The government's Small Business Service(SBS) has recently launched two excellent guides to finance for SMEs and high-growth companies, between them exploring issues such as self-funding, raising finance, cash flow issues, and equity investment.
The second guide goes into more depth on issues such as the role of experts, venture capital, flotation, buying versus leasing, borrowing against invoices and pitching to investors.
Both are written in a no-nonsense style and have the added advantage of impartiality (other, of course, than the Chancellor's desire for the economy to grow and for his coffers to be filled with lovely tax revenues from successful companies')
The guides are free and can be accessed at:
Guide to SME finance
and
Guide to finance for high growth companies