13PHRASE BANKSKILL UP!Asking questions about
company finances
(^) How long will the equipment be in
use? [5]
(^) What is their annual turnover? [7]
(^) What are their main financial li-
abilities? [7]
(^) What are the days sales outstand-
ing? [8]
(^) How many people does your com-
pany employ? [9]
(^) What is your average order value
per customer? [9]
(^) What are your gross margins? [10]
(^) What is the cash runway? [11]
Talking about company finances
(^) We made a trading profit of... [5]
(^) It’s valued at... [5]
(^) The company is in good financial
health. [7]
(^) They don’t have the resources
to... [7]
(^) They collect on accounts receivable
within... [8]
(^) They have an agreement with their
suppliers to... [8]
(^) They have a strong cash flow from
operations. [8]
(^) We have a headcount of... [9]
(^) We have a gross profit margin
of... [10]
(^) We’re offering ten per cent of
our business in exchange for
funding. [10]
(^) They are running a self-sustaining
business. [11]
Talking about numbers
(^) A quick calculation shows that... [8]
(^) By my calculations, ...[11]
(^) These figures are conservative. [11]
(^) A rough estimate puts their price-
to-book ratio at... [11]
Asking about the future
(^) What is your ambition for the
company? [9]
(^) If you had the funding, what would
your turnover be next year? [9]
(^) Where could you go in terms of
scaling this? [10]
(^) How much do you need to deliver
your forecasts? [10]
(^) How will you use the proceeds of
your fund-raising? [10]
Describing the future
(^) I predict... [9]
(^) We want to scale up our
operations. [10]
(^) We could consider... [11]
PROFIT FROM KNOWLEDGE
Whatever your role, demon-
strating good knowledge and
understanding of corporate fi-
nances could help advance your
career. Especially if you under-
stand how your own business
unit is doing financially. Do you
know its most important assets
— and problematic liabilities?