Innovative CFO Solutions provides a continuing series of informational emails. These emails contain tips on managing business during the current economic times. The information is pragmatic and straight forward. And it is the kind of advice that you can implement in your business today. Following are the emails we have distributed to date. Feel free to read them at your leisure. You can sign up to receive these emails in the area below. Please be assured that we will not share your email address with anyone outside of our organization.
When a customer buys from another business on credit, the result is an account receivable on the books of the seller. As with any other assets owned by a business, a company's accounts receivable need to be carefully and consistently managed. No other asset of a business, other than cash itself, is as immediate of a source of funds for the business And ironically, the cause of slow payment of accounts receivable by customers often times resides in ineffective and confusing billing practices by the seller. This article from our Tips for Managing in Turbulent Times series discusses best practices in the management of accounts receivable. Take a look - the major cause of slow pays by customers might just reside in your own accounting department.
There is a wealth of information available within your accounting records. Most businesses only touch the surface of this capability by simply utilizing the pre-programmed financial reports within the accounting system. A few simple keystrokes at the point of data entry can provide in-depth, analytical information to help you better understand your business - using your existing software and staff. Following are the most common opportunity areas that we encounter in our work for improving financial reporting, and therefore the information that the business owner has to run the business.
Now, more than ever, it is important to have a financial plan for your business. Regardless of how you have or have not used financial plans in the past, it is imperative that you prepare a well thought out, meaningful plan for 2009. Tips issue 3 discusses best practices for preparing your 2009 financial plan.
Preparing the financial plan for 2009 is just the start. Measuring progress to the plan will yield the benefits of having a well prepared plan. Measuring progress to the plan does not mean adhering to the plan. This process is about measuring your business' progress to that plan, determining changes in key assumptions, business drivers, and the operating environment anticipated by the plan, and adjusting the course of the business to respond to these changes. Tips issue 4 discusses best practices for utilizing your 2009 plan.
Your business needs financing, be it a line of credit or growth capital. In today's economy, look first to improving your business cash flow to create the effect of financing before facing the challenges of the lending and investing markets.
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