Did you know that a lot of small businesses tend to fail because of financial problems? If you need some advice on how to manage small business finances, we can help.
First, it’s always advisable to seek the help of accounting and finance experts to give you insights into how you can manage your small business finances more efficiently. You can consult a professional accounting firm in your local area such as Archimedia Accounts based in Nottingham.
Once you have the right information on how to manage your finances, you’ll be more confident to do the next steps on your own.
In this guide, we’ll go over financial management tips.
Want to learn more? Keep reading.
Table of Contents
Make a Financial Plan
What’s a financial plan and why is it important? A financial plan is essential in avoiding guesswork, which often leads to losses and business failure. Financial planning involves proper documentation, data analysis, and reporting.
You’ll want to have a financial plan with four standard documents. Include the balance sheet, a personal financial statement, and an income statement. You’ll also want to include a cash flow statement.
These documents will provide a broad view of your business finances. Forecasting, accounting, tax planning, and budgets are essential to your business. Consider these aspects when making your financial plan.
Make sure you analyze your financial statements and accounting reports. This way, you will be able to stay on top of how your business is doing.
When you stay on top of bookkeeping and accounting, you can reach financial goals. You might have a plan to expand your business or add more staff later on.
Prepare For Tax Season
Are you aware of the tax season? What are the important documents you need to prepare? When is the best time to get ready? For many business owners, the tax season can be stressful. But this only happens if you don’t have a system set in place for organizing your business data records and documents.
To avoid a stressful tax season, make sure you stay organized. Prevent typical tax errors when you keep organized bookkeeping and tax records.
You’ll also want to learn about tax deductions. A lot of things you buy for your business are tax-deductible.
If you have questions about taxes, call an accountant. Look for a reputable tax preparation services company.
Organize Your Cash Flow
To make sure your business does well, you’ll want to manage your cash flow. If you aren’t skilled with numbers, make sure you hire someone who can do this for you.
Examine all your business expenses. What are your direct and indirect expenses? Tally up your overhead costs like variable, fixed, and semi-variable fees.
Go over your business reports. Look at your financial and business operations in relation to operating and sales margins.
People also look at using financing to grow their business. You could look at getting a business credit card. Some people will use a line of credit if they need short-term funding.
If you need more funding, you might want to get a business loan. Some people will fund more significant projects like a renovation with a business loan.
Look At Optimizing Your Payroll
How many employees do you have? Do you have payroll personnel who will check and ensure that salaries are paid on time? Do you have a tool or software you can use to optimize your billing, invoicing, and payroll? Or maybe you handle payroll for your small business yourself since you only have a few employees.
Payroll tends to be a challenge for small businesses, even if they have enough revenue. Optimize your payroll process. You will improve cash flow and make it a lot easier to pay your team.
Choose payroll software that has direct deposit. This way, employees’ pay will go directly into their bank accounts.
A paper check is a little trickier. Checks will get held because employees deposit checks at different times. Direct deposit will give you better control over your cash flow.
Pick a pay schedule that fits your state’s guidelines. Create a payment schedule that will work when money comes in so you can pay your team.
Keep an Accurate Account of Inventory
Inventory accuracy is essential for small businesses. Sometimes, companies will have to deal with excess inventory. Others will work hard to keep inventory in their store because of increased demand.
If you don’t manage your inventory, you will end up in trouble. You may end up providing poor customer service or have lower sales.
Some businesses end up financially unstable because they don’t know what’s in stock. If you don’t track your inventory, you will have financial inefficiencies that are costly.
Make sure your customers know where they can buy things. If a customer didn’t know they could buy an item online, you could lose a sale.
Inventory will end up remaining in-store when you need to move to the next season’s products. Use inventory management software. This software will connect your online and in-store catalogs.
Prepare For Supply Chain Issues
Supply chain volatility and disruptions will impact all kinds of businesses. Work with suppliers to make sure the inventory is available.
When you track the situation closely, you can mitigate risks. You’ll also end up improving customer experiences when you remain reliable.
Make sure you’re tracking current orders and contracts. Do you have backup suppliers if your current supplier faces a delay? A backup plan will help you stay on track with sales goals and forecasted revenue.
Don’t Forget About an Emergency Fund
You may experience a slow period where your business doesn’t make a lot of profit.
For small business owners, there are times when their business doesn’t make a big profit. You may have difficulty ensuring a consistent income.
During the pandemic, a lot of businesses experienced financial challenges. An emergency fund will help a company through a tricky financial drought.
Calculate what you need to cover your personal and business expenses for a month. Next, you’ll multiply this number by six. Aim to have this amount of money in your emergency fund.
During a slow period or a season of emergency expenses, you might need this fund. Make sure you work hard to replenish the funds. This way, you can protect yourself from future unseen costs or slow seasons.
Make it a priority to maintain your emergency fund.
Manage Small Business Finances With These Tips
We hope this guide on financial management was helpful. Small business finances should get organized and tracked carefully. Save up an emergency fund and stick to a budget.
Did you enjoy learning these tips? Learn more on our blog and read about finance and business.