The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Finance for Small Business Owners

Author: Ken Little

Publisher: ALPHA (Penguin)

ISBN: 1-59257-479-3

This finance for small business owners installment of the Idiot’s series is 318 pages in length.  The 25 chapters are organized into 5 parts in this softbound book, followed by an appendix (glossary, resources, different legal structures and index).

Having taught introductory courses in corporate finance at the university level, a half-dozen times, I was looking forward to seeing just how the Idiot’s series dealt with the variety of topics covered in university texts, more technical in their delivery, but available at a much higher cost.  The coverage in this book is targeted to the very small business owner, likely to be a sole proprietorship in its initial organizational form.  Still, some relatively advanced topics are introduced.  For example, part 4 and 5 deal with business financing issues using debt (including loan package preparation and SBA loan programs) and equity (through venture capital), respectively.

            As is the case with other books in the Idiot’s series, the present book provides sidebars: (1) Money Talk, (2) Notes and News, (3) In the Red, and (4) Financial Aid.  The Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Statement of Cash Flows are all introduced in Chapter 2.  Some of this content is comparable to the “Accounting” book in the Idiot’s series, though less emphasis is placed on the mechanical aspects of the accounting equation, as one would expect.  Financial ratio coverage emphasizes operational or operating ratios, again, appropriate for and as one would expect in a very basic book on finance.  I was pleased to see that some marketing topics were also introduced (e.g., market share; p. 156-).

            This book is likely to be too basic for the existing small business owner or entrepreneur, and is not likely to be the last book necessary for the wanna be small business owner or entrepreneur.  As is the case with other books in the Idiot’s series, this book provides broad brush strokes or introductory coverage of business financing and is designed for the very unsophisticated with no prior formal education or knowledge of small business finance.  In fact, this might prove to be an excellent book for those intimidated by the topic, but entrepreneurial and not likely to pursue a formal college or university level education.  This is exactly what the Idiot’s series promises to those purchasing their books, so, for this target market or audience; I recommend it as a very suitable (and, perhaps even an excellent) choice for the first book on the topics of small business finance.

The above review was contributed by:  Anthony (A.J.) Cataldo II.    Dr. Cataldo holds a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , MAc ( University of Arizona)  unofficial minor in Marketing , BSBA  (University of Arizona). He is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant:  Click Here to view Anthony's Reviews