How to be more in control of your financials

by Nicholas Proudfoot on July 24, 2009

small business accounting software

Ask any seasoned business manager how much time they spend dealing with problems in the business and the answer will almost always be a substantial amount. Problems have a habit of leaping out at you when you least expect them. To solve a problem you first have to know that you have one. Business management goes hand in hand with problem resolution.

In summary, every business manager has to have good financial controls. Think of financial controls as a sentries that sound the alarm when a financial problem occurs. Best practise is to design financial controls into the reports derived from small business accounting software. small business accounting software should be able to report cash flow from profit period by period and compare it with the budgeted amounts. The safest way to commence with this exercise and keep it simple is to highlight a group of the key numbers you need to track and creating just a few reports that present them in a simple format.

Monitoring the margins you expect from revenues is critical and any deviations should receive immediate scrutiny followed by swift action to resolve the issue. Pay close attention to any minor change in the volume of products sold or the expected margins as this behaviour can quickly lead to a significant decrease in profits. Fixed costs should be closely monitored in the early part of the financial period to be sure they are following the business plan. Good small business accounting software should let you easily create debtors reports (people who owe you money) and the results in these reports should be monitored closely.

Experience is the way to learn and over time you will learn which financial controls should be highlighted in your accounting reports, just make sure you have the right small business accounting software that can generate these.