Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

      I am a senior in school high and for a class project, my group and I have to think of a start up business. My group decided to start a sporting goods outlet and they elected me the CFO. Are there any ideas or guidelines you would like to share with me? If so, thanking for replying.

Do you know anything about accounting?

Well, as a good CFO you`ll need to understand your margins.  Only buy items you can mark-up 80% or more and sell within a month.  The rest will just fall into place.  Good luck! 

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Travis Tschepen
Hibachi Bros. LLC

--My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.--

The CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is responsible for the money. It`s your job to oversee anything and everything having to do with money.

One side of the problem is "getting money." That`s the revenues from selling a product. Revenue is like "income."

The other side of the problem is "spending money." That`s the expenditures--the expense side of running the business.

A business in its most elementary definition is fairly simple. You have something. Someone wants it. You agree to exchange your thing for something they have. Then you keep track of the thing, and what you got in exchange.

Your CEO is going to be in charge of deciding the overall direction of the company. "Okay, here`s what we`re gonna do. We`re gonna sell 1,000 widgets by May of this year."

You, as the CFO, are significantly responsible for examining "how" that`s all going to happen. "Fine. We have 100 widgets in our inventory, and they cost $10 each to manufacture. That means we`re going to need 900 more widgets, and that means we have to come up with $9,000."

You would normally have several people (or departments) working in Finance. Among them would be people skilled with spreadsheets, who could work out how much money you`d get from widgets you sell, and how much to re-invest in buying the next 100. If it looks impossible, then you would have to tell the CEO, "Too bad, so sad, but what you want to do is impossible."

Have you designated someone to be in charge of inventory for the Sporting Good Store? What`s the name of the virtual company?