If you are dealing with products, as opposed to services, you will often need to rent premises in which to work. Premises available can range from small workshops of no more than 500 sq ft (50 sq m) to small factories, depending on requirements. It is unusual for someone starting out in business to need [...]

How much you can afford to spend is, of course, a major item in your checklist. Your ability to pay for premises will play a key role in determining the kind of premises you should be looking for. Try expressing your likely property costs as a proportion of your expected turnover and you will clarify [...]

Large companies are being increasingly criticized for their slow payment to small suppliers. Reports on research by, among others, the London Enterprise Agency and the Association of Independent Businesses show there is some justification for the complaint and the chief general manager of the Co-operative Bank has emphasized the interdependence of large and small firms.
A [...]

The question of investment in debtors is vitally important, as the survival of any business depends on its ability to generate cash. For ex­ample, when a sale is made on credit, a profit may well have been earned in accounting terms. However, the cash may not be received from the debtor for a considerable period. [...]

Budgeting is an activity which is undertaken by most people in their private lives, and yet one constantly meets arguments from small businessmen that it is not relevant to the manage­ment of their companies. This resistance is difficult to under­stand. If the technique is relevant to the management of a household, it must surely have [...]

The concept of cash budgeting, or cash flow forecasting as it is otherwise known, is not new. Many large companies have been using the technique as a tool of management for many years. It is, perhaps, only during the past five or ten years that cash flow forecasting in smaller businesses has gained some momentum-However, [...]

The banks place great store by the banker/customer relation­ship, and rightly so. However, on occasions, a lack of under­standing of each other’s problems can arise. This is probably caused partially by a language barrier (ie the use of trade termin­ology by both bankers and customers), and also as a result of both parties having insufficient [...]