1. What financial measurements should be prepared to measure company performance?

Budgets, cash flow forecasts, breakeven analysis, measuring sales volume, measuring profits, and measuring cash generated.

2. What are the categories and steps in preparing a financial budget?

• 1. Sales
• 2. Cost of Goods Sold
• 3. Gross Profit 
• 4. Operating Expenses
• 5. Operating Profit/Loss
• 6. Other Income and Expenses
• 7. Pretax Income
• 8. Income Taxes (management’s estimates of what taxes will be owed on its earnings.)
• 9. Net Income (the amount available for dividends or reinvestment in the company)
• 10. EBIT (earnings before interest expense, interest income, and income taxes. It measures the profitability of the company’s current operations as if it had no debt or investment.)
• 11. EBITDA (earnings before interest expense, interest income, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It measures the profitability of a company’s operations without the impact of its debt, investments, and long-term assets)

4. Describe the breakeven technique in the decision-making model to determine profit and loss.

The breakeven technique helps the entrepreneur determine whether a certain volume of output will result in a profit or loss. the point at which breaking even occurs is the volume of output at which total revenues equal total costs. To use this technique you need only know the fixed costs of operation, variable costs of production, and price per unit.

A quick way to calculate the breakeven point is to use the following formula. The price per unit (P) multiplied by the number of units sold (X) is equal to the fixed costs (F) plus the variable costs (V) multiplied by the number of units produced expressed by the following formula:

P(X) = F + V(X)

6. Why is building a corporate culture to match a company’s mission important?

Because the ability to lead an organization on a mission where everyone is involved every day in moving toward clearly defined goals makes the difference between success and failure.

7. Select six leadership attributes that you feel are the most important when building a strong culture. Why?

Honesty is important because people within an organization need to trust their environment. I believe alignment is important since employees need to understand the goals/objectives of the company they work for. Teams in order to increase performance. Empowerment and support  will make employees feel better on the workplace and make they more inclined to generate new ideas. Good communication eases interaction among the whole business and make the company faster to respond to problems.

8. Name three important factors that you must take into account when hiring key people.

• Do they have the necessary skills?
• Do the have the will/determination?
• Are they going to fit in the existing team?