Ready-to-Use Business Forms: A Complete Package for the Small Business

Vernon V. Kakoschke was a lawyer in the law department of Canadian Pacific.

This book is a collection of more than one hundred forms designed to save the small business owner both time and money. No explanations are offered in the book since the forms are, for the most part, self-explanatory. The introduction to the book suggests that the forms be reproduced on an office photocopier or taken to your local printer for customized printing. The index at the back of the book provides a quick reference tool to finding that hard-to-get form.

It is difficult to understand why some of the forms were included in this book. There are several basic memo forms, for example, that even the most inexperienced businessman could have designed. On the other hand, many of the other forms, particularly in the personnel area, are well designed and could be extremely useful. The payroll forms and personnel records, for example, would allow a small business owner to keep track of employees and to pay them on time.

The sales and purchasing forms provide all of the essential documents a small business needs to carry out these functions. Most of these documents have a very basic format. Indeed, some of them may have been oversimplified. The Request for Quotation form and the Purchase Order form, for example, do not contain any of the legalese that normally accompanies such documents. Without the terms and conditions printed on the back of such forms in fine print, a business may not have the legal protection that it would otherwise have if the forms were professionally prepared.

As long as it is recognized that the forms in this book are of the bare bones variety and that they need to be adapted to the requirements of each individual business, they could provide a quick and cheap way for a business to get the documentation needed to get started. Once they are in place, the business forms can always be refined over time.