Understanding Financial Management

Video

Alan Friedman talks about today's competitive marketplace, and why it’s imperative for music store owners to be able to generate, understand and act upon key financial reports, often on a daily basis.   While generating sales and other revenues is “mission one” for most retailers, proper fiscal management is a close second in terms of the most important activities for any music store.   

Some of these reports include financial statements (balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows), budgets and forecasts of revenues and expenses, open-to-buy and inventory stocking reports, cash requirements and related receivable and payable reports, and inventory analysis reports, to name just a few.
 

Understanding Financial Data

While most of these key reports can be generated by good retail accounting software, many store owners don’t know how to interpret this financial data and therefore don’t know how to act upon it.  Furthermore, the unique and varied income-generating activities of most music retailing operations (such as sales, rentals, repairs and music education) cause confusion in their accounting, financing and reporting.  This ultimately leaves many music store owners and their bookkeepers, controllers, accountants and bankers with a feeling of frustration and bewilderment over how to best address and master these fiscal areas of store operations. 
 
This online resource is intended to shed light and give financial guidance on these vital areas of store operations to store owners, employees and their professional advisers.