Cash Flow For Dummies

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.

Table of Contents

Part I: Fitting Cash Flow into the Big Picture of Running a Business
Chapter 1: Getting in Sync with the Rhythm of Cash
Chapter 2: Why Accrual Accounting Is Essential
Chapter 3: The Big Three Financial Statements
Chapter 4: Getting a Grip on the Statement of Cash Flows

Part II: Using Financial Statements to Assess Cash Health
Chapter 5: Mining the Balance Sheet for Cash
Chapter 6: Digging Deeper into Cash Flow
Chapter 7: Understanding Liquidity versus Available Cash

Part III: Getting Intimate with Your Company’s Cash Flow Needs
Chapter 8: Creating a Business Plan to Secure Cash
Chapter 9: Building Best-in-Class Projection Models to Manage Cash
Chapter 10: Identifying and Securing External Sources of Capital
Chapter 11: Knowing When to Use Debt to Finance Your Business

Part IV: Managing Your Business with Cash Flow in Mind
Chapter 12: Covering the Basics of Cash and Cash Activity
Chapter 13: Preventing Cash Losses from Embezzlement and Fraud
Chapter 14: Managing the Selling Cycle to Improve Cash Flows
Chapter 15: Managing the Disbursement Cycle to Improve Cash Flows

Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 16: Ten Keys to Managing Cash Flows in a Small Business
Chapter 17: Ten Tales of Cash-Flow Woes