Financial Bits and Bytes

Part of the I don’t know what I don’t know series Everyone wants more cash, and a business is no different. Cash pays your employees, buys raw materials and products that you sell, and pays for the building you’re in. You need to understand how much cash you have, when it’s coming in, and when you need to spend it. Here’s a few cash flow hints: Create a Cash Flow Forecast. Every day you look at how much cash you have in the bank. You do a quick calculation in your head about how much payroll is going to be,

Scalability is the key to growing your business. How can you serve new customers, additional inventory and manufacturing space? Can you do it now, or do you wait and hope you don’t lose customers? It’s a balancing act, and there are no easy answers. Cash Needs – Understand the cash needs of ANY expansion plans. Some plans require long-term commitments. A cash flow forecast showing each expansion opportunity will alert you to upcoming problems. If you run out of cash – everything stops. Plan so that you know how much cash is needed not just today, but down the road.

We have all run short of cash.  So, you won’t eat out till payday.  But when your business runs out of cash, it’s not a joking matter.  You can’t tell your employees to wait another week for payday. There are steps you can take to find extra cash.  But when you get too creative, you will have your conscience shouting NO!  If your stomach turns because you aren’t sure if you should do it or not, the answer is DON’T.  Here are twelve things you shouldn’t do.  They will come around and bite you in the butt.  Guaranteed. Don’t make

Some small business owners have CFOs working for them. The owner is proud that he has prepared his company for the next great leap forward by his strategic staffing decision. It’s not unusual in a small company for the Accounting Manager to become the Controller and then become the CFO. But without the requisite education, mindset and experience, just having more years on the job doesn’t prepare the person for that role. Let’s look at the difference between a Controller and a CFO. At the basic level, a Controller is Tactical, whereas a CFO is Strategic. What does that mean

Everyone has a checkbook. If you think about it, your personal life operates just like your business, but it’s on a Cash not an Accrual basis. You receive money and you pay it out. You can’t pay out more than you have. The balance in your checkbook is what you must work with. No more, no less. And, if you have a savings account that you put money into regularly for retirement, or vacation plans, you’re doing Accrual Accounting at your house. Your business is just like that. You have money coming in and money going out. Here’s a simple,