CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT FOR BUSINESSES

There is an old saying, "Cash is king." Another is, "Happiness is a positive cash flow." I am sure you must have heard it often, isn’t it? According to one of the surveys conducted, up to 60% of failed businesses, say that all or most of their failure was due to cash flow problems. ‘Businesses have to have as their guide,’ another old saying. Nothing matters more than cash. Making a profit is the main aim of all businesses; no doubt, But Cash management is the key to business success. So today we will look into the most important aspect of business success – Cash Management
CASH is the single most important ingredient of survival for a small business. Medium to big businesses can find ways to survive if at all they find themselves stuck in an undesirable cash trap situation.
Here are the tips for effective cash management, specially for SMEs and start ups

Cash Projection: To start with, develop a cash projection sheet / plan. In today’s tech-savvy world, all information is available to you at any given point of time through your Smartphone / tablet etc. But the best practice is to write it down and keep it handy with you.

Cash prediction: Secondly, you need to chalk out both short-term (weekly, monthly) cash flow projections to help them manage daily cash, and long-term (annual, 3-5 year) cash flow projections to help them develop the necessary capital strategy to meet their business needs

Healthy relations: As you know that you should always maintain good relationships with bankers and other creditors it goes a long way in setting effective goals for your business and toward your business success

We need to remember  cash flow is the blood that keeps the heart of the kingdom pumping. Cash flow is one of the most critical components of success for a small or mid-sized business. Without cash, profits are meaningless. Because trying to run a business without managing cash flow is like trying to paddle a boat without an oar.

Just to sum up has is the three golden rules of cash management:
1. Knowing when, where, and how your cash needs will occur
2. Knowing the best sources for meeting additional cash needs
3. Being prepared to meet these needs when they occur, by keeping good relationships with bankers and other creditors

Going Paperless Saves Time and Hassle

When people hear the phrase “going paperless,” they often assume they’ll no longer be using paper in daily tasks or even have access to it in their office. This obviously isn’t true or practical. Going paperless means using paper wisely and sparingly, and finding effective alternatives.

According to a survey by YouGov, the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises waste more than £42.2 million per day in revenues looking for documents, something that could easily be remedied by creating a ‘paperless office’. Despite this, 65% of UK SMEs have still not taken this step.

While a paperless office can take some getting used to, many who have adopted the practice have found a variety of benefits.

Easy access

John Bustrum, CEO and founder of My403bCoach.com, said going paperless many years ago transformed his business procedures. He said the biggest plus is the quick access he has to his clients' accounts.

Time savings

It is no longer necessary to waste time looking for documents. Document searches can be done quickly and gives results in seconds. All the documents are stored in the same organised manner, and are easy to retrieve.

Increases productivity

 Employees will be able to quickly access the documents that they require. Employees in remote locations will also benefit from going paperless because they do not have to worry about instructions or important information that is printed on paper that they are not aware of.

Security

Security is a major concern for many companies. In a paperless office, documents can easily be secured. Different security levels may also be applied according to the sensitivity of a certain document. Access to the database can be controlled and restricted at any time.

if you're ready to start transitioning your office, call us on (44) 24 76997742.

Author: Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk

Time Management is the challenge for Accountants

Time is money, and this is especially true for accounting professionals. The more efficiently you operate your schedule, the more money you’ll make and the less work you’ll have to do. But in a process of earning more money, they tend to loss more clients. As the work start piling up, they start losing the focus, and indeed in some cases it indeed leads to a complete mess up.

Let see why accountants cannot manage the time , I would like to highlight two important issues here:

Multiple clients, multiple softwares: In today’s tech savvy world, accountants have an option to subscribing to online bookkeeping softwares. But again managing multiple clients is the big challenge for them and if you aren't all that tech savvy and need ways to manage accounting software, don't worry, you still have a couple options. There are lots of BPO – accounting outsourcing companies in a market with whom accountants can partner for effective management of their clients. It actually really helps freeing up lots time for yourself, which can be invested in gaining more clients and increasing their earning potential dramatically.
  
Accountants do not know when to say “no.” Sometimes, that means saying no to new clients. But then again, that’s indirectly saying ‘yes ‘to slow your business’ growth, isn’t it? So accountants are always in a dilemma  If you’re finding that you can’t handle all of the work, consider bringing in a partner or working with another professional to help balance out those back logs and piling up tasks. Sometimes you have to say “no,” but make sure it’s truly necessary before you do. The best way to go ahead is join hands with an accounting and bookkeeping outsourcing firm.

We at Corient under the challenges all accountants face. Hence we have tailor-made services designed specially to suit accountants’ needs. Time Management is challenge for everyone but working smarter is the need of the hour today.

Author: Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk

Importance of Real time Accounting

It is ‘Traditional Accounting’ versus ‘Real-Time Accounting’. Today we will try to highlight the differences and see how in today’s age of the Internet and smartphones real-time accounting is making a difference in everyone’s life.

Let us first start with the major differences between the two.

1.     Reports

Traditional accounting: It was normally bi-monthly, quarterly, or annually. It is mostly one-format one-size that fits all.

Real-time accounting: Here the report / data is available daily, weekly, and monthly, and easier to keep track of everything. The best part is it can be customized according to the business’s need.

2.     Access Rights

Traditional accounting is a one-way process, generally maintained by the accountant. But in real-time accounting, it is accessible by the business owner, and can be accessed anytime online. It helps the business owner to keep tabs of everything on a real-time basis.

3.      Dependency

In traditional accounting, the business owner has always depended on the accountant’s efficiency, and pays the fees as pre-decided by them.

But in real-time accounting, the business owner has total control of almost everything. Here the business owner sets parameters based on business needs.

4.      Go paperless

In tradition accounting, it keeps on adding piles of paper and paper. But in real-time accounting everything is available online, which you can easily access anytime. So you do not need a bunch of papers on your desk every day.

I am sure now there will not be a single doubt in your mind about the superiority of real-time accounting. It actually saves time and money for business owners. With many questioning whether any value is added by an accountant in an SME environment, we, at Corient decided to follow what many in the international accounting industry believe to be the future of accounting for SME’s, and began offering our customers packages designed to ensure a Unique Value Proposition.

 Author: Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk

Five Ways of Improving Client Retention

A staggering 68% of clients walk away from a business because they are unhappy with the services they have received. Lack of vision, lack of enthusiasm, and lack of promotion all play into poor client servicing. Here are five tips to make sure your clients stay happy and keep coming back. Companies tend to focus more on acquiring clients even though it can cost 7 times more. Now a marketing research has found that a business generates 80% profits from their 20% loyal clients. Thus you need to invest extra time for these clients.

1. Under-promise and over-deliver

Perhaps the most important key to retaining clients is ensuring that the clients’ expectations are managed well from the outset. The best way to guarantee that your clients keep coming back is to make sure they have a great experience. Also promise only what you can deliver to meet a client’s requirements. Going over-board and committing something even you know you cannot deliver will hurt your business’s bottom-line in the long-run. Although, if you exceed the client’s expectations then chances are the long-term relationship will become a life-long one. 

2.  Be available for your client anytime

It does not mean that you sacrifice your night’s sleep, but at times you have to walk an extra mile to fulfil the promises you have made to your clients. You should always be accessible to your clients especially if at all you are in a tricky situation. At that point of time it’s your responsibility to showcase how you are equally concerned about the situation, because negligence is what most client complaints are about.     

3.  Build relationships online

In the age of the Internet, social media, and smartphones, your clients are nearly always online, so you should have a presence online too. There are so many tools at your disposal to constantly communicate and engage with your clients online - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, newsletter, Whatsapp (to name just some of the big players). You need to keep your clients constantly updated about any change in the process or any insight / trends about their industry.

4.  Becoming your client’s expert

Become their trusted advisor when it comes to your field of work, it directly translates into a stronger bond between you and your client. Do complete research about their industry, constantly keep tabs on any changes. Always alert your client regarding it, keep them engaged. The more you work on building that, the more the trust between the two of you will grow, and this trust quickly translates into a dependency for accurate information.

5.  Have a feedback system

There is no better way to improve your retention techniques than hearing from the clients themselves. A feedback system, such as a survey or talking with your loyal clients, will help you hear from them directly regarding how they felt about your business. This can offer a lot of great insight as to what would keep your clients coming back for more, which you can then put into effect and keep revising.

 Author: Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk

5 Ways of Improving Client Retention

A staggering 68% of clients walk away from a business because they are unhappy with the services they have received. Lack of vision, lack of enthusiasm, and lack of promotion all play into poor client servicing. Here are five tips to make sure your clients stay happy and keep coming back. Companies tend to focus more on acquiring clients even though it can cost 7 times more. Now a marketing research has found that a business generates 80% profits from their 20% loyal clients. Thus you need to invest extra time for these clients. 
1. Under-promise and over-deliver Perhaps the most important key to retaining clients is ensuring that the clients’ expectations are managed well from the outset. The best way to guarantee that your clients keep coming back is to make sure they have a great experience. Also promise only what you can deliver to meet a client’s requirements. Going over-board and committing something even you know you cannot deliver will hurt your business’s bottom-line in the long-run. Although, if you exceed the client’s expectations then chances are the long-term relationship will become a life-long one. 

2. Be available for your client anytime It does not mean that you sacrifice your night’s sleep, but at times you have to walk an extra mile to fulfil the promises you have made to your clients. You should always be accessible to your clients especially if at all you are in a tricky situation. At that point of time it’s your responsibility to showcase how you are equally concerned about the situation, because negligence is what most client complaints are about. 

3. Build relationships online In the age of the Internet, social media, and smartphones, your clients are nearly always online, so you should have a presence online too. There are so many tools at your disposal to constantly communicate and engage with your clients online - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, newsletter, Whatsapp (to name just some of the big players). You need to keep your clients constantly updated about any change in the process or any insight / trends about their industry. 

4. Becoming your client’s expert Become their trusted advisor when it comes to your field of work, it directly translates into a stronger bond between you and your client. Do complete research about their industry, constantly keep tabs on any changes. Always alert your client regarding it, keep them engaged. The more you work on building that, the more the trust between the two of you will grow, and this trust quickly translates into a dependency for accurate information.

 5. Have a feedback system There is no better way to improve your retention techniques than hearing from the clients themselves. A feedback system, such as a survey or talking with your loyal clients, will help you hear from them directly regarding how they felt about your business. This can offer a lot of great insight as to what would keep your clients coming back for more, which you can then put into effect and keep revising. 

Author: Sachin Lohade is a Chartered Accountant and works with Accounting Firms to improve practice and reduce costs. He can be reached out at sachin@corientbs.com or you can visit www.corientbs.co.uk