The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finance and Accounting

Complete Idiot's Guide™ to Finance and Accounting, The
by Michael Muckian
Publisher: Alpha Books

Part: 1 Getting Started
Chapter 1. Mastering Financial Management
Recognizing a Necessary Evil
Understanding the Financial Side of Business
Solid Reasons to Manage Finances
Getting Ahead with Finance
Chapter 2. From Strategy to Business Plan
Defining a Strategy
Strategic Characteristics
Building a Business Plan
Another Reason to Have a Business Plan
Business Plan Objectives
Business Plan Shortfalls
Business Plan Components
Chapter 3. Budgeting 101
The Budget: A Definition
Stepping into the Budgeting Process
Budget Components
Drafting a Budget
Part: 2 Accounting for Your Success
Chapter 4. The Accountant in You
What's So Important About Accounting?
Accounting IS Communication
Great Expectations
Understanding Debits and Credits
T for Two
Accrual vs. Cash Basis Accounting
Chapter 5. Your Company's General Ledger
The Purposes of a General Ledger
The General Ledger Does Not Stand Alone
Setting Up the General Ledger
Making Journal Entries
Batching General Ledger Entries
Balancing Out
On the Audit Trail
Chapter 6. The Chart of Accounts
A Reliable Guide
Creating the Chart of Accounts
What's in a Name?
What's in a Number?
Chapter 7. Accounts Receivable
Listing Items of Value
Adding Up the Info
Automating Receivables
Credit Entries
A Case Study
Tracking Receivables
Maximizing Your Collections Efforts
Chapter 8. Accounts Payable
Going Manual
Embracing Automation
Accruable Accounts Payable
Entries to Your Accounts Payable
Keeping Payables on Track
Carry That Weight
Managing Disbursement: Where the Accounts Payable System Earns Its Keep
Trade Discounts Can Add Up!
Other Opportunities Courtesy of Accounts Payable
Chapter 9. Watching Your Cash Flow
What Is Cash Flow?
Maxim 1
Beware the Cash Crunch!
Time to Cut Costs
Maxims 2 and 3
When Times Get Really Tough
Maxim 4
Maxim 5
Final Options
When Darkness Falls
Part: 3 Managing with Accounting
Chapter 10. Managing Payroll
Establishing a Payroll System
The Cost of Payroll
Withholding Taxes
Accounting for Benefits
Chapter 11. Inventory Control
Identifying Your Inventory
Developing an Inventory Control (I/C) System
Tracking Inventory Flow
Accounting for Inventory Control
Measuring the Cost of Goods Sold
Tracking Inventory Performance
The Secret to Inventory Management
Chapter 12. Cost Accounting
Everything Costs Something
A Manufacturing Example
Tracking Cost Flow
Cost System Types
Setting Up the General Ledger
Accounting for Overhead
Standardizing Costs
Chapter 13. Managing Internal Controls
An Ounce of Prevention
Establishing Internal Controls
The Bottom Line: Cost
Setting Up a Control System
Keeping Tabs on Inventory
Watching Payroll
Handling Internal Cash Accounts
Can You Beat the System?
Part: 4 Sources of Funds and Acumen
Chapter 14. Managing Commercial Lenders
Business Is Business
Are You a Good Candidate?
Types of Loans
Picking a Lender
Getting the Loan
The Paperwork
Personal Guarantees
Building Lender Relationships
Chapter 15. Utilizing Venture Capital
An Investment, Not a Loan
What to Expect from Venture Capitalists
Finding the Right Venture Capital Firm
Don't Discount Informal Investors
Attracting the Interest of Venture Capitalists
Knocking on the Right Doors
Red Flags Involving Your Venture Capitalist
Chapter 16. Proprietorship, Partnership, or Incorporation?
Business Building Blocks
Considering Sole Proprietorships
When to Partner and When to Pass
Going Corporate
Filling Out the Forms
Boards, Bylaws, and Banking Resolutions
Corporate Liability to Shareholders
Part: 5 Your Company's Tax Obligations
Chapter 17. Your Business Obligations to Uncle Sam
First Step: Hire a Competent Tax Professional
Accounting for Business Income
The $10,000 Business Cash Question
Filing Schedule C Taxes
Professional Deductions
New Business Deductions
Chapter 18. Sharpening Company Tax Smarts
Accounting for Employment Taxes
Paying Corporate Income Taxes
Taking Care of Other Taxes
Using Depreciation of Assets
First-Year Expensing Deduction
Chapter 19. Partnerships, S Corporations, and Limited Liability Companies
Structures, Structures, Structures
Partnership Profit and Loss Reporting
Taxes and the S Corporation
What Is a Limited Liability Company?
Part: 6 Strategies for Growth
Chapter 20. Developing a Financial Plan
Types of Required Capital
Establishing a Schedule of Start-Up Costs
The Balance Sheet
Computing Profit and Loss
Chapter 21. Forecasting Your Future
The Dynamics of Projection
Building an Assumption Statement
Composing a Better Sales Forecast
Controlling Cash Flow
Chapter 22. Preserving the Bottom Line
Hiring a Money Manager
What Money Managers Do
Qualifications of a Money Manager
Working with Your Money Manager
Understanding the Market
Keeping Track
Investment Terminology
Chapter 23. Developing Growth Strategies
Identifying Product Life Cycles
Business Life Cycles
Controlled Growth vs. Explosive Growth
Planning Ahead
Evaluating Your Management
Chapter 24. Partnering with Vendors
Beyond the Buying/Selling Relationship
Defining Partnering Conditions
Identifying Vendor Partners
Establishing a Partnership Plan
What Should Your Vendor Partner Agreement Include?
Potential Pitfalls of Partnering
Chapter 25. Troubleshooting Your Business System
Is Trouble Brewing?
Is It a Good Control System?
Auditing the Business
Reviewing Decision-Making Systems
Ten Measurements of Effectiveness
Appendix A: What's My Data?
Scenario 1: Your Department on the Line
Scenario 2: Expansion…or Else
Scenario 3: So Many Figures, So Little Time
Scenario 4: The Check Is in the Mail
Scenario 5: The Devil Is into Details
Scenario 6: No Need to Worry About Good Buys
Scenario 7: Better Than a Crystal Ball
Scenario 8: Rounding Up Stray Cattle
Scenario 9: Beating the Salary Stalk
Scenario 10: Deep in the Art of Taxes
Appendix B: Flexing Your Financial Muscles
Scenario A: What's It to You?
Scenario B: Banking on Your Inventory
Scenario C: Opportunities Lost, Figure the Cost
Scenario D: Cash and Collateral
Scenario E: Riding Cycles
Scenario F: Go with the Flow
Scenario G: Welcome to Accrual World
Scenario H: Variables on the Rise
Scenario I: Joining the Bucket Brigade
Scenario J: Do You Know How to Have Funds?
Appendix C: Glossary

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