Cash Flow For Dummies

by Tage C. Tracy, John A. Tracy

Overview

The fast and easy way to grasp cash flow management

Cash Flow For Dummies offers small business owners, accountants, prospective entrepreneurs, and others responsible for cash management an informational manual to cash flow basics and proven success strategies. Cash Flow For Dummies is an essential guide to effective strategies that will make your business more appealing on the market. Loaded with valuable tips and techniques, it teaches individuals and companies the ins and outs of maximizing cash flow, the fundamentals of cash management, and how it affects the quality of a company's earnings.

Cash flow is the movement of cash into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It is usually measured during a specified, finite period of time, and can be used to measure rates of return, actual liquidity, real profits, and to evaluate the quality of investments. Cash Flow For Dummies gives you an understanding of the basic principles of cash management and its core principles to facilitate small business success.

• Covers how to read cash flow statements
• Illustrates how cash balances are analyzed and monitored—including internal controls over cash receipts and disbursements, plus bank account reconciliation and activity analysis
• Tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of granting credit—evaluating customer credit, sources of credit information, and overall credit policy
• Advice on how to prevent fraud and waste
• Covers cash-generating tactics when doing business with dot-coms, other start-ups, and bankrupt customers

Cash Flow For Dummies is an easy-to-understand guide that covers all of these essentials for success and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118163900
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	10/07/2011
Series:	For Dummies Books
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Tage C. Tracy is principal owner of TMK & Associates, an accounting, financial,and strategic business planning consulting firm.

John A. Tracy is Professor of Accounting at the University of Colorado in Boulder and the author of Accounting For Dummies.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I: Fitting Cash Flow into the Big Picture of Running a Business 7

Chapter 1: Getting in Sync with the Rhythm of Cash 9

Chapter 2: Why Accrual Accounting Is Essential 23

Chapter 3: The Big Three Financial Statements 37

Chapter 4: Getting a Grip on the Statement of Cash Flows 59

Part II: Using Financial Statements to Assess Cash Health 81

Chapter 5: Mining the Balance Sheet for Cash 83

Chapter 6: Digging Deeper into Cash Flow 113

Chapter 7: Understanding Liquidity versus Available Cash 131

Part III: Getting Intimate with Your Company's Cash Flow Needs 157

Chapter 8: Creating a Business Plan to Secure Cash 159

Chapter 9: Building Best-in-Class Projection Models to Manage Cash 173

Chapter 10: Identifying and Securing External Sources of Capital 193

Chapter 11: Knowing When to Use Debt to Finance Your Business 213

Part IV: Managing Your Business with Cash Flow in Mind 239

Chapter 12: Covering the Basics of Cash and Cash Activity 241

Chapter 13: Preventing Cash Losses from Embezzlement and Fraud 267

Chapter 14: Managing the Selling Cycle to Improve Cash Flows 281

Chapter 15: Managing the Disbursement Cycle to Improve Cash Flows 311

Part V: The Part of Tens 331

Chapter 16: Ten Keys to Managing Cash Flows in a Small Business 333

Chapter 17: Ten Tales of Cash-Flow Woes 341

Index 351