The resilience and durability of a business depend on many factors; one of the most important of those is cash flow. Many successful entrepreneurs see proper cash flow management as the secret to their business growth and always emphasize it.
Jack Welch, legendary American business executive and former CEO of General Electric, says, "If I had to run a company on three measures, those measures would be customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and cash flow."
The unstable economic situation has exacerbated businesses' fears about cash flow management. Proper cash flow management allows you to balance the inflow and outflow of money from the business and always have enough resources for emergencies or development. Moreover, when choosing the best personal loan, the lenders will also look into your cash flow.
Why do cash flow issues happen?
In a nutshell, cash flow is the money exchanged between a business and its partners, including employees, customers, investors, owners, and suppliers. Selling products or services is the primary resource for businesses to keep their cash flow in a reasonable balance.
The more cash you have, the more responsive you will be to events that threaten your business. It also ensures that even if the sales drop, you can still make up for expenses. Most successful companies keep billions of dollars in cash. Apple currently has $195.57 billion in cash, and the amount of cash pile for Alphabet is about $135 billion.
The cash flow issues appear when the balance between money coming in and out of business is upset. Most of this is because of poor planning and insufficient knowledge to manage the cash flow. When managers have no long-term vision and can not predict future costs and revenues, cash flow issues are inevitable.
The cash flow problems are not just for small businesses, and even established businesses are sometimes victims of it. The pandemic also exacerbated the cash flow problem of some businesses.
Here are some tips on how to manage cash flow issues in 2021:
1. Set the priorities
When running out of cash, you need to specify which items should be prioritized for payment or purchase. This will allow you to make up for the necessary things and drive the business forward. You may also be required to cut some expenses and dedicate more budget to vital operations.
2. Keep track of the money
Monitoring money coming in or out of business is an essential part of cash flow management. You cannot make clear and logical decisions when you do not know how much money has come into your business during the month and how much you have spent.
You need to develop a system for tracking payments to ensure everything is done at the right time and no money is wasted.
3. Depict a forward-looking vision
Generating a good flow of cash over a period of time can't guarantee consistency. Managers must always have a clear vision for the coming months to be well-prepared for any possible issues. Predicting at least the next 13 weeks is critical.
4. Try to generate more cash
By increasing sales and creating sources of ancillary income, the amount of cash flow can be improved. This way, you have more resources, and you can run your business with more ease.
Original Source of the original story >> Finance 101: How to Manage Cash Flow Issues in 2021