After developing an understanding of the purpose of a business and the considerations involved in starting a busi­ness, Maria and Stan officially began Favorite Cookie Company in January of 2007. Their first task was to obtain finan­cial resources for the business. Then, they acquired equipment and other resources for the business, and they began to produce and sell their products. In addition, they needed an accounting system to record their business activities and to report how the business was performing.