Business Management

Cash Management – A few Tips

In today’s economy, many small and mid-size companies lack sufficient cash reserves to ride out the storm. Finding new customers is tougher than usual. Raising prices isn’t always an option.

Here are a few tips that may help:

1. Manage your receivables. Try to turn your receivables quickly without antagonizing customers. Advise key customers what you’re up against, and arrange more favorable terms. Ask them, ‘What can we do to get me paid more quickly?’ If you can persuade customers to pay quicker you improve your receivable balance. This creates more money.”

2. Manage down inventories. Growth doesn’t always improve revenues. If the business is seasonable make sure inventories do not exceed needs for the current year’s cycle.

3. Ensure new employee hiring is necessary. Employee salaries are a significant cash drain so efforts to maximize productivity from current employees are paramount.


4. Plan ahead. Make sure you forecast financial activity. A plan outlining expected revenues and expenditures is vital to understanding cash needs. You certainly want no surprises on cash flow activity.

5. Go to the clouds. If your business is large enough to have in-house servers, you are aware of the maintenance costs. If business is increasing this may be a cost effective way to create additional capacity without buying expensive new servers.


Business owners should share their cash flow objectives with other key managers to ensure every opportunity to maximize cash savings is realized.

Crisis Management

Do you have a Crisis Management Plan?

No matter the size of your business or the industry in which you work, you never know when a crisis could rear its ugly head. From financial issues to disgruntled employees, you should be prepared for anything that comes your way.
Here are a few tips to consider for your business.




1. Create a mission statement. This will make it much easier to act in a responsible and ethical manner, no matter what type of situation arises.

2. Know your core values. Establishing a set of core values early in your company’s existence is of utmost importance. Not only can this save you in the event of a crisis, but it will help employees better understand what you expect of them.

3. Collaborate with others. While there is nothing more important than forming a strong bond with your employees and clients, don’t overlook others with whom you should forge a relationship. This includes the local police department, community centers, and educational institutions among others.

4. Know your audience. Who are you going to notify in the event of a crisis? Since this depends on the type of crisis, you need to spend time pinpointing your audience for any situation that could arise.

5. Create a crisis management team with a mandate to trouble shoot, identify potential problems and empower them to recommend and enact changes to protect the business.

6. Don’t panic in a crisis situation. As the leader employees want strength. Keeping a cool head may facilitate focussing on the issues and getting a solution right.



No matter what has happened in the past, you never know what the future holds. At some point, you are likely to face a crisis. How and when you deal with this will determine what direction your company takes. I hope these suggestions help.