Tracy John A. - Cash flow for dummies [learn to: grasp the basic principles of cash flow management ; secure business with positive and consistent cash flow ; bring financial security to your company ; distinguish

Cash Flow For Dummies

by Tage C. Tracy and John A. Tracy

Cash Flow For Dummies

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011939639

ISBN 978-1-118-01850-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-16392-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-16391-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-16390-0 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Tage C. Tracy (Poway, California) is the principal owner of TMK & Associates, an accounting, financial, and strategic business-planning consulting firm focused on supporting small- to medium-sized businesses since 1993. Tage received his baccalaureate in accounting in 1985 from the University of Colorado at Boulder with honors. Tage began his career with Coopers & Lybrand (now merged into PricewaterhouseCoopers). More recently, Tage coauthored with his father, John, How to Manage Profit and Cash Flow and Small Business Financial Management Kit For Dummies .

John A. Tracy (Boulder, Colorado) is professor of accounting, emeritus, at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Before his 35-year tenure at Boulder, he was on the business faculty for four years at the University of California at Berkeley. He served as staff accountant at Ernst & Young and is the author of several books on accounting and finance, including Accounting For Dummies, Accounting Workbook For Dummies, The Fast Forward MBA in Finance, and How to Read a Financial Report. He has coauthored two books with his son Tage, How to Manage Profit and Cash Flow and Small Business Financial Management Kit For Dummies. Dr. Tracy received his BSC degree from Creighton University and earned his MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He is a CPA (inactive) in Colorado.

Dedication

We would like to dedicate this book to the backbone of the U.S. economy, namely the tens of thousands of business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs that battle every day to make their companies succeed. Remember that while the deck at times may seem stacked against you during these trying economic times, your spirit cannot be deterred. Our simple hope is that for those of you experiencing cash flow problems or just simply looking to understand cash flows a little better, this book can help ease your pain and offer additional insight on how to improve and manage your business interests.

We also want to mention who this book is not dedicated to: the politicians in Washington and across the U.S. and the banksters that have lost sight of what it means to create, launch, build, and operate a business. Simply put, these parties have spent too much time managing other peoples hard-earned money and not enough time creating real value, wealth, and opportunity. Think of the Grinch from the wonderful story by Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Grinch attempted to steal Christmas by taking all of the trees, presents, decorations, and whatever else was available from Whoville. Yet Christmas still came, and it was then that the Grinch realized that Maybe, just maybe, Christmas meant a little bit more. When the politicians and banksters finally realize that maybe, just maybe, owning a business and risking everything one has to pursue a dream means just a little bit more, the unparalleled historical disconnect between the twin Ws (Washington and Wall Street) and Main Street America will begin to evaporate, allowing for real growth to resume.

From Tage Tracy: I would like to dedicate this book to my old man and coauthor (or as I refer to him, TOP, or The Old Pro). About seven years ago, my dad, in a manner reminiscent of Vito Corleone of The Godfather, made me an offer I couldnt refuse: Take over the family business or else. (Thank goodness we didnt own a horse, but I was concerned about our cat from time to time). In this case, the family business involved carrying on his remarkable and deeply insightful legacy of being able to translate even the most complex and difficult accounting and financial concepts into easy-to-comprehend laymans terms. As for the else, well lets just say that the old man has threatened to ditch me from his will more than once (a running joke in our family). I am forever grateful for the opportunity to write with and learn from TOP.

Acknowledgments

We are deeply grateful to everyone at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., who helped produce this book. Their professionalism and courtesy were much appreciated. First, we thank Stacy Kennedy, the acquisitions editor. She helped us develop the concept for the book. We appreciate her encouragement. Our editors, Tim Gallan and Caitie Copple, were exceptional. It was a pleasure working with them. We owe them a debt that we cannot repay. So a simple but heartfelt thank you will have to do. Every author should have such superb editors.