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A Tale of a Business Failure by John D. Davis, CPA/ABV, CVA, CFE Danbury Publishing Company
book review by Caroline Blaha-Black
"Forget the times of your distress, but never forget what they taught you." - Gesser
Failed business and the subsequent lessons learned are prevailing themes in Davis book, A Tale of a Business Failure, which chronicles a true story of a successful vending machine business, which the author himself operated with his partner, Paul, and what ultimately led to their venture closing down.
The books starts with Davis, the author and the main character, attending the auction of his own company. There, all their remaining vending machine equipment is sold for a fraction of the price of what he and his partner originally invested. In a chronological order, Davis then outlines how the company started, how they operated over the years with his partner Paul, and what actions and mistakes eventually pulled the company under and out of business.
The book is a mixture of personal drama and classical business advice where Davis relates what eventually went wrong in the company and how the two partners should have done things differently to keep the company in operation. The personal drama unfolds throughout the book when Davis' partner Paul starts to have marital and drinking problems and starts cheating on his wife. In the end, Paul's morale, coupled with serious entrepreneurial mistakes that the company made over a long time period, affected the successful operations of the prosperous vending machine business they had together, despite various plans to save the company from Davis side.
The book is a good tome of information for a budding entrepreneur, an accountant, a business consultant, or even a business student who wishes to learn from cautionary tales and mistakes of other companies. The writing itself is written in a matter-of-fact tone, like a diary of a company's demise. However, the financial lessons in this book are worth it, as written by an experienced business consultant and an accountant. This book would be perfect for someone who would like to know how to correctly operate a money-making venture and keep it running for a long time.