Understanding Your Financial Statements Author:Jim Schell In 2002, following six years of observing hundreds of small business owners striving to manage and grow their business, OK's management made an important discovery. OK discovered that, contrary to what most small business owners believe, the majority of them do NOT understand how to properly use their financial statements to manage their busines... more »s. Ask the typical small business owner what his or her greatest opportunities for improvement are in the day-to-day management of their business and most will respond either "dealing with employees" or "marketing my product or service." Few, if any, will mention learning how to "use their financial statements to manage the business." Ask any business banker however, or CPA, or experienced consultant - i.e. any outsider who views small business from the outside in - and you'll get an entirely different answer. Their answer? The small business owner's number one opportunity to improve their day-to-day management is to learn how to better utilize the information included in his or her financial statements. With that eye-opening lesson in mind, OK founder Jim Schell, author of five books on small business and co-author of Small Business for Dummies (one of the nation's leading books on small business) decided to do something about it. He subsequently authored a 73-page handbook entitled "Understanding Your Financial Statements." The book contains 11 principals for learning how to use financial statements to manage a small business. In this book the reader will learn: How to select a CPA How to work with your banker How to use your Balance Sheet in determining the solvency of your business. How to use your Profit and Loss statement to manage the direction of your business. How to understand the concept of cash flow. How to create your own set of financial indicators Why it is important to generate timely financial statements How to collect receivables and manage inventory and much, much more.« less