When it comes to running a successful business, financial management is key. The biggest reasons for a business to close is lack of capital. Understanding financial statements, budgeting, and cash flow management are essential for making informed business decisions and ensuring the long-term success of a business. In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at each of these key areas of financial management and provide you with a step-by-step guide for how to improve your financial management skills in just 30 days.
First, let's talk about financial statements. Financial statements are a set of reports that provide information about the financial health of a business. These statements include the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The balance sheet shows the business's assets, liabilities, and equity at a specific point in time. The income statement shows the business's revenue and expenses over a period of time. And the cash flow statement shows the cash inflows and outflows for a period of time.
To improve your financial statement skills in 30 days, start by reviewing your business's financial statements on a regular basis. Take note of any trends or patterns that you see and try to understand what they mean for your business. Then, start researching the financial statement analysis techniques that are commonly used in your industry. For example, if you're in the retail industry, you might look into techniques like the DuPont model, which is used to analyze a company's return on equity. Your CPA or bookkeeper can shed some light on how your business compares to others in your industry. Knowing what other successful businesses pay for labor, supply costs, marketing, gross profits and such will give you a good idea if you are a profit leader or profit lagger in your industry. Strive to be in the top quintile of the benchmarks for your industry.
Next, let's talk about budgeting. A budget is a financial plan that lays out the expected income and expenses for a period of time. It's a powerful tool for financial management because it helps you track your actual performance against your expectations and make adjustments as needed. To improve your budgeting skills in 30 days, start by creating a budget for your business. Use your financial statements to help you estimate your expected income and expenses. Then, track your actual performance against your budget on a regular basis and make adjustments as needed. There are many online tools to help you create a budget. Your CPA or bookkeeper will likely have a free template for you to use with your expenses already filled in.
Finally, let's talk about cash flow management. Cash flow is the movement of money into and out of a business. Positive cash flow means that a business is generating more cash than it's using, while negative cash flow means that a business is using more cash than it's generating. Many businesses have negative cash flow from time to time, many times the negative cash flow can be expected in advance and steps taken to fund the short term needs of the business. One easy example is the local American Legion decides to sell Christmas trees in November and December. They will likely spend a bunch of money up front (negative cash flow) to buy the trees wholesale in the hope of selling most of them for a profit by December 25th.
To improve your cash flow management skills in 30 days, start by tracking your cash inflows and outflows on a regular basis. Take note of any patterns or trends that you see and try to understand what they mean for your business. Then, start researching cash flow management techniques that are commonly used in your industry. For example, if you're in the service industry, you might look into techniques like the cash conversion cycle, which measures how quickly a business is converting its resources into cash.
By focusing on these three key areas of financial management over the next 30 days, you'll be well on your way to understanding the financial health of your business and making informed decisions that will drive long-term success. Remember, financial management is a continuous process and should be continuously reviewed, revised and improved. Keep in mind that it's not only about being able to read and understand financial statements, but also to be able to act upon them.
In conclusion, financial management is a vital component of running a successful business. By understanding financial statements, budgeting and cash flow management, you will be able to make informed decisions that will drive long-term success. Remember that financial management is a continuous process, and it's essential to keep learning and developing your skills to keep up with the ever-changing business world.
Stev Stegner Consulting has been helping businesses for over a decade. Feel free to schedule a free Discovery Call. Stev enjoys the helping owners and managers grow their businesses, solve employee issues, balance family and work responsibilities and create a business that is sellable in the future. He will help you make more money, give you the confidence you need to be content and create more time for you to enjoy life.
Stev Stegner, MBA Coaching, Mentoring, Training
Helping to bring your business to the next level by using your vision, creating goals, strategy and an action plan to get there. One of the keys to success is creating more profit while putting in less time. Business owners often find themselves working too many hours and feeling stuck.
