Andre' s Knowledge of finance and accounting, not unlike many small businessmen, was very limited. He had often entertained the thought of taking some financial management courses, but could never find the time. One day , at his weekly bridge session , he happened to mention his problem to Tom Andrews, his long time friend and bridge partner. Tom had often given him good advice in the past and Andre was desperate for a solution. "I ' m no finance expert, Andre," said Tom , "but you might want to contact the finance department at our local university ' s business school and see if you can hire an MBA student as an intern . These students can often be very insightful, you know. "
That ' s exactly what Andre did Within a week he was able to recruit Juan Plexo , a second semester M B A student, who had an undergraduate degree in Accountancy and was interested in concentrating in Finance. When Juan started his internship, Andre explained exactly what his concerns were . "I' m going to have to raise funds for future growth, and given my recent profit situation, the prospects look pretty
bleak. I can ' t seem to put my finger on the exact cause. The commercial loan committee is going to want some pretty convincing arguments as to why they should grant me the loan . I had better put some concrete remedial measures in place. I was hoping that you can help sort things out, Juan ," said Andre " I think I may have bitten off more that I can currently chew."