Finance

Article: 7 Sure Fire Methods To Avoid Overdue Accounts (December 2012)

The best way to avoid collection hassles is to take preventive measures up front to ensure that accounts don’t become overdue. Below are some steps you can take to improve your receivables turnaround.

1. Don’t grant credit

It’s not always possible or practical, but some companies can be run without offering credit. Require cash or bank drafts/money orders. Ship products C.O.D. (cash on delivery), especially to new customers who don’t have a payment history with you.


2. Accept major credit cards

Make it convenient for customers to do business with you by accepting debit and credit cards. While you will pay out a small percentage of each transaction for processing, you also will get paid within days. If you follow the regulations, you won't be liable for fraudulent charges, although the customer will have the option to withhold payment if there is a dispute about a bill.


3. Require deposits

Both service and product businesses can ask for advance payments. Product firms can ask for 50 percent payment up front and the balance on delivery, or request a deposit amount based on standards for their industry. Service businesses might want to ask for 20 to 50 percent up front, depending on the project, with remaining payments due when certain milestones are met.


4. Offer terms

Terms outline how you expect to get paid, and what interest or penalties you charge for late payment. State these clearly on your contracts and invoices because you cannot request that these terms be met if customers do not know about them beforehand. It is common to ask for one to one and a half percent per month for late payments. While this won’t net you much money, it indicates that you are serious about timely payment. You also might want to offer a discount of one percent or more for early payment as a way of speeding cash flow.


5. Get a signed agreement

Never extend credit without getting something in writing. If there's ever a collection problem, having a signed agreement makes your case much stronger. Use a purchase order or contract that details how much a client will owe and when it will be due. Take a moment to review payment deadlines with clients and express that you expect to be paid on time. Point out the terms for late payment. Always record changes or compromises in writing.


6. Check credit

Collect the information you'll need to run a credit check on a credit application or "new customer form." For consumers, this data includes address and phone numbers, whether homes are owned or rented, how long at last address, and bank account and credit/charge card account numbers. For businesses, you can ask for business name, company number, names of owners/principals, address, phone number and at least three credit references. You can get credit reports from major credit reporting agencies such as Experian and Equifax.


7. Create a billing/overdue notification system

You can't collect if you don't know how much is owed to you and when it is due. Set up a system that alerts you to overdue accounts – most accounting software programs do this automatically. Once you have a system, make sure someone in your company is responsible for keeping it up to date.

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Article: Improve Your Cashflow (April 2012)

In previous newsletters, we have talked about keeping track of jobs in your business, how to improve your cashflow and the importance of managing client expectations. Implementing these suggestions in your business should result in:

  • Clients who understand what you do, when you will deliver it and how much it will cost
  • Jobs that are carefully monitored from start to finish and
  • Prompt and regular invoices being sent to clients

But what do you do if a client still doesn't pay your invoice? As you transform business you will naturally start to develop systems to monitor your key performance indicators. These monitoring systems will allow you to take snapshots of the performance of your business and help you with your planning and preventative maintenance. One system of monitoring will be checking on financial performance and will include regular review of your outstanding debtors. Unfortunately it is a fact of life that no matter how efficient or competent we are, we will have clients that are slow to pay us, or may not pay us at all. Clients will not pay an invoice for three main reasons:

  • The time effect
  • The cash impact
  • Conscious or subconscious avoidance

The time effect: The Time Effect refers to a delay between the job and your invoice. You can deal with the Time Effect by ensuring invoices are sent out when a job is completed or at the end of each month. Avoid sending out annual invoices because the lapse of time between the job being finished and the invoice arising diminishes the value of the job to the client.

The cash impact: The Cash Impact refers to how the invoice affects the client's hip pocket. The Cash Impact is felt when the invoice is much higher than the client expected. The Cash Impact can be dealt with by ensuring their expectations are clear at the beginning of the job. On occasion, the client may simply be experiencing a cash squeeze. Time to pay may be appropriate but will depend on your collection policy.

Conscious or subconscious avoidance: Unfortunately, we can sometimes get clients who have no intention of paying. Usually these clients can be identified and rejected at the first meeting. Having a good engagement letter setting out your payment terms will help minimise bad debts but it will only be effective if you remain firm and follow your procedure. That means handing delinquent accounts to a debt collector for further action, including court orders for payment. Occasionally a client will just be forgetful and not remember to pay your invoice. Have a simple debtor management procedure, and regularly remind clients of overdue invoices. If you follow up outstanding invoices regularly, you will avoid the Time Effect and reduce the risk of bad and doubtful debts. It is important to remember that the job isn't finished when you get the job lodged or back to the client - the job really only finishes when the invoice is paid! Ensure all your team is aware of the importance of following up outstanding invoices promptly.

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Article: Controlling Your Budget (February 2012)

If you decide not to have a budget system then you can expect that you will undoubtedly overspend or underspend, loose control and track of financial plans and obligations and lack up to date information that could explain variances between actual results and your budget.

 To control your budgets you need to do as follows:

Understand Your Budget

Know where the financial figures came from, why they are what they are, which figures you are directly responsible for controlling and which figures are out of your control.

Communicate With Your Accounts Department

Ask them what reports they can print for you so you can accurately assess your budget. Always keep the communication lines open with the accounts department so they are able track, record and allocate your money as necessary.

Set Up A Monitoring System

Your monitoring system should allow you to keep track of your budget. A paper system can be used will tally all of your costs which can then be reviewed at the end of the month.

Set Monitoring Times

You will need to decide on a time in which you can monitor your budget. This will need to fit in with your other obligations, however it shouldn't be left because you are too busy. Your budget monitoring should never be stopped or discarded. Make sure you have a weekly, monthly or quarterly appointment set aside. If you need to involve a team ensure that your members also make that day and time available.

Identify Any Variances

You will more than likely have positive and negative variances. A negative variance means you have spent more than what your budget has allowed and a positive means that you have spent less than what the budget specifies. From this you will be able to determine the effect on your future plans and if they need to be adjusted.

Don't Assume

A positive variance in your budget may not be a good thing. Ensure you analyse exactly why the variance occurred and what effect it will have on your future plans or other activities indicated for the year. It may be possible that you aren't carrying out the marketing as you advised, didn't recruit a key team member, was there a once off payment required, etc. Don't assume anything.

Communicate With The Right People

Communication is an important contribution to ensure the business flows in the desired conduct. Just as this plays an important role in the business as a whole it also plays a role in your budget. For instance, should you find a problem with your budget you need to communicate that to the people who need to know. If you don't communicate it, others may not know it is there.

Corrective Action

Once you have determined and communicated the budget discrepancy then you must decide on what you are going to do about it. For instance you can leave it if it can be anticipated that the budget will fall back into line (ensure you explain and verify this), prepare a forecast determining where you expect to be in comparison to your budget or suggest a corrective action that will bring the figures back in line (i.e. generate more sales, cut back on costs, etc).

Consistent Monitoring

Keep your monitoring as an ongoing process. Remember don't assume. Just because things are working well or you have over come one problem doesn't mean that the opposite won't happen.

Communicate Changes

If you have altered or amended your forecast you will need to advise the right people of this. Ensure you know who they are and why they need that information.

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Article: Collecting Cash Before Christmas (December 2011)

It can be difficult to get payments at the best of times from your customers without having to deal with Christmas. Christmas often sees people spending money on presents rather than on their due and payable accounts. To get your account paid try the following methods:

  • Send accounts early. Sending your accounts out earlier than normal will help you to get money in quicker and payments on time. December may see you struggling to receive any money so send them a.s.a.p.
  • Phone customers. You might like to ring your customers prior to their account being due to ensure that you will receive payment on or around the account due date. This could reduce the amount of people likely to pay late.
  • Offer a Christmas discount. As a Christmas generosity you can provide a small discount to those customers who pay their bill prior to the due date. Your discount only needs to be 1% or 2% off the total price payable which to a customer can be a lot, especially when saving to buy their loved one something special.
  • Deposits. For new customers wanting to use your business prior to Christmas you may decide to implement an initial payment strategy which allows you to collect a portion of money from your customer, ensuring that you have sufficient money coming into your business. Furthermore, if your customers are adaptable to your business you may decide to ask for a deposit, only during the months of November and December.
  • Part payment opportunities. Depending on the size of your customer accounts and orders, a part payment system might be suitable for your business. This system allows you to collect money on a regular basis over a specified period of time without putting the customer into hardship. Again this will help you to collect funds for your business.
  • Competition. Again this will depend on your type of business and what you can offer, however a competition can be setup for account payers. You might have a Christmas hamper or go to an extreme such as a Christmas holiday, in which your customers will enter free when they pay their account by the specified date.

Getting paid for your goods and services on time is important and therefore you may need to implement some measures over the Christmas period to ensure you receive your money when it is due and payable.

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Article: Is Your Business Financially Robust? Protect Your Business With Alternative Forms Of Cash Flow Finance! by  Mark Redman of XL Finance (November 2011)

The on-going “euro crisis” has the potential to make borrowing money from the banks even more difficult. At a time when many businesses are struggling for working capital this could be more potential bad news for many businesses. The good news however, is that there are smaller and independent finance companies willing and able to provide alternative and viable funding solutions to the high street banks.

Invoice finance such as factoring and invoice discounting is one of the fastest growing forms of funding. Once often viewed a lend of last resort, factoring and invoice discounting is the preferred choice of finance for many SME businesses.  Invoice finance releases cash against unpaid invoices typically at 80-85% providing much needed working capital.  Unlike a bank overdraft which is often repayable on demand and is restricted by the level of available security, a factoring or invoice discounting facility will grow with your business and provide a long term working capital solution.

Whilst  high street banks provide such facilities it is widely recognised within the financial community that there are many independent alternatives and specialist invoice finance  companies providing a much higher level of service, expertise and flexibility.  It also makes good financial sense not to have all your eggs in one basket and have a separate invoice finance provider to your clearing bank.

Which funder is best for you will depend on the circumstances of your business. Whilst there are many factoring and invoice discounting companies many have slightly different areas of expertise and specialise in slightly different sectors and business types. Turnover, length of time in business, degree of profitability, size of your debtor book, contractual debt, export and import requirements, and geographic location are a few of the factors that need to be taken into consideration.

A good independent factoring broker will be able to narrow the choice of many down to 2 or 3 of the most appropriate providers.  XL Business Finance has been helping business for over 10 years and providing expert knowledge to ensure that the most suitable funding solution is found.

Examples include:

FACTORING - New start up Printing Company. We chose a small local funder so the customer was never more than one or two phone calls away from decision maker /director.  A highly level of customer service and hands approach ensured that debts were collected in a professional and timely manner enabling the owner to get on with running his business. 

CONSTRUCTION FINANCE - Building Company.  This large national based  builder had previously been advised by his bankers that he wasn’t fundable due to a contractual element to his debtor book. A specialist finance company was able to arrange funding against staged invoices and contractual application for payments.

INVOICE DISCOUNTING / EXPORT DEBT – Engineering co. A 5.0m facility was provided via a large international finance organisation providing export funding as well as standard domestic invoice finance.

IMPORT FINANCE / FACTORING - Wine Importer. Against presold goods to a large UK chain of supermarkets an import facility was provided to the customer to import cases of wine. On delivery to the customer’s premises and on issuing an  invoice to the customer the factoring repaid the import facility providing a 100% funding solution from start to finish.

Please see our website at www.xlbusinessfinance.co.uk. Or, contact me direct at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Get in touch and ask us to conduct a business evaluation and find out about our unique way of designing and implementing strategies to generate sustainable business improvement.

Article: The Power Of Margins (October 2011)

If there is one certainty in a growth business it is that it is going to consume all the cash you can get your hands on.

If all you had to do was fund work in progress, you just might be able to cope, but there are very large costs associated with growth which need to be funded well in advance of sales. Staff need to be recruited and trained, accommodation needs to be in place, inventory needs to be purchased and stored, computer software and hardware systems need to be implemented and so on. Infrastructure and support costs are lumpy and often need to be in place well before they are needed. Without access to a ready source of cash, growth businesses stall and lose their momentum.

The obvious solution is to have a source of finance available to meet the increasing demand for funding. But banks tend to shy away from high growth enterprises, as they typically don't have the bricks and mortar to secure the debt. That leaves equity funding as the only practical external source of funds.

However, new equity dilutes existing shareholdings. If the business is privately held, then the funds will have to come from the private equity sector and the money will come with conditions.

The only practical path out of this trap is to generate higher levels of cash organically. You do this by increasing margins - reducing expenses or increasing prices. While this may seem a bit impractical, in fact, the high growth business is well positioned to do exactly that. While some progress may be made by reducing expenses, the major source of extra cash will need to come from increasing prices.

High growth businesses are in a unique position. They achieve high growth because they have a number of key product/market characteristics. Typically they satisfy a compelling need, have a sustainable competitive advantage and target a well defined niche market.

Generally, they work in emerging markets where demand exceeds supply. This unusual situation actually allows them to push up their prices as, at least at the margin, the market is not sensitive to small increments in price. A lift in prices increases their margins and generates additional free cash.

Apart from fuelling growth, higher margins allow the business to take greater risks, recover from mistakes and fight off competition. It is like having a war chest which you can use at your discretion to use in the best interest of the business. It could, for example, be used to increase the rate of R&D and thus improve your long-term competitive position or it could be used to undertake an acquisition to overcome a market or growth constraint.

We should never take our sales prices as a given. By changing product positioning, target customers, problems addressed and distribution channels, we can often find ways of increasing the price and therefore the margins. Any sustainable increase in margins will greatly improve the resilience, growth prospects and profitability of the business.

Get in touch and ask us to conduct a business evaluation and find out about our unique way of designing and implementing strategies to generate sustainable business improvement.

Article:  Improve Your Business's Cash Flow (October 2009)

  1. All the forecasts and accounting programs in the world are no compensation for getting more cash in the door.Here are some tips on how to improve your business’s cash flow.
  2. Set your credit terms carefully. The need to extend credit to customers is a fact of life for most businesses, but it is important to set clear limits.
  3. Carefully research the standard credit period for your industry and make an honest assessment about the consequences of shortening your credit terms. Reducing your payment period from 90 to 60 days might lose you one customer, but if the other 99 will pay more quickly it could be worth it.
  4. Make your debtors pay quickly. It is vital to master the art of debtor management. One suggestion is to ensure debtors know how much time they have by sending payment notices on different coloured paper – with 30 days to go, send a blue notice, 15 days an orange notice and bright red when payment is required immediately.
  5. Talk constantly with major debtors as payment deadlines approach, and perhaps pass by; the squeaky wheel often gets the oil. A small discount for early payment can also provide an effective incentive to put that cheque in the mail.
  6. Pay your creditors slowly. Take advantage of credit terms where you can and prioritise costs according to the severity of the consequences for not paying. Wages, taxes and direct debits are at the top of the list, key suppliers second and everyone else last.
  7. Smooth out the lumps. Know when lean cash flow patches are coming and plan accordingly. It is invariably more difficult to get debtors to pay over Christmas for example, so make sure you have a bit of leeway in your cash accounts to pay wages and other inflexible expenses during this period. Equally, avoid funding major purchases from your business’s working capital unless you are sure you have the cash to cover it.
  8. Use finance products effectively. Overdrafts, premium funding, lease facilities and cash flow funding products can all be excellent tools to help match a business’s cash supply with planned outlays if used sensibly.
  9. Even the business credit card can be a good way to ease the squeeze as long as you are sure the debt can be paid before interest kicks in.
  10. Do not incur penalties. The Inland Revenue impose penalties for late lodgements or payments in some circumstances. Paying these debts first will save you money and stress.
  11. Control your own expenses. Discipline yourself to make cash drawings only in line with conservative cash flow forecasts. Cash drawings are effectively just another expense for your business and should be treated accordingly.
Get in touch and ask us to conduct a business evaluation and find out about our unique way of designing and implementing strategies to generate sustainable business improvement.

Article:  Essential RE-Forecasting of the business (March 2009)

In unpredictable times - are you best equipped to make the decisions that lie ahead?

We know that you are busy but we'd like you to consider the following:

  • Are you budgeting and forecasting capabilities meeting the big challenges presented by the current business climate?
  • Are you spending too much time (or do not know how to) pulling the numbers together?
  • Do you know how to anticipate any sudden changes to the business and understand the 'what if's'
  • Can you deliver what management need to understand the business?
  • Can you do all this every month and really understand how your cash-flows for the next 12 to 24 months?
  • How exposed are you to inaccurate figures? 

At nuOrder we can help our clients design and implement a robust financial tool that allows decision makers to understand instant changes to the business.

We can get the ball rolling in under a week and leave you with a world class financial model that can be used every month. Ask us for an on line demonstration.

Get in touch and ask us to conduct a business evaluation and find out about our unique way of designing and implementing strategies to generate sustainable business improvement.

Article:  What Are The Key Financial Value Drivers Of Your Business? (June 2008)

This article is a brief discussion on the most important financial drivers in a business and is not aimed at discussing all value drivers that exist in a business. It is also not an in depth discussion of the key drivers as this could take up a book to cover that.

In order of Priority:

  • Customer Base/Sales
  • Systems & Procedures
  • Cash Flow & Margins
  • Efficiency
  • Integration of above drivers

Customer Base/Sales

I find that many business owners are surprised to hear me say the Sales and customer base is the most important financial value driver. They expect to hear that it is Profitability as this is the typical accountancy answer.

My answer is that sales are the most critical driver because if you do not have a sale there is NO Business.

The rest of the drivers flow from this sales driver; how to you obtain the sale; how do you produce the product or service that constitutes the sale and how do you achieve a positive cash flow from your sales.

The customer base of the business obviously links directly to the sales driver. The bigger your customer base and the more loyal and focused it is on your product/service range the better off your business is.

There is a huge amount of evidence as to why customer base is so important. In the sale of a business buyers are particularly interested in the customer base and its many dynamics of size, nature, geography and location, quality, break up and details of the underlying nature of customers even to the extent of what customers buy what products/services and how much, protection of the customer base particularly after the sale, possibilities of increasing the size and quality of the customer base.

Most businesses spend a reasonable amount on advertising and thus their customer base in both its size and quality. A loyal focused customer base is an invaluable asset as you can use this source to increase sales and future cash flows to be generated. Concentration of resources on higher margin products and services that you supply and to the class of your customers that purchase these products/services will have a direct positive improvement of your business.

There are many tools and products in our systems (in partnership with IBS) that are available to address this most important area, so I will not elaborate any further at this stage.

Systems & Procedures

The systems and procedures of a business that are used to produce the sales are critical and are usually closely guarded and protected and often are directly connected to intellectual property. These systems and procedures of a business often set a business apart from its competitors and many businesses spend a reasonable amount of expenditure in this area and continue to do so. Without being exclusive, systems and procedures include:

  • Human resource (staff) and related skills
  • Intellectual property including patents
  • Detailed production and service related processes developed and made more efficient over a period of time and often documented, maintained, monitored and further developed as time progresses.

Cash Flow & Margins

On the basis that businesses have sales and systems and procedures in place to produce the sales, do they have current and future sustainable positive cash flow resulting from the sales?

This brings into consideration the 'Net Variable Cash Flow' system and some other parameters.

Key components of this system are as follows:

  • Gross Profit (price/unit and cost of goods sold/unit including direct labour) with sales or number of units being the final component that determines the amount of Gross Profit.
  • Variable over head expenditure
  • Working capital that includes Debtors, Stock and Accounts Payable.

Other components that are involved in determining the cash flow result are as follows: 

  • Fixed overhead expenditure
  • Sundry creditors (i.e. other creditors that are not included in Accounts Payable)
  • Other Debtors (i.e. other debtors that are not included in Debtors)
  • Capital expenditure including sales as well as purchases
  • Taxation expense
  • Interest expense and interest received
  • Dividends

Our ProfitXpress™ and CashflowXpress™ reports and processes cover this area. 

Efficiency

Many businesses operate on an in efficient basis and the unfortunate fact is that they are un aware of this most vital factor. Our 'Activity Driver' tool covers this critical area.

We have undertaken a number of reports that have highlighted some alarming inefficiencies in operations of companies (e.g. inefficiencies as low as 40% of available key driver units such as hours). This seems hard to imagine but I clearly state that the majority of systems that we analyse show inefficiencies to which the business owner was not aware of and in cases where they had some suspicions of their business being inefficient they were not aware of the extent.

Small changes suggested and made by the businesses that we have worked with have made dramatic positive impact on cash flows. The analysis also addresses the key area of profitability at the Gross Profit level and high lights the range of Gross Profit/key driver often but not always hours). Again small changes and concentration on targeting the area of sales that have higher Gross Profit/key driver has had dramatic positive impact on cash flows. 

Integration of above drivers

Needless to say here that all of the Key Financial Value Drivers integrate with each other.

A valuable and successful business must have sales and a good customer base, andmust have good systems and procedures in place that operate efficiently and produce positive sustainable cash flows. It must also be structured adequately in terms of its debt level and also its capacity level (particularly in terms of its sales level compared to its asset base and what level of spare capacity it has and also how it plans this aspect in the future direction of the business).

Get in touch and ask us to conduct a FREE Business Evaluation Meeting and find out about our unique way of designing and implementing strategies to generate sustainable business improvement.

Article:  10 Ways To Reduce Your Expenses (May 2008)

  1. Know what your expenses are. It might seem obvious but if you don't know what you currently pay it's impossible to know what your target should be.

  2. Review expenses at least annually.

  3. Set yourself a monthly target to reduce one expense by just 5%.

  4. Ask your suppliers for a discount. Be prepared to offer something in return such as reduced payment terms or larger orders.

  5. Purchase in bulk (you can do this if your cash flow position is strong)

  6. Join a buying group for essential services like telephones, internet and email, energy, fleet management.

  7. Ask your staff if they had to reduce the running costs of their department by 5-10%, what would they do?

  8. Pay a bonus for employees who reduce expenses.

  9. For staff who generate income, pay bonuses for reaching net profit, gross profit and sales targets.

  10. Get expert advice. Choose an advisor who will take a holistic view of your business and not just slash all your expenses. Remember that an 'expense' that generates revenue or improves productivity is an investment. e.g.marketing, some staff, amenities.

Get in touch and ask us to conduct a FREE Business Evaluation Meeting and find out about our unique way of designing and implementing strategies to generate sustainable business improvement.

Article: Keeping Debtors Under Control (April 2008)

In previous newsletters we have talked about keeping track of jobs in your office, how to improve your cashflow and the importance of managing client expectations. Implementing these suggestions in your business should result in:

  • Clients who understand what you do, when you will deliver it and how much it will cost.
  • Jobs that are carefully monitored from start to finish.
  • Prompt and regular invoices being sent to clients.

But what do you do if a client still doesn't pay your invoice? Below we look at reasons why clients don't pay and a simple procedure to collect outstanding invoices.

As you transform your business into a successful business, you will naturally start to develop systems to monitor your key performance indicators. These monitoring systems will allow you to take snapshots of the performance of your business and help you with your Quadrant II planning and preventative maintenance.

One system of monitoring will be checking on financial performance and will include regular review of your outstanding debtors. Unfortunately it is a fact of life that no matter how efficient or competent we are, we will have clients that are slow to pay us, or may not pay us at all.

Clients will not pay an invoice for three main reasons:

  • The time effect.
  • The cash impact.
  • Conscious or subconscious avoidance.

The Time Effect

The Time Effect refers to a delay between the job and your invoice. You can deal with the Time Effect by ensuring invoices are sent out when a job is completed or at the end of each month. Avoid sending out annual invoices because the lapse of time between the job being finished and the invoice arising diminishes the value of the job to the client.

The Cash Impact

The Cash Impact refers to how the invoice affects the client's hip pocket. The Cash Impact is felt when the invoice is much higher than the client expected. The Cash Impact can be dealt with by ensuring their expectations are clear at the beginning of the job. On occasion, the client may simply be experiencing a cash squeeze. Time to pay may be appropriate but will depend on your collection policy.

Conscious or Subconscious Avoidance

Unfortunately, we can sometimes get clients who have no intention of paying. Usually these clients can be identified and rejected at your first meeting. Having a good engagement letter setting out your payment terms will help minimise bad debts but it will only be effective if you remain firm and follow your procedure. That means handing delinquent accounts to a debt collector for further action, including court orders for payment.

Occasionally a client will just be forgetful and not remember to pay your invoice. Have a simple debtor management procedure, and regularly remind clients of overdue invoices. If you follow up outstanding invoices regularly, you will avoid the Time Effect and reduce the risk of bad and doubtful debts.

It is important to remember that the job isn't finished when you get the job lodged or back to the client - the job really only finishes when the invoice is paid! Ensure all your team is aware of the importance of following up outstanding invoices promptly.

Article: What Do You Want From Your Money (March 2008)

  • What do you want your money to do?
  • What do you need money for?
  • What are your short term financial goals?
  • What are your long term goals?

These are fair and reasonable questions. Following is a short exercise which will help you start thinking more deeply about your money and what it should really be doing for you.

Step 1

Write ten things that your business requires money for. It could be sales, human resources, marketing, etc.

Step 2

Some of your financial goals can be achieved in two years or less. Define the list from step 1 into a goal that can be achieved in equal to or less than 2 years. For example, "Dedicate $10,000 from profits to on-the-job training programs by 1st July 2009."

Step 3

Define your list again but this time make them long term goals. This means they can be accomplished in five or more years.

Step 4

Prioritize your goals. Choose no more than five goals in total from step 2 and 3. You should only work on a few goals at a time. It will also help you to focus on the most important goals first. Don't forget to acknowledge the time frames and indicate your goal as long term or short term.

Step 5

Develop your plan to achieve your financial goals. This means that you will need to identify when you want to reach your goals, what resources will be required to reach your goals and what steps will need to take to reach your goals. Make sure each goal obeys the SMART rules.

Article: How To Protect And Improve Your Business's Credit Rating (February 2008)

Credit-reporting agencies track the creditworthiness of businesses like yours to help suppliers and lenders make decisions about which companies to do business with. These agencies collect data for reports from banks, retailers, government records, and other sources.

Potential suppliers and financial institutions may use your company’s credit rating to determine how likely you are to pay your debts. The strength of your rating can impact the payment terms that vendors grant you and interest rates that banks apply to your business loans.

Keeping your credit report in tip-top shape is smart for business. Use the advice below to protect and improve your company’s credit rating.

1. Review your report regularly

Obtain a copy of your credit report on a regular basis and review it thoroughly. Look for errors, old accounts that are still listed as active, and other inconsistencies. Be sure key supplier relationships appear. By regularly reviewing your report, you can feel confident that anyone evaluating your company will receive accurate information.

2. Update details

If you find that information on your report is dated or missing, take steps to make it current. For example, if your report lists a dated figure for your company’s annual revenues, report the new amount to the agency that issued the report. Likewise, if your report is missing data from credit relationships that are in good standing, contact the creditors and ask them to report your performance to credit bureaus.

3. Fix mistakes

If you find errors in your report, contact the credit-reporting agency to discuss how to correct them. Submit fixes in writing and include your business name and tax identification number on all correspondence. Forward copies of any documents you have that support your side of disputed items, saving the originals in your files. If an error on your report is the result of a creditor’s reporting mistake, contact the vendor and politely request that it remove the mark from your record.

4. Pay bills on time

Paying bills by their due dates will positively impact your credit standing. Timely payments reflect a history of responsible financial management.

5. Apply for secured credit

Banks are unlikely to grant unsecured loans to companies with shaky credit histories. But getting a loan that is secured with collateral can be a way to demonstrate creditworthiness. As you begin to pay back the loan responsibly, you will be building a stronger credit history. Be extremely careful not to overextend your use of secured credit. Doing so could result in losing the collateral to the lender. 

Article: Financial forecasting (January 2008)

Financial forecasting is an 'early warning system' that can help you anticipate likely cashflow problems and take steps to avoid them happening.

Of all the financial information you need to help you keep your business healthy, cashflow, sales and costs forecasts are the most important. The more frequently you do them, the better your chance of staying out of trouble. Ideally, you should update your forecasts every month.

"Regular financial forecasts can help you plan your business growth," explains Roger Brown. "By predicting highs and lows, you can manage your cashflow accordingly."

Forecasts are also essential to showing lenders that you are meeting their requirements. "You need to reassure them their money is safe and that you can repay debt," he adds. "A bank that trusts your financial forecasts will be more likely to lend you more money.

"Cash is king," Roger stresses. "Making forecasts regularly will help you ensure that your business has the working capital it needs. A business can survive for a short time without making sales or profits, but without cash - it won't.

  • Calculating costs

 Identify your firm's monthly outgoings for the year ahead. For fixed costs, such as rent and rates, this will be straightforward. Variable costs, such as materials, might prove trickier.

Prediction is not an exact science, so if you are in any doubt, opt for a higher cost figure than might turn out to be the case. And remember to be comprehensive. Failing to account for all costs will have an impact on your actual cashflow

  • Sales forecasts

Sales forecasts are usually based on sales history and educated predictions about future sales. How many customers will you keep and how many new ones will you attract? Be influenced by such factors as any price rises you are planning, as well as what your competitors might get up to and anything else that could affect demand.

"Create a picture of the volume and timing of anticipated sales, the predicted revenue they will generate and when you expect to receive payment," advises Roger.

"For regular sales, use established figures for sales volumes, debtor periods and bad debts. Be cautious with forecasts for new products or customers - you should expect problems and delays," he warns.

Each month, compare your income against your forecast. Look for reasons behind unusual increases or shortfalls. Creating separate forecasts for different products or places in which you sell can be very useful.       

  • Cashflow forecasts

Bring together your sales and cost predictions in a spreadsheet to create a cashflow forecast. This will show you exactly when you expect money to enter and leave your firm and whether you are likely to be faced with the problem of more money leaving your business than there is coming in.

Importantly, cashflow is based on money entering and leaving your firm's bank account. It is not a question of how much you are owed.

If cashflow problems look to be on the horizon - take action straight away. Think of ways to prevent them or of short-term measures to weather the storm (such as arranging a bank loan).

Forecasting can be difficult if you lack experience. So, what final key piece of advice does Roger Brown offer? "The key is always to be realistic when making your calculations," he concludes.

Article: Turn Your Business Into a Cash Generating Machine (December 2007)

Many business owners operate a business under tight or negative cash flow conditions - this article explains how to turn your business into a cash generating machine so you can grow your business or simply put more money into your pocket.

We have been able to turn cash poor or cash negative businesses into highly positive cash flow businesses by analysing two financial statements through our financial analysis software.

Small Changes Equate To Massive Improvements

Changing a number of small operating areas within your business by as little as 2% - 3% we are able to make massive changes to the financial health of your business.

How It Works

The mix of your profitability, pricing structure, accounts receivable, accounts payable and overheads plays a dramatic role in your business generating either a positive cash flow or a tight or negative cash flow. If you also have cost of goods sold and / or stock you can really make some dramatic changes.