A Handbook for Healthy Cash Flow in Any Business by Mulland Fraser Tokyo

Have you heard the saying that cash is king? The financial management of a business often depends on cash. Irrespective of whether your business is struggling or growing, how efficiently you manage cash flow can help you decide the life of your business.

Efficiently handling the cash flow in a company is essential, and it is mandatory for the survival of any business.

You must have heard that most businesses fail because they cannot handle the cash flow, and they go out of cash.

If you do not use your working capital in a balanced manner, then you are bound to face a cash crunch that will prevent you from clearing the dues of the suppliers; you will not be able to buy materials or even pay the salaries of the employees.

The time gap between when you get money from the customers and you have to pay to the suppliers creates a problem.

The solution is effectively managing cash. As such, you can say cash flow management means delaying the outlay of money while making efforts to encourage the customers to pay fast.

Before you dig deep into the strategies to manage and efficiently handle cash for any business, you must first look at the basic tenets of cash flow management of any business.

 Profit and cash flow are not the same as suggested by Mulland Fraser Tokyo

You can’t just say that your profit and loss statement will help you understand cash flow management. Many financial figures participate in the cash flow, including inventory, capital expenditures, accounts payable, taxation, and accounts receivable.

An adequate cash flow requires a minute to focus on each of the aspects of cash in addition to keeping the focus on loss and profit.

Rules of accounting minutely define profit as revenue after estimating the expenses. Any intelligent business owner will understand that whether you make a profit is not the same as knowing where your business cash is.

What is the breakeven point of your business?

You have to find out whether your business is going to be profitable or not. It has dire consequences for the cash flow because it will enable you to have an early goal working for a legitimate target for understanding future cash flow. Negative profit and negative cash flow have a grim combination.

It would help if you analyzed a force on effectively managing cash flow and keeping an eye toward reaching the moment you realize your initial profits. Hence collect comprehensive data about expenses and income to get the hang of break-even analysis.

Ways to fix cash flow issues in your business

After having a fair idea about the basics of cash flow, you should find solutions to the cash flow problems of a business:         

• Short-term financing

Short-term financing can handle emergency purchases to bridge the gap between receivables and payables.

Many banks give out business credit cards so that you can pay the dues to the vendors, as suggested by Mulland Fraser. Use this so you do not have a bad reputation in the market.

• Long term financing

Purchasing significant assets such as real estate or equipment should be financed with long-term loans rather than buying it with your working capital.

It will assist you in spreading the payments. You have to pay interest, but you will preserve your working capital and invest in business operations.

If you do not do so, then there will be a disbalance in your business operations, affecting the survival of the business.

• Liquidate cash

Do you have any assets or equipment that is not used any longer? You can sell it to get quick cash. Getting rid of obsolete or non-working equipment makes sense because it uselessly takes up space and also ties up the capital, which you can use more productively for running business operations.

If you have any equipment that was owned for an extended period of time and it does not have any value so you might sell it off for a taxable return.

You can record it in tax files. Moreover, at times, even excess inventory becomes worthless or absolute because the customers’ requirements keep changing fast; as; such new materials should be introduced regularly. So, if you have an inventory that is unlikely to be sold over, you should organize a sale and eliminate it.

• Delay payables

You might think that it is an obvious solution, but it is something that is often neglected. Unless you get an incentive to pay early, you must pay vendors late if there is no risk of late fees or if it does not affect the relationship with the vendor.

This way, you will have it in your account. However, paying late to the vendor does not mean that you will mar your reputation, but you should delay it for some time to keep cash in your account and to run business operations smoothly.

• Identifying business risk in advance

Business is not devoid of risks. You can face severe challenges at any time. What if you get a huge order?

What if the order gets canceled? It would help if you prepared for all. Risk analysis plays a massive role in cash budgeting.

You might as well face some non-paying clients. Hence conduct business operations keeping such scenarios in mind.

When making cash flow forecasts keep these in mind to prevent business failure. Future-proofing your business can do wonders for your firm.

• Do not ignore the value of buffer money

Your business at all points must have enough money to satisfy business functions. If there is an emergency, you must have enough cash flow to encounter it without affecting primary business functions.

Emergency funds must be used to handle business crises and your firm’s survival. Hence, focus on cash growth.

Small business owners must function on one principle: cash is king. You must manage cash flow to bring flexibility to your business.

Resolve your business deficit to grow!

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