Business First Family Business, Accounting, Finance, Investing, Marketing And Management
In simple terms, cash flow is the amount of money which comes into and goes out of a business. In order for a business to make a profit, it is vital for there to be a greater amount coming in than there is going out. Understanding profit vs revenue differences is also helpful too. For business owners, working to ensure that income is always higher than business expenses is an essential part of running their company and aiming for success. Managing your cash flow not only means that you will need to keep on top of both how much you are earning and how much you are spending, it also means that you will need to ensure that you have enough money coming in at just the right times to cover any money going out. Cash flow management is absolutely vital for small business owners for a range of different reasons.
Paying Bills On Time
One of the main reasons as to why many small business owners need to keep a careful eye on their cash flow management is so that their bills will be paid on time. For small businesses, paying their bills on time is essential to the running of the company itself. Business rely on bills getting paid on time in order to continue renting an office or store, hosting a website, or even employing staff, for example. Because of this, cash flow management should also include that a business owner is paid what they are owed on time in order to make sure there is money available to pay essential bills. Invoice financing can be an excellent way of ensuring that you always have access to the funds you need by selling overdue invoices to a financing or factoring company.
Knowing Your Financial Health
Cash flow management best practices will certainly keep you in the know regarding your business’s financial health. The first part of managing cash flow is determining the breakeven point for your business. This is the single most essential number when it comes to your financial health for business. Cash flow management tasks will help you stay in the know regarding your business finances, like your contribution margin, which will ultimately lead to a healthy, robust and profitable business finance situation.
Managing Costs
Cash flow management should be an ongoing task which is visited regularly. Managing cash flow is absolutely essential to staying on top of costs and making sure that you are not overpaying when it comes to your outgoings. For small businesses, keeping costs as low as possible is vital to ensuring that they can make a profit or in some cases, simply break even. Good cash flow management will be able to help you determine where you are overpaying when it comes to costs and what can be done in order to help you drive them down further and save money.
Cash To Fall Back On
Good cash flow management also means that businesses should have some cash to fall back on. Storing cash reserves which are only to be used when it is impossible to raise the funds elsewhere in order to cover a payment can help businesses to stay afloat during tough times. Good cash flow management not only means that it is easier for you to see where you are overspending or could be earning more, but it also allows you to keep track of what you are earning so that you can plan for any potential drops in profit or in some cases even making a loss. Small business owners often find that during the early stages of their company, they will experience both good and bad months when it comes to the amount of money that they make and cash reserves are often essential to success.
Potential For Growth
Good cash flow management also makes it easier for a business to grow and develop further in the future. When it comes to growth and development in business, it is often essential to have the cash to hand to make the investments in the company which will lead to its moving up to the next level. By managing your cash flow carefully, you will be able to work out how much money is left which can be used for reinvestment into your business and help it to develop further, whether that be by growing in size or targeting a new, further target market. No matter which potential steps you want to see your company taking in the future, managing your cash flow well is absolutely vital to ensuring that you have the necessary funds.
Keep Track And Learn
Careful management of your cash flow does not only involve making sure that you keep costs low, drive profits and get paid on time. Managing your cash flow can also be a good learning opportunity and can help you to decide what is good and what is not when it comes to your business. For example, studying cash flow trends can help you determine which products sell better than others. This is something that Cicis Pizza could surely learn as well.
For small businesses who want to succeed, cash flow is everything!
Image from https://nevadasmallbusiness.com/business-success-begins-cash-flow-management/
