Tag: cash flow

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Why Finance Belongs in the Supply Chain Conversation

When most businesses talk about Supply Chain Management, the conversation usually centers on the product – the physical item that needs to get from here to there. But the supply chain is also a financial system. The timing of every order, shipment, invoice, payment, and remittance affects cash flow, reporting, and overall performance. A process may appear to be working “well enough” while quietly leaving money and efficiency on the table. Modern technology can help, but only if the right people are part of the conversation.

That is especially true when a company begins connecting electronically with customers, suppliers, banks, and payment providers. These are not simply operational upgrades. Orders, invoices, payments, and remittance details all feed directly into revenue recognition, cash management, and the financial statements.

For a modernization project to succeed, leaders from both supply chain and finance need a seat at the table. Together, they can address the timing of business events and make sure those events are treated correctly in the accounting records. After all, the same documents that move goods – purchase orders, sales orders, shipping notices, and invoices – also drive the financial side of the business. When that information is accurate, timely, and moving through an electronic workflow instead of a manual one, the company is in a much stronger position to improve cash flow, financial performance, and business value.

The trouble is that many business owners do not see the true cost of manual data entry. It is not just labor. It is the delay, the rework, the errors, and the cash that arrives later than it should. Faster, more accurate order processing leads to faster invoicing and faster cash collection. On the purchasing side, electronic data interchange can support just-in-time ordering and better logistics, helping the business release cash when it is actually needed, not weeks earlier.

Purchase orders offer a familiar example. When they are not sent digitally, someone must receive them, interpret them, and enter the information by hand. That work may land in several departments, but it often ends up in finance. For years, many companies responded by assigning the task to the lowest-cost labor they could find. That may reduce the hourly cost, but it does not eliminate the errors, bottlenecks, or delays built into the process.

A better answer is a digital strategy that replaces manual work with connected electronic workflows. Converting data into files and importing those files may be an improvement, but it is still only a halfway measure if people must prepare, move, review, and repair the data. A true integration reduces human touchpoints and allows information to flow from one system to another with far less effort.

The point of any business improvement effort is not simply to install newer technology. It is to create a stronger, more valuable business. When finance joins supply chain leaders in the digital transformation discussion, the company can make better decisions about timing, cash, risk, and return.

This shared perspective makes it easier to identify which changes will deliver real value and which ones are just shiny new tools. Bring finance into the conversation early. The results will show up not only in smoother operations, but also in healthier cash flow and a stronger business.

Make Sense?

bunny feetJ

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More Than Expenses: Manage the Purchase Process

For many business owners, just hearing the term “expense management” brings about visions of traveling employees with piles of receipts and vouchers to be organized, accounted and reimbursed for. The images are often fleeting, however – gone out of mind with no lingering thought because these business owners don’t have personnel who travel frequently, and they don’t have to deal with volumes of expense reports from employees. Expense management solutions aren’t anything these business owners are looking for.

Yet, what does happen every day is that equipment, materials, supplies and services are purchased to keep the business operation going. Calls are made to vendors; price quotes are developed, and purchase requests are typed up in Excel spreadsheets and piled on the owner’s desk for approval. The business owner rifles through the various requests and brings in the bookkeeper to help work through the decision of which items to authorize based on current cash availability.

Because the availability of working capital changes frequently with billings being sent out and receipts being deposited daily, the owner and the bookkeeper spend much of their time together figuring out which purchases to make and when. It is a continual and ongoing process, taking a lot of time and attention away from other important business matters.

Too often, thoughts of managing these efforts with more structure addresses only half of the issue – the purchase. Perhaps there are systems for planning for materials requirements and predicting when parts or supplies will be needed, but that is still just one side of the problem. The other side is paying for it. Factoring those purchasing plans into the cash requirements of the business and having a meaningful and effective way to monitor current cash and expected receipts as well as purchase requirements is essential. Resource and materials planning takes purchase planning, and purchase planning takes visibility into receivables, cash flow and cash availability.

Expense and purchase management processes generally involve three main steps: planning, tracking, and reporting.

As the process involves planning, it suggests a proactive rather than a reactive approach to cash management and purchasing activities. By bringing together all the critical data which describes inflows and outflows, the business owner can have the information necessary to not only forecast (plan) cash requirements but to also understand the availability of working capital.

Knowing ahead of time that traditionally slow paying contracts aren’t factored into immediately available cash is important and being able to adjust purchase schedules based on availability of funds is essential.

Where expense management may not be a big part of the business, managing cash flow and purchasing goods and services is, even in the smallest of enterprises. Make sure the business has the tools in place to help bring an additional level of intelligence to purchasing activities, and that those tools deliver the benefits of a structured (but not time consuming) purchasing approvals and proactive cash flow management process.

This aspect of business – expense management and purchasing processes – is an area where accounting professionals can be of great service to their business clients.  Providing high-value solutions that increase cash efficiency and facilitate cash and purchase planning helps the business function even as conditions change.

Make Sense?

J

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4 Rules of Thumb for Fiscally Fit Business

4 Rules of Thumb for Fiscally Fit Business

4-rules-of-thumbMost folks who start a new business go in to it with a rather naïve belief that a good idea, product, service and/or group of people can be successful just because their idea, product, service or people are good.  Unfortunately, that isn’t’t the reality of starting up and running a business.  Regardless of how great and innovative the idea is, the business only works if it is sustainable and profitable.  Otherwise, it was just a great idea.  For many entrepreneurs, developing an understanding of the financial underpinnings of running a company isn’t the most exciting of ideas.  The compulsion is to outsource the responsibility to someone else like an accountant or financial advisor. While I completely and utterly agree that every business owner should work closely with their accounting professional and financial advisor, I also know that those very same business owners will get more value from their advisors if they have a common language to speak (business finance) and are working toward a common goal.  The goal is fiscal fitness – the creation of a sustainable and profitable business. Just as physical fitness supports a healthy body, fiscal fitness supports a healthy business.

The successful business operating in this economy adheres closely to 4 main beliefs, rules of thumb perhaps, relating to fiscal management and fitness and which are generally communicated in detail using the language of business finance.

Rule 1. Plan before you start.  Then plan some more.  Starting a business isn’t like going to college; you’re supposed to know what you’re going to do BEFORE you start up rather than paying to explore the options.  It is also very important to recognize that the plan may require some adjustments as you go along (“No plan survives contact with the enemy”), taking care to not equate focus with intractability.  This plan should also include the “exit strategy”, which is really a plan for what the owner wants to ultimately get out of the effort.  It could be a plan to sell out for gobs of money, to leave a legacy for the children, or maybe just to have an awesome quality of life and do what they love at the same time.  Knowing what it will take to get in, get it done, and get out the way you want is all part of the plan.

Rule 2. Keep a close eye on the numbers.  No, not all of them, but the really important ones.  Some of these numbers have to do with the relationships between price, volume and cost.  This is the stuff a business owner needs to know like the back of their hand – hairs and all.  Not every business will focus on the same key numbers (mostly, but there are certainly variations), but every business owner should know what to look for.  And they should be looking very frequently so things don’t get out of whack before corrections can be made.

Rule 3. Manage the cash, manage the growth, and know how one impacts the other. Cash flow and growth are priorities number 1 and 1 in business but they aren’t the same thing.  Consider that reducing prices (and profits) to get more sales may work as long as the volume of sales supports the effort and generates the cash.  Without the extra sales revenue to rely on, reducing profits could result in devastation (maybe sticking with the prices the way they are and not pushing for fast growth is a better idea).

Rule 4.  If you must borrow, be informed and do it smartly.  There are a lot of different options for borrowing money for the business, just as there are a lot of different reasons to do it.  There is a great deal of research available which describes the benefits of borrowers being educated in basic financial literacy, with better financial decision-making being among those benefits.  Looking for financing is kind of like choosing between the apple and the candy bar: one may promote the fitness you’re looking for while the other does not (but it looks sweet!).  It’s nice to have the foundation to support knowing which one you should choose.

Building and maintaining a fit business requires an understanding of how the business works – how and why it makes and spends money, what makes it profitable and what it takes to create and support growth.  While outside advisors may be available to help, the best performance is achieved when the business owner masters the essential skills required to run and grow a fiscally fit and sustainable business.

Joanie Mann Bunny Feet

Make Sense?

J

Measure, Manage and Succeed.  It’s all about knowing how to speak the language of finance

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Lease Accounting Rules, Small Business Financing and the Cloud

Lease Accounting Rules, Small Business Financing and the Cloud

Cloud Service FinancingThere are changes in lease accounting rules that may have broader implications than expected.  Lease accounting, or accounting in general, isn’t exactly an exciting topic and generally doesn’t come up in conversation.  But the changes to how business equipment and other leases are accounted for and reported could become additional fuel for cloud adoption by businesses – small business looking for financing, in particular (= lots).

First, what does accounting for leases have to do with small business financing?  Quite a bit, actually.  The balance sheet is one of the things a lender will look at when considering a small business for a loan, and if lease obligations and leased assets are on the balance sheet, they’re going to want to talk about them.  They’ll also possibly look at asset turnover – trying to understand exactly how much in assets it takes for the business to make “x” amount of money.  Banks and other lenders like to know they’re loaning money to a business that is going to pay it back, and in a reasonable amount of time.  They will limit their risk potential as much as possible, and they do it by looking through the financials and related information.

Business value is generating sustainable cash flow.  If you run a highly efficient business, the more top-line growth you deliver, the more cash flow you enjoy.  For capital-intensive businesses (either through the need for capital equipment or working capital), growth can actually lower your cash flow and diminish your business value.   To understand which side of the equation your business resides, accounting professionals will often look at the return on total assets calculated over time, dividing the operating income for each period from the P&L by the appropriate period values of total assets from the balance sheet.  The resulting metric describes how efficiently assets are applied to creating earnings.

https://coopermann.com/2013/01/22/why-is-asset-management-important-to-a-business/

This can be a difficult conversation with the banker for new businesses, as they have little to go on in terms of historic data to show the bank.  The P&L (profit & loss, or Income Statement) only reflects current business performance, not what it can do in a few months or years.  By putting leases on the balance sheet, businesses are now reflecting a more realistic view of things, but are also introducing additional items for scrutiny and question by the lender; things which are often described more in terms of business strategy than in proveable numbers.  That makes getting the loan just that much tougher.

Previous rules relating to business leases didn’t necessarily require that the business recognize operating leases (leased items and lease obligations) as assets and liabilities on the balance sheet.  This is among the reasons why businesses lease equipment – they are able to obtain the item without having to record a single large capital expenditure.

The FASB changes demand that accounting for leases should be standardized, forcing the lesees to report all leases on the balance sheet, reflecting both the benefit (asset) and the cost (liability) associated with the lease.  Stated in a press release on the subject: “The new guidance responds to requests from investors and other financial statement users for a more faithful representation of an organization’s leasing activities,” stated FASB Chair Russell G. Golden. “It ends what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other stakeholders have identified as one of the largest forms of off-balance sheet accounting, while requiring more disclosures related to leasing transactions.”

“a capital lease creates a tangible right where you own the equipment; the liability in a capital lease is true debt…”

http://www3.cfo.com/article/2013/9/gaap-ifrs_lease-accounting-elfa-fasb-iasb-global-convergence

By understanding how these changes in accounting for leases impact businesses, cloud solutions providers now have an additional lever to use with prospective customers: leasing equipment isn’t necessarily the way to keep capex off the balance sheet any longer.

One of the big value propositions offered by many cloud solution providers is that their service is paid for as a monthly business expense rather than a large up-front capital expenditure and investment.  Businesses are able to use the solution and benefit from it without actually “buying” anything, it’s just subscribed instead.  All of this is really a fancy way of saying “renting but not owning”, but the result to financial reporting is the same: it’s not on the balance sheet, it’s on the P&L in chewy chunks.  This used to be a preferred treatment for leases, too, allowing businesses to reflect the usage and payment in little parts rather than a big one.  It was “gentler” on the balance sheet.  But leasing equipment and software for on-premises use won’t be competing with the cloud and subscription service any longer, closing off the “impact to the balance sheet” conversation entirely and making cloud IT just that much more important to small businesses who need cash to fuel business growth.

Make Sense?

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetJ

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The Small Business Borrower | Biz2Credit

In order for regulation and legislation to work in favor of small businesses, it becomes essential that accurate and complete information be available for analysis. Too often there are details not recognized in the information used by various agencies to help guide policy and action, and particularly in the world of privately held small business, the quality of data is often in question. This is where structured accounting software and the public accountant come in to play, and where a difference can be made not only with the individual client, but at a higher level by facilitating more accurate data production to support various research initiatives, such as those sponsored through the SBA and the Fed.

Overall, these research studies highlight two things: the important role that financial institutions play in lending to small business owners, and the value of quality data sets in ascertaining financing issues faced by small businesses and their owners.

Charles Ou, Ph.D. | Senior Economist | Office of Advocacy | July 2009

With the availability of highly useful tools for monitoring various key performance indicators and metrics in the business (with analysis of cash flow being an essential part), business owners and their accounting professionals alike are able to use real business data to reveal not simply the trends in business performance, but to identify areas where direct action could improve results in one aspect or another. By paying closer attention to managing business finances and analyzing key aspects of business performance, the “discouraged” or “denied” business borrower may become a successful or (even more valuable) a non-borrower.

via The Small Business Borrower at Biz2Credit.com.

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Cash is being spent instead of hoarded, but not on current payables

Cash is being spent instead of hoarded, but not on current payables

A recent article on CIO.com reports that, for only the second time in more than two years, “the corporate-cash indicator from the Association for Financial Professionals shows more finance executives (28%) anticipate cutting their cash hoard in the first quarter than are planning to add to it (23%).”

                Companies Plan to Trim Cash Stockpiles | In a reversal of a two-year trend, US finance executives forecast that their organizations’ cash balances will fall this quarter”..

Even more interesting from the article is what businesses ARE doing with their cash.

Although some are spending on acquisitions, more are paying down debt, buying back shares, and issuing dividends, according to Jim Kaitz, the AFP’s president and CEO. Although that suggests companies aren’t reinvesting in their businesses much, those activities are still better than keeping money in low-return cash-investment vehicles.

Okay, so it is expected that more businesses will utilize that “cash hoard” (if they have one) to pay down debt or issue dividends.  But it doesn’t seem that actually paying the bills on time is one of the things businesses are doing with all that cash.  Rather, the “new normal” when it comes to managing accounts payable is to extend that payment out as far as possible, letting the supplier carry the freight so businesses don’t have to dip into that cash pile to cover costs.

Yet another article on CIO.com, entitled When Your Big Customer Wants to Pay Late, discusses the reality that many companies are extending their trade payables to new lengths, allowing them to keep the money for other uses – essentially using their suppliers for short-term financing.  Viewed as a strategy for building cash reserves, it’s also a strategy which burdens smaller companies who aren’t in a position to carry their larger customers but feel they don’t have the power to negotiate otherwise.

Extending payables may be a way to preserve cash flow, but it isn’t really a cost-cutting measure and could even eliminate some cost benefits.  For example, a supplier may offer a discount for prepayment, and businesses looking to reduce operational costs could benefit from taking advantage of these types of discounts.  In other cases, extending payables could make the business subject to interest or late charges, resulting in either a larger bill or in time spent negotiating the charges down.

While large businesses may be building their cash reserves, or simply preserving them for reducing debt or other uses, smaller businesses should also look at the steps they can take to preserve their own cash flow – whether it is through stronger collection terms and policies, by strategically working with the client to get the payments, or by extending their own payables.

When cash is tight, every business along the supply chain wants to find ways to keep the money in their grip as long as possible.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J