Customer Reviews

The Small Business Survival Guide, 3rd Ed. (The Small Business Sourcebooks)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of the many books that profess to help one start and run a business, this book provides eye-opening and thought provoking content that will give the budding entrepreneur a solid grasp on cash management and the realities of traditional accounting. An absolute 'must-read'!

Robert E. Fleury's The Small Business Survival Guide presents a system for organizing your paperwork and staying on top of the financial condition of your company. The system is at once simple, convenient, and perpetually audit-ready. Best of all, it allows you to accurately understand your cash flow so that you're able to make sound business decisions.

Think you can delegate all this to your accountant? Not so. Standard reports don't forecast actual cash requirements, so you see only half the picture. Example: paying down debt doesn't show on a Profit and Loss statement; the statement may show a healthy profit, but the profit may have all gone toward paying off a bank note, so you can't assume that the money is available to spend.

Though the system is great, the writing is in places terribly obscure. The book also appears to be victim to a major, half-finished revision. One symptom is that the reader is asked to do a cash analysis for a case study in chapter 10, but cash analysis is not introduced until chapter 13. Revision errors abound, such as several discrepancies between dollar amounts shown in the case study's cancelled checks and those shown in the finished reports and the text explanation. It's extra work for the reader to figure out what the author meant, versus what he said. Ironically, though, arguing with the author can increase the depth of your understanding of the material, so it's not all bad. Nevertheless, let's hope that a future edition will correct these faults.

In spite of the writing, the system is so powerful that I'll only deduct one star. Yes, it's that good.

(I reviewed the third edition.)

. . yikes. The "Cycle of Demise" is a phrase that will ring in my ears every time I make a mistake but this book is the first one I have read on the subject that ended up empowering me to write my business proposal . . after reading the whole thing I am anxious to begin and not afraid of the accounting.

This book is the single most important book I've read concerning creation and operation of a business. When Robert pointed out the difference between "owning a job" and "owning a business" I realized I only owned a job. I now own a business. I've made this work required reading for everyone involved in the management of my company, including the CPA. I've ordered dozens of copies over the last 3 years and give them away to people who I care to see succeed.

This book has not given me any new information, everything I read was something I already knew.

It may be helpful to someone who doesn't have the time to go on the internet and gather free information.