If you are running a business take control of your company’s finances. It is time to stop thinking only your accountant needs to understand your business finances. You need to understand them and be able to talk about them with ease.
If you don’t understand your books or what your accountant does, learn.
I speak with dozens of business owners each day. More often than not, the conversation turns to their businesses and the financial condition of their businesses. All too often, the business owners say they don’t really know their business’ financial condition. When I ask them about profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow they respond as if I am speaking a foreign language of some kind. It is not a good thing.
If you are a business owner who does not understand how your business’ books should be kept and what GAArP, A/R and A/P are, it is time for you to learn some basic accounting. No matter what kind of business you have, you must learn basic accounting. When you know and understand basic accounting you are better able to make decisions concerning your business. When you know what the financial condition of your business is, you are in a better position to accept or turn down clients, make the best plans for expansion, and conduct day-to-day operations.
There are lots of ways you can learn the basic accounting you need to better operate your business. These methods include the following:
- read a book
- take a course
- talk to an accountant
Read a book
Of course, everything you want to know about almost everything in the world can be found in a book. Stop by your local library, bookstore or even browse online. Find a book that is at your level of expertise and work from there. Remember, your goal is not to become a CPA, your goal is to learn enough to be able to operate your business and speak intelligently about your business finances.
“If you want your business to take care of you, learn to take care of your business’ accounting records.”
Take a course
If you are a person who needs help to learn, a course may be the best idea for you. Pick the course type that will fit into your schedule best and start learning. There are a variety of ways you can take an accounting for business course including the following:
- local community college
- college course
- extension program
- open-courseware
- webinar
- e-course
Talk to an accountant
Perhaps one of the best ways to learn the basic accounting your business needs is to talk with an accountant. In many areas, there are accountants who you can pay to teach you the accounting you need to run your business properly and correctly. This is money well spent and like other ways of learning the accounting you need, may be tax-deductible.
As an entrepreneur, an important part of running your business is to keep good accounting records and understand the financial condition of your company. Take action now to do this in your business. The question for you this thrilling day is, are you prepared to properly manage, record, and predict the financial condition of your company?