Why Trump is a lesson for business owners….

The current case against Donald Trumps empire in New York will of course be cited as purely politically motivated by his increasingly strange supporters but the fact remains that grossly inflating the actual value of assets to obtain finance is fraud, pure and simple.

It does also bring into question who was conducting and signing off these “valuations” as well as perhaps also those who accepted them at face value from a client who, lets put this nicely, had a reputation, but that isn’t the interesting issue here

What is almost comical in this case is the defence by Donald Trump Jnr. In fact it’s so poor that if that is all they have, then surely this case Is heading in one direction

Admittedly I don’t know the full extent of all the elements defence but it appears that a large proportion of the blame is laid upon “the accountants”

Quite why the “accountants” would inflate asset values without direction is hard to fathom. Furthermore its simply no defence to claim that the financial statements that you have signed off are not your responsibility because you don’t “understand” them, which is his claim

This brings me back to my thoughts. I have heard too often from potential business owners and some actual business owners that “they are not accountants” and “finances have nothing to do with me” and frankly it doesn’t wash

To run any business you have to understand the numbers. Isn’t that obvious?

And ignorance is no defence in any circumstances