Contents -- Preface -- Part one Assembling financial data -- 01 Keeping the books -- The accounts you have to keep -- Getting some help -- 02 The cash flow statement -- Why cash is king -- The structure of the cash flow statement -- Avoiding overtrading -- Estimating start-up cash requirements -- Cash flow spreadsheet tools -- Statement of cash flows for the year -- 03 The profit-and-loss account (income statement) -- The difference between profit and cash -- Structuring the profit-and-loss account -- Dealing with debtors and creditors -- Handling depreciation -- Cost of goods sold -- Profit and loss for a service business -- Profit-and-loss spreadsheet tool -- 04 The balance sheet -- A personal experience -- The public picture -- The structure of the business balance sheet -- The ground rules, concepts and conventions -- Accounting for stock -- Methods of depreciation -- The capital register -- Preparing a package of accounts -- Balance sheet and other online tools -- Part two Understanding the figures -- 05 Funding strategies, safety and performance -- Debt vs equity -- Using your own resources -- Borrowing money -- Local financing initiatives -- Sell and leaseback assets -- Getting an investor -- Private capital preliminaries -- Going public -- AIM -- PLUS -- Free money -- 06 Analysing business accounts -- Analysing accounts -- Maintaining a sound financial position -- Achieving growth -- Accounting ratios -- Other ratios -- Some problems in using ratios -- Getting company accounts -- Ratio analysis spreadsheets -- Using the financial data to improve performance -- Cost of capital -- Cost of debt -- Cost of equity -- 07 Costs, volume, pricing and profit decisions -- Adding up the costs -- The components of cost -- Break-even point -- Margin of safety -- Costing to meet profit objectives -- Costing for special orders.

Real-time internet pricing strategies -- Costing for business start-up -- Costing to identify unprofitable products and services -- Getting help with break-even -- 08 Improving performance -- Pricing for profit -- Reducing costs -- Squeezing working capital -- Manage inventories -- Quantity (EOQ) -- Reduce the tax take -- Review working methods -- The profit improvement programme -- Part three Figuring out the future -- 09 Revenue budgets -- Budgeting for a business -- Timescale and detail -- Objectives -- Market appreciation -- Forecasting sales -- Resources appreciation -- Key strategies and operating plans -- Setting the budget -- Budget guidelines -- Monitoring performance -- Flexing the budget -- Seasonality and trends -- Cash and capital budgets -- Building a budget model -- 10 Capital budgets -- Average return on capital employed (ARCE) -- Payback period -- Discounted cash flow -- Present value -- The profitability index -- Internal rate of return -- Risk and sensitivity analysis -- Dealing with inflation -- Appraising investments -- Some general factors in investment decisions -- Online capital budgeting calculator -- 11 Preparing a business plan -- Why you need a business plan -- Contents of the plan -- Tips on communicating the plan -- Part four Dealing with regulatory authorities -- 12 Computing taxes -- Sole traders and partnerships -- Company taxation -- Which structure is best? -- Minimizing taxes -- Dealing with employment taxes -- Value added tax (VAT) -- Surviving a tax investigation -- Help and advice with tax matters -- Finding a low-tax country -- 13 Alternative legal structures -- Their impact on financial procedures -- Sole trader -- Partnership -- Limited Company -- Co-operative -- Help and advice on business ownership matters -- 14 Directors' roles and responsibilities -- Directors' duties -- The Companies Act 2006.

Holding board meetings -- Appointing a company secretary -- Taking on auditors -- Wrongful trading and other misdemeanours -- Dealing with business failure -- Non-executive directors -- Index.