13 Cash Management Tips for Small Businesses & Start-Ups
Small businesses and Startups do have a lot of hope from their start-up capital and what to do with it? What hassles them much is what to do with it, how to preserve it, and eliminating any kind of investor confidence risk. Launching a new start-up or a small business comes with many challenges and many entrepreneurs don’t have the necessary experience & skill for running critical business areas such as cash flow. Less than half of the start-ups and small businesses fail to find success within five years of their operation. The main reason that contributes for businesses to fail is their inability for effective management of business cash flow. It can be exciting for business owners to try their luck and finding the right decisions for taking them ahead, but it’s purely a risk over the very notion of business you believe in. We have put together this article with the aim of educating small businesses and start-ups the cash flow management and effective steps that could support key stakeholders and business owners can apply to their businesses for the best results. The seed funding that use to raise your businesses must be sprouted in innovative fundraising environments with proper attention in helping entrepreneurs in navigating their options and accessing critical capital. OURS GLOBAL’s Finance and Accounting Services helps businesses throughout the process of collection, management, and usage of cash flows for maintenance of desired levels of liquidity with proper financial instruments such as treasury bills, certificate of deposit, and money market funds. Assisting businesses in maximizing profitability we optimize cash utilization with provisions for future competencies such as economic slowdown, bad debts, etc.
Following are the Ten Cash Management Tips For Small Businesses & Start-ups
1. Priority Over Critical Capital Preservation & Spend Control
All businesses are aiming to make a profit out of their successful business entity. While setting up a successful business, if they have raised capital must have focused on cash flow and spending. Initiating by tracking things in a spreadsheet if required for the investigation of software that can do accurate tracking. While equipping businesses with automation, they can ensure comprehensive cybersecurity and the elimination of human error from the spend control equation. Investment without working out will lose its principal quickly deteriorating investors and the credibility for subsequent fundraising rounds. With a small capital base of start-ups, businesses incentives, and great confidence risk for taking much investment risk with the cash management.
2. Eliminating Lawlessness & Criminalties
Businesses must always go forward with the significance of focusing on eliminating delinquencies from their operations. forwarding credit is quite a good approach for building a business but the extensive payment delays and prolonged Accounts Receivable cycle will have negative impacts on the working capital. Developing a clear-cut payment system and inferring accounting policies much earlier to their customers can solve many of the problems. Charging interest for late payment of invoices and forwarding alternate payment methods for potential delinquent customers such as credit card payments/installment plans as per the customer track record.
3. Maintenance of Positive Liquidity Ratios
While in the initial phase, small businesses and start-ups can always experience uncertainties. Businesses are required for the liquidation of their investments to free up cash. This will help them in making sure that the investments they make don’t lead to an uneconomical investment. Some investments such as Bank CD’s can yield more but only if they are locked up for a considerable period of time. With penalties that can cause while exiting, will encourage businesses for staying clear of CDs as instruments for short-term cash management.
4. Automating Cash Collection
Businesses that aim at the improvement of cash flow must opt for prompt invoice payment and timely payment. Automating cash flow with a cashless payment system with benefits businesses with significant advantages. This frees up businesses from non-competent operations and also does not miss payments to their suppliers. Avoiding businesses entering manually from a paper-based system will enable them to power for proper running and business growth. The application of technology for cash flow management will support businesses for effective monitoring of cash flows. This can also help businesses in the management of payment in foreign currencies.
5. Over-Estimation of Sales Forecasts
Small businesses and Startups must always maintain the trait of optimism for eliminating obstacles and perseverance. But optimism has chances to cloud a new business owner’s judgment over cash flow. Overestimating sales forecasts will enforce customers to actually making purchases as per the perception of small businesses. But this is quite unrealistic as not every interested prospect will lead to a sale. Without accurate reporting, businesses can take their forecasts to be realistic. For solving this problem, businesses must monitor extensively while their revenue forecasting while the initial years of their business. With the application of objective intuition and quantitative forecasting approaches businesses can easily predict their future sales.
6. Building Cash Reserves
Businesses must choose in building cash reserves for preventing any mishaps in the future. Uncertainties in businesses environments are too common and staying cautious for the same is advisable. A tidy sum kept as caution in the reserve will keep businesses in peace and let them make decisions in uncertain times.
7. Incorporation of Effective Payroll System
Businesses must maintain fewer cycles in payroll accounting as it can minimize administration costs. Implementing bi-monthly cycle payroll accounts will ensure directing expenses directly into bank accounts saving businesses both time and cost required for writing and presentation of cheques.
8. Effective Utilization of Cloud Technology
Taking advantage of cloud technology helps startups and small businesses with storage solutions saving them considerable capital for investment in hardware such as servers. The incorporation of several other similar tools available in the market will also ensure simplification and rationalization of the whole accounting process.
9. Skillful usage of Data Analytics
Incorporating built-in analytic tools and technologies helps small businesses and start-ups for compiling data about each and every aspect of a business and insights over cash flow management. Incorporation of such data will ensure start-ups for controlling costs and guide them in deciding over investment priorities.
10. Maintaining Positive Relationships with the Employees
Businesses must give more importance to their employees as only by ensuring their productivity, businesses can get quality and hassle-free works within the desired stipulated time. Being the most valuable asset, productive employees in turn help businesses achievement of more order and boosting their cash flow. Motivating employees from time to time rewarding for their good performance can encourage them in working harder and drives the businesses in reaching greater heights.
11. Studying from Your Competitors
Start-ups and small businesses must always keep a close watch for the best practices that they can do for the improvement of the cash flow. Joining a start-up network helps them with the advantage of interacting with experts for tips. Interacting with online platforms will help businesses in finding peers and develop smooth connections with top professionals in the industry.
12. Pricing Discounts
Businesses can increase their cash flow by offering discounts for early payments from their clients. Even if has drastic effects on the profit margin, this approach will help businesses in the management of cash flow by incentivizing for clients to make early payments. Asking for early payment discounts from suppliers also helps businesses with short flows of cashflows.
13. Outsourcing Cash Management Requirements
As cash management is a professional task that requires an appropriate talent for keeping themselves updated on cash flow or cash management, experts recommend businesses outsourcing such functions. This option also ensures businesses are not likely to end up spending time management over their finances. This can also ensure small businesses and start-ups benefit from the best in the industry expertise across accounting, taxation, payroll, reporting, and more. Thus businesses can focus on management, marketing, and growth without hiring full-time staff, and by addition of professionals as per requirement.
Startups and small businesses while attaining full speed must commit mistakes by taking cash flow as an afterthought. Giving more time in the development of clean books will always be a distraction for maintaining strong banking relationships, accurate checks & balances, and disorientate spending habits. Adopting appropriate discipline by committing the cash management operations to an ideal services provider such as OURS GLOBAL’s Finance and Accounting Services will help businesses in extending their runways and bolstering their chances of success. With effective operations and innovative concepts, our financial practices will help businesses for supporting the growth of start-ups and small businesses in attaining the edge in the competitive market. Ping us right away!
