英语学习：新手CEO最容易犯的10大财务错误及应对之策

友谊的真诚

在过去，我们没有必要过多担心公司财务。公司发展相对缓慢，对于一名财务官来说，在那些年真的没什么可忙的。并且你可以把一切都外包，仅需留意一下银行的对账单。

In the old days, we didn’t have to worry about finance too much. Companies grew more slowly, there was nothing for a CFO to really do for years, and you could sort of outsource everything and just keep an eye on the bank statement.




现在事情发生了天翻地覆的变化。基于SaaS模式的会计和财务变得非常复杂，并且错误的后果也变得越来越严重。


Things have changed a lot. SaaS accounting and finance has gotten pretty complicated, and the impacts of getting it wrong have gone up substantially.

友谊的真诚

我接触过大量的创业公司，这些公司将会计业务外包而自身却没有任何SaaS经验，并且这些公司并未意识到现有的这套蹩脚的记录系统不包含自动销售和额外的座位。这些公司的成长率通常很高，能够高达30-40%。


I’ve also seen upside surprises, which sound good, but sometimes aren’t. I’ve worked with numerous start-ups that used outsourced accounting services with zero SaaS experience, and these firms didn’t even recognize automatic upsells, additional seats, etc. that weren’t captured in existing, crappy tracking systems. The delta was often huge — as much as 30-40%.

友谊的真诚

在一开始，我想这并不重要。只要能赚钱就好。但是在SaaS模式下，一旦你的平均会计收益达到大约200万美元，你就应该适时整顿一下你的财务。

n the early days, I guess it doesn’t matter. Cash is king. But in SaaS, once you even get to about $2m ARR — it’s time to get your finances in order. You may blow a financing round, get your cash runway wrong, or at least, freak your investors out if you don’t.

友谊的真诚

作为新创者，你是否熟悉下面列举的某些内容呢？
•资金流入和资金流出。我大概知道我们账户有多少钱。
•我知道我必须偿还账单和支付工资，但是我现在有太多急于先做的事情。
•我已经利用Excel表格向我的投资者、顾问和朋友们解释收入成长形势有多么好。
•我和会计援助服务方达成协议。他们会帮助偿还账单、报税以及完成会计工作。


As a first-time founder, does any of the following sound familiar to you?
Cash goes in and cash goes out. I know, roughly, how much money is in our account.
I know I’ve got to pay all the bills and do payroll, but there are so many other pressing priorities right now.
I’ve got my Excel sheet to help me explain to investors, advisers and friends how well revenue will increase.
I’ve contracted accounting help. They will pay the bills, file tax returns and do the accounting.

友谊的真诚

以下我列举了新创者所犯的10种错误，我希望你能避免这些错误。我就“如何才能快速检测你们公司正确的财务和会计支持系统”这一问题给出了我的建议，相关建议也同样应该引起你的足够重视。


If it were only that simple. Here are 10 mistakes made by other first-time founders that I want you to avoid. Equally important, is my advice on how to fast track your company’s proper finance and accounting support systems

友谊的真诚

错误1 ：预订并不等于收入
在过去的20年，我指导了许多首次出任主管的管理者。我常问的第一个问题是，“你有多少收入？”我常常得到的答案是，“嗯，我的预订有________”。我接下来的问题是，“你如何定义预订？”我敢说我听到的关于预订定义的答案像我吃到的冰琪淋口味一样多。
建议：无论早晚，你必须既了解预订量又了解收入量，并且你也得知道二者的区别。不这样的做的话会使你的公司估值降低以及投资额降低，甚至还会导致你丧失一名感兴趣的购买者或投资者。在你进行首轮或次轮融资的时候，或是在包含第三方的情况下做任何财务决策的时候，会计师将会按照公认会计准则进行某类尽职调查来定义收入。


Mistake #1: Bookings are not revenue
I’ve advised many first time executives in the past 20 years. Always, my first questions is, “What’s your revenue?” More often than not, the response is, “Well, our bookings are ________”. My next question is then, “What do you define as booking?” I swear I’ve heard as many different definitions of “bookings” as there are flavors of ice cream.
Advice: Sooner or later, you will have to know both booking and revenue numbers, and the difference between them. Not doing so may cost you in a lower valuation, less investment, or even losing an interested buyer or investor. During your first or next round of financing, or during any type of financial decision involving a third party, some type of due diligence will be performed by accountants that will define revenue per Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP).

友谊的真诚

错误2 ：将收付实现制和权责发生制混淆
我发现新任CEO并没有过多经验和时间去理解全套财务报表的具体细节。根据我对那些基于预定量的主管的了解，你做一个精美的幻灯片向他们做月度总结，这样做价值并不大。其实更为重要的是给他们普及相关知识以使其在做生意方式上由收付实现制向权责发生制转变。
收付实现制是我们每天都会做的事。在一月末我的银行账户里有1000美元。二月份我收到工资1500美元，而我每月的花销仅为500美元。在二月底我的现金余额为2000美元。在收付实现制下，你可以基于你的现金收入和支出了解你在给定月份的净收益或净损失。
当然你也可以在公司中做同样的事。不过别好还是别这样做。
我知道这样一个事，一名CEO按照他的收入实现制报表以数百万美元的价格将其公司出售。在购入方进行调查时，那些基于收入实现制机制的数据必须转化为基于权责发生制的数据，这名CEO因此损失了数百万美元。
建议：从今天开始，按照权责发生制管理你公司的帐务。简单来讲，你需要按月核算收入或成本。假设你从一名客户那里收到一份合同，这份合同大意是他们会按月付给你100美元的订阅费，但采用月结30天的支付方式。在权责发生制机制下，就意味着你在一月份把100美元的发票寄给顾客，但是你直到二月份才能收到钱。你仍可将这100美元视为一月份的收入，因为你在提供服务的同时也获取了相应的报酬。简而言之，当你挣到一笔钱或花费了成本，你就把相应的款项记录到收入和成本中，而不是在现金交易发生之时。



Mistake #2: Cash accounting and accrual accounting are equal
I’ve found that first-time CEOs haven’t had much experience (or time) understanding the gritty details of a full set of financial statements. With “bookings-based” executives I’ve learned there’s little value in creating a pretty financial slide deck summing up the month, when what’s more important is an education and shift from doing business in “cash-based” to “accrual-based” accounting terms.
Cash-based accounting is something we do in our everyday lives. I have $1,000 in my bank account at the end of January. I receive a paycheck for $1,500 in February and pay my only monthly bill for $500. At the end of February my cash balance is $2,000. In cash-based accounting you recognize your Net Income/Loss in a given month based on your cash in and cash out.
You are allowed to do this in business, too. But don’t.
I know a CEO who sold his company for many millions of dollars with his cash-based financial statements. During the acquisition’s due diligence, those cash-based books had to be converted to accrual-based figures. He probably lost several millions in his purchasing price because of it.
Advice: Beginning today, think of your business in terms of accrual-based accounting. Simply put, you recognize revenue or cost in the month it incurred. Let’s say you receive a contract from a customer that outlines they will pay you $100 for the monthly subscription with an invoice of terms Net 30. Accrual accounting means you send the invoice for $100 to your customer in January, but will not receive the money until February. You can still recognize $100 as January revenue because this is when you provided the service and when you earned that money. In a nut shell, you are recording your revenue/cost based on when you earned it/incurred the cost, rather than based on when the cash exchange took place.

友谊的真诚

错误3 ：收入确认方式错误
收入确认一直以来都是一件复杂的事情，这些年收入核算变得更为复杂。除此之外，具体到SaaS公司，它们所面临的问题在于，随着交易量的增加，正确/保守的收入确认方式与简单核算方法之间的差异更为凸显。
有时你或许会被要求重新评估你的收入。最糟糕的事情莫过于告诉董事会和投资方你需要调整已经经过确认的收入或是收入预测。
建议：你需要藉助于Excel表格记录你的确认收入和递延收入余额。如果没在一开始就树立这个模式，你之后的清理工作会不仅变得更加苦难而且更为昂贵。一旦你的收入量达到某一数值，你就应该引入相关工具或是藉助于全职帮助(参见错误#4)，这些手段能帮助你采用正确无误的收入确认方式，而这种收入确认方式能适应不断成长的收入。今后你需要藉助于一款工具帮助你进行自动收入确认。


Mistake #3: Recognizing revenue improperly
Revenue recognition has always been complicated, and is even more so these days. Additionally, specific to SaaS companies, the problem is that with increasing transaction volume, the gap between correct/conservative revenue recognition and some “improvised” approach becomes more material.
You might at some point be asked to re-state your revenue. There is nothing worse than telling your board and investors you need to adjust your revenue recognized or revenue forecast.
Advice: With an Excel sheet model, start tracking your recognized/deferred revenue balances. If this model doesn’t get set up early enough, your clean-up effort later will be much harder and more costly. Once you reach certain revenue volumes, you should invest in a tool or full time help (see Mistake # 4) that can manage correct and error-free revenue recognition with increasing sales volumes. Down the road you will need a tool that might offer some automation in revenue recognition.

友谊的真诚

错误4 ：自己完成会计工作
有了一开始的收入作为本钱，你现在开始关注你所花费的每一笔钱，并且你也注意到那些优先项正在快速不断涌现。你需要达到下一个收入水平和关键绩效指标，这些会在你进行下一轮融资时起到帮助作用，这也引出了我接下来想说的话：你需要获得会计师的帮助，而不是靠自己去努力正确地完成偿还账单、支付工资以及确认收入的工作。
寻找一些合适的会计公司，把不同的职责分配给它们。它们会核算出你需要协助的时间，比如说，帮助你正确建立第一个会计系统，协调好每月的银行对账单，并且帮助你构建一套紧急收入确认过程。
建议：千万不要糊弄自己，认为填写一张支票或是藉助于在线银行服务就是在做会计工作。你需要得到正规的会计服务支持，这件事你拖得越久，日后要做的清理工作会越多，账单数额也会变得更为庞大。


Mistake #4: DIY Accounting
With initial revenue traction under your belt, you’re now diligently watching every dollar you spend and those spending priorities are ticking up quickly. You need to get to that next revenue level and KPIs that will help you with your next round of funding, which confirms my next statement: Instead of trying to pay your bills, process payroll and recognize revenue (correctly), make sure you get help from an accountant.
Find accounting firms that outsource different roles. They will help you identify how many hours of support you may need to, for example, set up your first accounting system properly, reconcile monthly bank statements, and set up a much needed revenue recognition process.
Advice: Don’t fool yourself into believing that writing a check or paying via your online banking service is all it takes to “do accounting.” The longer you wait to get that formal accounting support, the bigger the clean-up effort and larger the bill will likely be.

友谊的真诚

错误5 ：把财务总管和首席财务官混淆
你最终意识到你需要引入高级财务支持去帮助你完成一些工作，这些工作包括帮助你完成给董事会和投资方所做的财务报告，构建一些扩展过程，完成预算和规划，并为日后的投资做准备。不过这时你很可能会将两种不同的头衔混淆，即将财务总管和首席财务官混淆。
二者的区别：财务总管会照看公司的日常会计事务，包括结账和报账，不过财务总管的职责也止于此。而财务官则会基于这些报导的实际结果，着手处理这些数据，且财务官还要考虑公司的未来目标、预算、规划和战略转型。
这并不是说对于早期的创业公司不可以灵活对待这两种角色，也不是说这两种角色不能在一定程度上在各个领域相互协助。财务官也能够进行月末结算，而一些财务总管也可以协助公司完成规划。
建议：财务总管不能插手一切工作，特别是随着你公司的不断壮大。如果你雇佣了一名优秀财务官，只需几个月你就会发现他的战略价值。雇佣一名具备指导创业公司经验的财务官，这样他就会帮助你判断公司所需，你甚至都不需要思考这件事。


Mistake #5: Controller = CFO
When you finally admit you need to bring in more senior finance support to help with financial reporting to the board and investors, set up some scalable processes, planning/budgeting exercise, and prepare for future investment rounds, you will most likely stumble upon two different titles — Controller and CFO. Here’s the difference between the two: A controller will take care of everyday accounting business, close the books and report numbers, but the responsibilities end there. A CFO, on the other hand, starts working with numbers after the actual results are reported and, additionally, takes into great consideration future indicators, budget, planning and strategy variables.
This is not to say that both roles in early-stage start-ups should not be flexible and not assist with all areas to some extent. CFOs should be able to manage the month-end close and some controllers can assist with planning.
Advice: A controller can’t do it all, especially as you grow. If you hire well, you should be able to see the strategic value of your CFO within a matter of months. You should look to hire a CFO with start-up experience, someone who will help you identify business needs that you might not be even thinking about it.