One of the most important parts of running a business is cash flow. Without consistent cash flow, it’s pretty much impossible to manage your business, hire a team, or grow your new business.
As with all aspects of running your own business, monitoring business cash flow doesn’t come easy. It’s important to get yourself accustomed to the different parts of cash flow management.
There are many tools out in the market that can help you monitor your cash flow online. From simple cash forecasting, to more robust cash flow management systems, cash flow tools are great for small business owners running on a tight budget.
To help you out, we’ve compiled some tips on how to monitor your business cash flow online
Tips on monitoring your business cash flow online
As a new business, it’s important for you to stay afloat during the first six months. When you first start out, you’ll probably be spending a lot on business expenses. If you’re lacking in sales, you might enter a slippery slope of being in the red.
Here’s some tips to help you monitor your business cash flow:
1. Have a clear and consistent invoice strategy
Oftentimes, businesses lose track of whether their customers have paid or not.
Having a clear and consistent invoice strategy can help you to remind customers or clients to pay on time. Make sure that your invoices are cleanly designed, easy to read, and straight to the point.
2. Keep your business and personal finances separate
If you’re a small business, you might be tempted to combine both business and personal finance. It’s for ease of record, you say.
But here’s where it gets tricky. Combining personal and business finance could really confuse you as supplier invoices, customer orders, and day-to-day fees come in.
Separating your personal and business finances is a way better option if you’re looking for convenience. Having two separate accounts will make accounting and analysing how your business is doing easier.
Doing so can also help you to monitor your business cash flow better. Get started with some of the best business bank accounts in Singapore.
3. Cut down on supplier and inventory costs
Sometimes, having too much inventory could mean that you’re spending unnecessary cash.
To combat this, take regular stock of your inventory so you can estimate your needed stock accurately. Alternatively, we recommend tracking customer preferences.
Doing so can help you to identify the most popular items in your inventory, and cut down costs on less popular ones.
Another thing that could help you save costs is by finding the best supplier for your business. This includes finding the supplier with the lowest cost, but most accurate product for your business.
Building your relationship with suppliers could also help you gain access to bulk discounts and deals, which would help you cut costs.
4. Be ready for alternatives
As we’ve mentioned, keeping your business afloat at the beginning is one of the most important ways to grow your business.
One way to do this is to have a line of credit. Having a flexible line of credit can help you to invest in certain business areas such as marketing.
What can I use to monitor business cash flow?
It’s no secret that the long-reigning tool to manage business cash flow online is spreadsheets.
If you’re a super small business with a manageable activity load, using a spreadsheet is till within the cards. However, if you’re a SME on the rise, using spreadsheets could get in the way of your cash flow and transaction visibility.
The best alternative on the market right now is accounting softwares. These platforms come in many handy shapes and sizes—websites, desktop applications, and smartphone apps.
Using an accounting software to monitor business cash flow can give you a daily view of your business processes—all through your smart devices.
Here’s how an accounting software works:
- Links your business bank account to its platform to track transactions
- Automates your invoices
- Creates a dashboard of your business finances, and allows you to analyse business goals
Accounting software is an efficient and effective way to monitor your business online. Take a look at the best business finance apps on the market , and see if they’re suited for your business.
Small business cash flow is important
Monitoring your business cash flow is one of the best ways to measure business health and growth. Keeping an eye on it could help you identify and predict possible business strategies.
If you’re a small business owner on the hunt for a way to get started on managing your business finances, check out Aspire.
Aspire provides business owners with the financial tools to solve their cash flow management and business finance needs. Easy, fast, and transparent, users of Aspire can incorporate a business, and open a business bank account, and utilise a business debit card all in one app.
What’s more, Aspire also has its very own line of credit. Get your loan approved in 48 hours, and enjoy a low interest rate starting from 1%. Aspire is fully integrated with Xero, which means that all your financial statements and accounting insights are taken care of.
Streamline accounting and business finances. Take control of your business:
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