Efficient cash flow management is essential to the survival and security of any business. If the inflow and outflow of cash is not kept under careful surveillance and managed effectively, then a business can quickly suffer and die. It all depends on the amount of money coming in and going out and also the timing. If money does not flow regularly through a business, but rather stops and starts then this can affect your ability to pay bills.
Cash flow is defined as ready money that is actually in your bank account at any one time. Therefore, it does not include money you are owed by customers or stock that you have invested in. The difference between cash and profit is important, as just because you have forecasted good profit for the year, it does not mean you cash flow will be good.
For example, if you secure a profitable contract for your company, the likelihood is you will not get paid until the work is completed, so your cash flow needs to be in good health beforehand. Otherwise, you will not be able to deliver the work promised if you cannot afford to pay for staff and materials.
Building up cash balances will allow your business to grow and trade effectively, but it does require planning to ensure timely cash movements and to do this may require an element of business process management. If you find you have more cash than you need immediately in your business bank account, then it would make good business sense to transfer the spare cash to a high interest account.
As it is rare that inflows of cash occur at the same time as outflows, the aim of the business needs to be to try and hurry up the inflows whilst stalling the outflows in order to maintain a healthy cash flow. Inflows include items such as payments from customers, investments, or loans and savings interest. Outflow is anything you have to pay for from rent, rates, taxes, and wages to the purchase of stock and assets such as furniture and computers.
Most of your regular outflows have to be paid on the same date every month, such as repayments and wages, so it is important to ensure you can always meet these payments. There are a number of things a business can do to improve cash flow.
Ask customers to pay invoices earlier and offer an incentive such as a reduced rate if they do. In addition, when payments become overdue be sure to chase them promptly and be firm with debtors. Asking your suppliers to extend the terms of their credit will give you more time to pay your bills, whilst ordering smaller amounts of stock more frequently will help to reduce the amount of outflow cash. Renting rather than buying expensive equipment could also make your cash flow more fluid.
Accounts payable enablement is a form of Business process management from Iron Mountain that will help you to better manage your cash flow. By removing the time consuming task of data entry and scanning, your accounts payable team will have extra time to focus on more productive tasks. It will also mean that management will be left free to centre their attention on strategy and optimising performance.
Iron Mountain Business process management for accounts payable speeds up the processing of invoices meaning your business can take advantage of any discounts offered for early payment. It will also reduce operating costs as extra staff will not be needed for tedious data entry and the number of errors and duplications will be heavily reduced.
It is important to be clear on your payment terms from the beginning; clearly outlining your credit policy on your invoices will remove any uncertainty on the part of your customers. As well as potentially offering discounts for early payment, consider charging a fine for late payment. For big accounts that make up a large portion of your business, try to negotiate staged payments or even deposits. These companies should not have any objection to this, as it is also in their interests that you stay in business.
If after trying all these methods you are still struggling to reduce the gap between receipt of money and expenditure due to unpaid invoices, then think about using a third party. These businesses will buy your outstanding invoices from you and immediately pay you a percentage of the total owed.
When it comes to asking your suppliers for extended credit terms, you may need to give them a reason to do so, for example promising to place regular or large orders. This will only work if you actually have business for the orders though. Another way to improve your cash flow is to go in the opposite direction and reduce the amount of stock you hold. This way you are not paying out for large quantities of product and then not getting the money back in for months to come.
A just-in-time system is a retail innovation that means that as soon as a product comes into your warehouse, it goes straight out again to fulfil an order. Therefore, it never actually reaches the shelves of the warehouse and the gap between your business paying the manufacturer for this stock and receiving the money for it from your customer is greatly reduced.
Another way to plug a temporary gap in your cash flow for businesses that are VAT registered is to leave purchasing major items your company requires until the end of a VAT period rather than the beginning. This means that you can then set the VAT off for that purchase against the VAT you add to sales.