Being in small business management and consulting for the last ten years, I have seen some common denominators.  Once major commonality is a blatent disreagard for business profit in favor of owner perks.  The reasoning behind this, of course, is that come tax time, the IRS will take a third of my money.  If I get bonuses, car payments, etc., I get more money and my business incurs less taxes.  Win-Win, right?

 Wrong.  

 Death is an absolute certainty, which means you cannot own your business forever.  In fact, it's highly likely that you will no longer be able to manage your business long before you pass on.  For this simple reason among many others, it is absolutely imperitive that you create value to your business.  You may not be Donald Trump, but you can create value in even the smallest business.  One of the easiest ways to do that is to ensure you have some good-looking financial statements.