such as inventory and payroll into the basic accounting package.

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Find out how Debt Impacts your Business

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:00:03 +0000

If you use both debt financing and funds from investors, you need to constantly watch how the level of debt you employ impacts your firm. Too little debt financing (which means too much investor financing) can lower your firm's return on equity to the investors. Too much debt, however, is even worse. Too much debt can lead a firm right into bankruptcy.

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Common Size Financial Statement Analysis for a Simple Analysis

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:34:37 +0000

Do you want to do a simple financial analysis of your small business? If you do, then common size financial statement analysis is for you. It tells you a lot about your company and it couldn't be easier to do. You simply look at your income statement and state each line item as a percentage of sales. Then, look at your balance sheet and state each item as a percentage of total assets. Take a look at the link for an example.

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What "Costs" does your Business Firm Face?

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 11:20:37 +0000

What is cost in a business firm? Is it the same as the price you put on the products you sell? The answer to that is a resounding NO as you will discover when you read this article. In it, I discuss the difference between cost and price. I also discuss the cost of a product, breaking it down into direct and indirect costs.

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How do you Start a Business?

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:05:53 +0000

It's a good time to start a business. The uncertainties of the devastating recession of 2008 and the Presidential election of 2012 are behind us. There is a shortage of startups out there. Angel investors and venture capitalists have been sitting on the sidelines during the recession and they are ready to fund good startups. There is relatively high unemployment so you have a good pool of workers to choose from for your business. New technologies are being developed. Find a niche in which you have expertise and go for it!

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