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The audience of HN is programmers. Why would you be amazed that someone could code up a success, and then have a bunch of employees and an accounting department
by gregpilling 13y ago
The audience of HN is programmers. Why would you be amazed that someone could code up a success, and then have a bunch of employees and an accounting department before they knew it? I have known Phds that had no experience reading financial statements of their companies. It is not that they CAN'T do it; it is that it has never been a priority.
In any small business (tech or not) there are always many, many things to do.. so my advice is simply about which of the hundreds of reports that your accounting software spits out that you should look at. To be honest, I did not look at Statements of Cash Flows for the first 10 years I was in business. It is less essential to watch SoCF if you are doing Cash accounting instead of Accrual accounting, and if you have positive cash flow it is not as dangerous to ignore it. But when the crap hits the fan, you should know what is really happening. The OPs post was about a business in decline.
- loganfrederick 13y agoThe problem is that businesses live and die on making money. Accounting keeps track of your money, and by my made-up-but-probably-true commutative property, accounting keeps track of your business. If you are managing a business, you should be managing accounting by default.
- hga 13y agoIf you're starting a business, especially if you're a programmer who's not afraid of basic math, shouldn't you spend a day or so learning the basics of accounting? Granted, that might not tell you to "watch cash flow like a hawk", but ... say, the moment you either have a paying customer or hire an employee, you have a minimum duty to not crater your company out of sheer ignorance of the basics.