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Tag: Cash Flow

Improving Cash Flow Management With Innovative Strategies

Published: by lauramills
Improving Cash Flow Management With Innovative Strategies

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operate in a competitive ever-changing market where maintaining a healthy cash flow is both a priority and a challenge. As most SMEs are constantly expanding their business, cash flow management is a constant challenge to the long-term success of their business.

However, with the right strategies, businesses can significantly enhance their cash flow management, ensuring stability and paving the way for smooth funding of their future growth. This blog explores practical advice on optimizing inventory, improving payment terms, and leveraging technology to bolster cash flow.

Optimising Inventory for Better Cash Flow

Inventory management plays a crucial role in cash flow optimization. Excess inventory ties up capital that could otherwise be used for growth initiatives, while too little inventory can lead to lost sales and unhappy customers. Here are innovative strategies to optimise inventory:

  • Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventory: If possible, adopt the JIT approach to reduce inventory costs by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, thus minimising inventory levels. Drop shipping: Consider drop shipping for certain products to eliminate the need to keep them in stock, as the supplier directly ships orders to customers.
  • Inventory Analysis: Optimise your inventory to prioritise items that are high volume, high-margin items for better cash flow and higher profitability. Ensure seasonal inventory items are carefully ordered and sold before the end of their season. This will minimise inventory holding costs and while ensuring you have the inventory your customers require.

Enhancing Payment Terms with Customers and Suppliers

Negotiating favourable payment terms with both customers and suppliers can significantly impact your cash flow. Here’s how:

  • Faster Customer Payments: Encourage quicker payments by setting up automated payment reminders, or using digital payment solutions that simplify the process for customers. Ensure a dedicated staff member is responsible for managing Customer Payments and follow up. Having consistent clear communication with Customers will minimise disputes and reduce delays in receiving payments.
  • Extended Supplier Terms: Negotiate longer payment terms with suppliers to keep cash in your business longer. This might include 30 or 60 day terms, giving you more time to sell inventory and collect receivables before payment is due.
  • Electronic Invoices and Payments: Transition to electronic invoicing and payment systems to reduce the time between billing and payment collection, speeding up cash inflows.

Leveraging Technology for Enhanced Cash Flow Management

Technology offers powerful tools for improving cash flow management, providing real-time insights and automating financial processes:

  • Cloud-Based Accounting Software: Implement cloud-based accounting solutions that offer up-to-date financial information, helping you make informed decisions quickly.
  • Automated Receivables and Payables: Use software that automates invoicing and bill payments, ensuring you manage receivables and payables efficiently, improving cash flow predictability.
  • Cash Flow Forecasting Tools: Utilise cash flow forecasting tools that integrate with your accounting software to predict future cash flow based on historical data and current trends.

Additional Strategies for Cash Flow Enhancement

  • Lease, Don’t Buy: Leasing equipment rather than purchasing it can free up cash for other uses, though it’s important to weigh the long-term cost implications.
  • Re-evaluate Operating Expenses: Regularly review and cut unnecessary operating expenses. Even small reductions can free up significant cash over time.
  • Increase Sales with Marketing: Invest in targeted marketing efforts to increase sales volume, focusing on high-margin products or services that contribute positively to cash flow.

Conclusion

Improving cash flow management is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail, strategic planning, and a willingness to adapt to new methods. By optimizing inventory management, enhancing payment terms, and leveraging technology, SMEs can create a robust framework for managing cash flow effectively. Implementing these strategies can not only stabilise cash flow but also fund your businesses ongoing growth and ensuring success in the competitive business environment.

 

Planning, forecasting and optimising cash flow is the lifeline of any thriving business. At The CFO Centre, our strategies and seasoned CFOs help SMEs improve their cash flow management, ensuring a healthier, more sustainable financial future. Whether it’s preparing a multi-year 3-way forecast (Cash Flow, Income Statement and Balance Sheet) for your Bank, refining payment terms, inventory management, or leveraging technology, we’re ready to assist. Connect with us to explore how our tailored cash flow solutions can benefit your business.

Harness Your Profits With 7 Business Levers

Published: by lauramills
Harness Your Profits With 7 Business Levers

Have you ever wondered why your cash-flow fluctuates even when sales are strong? Or how your business is valued in the eyes of an external party? Then you need to know the seven (7) levers in your business to increase profits.

With just a little additional focus on one or more of these 7 levers, you can directly improve the cash-flow, profitability and/or value of your business. There’s no smoke and mirrors, nor anything particularly difficult to undertake. However, many business owners do not take the time to appreciate how the financial performance of their business really works.  So, let’s break it down.

Often business owners will primarily focus on sales volume, in other words trying to sell more. However, whilst sales volume is important, it’s only one of the 7 levers available to you.

What are the 7 levers in a business that control your cash, profit and business valuation?

The first four levers are focused on your Profit and Loss and therefore directly impact the profitability (and cash-flow) of your business. As most, businesses are valued at a multiple of cash earnings. These levers also have a huge impact on the value of your business (along with other aspects such as Brand, customer base / income streams, and internal expertise / “keyman” dependence).

     1.Volume

Selling more – although increasing sales can grow your business, don’t forget to focus on the other levers below! How much of every extra $1 in revenue turns into profit and into cash in your bank account, and when?

Tip – formulate a sales & marketing plan, with a budget, which is aligned back to your  overall Strategy. Review and tweak the plan regularly.  This will help keep you focused on the right way to grow your top line.  Any growth needs to be sustainable!

      2. Pricing

Can you increase your prices? Even a 1% increase can have a big impact. There can be a fear of losing customers by putting up your prices, which can often be unfounded.

Tip – review your margins by product / service stream / customer to ascertain which sales are making you money and which are not.  You need to know your break-even points!  Your part- time CFO can help – they love this stuff!

Tip – the results of your pricing analysis need to dovetail into the sales & marketing plan. It’s possible to make more profit from less turn-over!

      3. Cost of Goods Sold – reduction in % terms

This lever is most relevant to those businesses with direct costs such as manufacturers, construction, etc and places the focus on your gross margin.

Tip – revisit your direct purchasing arrangements and negotiate better terms and pricing. For example, bulk purchase discounts, early payment discounts, reduced freight.  Maintaining strong supply chain relationships is important but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask the question (or find potential alternatives).

Tip – review your direct labour-force using metrics such as labour utilisation, overtime levels, re-work, customer complaints, and down-time.  You may be able to re-deploy staff or reduce casual labour / overtime once you have this data.  Again, your part-time CFO can make this happen for you.

     4. Reducing Overheads

This may sound like an obvious one, but we always find at least some unnecessary “fat” in our client’s overhead expenditure.

Tip – someone needs to review the overheads line by line. Indirect / office wages, communications, insurance, utilities, freight, and advertising are the common ones where savings can be achieved. Even small reductions in certain areas can all add up over time!

These last three levers are focused on your Balance Sheet and are collectively called Working Capital. They have a significant impact on your cash-flow and therefore also on your funding requirements. Many businesses can avoid additional debt borrowings, or pay their existing debt faster by shortening their cash-conversion cycle.

     5. Reducing debtor days

This means improving the ageing profile of your Accounts Receivable function (i.e. getting your customers to pay you faster).

Tip – review your credit control policy and your payment terms as customers with poor payment histories should be carefully managed.  Review your collections process in terms of who chases the debt and when.  The introduction of direct debit may be an excellent solution for some businesses.

     6. Reducing stock days

This means a faster conversion of your inventory (if you carry it) into sold product, thereby reducing the amount of stock you hold.

Tip – introduce a stock-take process if you don’t have one. This can ensure that your financial records mirror what you actually have on the shop-floor. Then review the results of the stock-take for slow-moving or obsolete stock items which may need to be discounted in order to convert them into cash.  Your purchasing policies may also need review if you are over-stocked with certain inventory lines.

     7. Increasing creditor days

This means taking longer to pay suppliers (without hurting the relationship or cutting off supply).

Tip – contact your suppliers to re-negotiate your settlement terms. It’s just a matter of asking the question – they may say “no” but then again, they may really value your business.

Now you know the what the 7 levers are, it’s time to do something tangible with them in order to make a real impact on your business. If you don’t have the internal expertise or time to make it happen, we would be happy to talk to you about how a part-time CFO can bring this to life. After all, as CFOs it’s what we do!

Call us on 1300 447 740 to find out more, or you can contact us here.

Photo by Artem Podrez from Pexels

Our 6 Top Tips For Business Planning In 2024

Published: by lauramills
Our 6 Top Tips For Business Planning In 2024

When it comes to business planning, now is the perfect time to reflect on the year just gone and strategise for the year ahead.  The last few years have thrown many of us challenges and/or opportunities never seen before.  So how can your business go further or do better in 2024?

Below is a business planning checklist to help you when planning for the future:

  1. Know Where you Stand

Does your financial reporting provide you with an accurate and timely view of the financial performance of your business? These could contain:

  • Historic balance sheet, profit and loss and cash-flow together with a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) that the management team use to run the business on a day to day basis.
  • Rolling forecast balance sheet, profit and loss and cash-flow driven by the same KPIs. Even a static annual budget is better than no target at all.

  1. Analyse

Have you analysed all of your products or service offerings and identified those that should be invested in and those which should be scaled back to improve the performance of the business?

  1. Review Costs

Have you reviewed all of your costs and identified all of those costs where alternative suppliers can be identified and current deals can be renegotiated? This helps to minimise your cost base and refine your negotiation skills.  Are there possible savings from systems and/or process streamlining?

  1. Review Customers

Have you reviewed all your customers and identified the good ones form the bad ones i.e. those that take ages to pay and/or beat you down on price etc.? It may be time to let the bad ones go and focus on the ones you want.

  1. Assess Risk

Have you assessed all of the obvious risks in your business and made sure that you have a contingency plan in place to avoid those with the highest likelihood and most significant impact?

  1. Your Personal Goals

Take the time to really reflect on why you started the business, are those goals still the same today and are you getting closer to achieving them?

 

Plan:

Once you have considered the above, you are ready to start planning.  A clear operational plan for the future of the business, which shows you the steps required to implement that plan is the best road to success.  If you do not have this it will be impossible to identify opportunities that arise next year that fit your plan for the business.

Most of our clients have been through this process with our guidance and as a result many are now looking to exploit the opportunities, to expand their markets and recruit key staff to help drive their businesses forward in 2023.

To get your business in the best shape for 2024, contact The CFO Centre on 1300 447 740.

The CFO Centre is dedicated to helping businesses meet their strategic objectives. Find out how it works by watching this short video on our website –  https://www.cfocentre.com/au/how-it-works/

 

Top 7 Advantages of a Part Time CFO

Published: by lauramills
Top 7 Advantages of a Part Time CFO

A part time CFO is the ideal solution for SME businesses looking to scale, who can’t afford or don’t need a full time resource. One of our clients recently said “it’s the best money I’ve ever spent”.

That’s because a part-time CFO will provide your company with the high-level financial expertise necessary to increase profit, improve cash flow and scale up, for a fraction of the cost of a full-time CFO.

Here are the top seven advantages you can expect when you hire a part-time CFO.

1.   Increased Profit

The number one thing most business owners want!  Having a part time CFO on your team, with their years of commercial experience across many industries, they can increase profits of most businesses by tweaking the levers every business has to increase profit.  For this reason alone, it’s worth considering a part time CFO.

2.    Strategic advice

Your part-time CFO will provide you with strategic analysis and support on every financial aspect of your business. A report from the Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) found CFOs play key roles in not only managing a company’s finances but also in setting broader strategic goals and establishing and achieving financial and non-financial milestones.  What’s more, part time CFOs can highlight potential threats or risks of which you and your team may be unaware or perhaps don’t know how to deal with.

3.    Flexibility

You can use the services of your part time CFO for what you need, when you need it. That could be for a variety of different financial functions or a specific project. This means you and your CFO can tailor the role to suit your company’s needs at any time.

4.    Multiple industry experience

Although you can choose to work with part time CFOs who have direct experience in your given industry, you can also opt to work with those that have experience across multiple industries. The advantage will be that your CFO will provide you with access to networks and multi-layered insights that you might not otherwise have.

5.    Sounding board

Running a company can often be a lonely and stressful experience for CEOs, according to The CFO Centre’s Chairman Colin Mills in his book ‘Scaling Up How to Take Your Business to the Next Level Without Losing Control and Running Out of Cash’.  He’s seen first-hand what pressure does to business owners.

“I’ve sat in sales meetings with entrepreneurs who had literally been brought to tears by stress and frustration and the feeling that it’s all too much.”

That’s where a part-time CFO can help. He or she can act as an independent sounding board for the over-burdened, stressed-out business owner. With their ‘big business’ experience, it’s more than likely CFOs can provide solutions to what can seem like overwhelming problems to the CEOs of growing businesses.

6.    Access to a national and international network

If you choose a part-time CFO from an organisation like The CFO Centre, you’ll benefit from the expertise from all the CFOs in its worldwide network. That’s hundreds of years of experience in every aspect of finance—all for a fraction of the cost of employing a single full-time CFO.

7.    Enjoy life through your business, sooner

With the help of a part time CFO, your business will start delivering on what’s really important to you so you get to live the life you choose (eg. more time with family, more time on rather than in your business).

To discover how the CFO Centre will help your company, please call us on 1300 447 740, contact us or watch our short video How it Works.

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Unveiling the Cash Flow Conundrum: Insights from our Business Survey

Published: by lauramills
Unveiling the Cash Flow Conundrum: Insights from our Business Survey

Cash flow, the lifeblood of any business, often serves as a barometer for its financial health and stability. In a recent business survey, we asked participants to assess the state of their cash flow, and the results shed light on the diverse experiences and concerns faced by entrepreneurs. Let’s delve into the data and explore the implications it holds for businesses of all sizes. 

Analysis of the Results 

The majority of respondents (56%) reported having mostly healthy cash flow. This is undoubtedly encouraging, suggesting a level of stability and financial robustness within these businesses. However, it is crucial not to become complacent, as maintaining healthy cash flow requires ongoing attention and proactive management. 

Interestingly, the responses were equally divided between those who considered their cash flow a concern and those who perceived it as healthy (both at 19%). This result reveals the challenges faced by businesses, where even seemingly successful ventures can experience occasional cash flow hurdles. It highlights the importance of adopting effective strategies to safeguard against potential disruptions and maintain financial resilience. 

Furthermore, 6% reported that cash flow was always a concern. Although this percentage may seem relatively small, it represents a significant portion of entrepreneurs whose businesses are perpetually grappling with cash flow issues. Understanding the underlying causes behind this persistent concern will enable us to address them more effectively and provide valuable guidance to those in need. 

Cash Flow Insights and Recommendations 

  1. Cash Flow Management – Regardless of the current state of your cash flow, it is essential to adopt robust financial management practices. Regularly reviewing your cash flow statement, forecasting potential gaps, and implementing strategies to improve collections and manage expenses can help you navigate through turbulent times.
  2. Diversify Revenue Streams – Relying heavily on a single source of income can leave your cash flow vulnerable. Explore opportunities to diversify your revenue streams, expanding your client base or offering complementary products or services. This will help mitigate the impact of any fluctuations in demand or payment delays.
  3. Seek Expert Advice – Engaging with financial professionals or consulting firms, such as The CFO Centre, can provide you with the expertise required to optimise your cash flow management. Their insights and experience can help identify areas for improvement and tailor strategies to suit your specific business needs. Find out How it Works.

Cash flow is a critical aspect of any business, and the responses from our business survey highlights the diverse experiences and concerns faced by entrepreneurs. Whether your cash flow is mostly healthy, sometimes a concern, or always a concern, it is crucial to proactively manage and optimise your financial position. We encourage you to take our Scale-up & Exit Business Assessment to gain personalised insights into your business’s financial health and uncover tailored strategies to enhance your cash flow management. 

Take the survey now and unlock a wealth of knowledge to propel your business towards financial prosperity. 
[Disclaimer: The results mentioned in this blog post are based on a specific business survey conducted by our organisation and may not represent the overall business landscape. The recommendations provided are general in nature and should be adapted to suit individual business circumstances.]

How To Resolve Your Cash Flow Problems

Published: by lauramills
How To Resolve Your Cash Flow Problems

Managing cash flow is critical to the success of any business. Get it right, and shareholders, creditors, and employees are happy. Get it wrong, and the company could end up on the ropes.

Cash flow problems can beset even profitable companies, particularly those experiencing rapid growth.

So, how do you protect your company from future cash flow issues?

  1. Cut Costs 

Cost-cutting will have a more immediate impact on your bottom line than revenue-raising efforts. You could for instance place a freeze on bonuses and overtime payments, reduce the number of employees through attrition or redundancy. You could also approach creditors to ask for better terms.

  1. Carry out credit checks

Before taking on new clients, carry out credit checks. Companies that regularly make late payments or default on payments should be red-flagged. You should also get new clients to sign contracts that include your payment terms.

  1. Offer early payment discounts

Encourage your clients to pay earlier than normal by offering early payment discounts. The early payment discount should only be used when the company is in urgent need of cash. Do it too often, and you will make a serious dent in your profit margins.

  1. Reduce your payment terms

Cut your payment terms from 60 or 90 days down to 30. Think of it this way: when you allow customers to pay in arrears for your products or services, you’re essentially giving them short-term unsecured loans.

  1. Lease rather than buy

Consider leasing rather than purchasing cars, property, office furniture, machinery, and IT and telecommunications equipment. The benefit of renting rather than buying is that you will only have to make small monthly payments. This should help your cash flow.

  1. Raise your prices

Companies are often reluctant to raise their prices for fear they’ll lose valued customers to competitors. But even a small rise in costs can chip away at your profit margins. You can overcome customers’ resistance to a price rise by offering bundled products or services.

  1. Issue invoices promptly

Many companies don’t issue invoices quickly enough or chase late payments. Consider this: every sale has already cost the company in some way, whether that’s the purchase of raw materials, warehousing, labour, sales and marketing, and distribution. If you don’t collect what you’re owed, you’ll be worse off than if you never made the sale.

  1. Use invoice financing

Hire a company that provides invoice financing (either invoice discounting or factoring) to receive an immediate cash injection. Such companies provide funding against your unpaid invoices for a fee.

Usually, you will receive up to 85% of the value of the outstanding invoice within 24 hours. You’ll then receive the remaining 15% minus the broker’s fee once your customer has paid the outstanding invoice.

  1. Get external funding

You could approach banks or lending institutions for a short-term loan or use other funding sources such as self-finance, partners, investors and alternative finance like peer– to–peer lending.

  1. Hire a part-time Chief Financial Officer 

A part-time CFO from the CFO Centre will look for all the things that pose a threat to the company and work with you to resolve them. Your CFO will look for ways you can meet your most pressing financial requirements and review all incomings and outgoings to find where improvements and savings can be made.

You’ll be encouraged to use regular cash flow forecasts. Such forecasts will alert you to possible cash shortfalls in the near future. You can then make arrangements for additional borrowing, for example. It will also help decision-making around whether to hire new staff, raise your prices, move premises, find new suppliers or tender for a large contract.

We love numbers, we understand how to interpret them and use them to help get your business where you want it to be.

For more information, you can visit How It Works or get in Contact with us to speak with one of our dedicated team.

Understanding Cash Flow Problems

Published: by lauramills
Understanding Cash Flow Problems

Cash flow problems put your company at risk.

Unless your company manages cash flow effectively and uses regular cash flow forecasts, it is in jeopardy. Cash flow shortfalls mean:

  • You can’t pay suppliers on time
  • You can’t make debt repayments on time or at all
  • You can’t buy new inventory to meet customer demand
  • You can’t pay staff wages
  • You can’t compete for new contracts
  • You can’t advertise to attract new clients
  • You can’t hire new staff.

Causes of Cash Flow Problems

Conditions that can impact your cash flow include:

  1. A fall in sales or a decline in gross profit margins. This could be a result of changing economic conditions (such as the most recent global pandemic), increased competition, or a drop in demand for your product or service.
  2. An unprofitable business model
  3. Using a negative cash flow business model. You offer customers or clients credit terms of anywhere from 30 days to 90 days (or longer).
  4. Having excessive debt
  5. Having inadequate stock or credit and debtor management.

Your cash flow problems can be due to any of the following:

  • Late paying customers: When a customer doesn’t pay on time, your business can experience cash shortfalls.
  • Poor debt collection processes: Not issuing or chasing up invoices in a timely fashion can result in reduced cash flow.
  • Low prices: If your prices are too low, but your expenses are rising, your company is almost certain to experience cash flow problems.
  • Low sales Too often business owners try to resolve poor sales by looking for new clients. But this incurs more costs in areas like advertising and marketing to attract those new clients.
  • Too generous payment terms: Allowing customers to pay in arrears for goods or services received is a bit like giving those companies short-term, interest-free unsecured loans.
  • Overtrading: Rapid growth means your company will have to invest in more stock, equipment, or hiring staff to meet demand. If you don’t have sufficient working capital, the company will experience cash flow problems.
  • Too much stock: Every dollar you have in inventory is a dollar you don’t have in cash.
  • Too much debt: If you’re overleveraged (when you’ve borrowed too much and can’t pay interest payments or principal repayments or meet operating expenses), you’re likely to experience cash flow problems.
  • Cash Management: Cash is vital to your business. Without it, your business won’t be able to pay suppliers and creditors and to meet its payroll obligations.

Finding and fixing the cause of your cash flow problems in your business and putting systems in place to manage cash effectively is vital for your company’s survival.  Fortunately, most cash flow problems can be resolved with help from the right people. They will help you to identify the causes of cash flow problems in your business and advise the best way to fix them.

Understanding Your Cash Flow Position

Published: by lauramills
Understanding Your Cash Flow Position

If you are having cash flow issues, it is essential that you know the current position of your business finances. Be honest with yourself and make sure you know if or when your business needs help.

To do this you need to create your cash flow forecast, you need to make sure you know what cash is coming in and what payments need to be processed, this can be constructed in a simple excel spreadsheet.

Tips that can assist in preparing an accurate cash flow forecast:

  • Call all your current clients/customers and speak about their current situation and find out when the funds will be received. Don’t hold back from entering into a payment plan with them; this will give you a clearer picture of your cash flow.
  • Hold off on larger payments that are not yet due.
  • Assume a reduction in your revenue; you must be realistic. If you know that your business will be impacted over time, adjust your revenue to reflect this in the cash flow.
  • Eliminate discretionary spending. What can wait!!
  • Employee bonuses, if there are bonuses due and the employees are depending on them, you should pay them if possible. If you can hold off on paying them for 60 days, then do so.
  • If there are any tax bills requiring to be paid, speak with the tax office or your Accountant about a payment plan.
  • Be transparent with your employees.

Having a rolling cash flow forecast and updating it weekly, will help you make sure that you are staying on top of any issues that may come to a head.

Once you have listed all known transactions, you will then need to stress-test the scenarios, for example what will happen if your top customer can no longer pay their account?

Questions you should ask yourself – be truthful

  • Do I know where my business is at financially?
  • Are we insolvent already?
  • Have I spoken to my suppliers and customers and do I have a clear understanding of where they currently stand?
  • Have I spoken to the ATO?
  • Do I need help? If so, make sure they are qualified.

Many cash flow problems are related to “working capital cycles” and the timing of cash inflows vs outflows.  For example, the business pays its staff weekly and suppliers on 14-day terms, but offer its customers 30 day terms.  Therefore, the business needs to fund the gap.  A part-time CFO will explain your own working capital cycles and present a solution to improve your cash position.

The CFO Centre has been assisting SME’s over 20 years, offering highly experienced Chief Financial Officers on a flexible, part-time basis. As CFO’s we are qualified Accountant’s with the added benefit of extensive commercial experience across multiple sectors, so we know what to look for and how to respond.

You can learn more about How It Works here, or give us a call on 1300 447 740.

 

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