Читать книгу Start & Run a Bookkeeping Business - Angie Mohr - Страница 32

Once your business has developed a track record of financial success, new avenues of capital become available. Outside sources of funds could include the following:

• Business bank loans

• Business lines of credit

• Business credit cards

• Private loans

• Leaseback agreements

• Business property mortgages

• Stock sales (in the case of corporations)

• Venture capitalists

• Joint venture partnerships

As with personal borrowing options, some types of business borrowing are preferable to others. Some of these sources of funding represent equity (i.e., the lenders own a stake in your company), while others represent debt to outside parties. The type of borrowing you choose may have an effect on the debt to equity ratio of your business, which may impact the ability of the business to borrow more funds.

In the start-up phase, personal borrowing may be all that you have access to. The more sophisticated forms of business financing, such as joint ventures and venture capital, may not be accessible for several years.

If you employ external financing, regardless of the type, there are some basic questions you will have to answer from a prospective lender or investor. The answers to these questions should be found in your business plan.

(a) Is the business built on a solid plan? How much homework have you done to prove that this is a viable business venture?

(b) Do you, as the business owner, have enough entrepreneurial and managerial skills to build and manage a business? Lenders will look for your training or ability in finance, bookkeeping, operational management, strategic planning, and human resource management. Simply having prior bookkeeping experience will not be enough.

(c) Is the business built on a model that will have sufficient cash flow to pay its creditors, including this particular lender? The lender will be concerned not only with their exposure to your business’s risk of failure, but the exposure of other lenders. For example, if there are other lenders who have priority repayment or repossession status, the lender who is assessing the extension of further credit may be worried that if you go under, there will be nothing left with which to repay their loan.

(d) Do you, as the business owner, have enough assets (both personally and in the business) to satisfy the outstanding amount of the loan if you default on the payments? The lender certainly would prefer to be repaid in the normal course of events, but will also want assurance that assets can be seized as a last resort to cover the outstanding amount of the debt.