Whether you have just started out or been in business for a while, you’ve come to realize that your business physically cannot survive without sufficient cashflow. Sufficient funds in turn comes from a healthy daily cashflow management process….
Cashflow forms the heartbeat of any business, regardless of the size or industry they operate in. Calypso Accounting works with many small to medium size businesses. Over the past 10 years these tips proved invaluable as a guide on really easy, cost effective steps you can take yoursewlf that really makes a difference to your cash balance.
So here is our 10 tips for daily cashflow management that will ensure your business has the required cash available, especially when it needs it most:
- Anticipate when you might need an overdraft facility and give your credit provider plenty of time to arrange the facility.
- Maintain a 90 day cash plan – be realistic about when your customers pay. Compare the amount of days it takes to recoup monies from them to the amount of days in which you pay your suppliers.
- Sound financial management would see you implement a strict credit control process and monitor it on a regular basis. Try and segregate the sales relationship and the credit control relationship by using different people.
- Resolve disputes early even if it means you having to let the customer win the argument from time to time. Sometimes we have to take one step back to take two steps forward. Do however be vigilant for customers wanting to exploit the situation.
- Reward good customers and fast payers by dealing with them or agree on favorable discounts where applicable. Remember that on average 80% of your revenue will be generated from 20% of your clients. Keep your 20% happy!
- Pay suppliers over time rather than discounted up-front payments. Although this might cost less over time, it does take out a bigger chunk of your cash flow at once.
- Pay suppliers via EFT, ask customers to pay on debit order.
- Perform credit checks on your customers, its’ too expensive not to.
- Ensure customers are placed on hold when needed and under no circumstances allow anyone to override the decision – often the guilty party is the owner!
- If you are late paying suppliers keep open communication between yourselves – many times we find that creditors are more lenient towards a business that approaches them for a payment plan before they have to start demanding balances via attorney’s letters.
These are some practical steps you can take today to improve your cashflow without too much effort. For a cash-flush business there is however still a lot of work that needs to be done behind the scenes and we have just the tools and services you need to make this happen.
So if you are:
- tired of looking at the bank balance on month-end and wondering how you are going to pay your staff, or
- your accountant keeps raving about the profits you made but you know for a fact that profit is not in your bank account,
it might be time to seek help…why not start by downloading our Cash Flow Toolkit by clicking on the image below and get access to some pretty nifty tools you can start using right away…and if you need even more assistance, give us a call and we’ll put you in touch with one of our VCFO’s. They can start helping immediately!
