The best home based businesses are now and again categorized by some folks as the kinds with the most lucrative pay out structure. Many others might explain to you that the best home businesses are the types which have the most excellent products. While still other people will point to a company’s proven numerous years of experience in addition to nonstop expansion as the standard of the best home businesses.It is pretty important to be aware that all these factors do add to the success of a home based business. Careless business practices, dishonest pay structures and poor products or services is a definite road to disappointment for virtually every home business or organization. It is additionally crucial to understand when you are hunting for the “best” in terms of home businesses, you may want to look a little deeper than radiant testimonials and corporate pie charts.Whilst looking for the “best” home business which might be a match for you, you will also want to ask yourself this particular question…”Just how should I build my business”? What happens right here is that a lot of people while hunting for the best home business, end up making the identical miscalculation as numerous other folks have done in the past. Investing the majority of their efforts researching the “what” of a business instead of the “how” of a business.Allow me to clarify. The “what” of a home business that is actually shown and marketed to probable opportunity seekers is the “remarkable products and services” and the “awesome compensation plan” and of course the “amazing track record” of the company and the management team. What, in this picture, is going to earn income for you? Please don’t say, “these products will sell themselves”. Despite the fact that truly awesome products and services will probably account for a number of sales, you are not going to have the ability to develop a substantial business upon this.At this time we need to have a look at one of the most under appreciated facets of selecting the “best” home business…the “how”. Just how do you propose to sell your awesome products and services so you can capitalize on that unbelievable pay structure and build up the company’s already remarkable track record? It is at this point where you need to realize that you will require a marketing and advertising system in place to promote your product and opportunity.An effective method for online marketing and advertising will produce revenue…end of story. The components of a fundamental online marketing system may incorporate, at the very least, a capture page, sales page, and an effective email series of messages. Applications such as these will locate and inform those that are currently looking for your offer.There are also effectual traditional strategies that a first-class internet marketing system will certainly make use of. The elements of an offline marketing and advertising system might include newspaper ads, post card mailings, letter mailings and 800 numbers. Again these types of techniques will come across, instruct and draw the folks who are interested in your offer which in turn will result in a number of sales.Another key area that needs to be considered is training and support. When considering the “how” of home business, there most definitely needs to be the presence of quality training, instruction and support. Most of the “training” that happens in the home business industry nowadays is you having to make a list and go tell everybody you know how “breathtaking” this product and opportunity are, or you are given a website that you are expected to “drive traffic” to.If you are accurately taught the “how” to marketing and building your home business then you can choose just about any “what” (home business) that you want. Sure, you must consider the company, products and track record of any opportunity that you consider. But in terms of which one is “best” would have to be the home business in which there is an proven marketing system that will help you be successful.Obviously some of the best home based businesses are the ones that have an effective marketing system already in place to help new people coming on board. Although automation in these systems is significant there is still the aspect of the human touch of a good marketing system. People don’t partner with companies, products or systems…they partner with people, especially people who care about the success of others.

If you have recently had a baby, have children at home or simply in between jobs, you may have thought about starting a home based job. Even if you have a stable career in the workforce, many moms fantasise about the idea of being able to work from home.Reasons for wanting to start a home business for moms vary considerably, from wanting to be able to raise their own young children before they start school, to wanting to earn a passive income to help pay for some expenses or even because they just want to have flexible hours and be their own boss.All of the above reasons are common and very understandable. Where moms feel unsure about starting a home based business is finding an idea that agrees with them, their knowledge, market and resources available.Some moms feel that they are just an everyday mom that cannot come up with an idea that is achievable. This attitude must stop right here.I can tell you now, there is a home business idea very achievable for all people, even the most everyday mom! I believe that if you have some knowledge about something (or anything in particular) and own a computer with internet access, you can have a home business up and running within a matter of days.Put simply, billions of people search for information and content through search engines on the internet every single day. There are lots of different ways you can use information or knowledge you possess to create a income online. People will pay money online to acquire information you can provide.Creating a simple content rich website on a particular topic (niche) which also sells ebooks, has affiliate links and different advertising can create an ongoing, passive stream of income to your designated account, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.For example, if you are a great babysitter and obviously know a lot about children, you could create a website which provides customers and visitors with lots of interesting and fun activities for toddlers. Write an eBook to sell, or purchase one with resell rights and keep one hundred percent of the profits.Your babysitting website could target an audience of parents and fellow babysitters looking for child care ideas and tips.You simply need to think about your interests and skills (in any area at all, be it horse riding, craft, cooking, massaging or juggling) and share your expertise online.You may be surprised just how many people are looking for what you can offer.There are lots of online internet marketing strategies available to help you get a home business idea started online.If you are a mom who has an interest in the baby and child niche, visit the link below which provides lots of free information and resources to get your business online the easiest and most effective way.

The following are some examples of modern financial management theories formulated on principles considered as ‘a set of fundamental tenets that form the basis for financial theory and decision-making in finance’ (Emery et al.1991). An attempt would be made to relate the principles behind these concepts to small businesses’ financial management.

Agency Theory
Agency theory deals with the people who own a business enterprise and all others who have interests in it, for example managers, banks, creditors, family members, and employees. The agency theory postulates that the day to day running of a business enterprise is carried out by managers as agents who have been engaged by the owners of the business as principals who are also known as shareholders. The theory is on the notion of the principle of ‘two-sided transactions’ which holds that any financial transactions involve two parties, both acting in their own best interests, but with different expectations.

Problems usually identified with agency theory may include:

i. Information asymmetry- a situation in which agents have information on the financial circumstances and prospects of the enterprise that is not known to principals (Emery et al.1991). For example ‘The Business Roundtable’ emphasised that in planning communications with shareholders and investors, companies should consider never misleading or misinforming stockholders about the corporation’s operations or financial condition. In spite of this principle, there was lack of transparency from Enron’s management leading to its collapse;

ii. Moral hazard-a situation in which agents deliberately take advantage of information asymmetry to redistribute wealth to themselves in an unseen manner which is ultimately to the detriment of principals. A case in point is the failure of the Board of directors of Enron’s compensation committee to ask any question about the award of salaries, perks, annuities, life insurance and rewards to the executive members at a critical point in the life of Enron; with one executive on record to have received a share of ownership of a corporate jet as a reward and also a loan of $77m to the CEO even though the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US bans loans by companies to their executives; and

iii. Adverse selection-this concerns a situation in which agents misrepresent the skills or abilities they bring to an enterprise. As a result of that the principal’s wealth is not maximised (Emery et al.1991).

In response to the inherent risk posed by agents’ quest to make the most of their interests to the disadvantage of principals (i.e. all stakeholders), each stakeholder tries to increase the reward expected in return for participation in the enterprise. Creditors may increase the interest rates they get from the enterprise. Other responses are monitoring and bonding to improve principal’s access to reliable information and devising means to find a common ground for agents and principals respectively.

Emanating from the risks faced in agency theory, researchers on small business financial management contend that in many small enterprises the agency relationship between owners and managers may be absent because the owners are also managers; and that the predominantly nature of SMEs make the usual solutions to agency problems such as monitoring and bonding costly thereby increasing the cost of transactions between various stakeholders (Emery et al.1991).

Nevertheless, the theory provides useful knowledge into many matters in SMEs financial management and shows considerable avenues as to how SMEs financial management should be practiced and perceived. It also enables academic and practitioners to pursue strategies that could help sustain the growth of SMEs.

Signaling Theory
Signaling theory rests on the transfer and interpretation of information at hand about a business enterprise to the capital market, and the impounding of the resulting perceptions into the terms on which finance is made available to the enterprise. In other words, flows of funds between an enterprise and the capital market are dependent on the flow of information between them. (Emery et al, 1991). For example management’s decision to make an acquisition or divest; repurchase outstanding shares; as well as decisions by outsiders like for example an institutional investor deciding to withhold a certain amount of equity or debt finance. The emerging evidence on the relevance of signaling theory to small enterprise financial management is mixed. Until recently, there has been no substantial and reliable empirical evidence that signaling theory accurately represents particular situations in SME financial management, or that it adds insights that are not provided by modern theory (Emery et al.1991).

Keasey et al(1992) writes that of the ability of small enterprises to signal their value to potential investors, only the signal of the disclosure of an earnings forecast were found to be positively and significantly related to enterprise value amongst the following: percentage of equity retained by owners, the net proceeds raised by an equity issue, the choice of financial advisor to an issue (presuming that a more reputable accountant, banker or auditor may cause greater faith to be placed in the prospectus for the float), and the level of under pricing of an issue. Signaling theory is now considered to be more insightful for some aspects of small enterprise financial management than others (Emery et al 1991).

The Pecking-Order Theory or Framework (POF)
This is another financial theory, which is to be considered in relation to SMEs financial management. It is a finance theory which suggests that management prefers to finance first from retained earnings, then with debt, followed by hybrid forms of finance such as convertible loans, and last of all by using externally issued equity; with bankruptcy costs, agency costs, and information asymmetries playing little role in affecting the capital structure policy. A research study carried out by Norton (1991b) found out that 75% of the small enterprises used seemed to make financial structure decisions within a hierarchical or pecking order framework .Holmes et al. (1991) admitted that POF is consistent with small business sectors because they are owner-managed and do not want to dilute their ownership. Owner-managed businesses usually prefer retained profits because they want to maintain the control of assets and business operations.

This is not strange considering the fact that in Ghana, according to empirical evidence, SMEs funding is made up of about 86% of own equity as well as loans from family and friends(See Table 1). Losing this money is like losing one’s own reputation which is considered very serious customarily in Ghana.

Access to capital
The 1971 Bolton report on small firms outlined issues underlying the concept of ‘finance gap’ (this has two components-knowledge gap-debt is restricted due to lack of awareness of appropriate sources, advantages and disadvantages of finance; and supply gap-unavailability of funds or cost of debt to small enterprises exceeds the cost of debt for larger enterprises.) that: there are a set of difficulties which face a small company. Small companies are hit harder by taxation, face higher investigation costs for loans, are generally less well informed of sources of finance and are less able to satisfy loan requirements. Small firms have limited access to the capital and money markets and therefore suffer from chronic undercapitalization. As a result; they are likely to have excessive recourse to expensive funds which act as a brake on their economic development.

Leverage
This is the term used to describe the converse of gearing which is the proportion of total assets financed by equity and may be called equity to assets ratio. The studies under review in this section on leverage are focused on total debt as a percentage of equity or total assets. There are however, some studies on the relative proportions of different types of debt held by small and large enterprises.

Equity Funds
Equity is also known as owners’ equity, capital, or net worth.
Costand et al (1990) suggests that ‘larger firms will use greater levels of debt financing than small firms. This implies that larger firms will rely relatively less on equity financing than do smaller firms.’ According to the pecking order framework, the small enterprises have two problems when it comes to equity funding [McMahon et al. (1993, pp153)]:

1) Small enterprises usually do not have the option of issuing additional equity to the public.
2) Owner-managers are strongly averse to any dilution of their ownership interest and control. This way they are unlike the managers of large concerns who usually have only a limited degree of control and limited, if any, ownership interest, and are therefore prepared to recognise a broader range of funding options.

Financial Management in SME
With high spate of financial problems contributing to the high rate of failures in small medium enterprises, what do the literature on small business say on financial management in small businesses to combat such failures?
Osteryoung et al (1997) writes that “while financial management is a critical element of the management of a business as a whole, within this function the management of its assets is perhaps the most important. In the long term, the purchase of assets directs the course that the business will take during the life of these assets, but the business will never see the long term if it cannot plan an appropriate policy to effectively manage its working capital.” In effect the poor financial management of owner-managers or lack of financial management altogether is the main cause underlying the problems in SME financial management.

Hall and Young(1991) in a study in the UK of 3 samples of 100 small enterprises that were subject to involuntary liquidation in 1973,1978,and 1983 found out that the reasons given for failure,49.8% were of financial nature. On the perceptions of official receivers interviewed for the same small enterprises, 86.6% of the 247 reasons given were of a financial nature. The positive correlation between poor or nil financial management (including basic accounting) and business failure has well been documented in western countries according to Peacock (1985a).

It is gainsaying the fact that despite the need to manage every aspect of their small enterprises with very little internal and external support, it is often the case that owner-managers only have experience or training in some functional areas.

There is a school of thought that believes “a well-run business enterprise should be as unconscious of its finances as healthy a fit person is of his or her breathing”. It must be possible to undertake production, marketing, distribution and the like, without repeatedly causing, or being hindered by, financial pressures and strains. It does not mean, however, that financial management can be ignored by a small enterprise owner-manager; or as is often done, given to an accountant to take care of. Whether it is obvious or not to the casual observer, in prosperous small enterprises the owner-managers themselves have a firm grasp of the principles of financial management and are actively involved in applying them to their own situation.” McMahon et al. (1993).

Some researchers tried to predict small enterprise failure to mitigate the collapse of small businesses. McNamara et al (1988) developed a model to predict small enterprise failures giving the following four reasons:

- To enable management to respond quickly to changing conditions
- To train lenders in recognising the important factors involved in determining an enterprise’s likelihood of failing
- To assist lending organisations in their marketing by identifying their customer’s financial needs more effectively
- To act as a filter in the credit evaluation process.

They went on to argue that small enterprises are very different from large ones in the area of borrowing by small enterprises, lack of long-term debt finance and different taxation provisions.

For small private companies, these measures are unreliable and textbook methods for judging investment opportunities are not always useful in organisations that are privately owned to give a true and fair view of events taking place in the company.