Money to Burn?Before you go on a spending spree with your surplus cash, get your priorities straight.

Given that most businesses have been in hunker-and-save mode forthe past few years, "find ways to spend excess cash"probably ranked last on the average entrepreneur's to-do list.But with things looking up, business owners may find themselvessurprised by a surplus in their company's coffers. It may notbe millions, but it could be a sizable enough wad to burn a hole inthe company's pocket.

The key to smart spending and investing is to be neither overlycautious by leaving it all in a low-interest-bearing money marketaccount, nor overly optimistic by rushing to staff up or buy a newfacility before you know how far you can stretch the moneyyou're left with.