By John Guth, Intuit Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

According to a recent article by Steve Nicastro, a nationally recognized financial writer, your business loan application may have gotten rejected if your financial statements are disorganized or inaccurate. That is the bad news. Having clean financial reports is a key criterion considered by banks as they evaluate your loan request. Ultimately, a bank wants to know that as the business owner, you have your finger on the pulse of the business.

The good news is that as a business owner you have a lot of control over this. And there are great tools and resources available to help put your company in the best light possible when applying for a business loan. For instance, you can maximize the use of software such as Intuit QuickBooks to help organize your financials, run reports and understand and predict your cash flow and profitability. And you don’t need to be a techie or have an accounting degree to get the most out of your QuickBooks system.

An Intuit certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor can help walk you through how to use QuickBooks to manage your business and make it profitable. Orange County SBDC provides this expertise to business owners at no cost. To learn more, you can schedule a consultation or attend our upcoming workshop titled Intermediate QuickBooks for Business Owners and Managers on September 23.

About John Guth: As a business owner and ProAdvisor with expertise in small business accounting, finance and financing facilitation in the debt and equity markets, he has managed his consulting and accounting firm since 2004, specializing in serving small businesses in Southern California. His experience while “in the trenches” leading and managing his firm over the past ten years allows him to bring a unique perspective and the ability to help his client successfully obtain business loans to grow their business.