Often perceived as an administrative constraint, your accounting can prove to be a real opportunity to optimize the management of your cash flow. Provided you apply some good practices…
Assets, liabilities, depreciation, forecast budget, income statement, balance sheet, etc. Often opaque and abstract terminology. But if taking care of your accounting ideally goes through a professional, it does not mean that you do not have a role to play. Indeed, in your daily management, it is possible to respect certain good practices. Sometimes simple to set up, they prove to be very effective.
Watch Your Money Flow
This is the first advice that your accountant will give you! Anticipating the inflow and outflow of money is one of the keys to the good health and growth of your business. If your accounts are updated at regular enough intervals, you can obtain from your accountant a schedule (15 days, 30 days or more) of receipts and disbursements. You can compare it to your own list, updated with each new order from your suppliers and each invoice sent to your customers. You will not only avoid finding yourself short of cash when paying your bills, but you will also have a good indicator of your level of activity. Indeed, this homogeneous information will allow you to carry out periodic comparisons useful to study the evolution of your business ...
Primordial: A Good Dashboard
Your accountant takes care of your annual accounts, but on a daily basis you are the captain of the ship. And how can you manage it without a good financial management tool ? A dashboard, showing your forecast of inflows and outflows, is essential to monitor the state of your cash flow! Build it yourself or, to minimize the risk of errors, use dedicated management software. Simple and efficient, these automation tools allow you, among other things, to automatically retrieve bank statements, automatically record payroll entries, transform customer / supplier order forms into invoices, etc. Do not deprive yourself!
Follow closely the evolution of your cash needs.Thanks to your dashboard, you can:
· Continuously monitor the status of your receivables and debts.
· Monitor your customers' payments (and provide timely reminders).
· Anticipate your payment deadlines.
This photograph, updated regularly, is essential in order to make realistic forecasts and keep your cash flow afloat. Need an example? The VAT collected on your customer invoices does not belong to you . If you do not take the precaution of making provisions, you will not be able to meet your quarterly VAT payments.