10 Money Management Tips for Small Businesses

Every business owner is keen to save money whenever and wherever possible. In order to do that, tactful money management is important. Financial management includes the entire process of strategic planning, directing, organizing, and managing financial endeavors within an organization. It also includes applying money management tips to handle and grow your organization’s financial assets.

Importance of Business Finance Management

As a company grows, it will require more cash to fund its expansion. It is critical to plan and prepare for these financial requirements. Financial management includes locating the most effective ways of managing the company’s cost of capital and preventing the balance sheet from being overly burdened with debt.

Most businesses tend to lose money and experience negative cash flow at the beginning. During this period, financial management plays a crucial role. Even if there is more money going out than coming in during the early months of a business, managers must ensure that they have adequate cash on hand to pay staff and suppliers.

So what are the benefits that small businesses can derive from financial management? Here are some of them:

• Plan acquisition and funding planning
• Make the best use of cash flow
• Make key financial decisions based on analytics insights
• Improve business profitability
• Ensures economic security by managing expenses

Smart Money Management Tips for Small Businesses to Stay Afloat

If you own a small business, you already know that your success is determined not only by the number of customers you serve but also by how you handle your money. It all boils down to following your dreams and making the right decisions as a small business owner. Also, it is about being responsible with your business finances and rightly handling your finances.

Although no one wants to be short on cash, especially in an emergency, there are times when money is often mismanaged. Maintaining a regular and consistent cash flow might be difficult under such circumstances. A simple yet effective money management technique can be extremely beneficial. Let us take a look at the following 10 biggest financial management tips for small businesses.

• Make a budget

Many small business entrepreneurs are condemned to fail as a result of their failure to prepare a budget. Indeed it is tough to predict how much money you are likely to spend when you are starting out. In such scenarios, you might not have any prior period figures to work with. As it stands, establishing a budget is the first step in effectively managing your company’s finances.

But what if your figures aren’t accurate? Don’t be concerned! It is completely alright because even well-established firms sometimes experience fluctuations. The act of making a budget will encourage you to think more carefully about how you spend your money.

Once you have produced a preliminary budget, make regular comparisons between your actual figures and your budget assumptions. Your budgets will become more accurate over time, and you will be able to manage your money more effectively.

• Keep track of your deadlines

It is crucial to stay informed of any due obligations, such as loan payments, accounts payables, credit card payments, and so on. If you are aware of the deadlines, you will be able to keep enough money in hand to pay your dues off. Late fines, additional interest, a poor business credit card score, and bad vendor relationships can all result if you don’t pay your payments on time or don’t know when they are due.

Set reminders and stay on top of your deadlines to prevent missing any important due dates. Create an online schedule to ensure that you are reminded of your payments on a regular basis.

• Keep track of your spending

Many small business owners lose track of their spending just weeks after starting their venture. If you don’t keep track of your spending habits, the bills will build-up, which is something you would wish to prevent. Remember that failing to keep track of your spending patterns will lead to money misuse and overspending.

It is easy to rack up tiny expenses, but they will eventually mount up to higher amounts towards the end of the month. If you don’t keep track of your costs, they will balloon into a bill you can’t afford to pay. To record every transaction, use accounting books or simply accounting software.

• Separate your business and personal finances

Make sure that you keep your personal and business accounts are kept separate. This is essential for good money management. A business bank statement can also be important for tracking the profit margin of your company, reconciling the books, and keeping track of your spending patterns.

When you combine your personal and company accounts, you risk having unorganized records, which can lead to overspending, missed bill deadlines and reduced possibilities for growth. It’s difficult to keep track of spending and company fund deposits, so keeping the two accounts separate is always a good idea.

• Lower your costs

If you are having trouble managing your company’s finances, you must seek ways to minimize expenditures while simultaneously increasing revenue. If you want to save money, start by reviewing your expenses and eliminating any unnecessary spending.

You can also save money by looking for new vendors who will offer you materials at a discounted price. Offer discounts, promote products, add new products for sale, and create loyalty programs to increase your sales, which in turn shall boost your income.

• Maintain a steady cash reserve

Unexpected events can happen, and you will have to cover them with your emergency funds. Therefore, you can see that it is crucial for business owners to establish a cash reserve that can help them handle money in an emergency.

Starting a company savings account or purchasing money management software are two ways to begin maintaining a cash reserve. Make sure you deposit money into the cash reserve on a regular basis.

• Reinvest your money into the business

As a small business owner, there are two things you should know about money management:

• The first is to pay yourself
• The second is to have more money to reinvest in the firm.

Profits and expense allocations can be utilized to invest in your company’s growth and marketing. Profit first is a personal money management technique that ensures you have a growing profit account that you can reinvest in the business, save, or use for yourself.

The main principle behind this money management strategy is to properly manage money and use it to build your business, save some for the future, and set some aside for emergencies.

• Money equals time

When it comes to new firms, one individual or a small group of people usually takes care of everything. Each member of the small team wears numerous hats and performs multiple jobs, whether it is marketing and sales, accounting and product design, shipping, or customer service. However, as your company expands, you must identify which duties you thrive at and which you don’t.

For instance, suppose you are an expert at deciphering hundreds of pages of tax code and spend twelve hours preparing your tax return. The important thing to remember here is that the opportunity cost of spending time here is not worth it. You could hire someone else to prepare your tax return.

You can start outsourcing some of your chores once you have enough revenue-generating work to keep you busy for the week. You could, for example, employ someone to organize your books or handle email and other routine activities. This will allow you to concentrate on money-making tasks in which you excel.

• Regularly review financial reports

It is critical to maintain a tight eye on your company’s financial reports. An online accounting program will generate important reports for you automatically, such as:

• Reports on profit and loss: This report displays the income, costs, profits, and losses of your organization over time.
• Reports on the balance sheet: Assets, liabilities, and net equities are all shown here.
• Receivables and Payables Reports: These reveal how much money your organization owes and how much money it owes to others.

These reports provide insight into a company’s financial health, allowing owners to devise successful buying and selling strategies.

• Set SMART goals

Enthusiasm and ambition are crucial qualities for business owners and managers to possess. However, the capacity to make reasonable financial decisions based on facts is also important. One of the reasons why so many businesses fail is that their founders succumb to their passion without setting a proper short and long-term objective that is reasonable and achievable. So, what’s the remedy? Well, every small business owner’s short-term objectives should be SMART.

SMART stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Results-based
• Time-limited

This entails using the budgeting data we discussed earlier to develop financial goals that are particular to the company and its requirements.

Once you have set a goal, you will be able to easily spot wasteful spending and confidently plan for strategies to reduce costs and boost your profit margins.

How Can ZikZuk Business Finance Manager Help?

With ZikZuk, you can take your organization’s financial management procedures to the next level. To begin with, ZikZuk Business Finance Manager is a data-driven platform that allows small business owners to focus on their business and its growth while also managing the finances.

With ZikZuk Business Finance Manager, you can track and monitor your company’s financial health from all possible angles. With a state-of-the-art dashboard at your disposal, you get access to all your important business snapshots, including receipts, payments, sales, purchases, receivables, and payables. It is like having total control over your company’s financial health with just a click.

With real-time financial information, you can now make faster and more accurate decisions on the go. ZikZuk offers you detailed insights into sales trends. That’s not all, as the tool also comes with several additional features including a business calendar, automated payment reminders, follow-up reminders, to name a few.

ZikZuk BFM also comes with a Debtor Receivables dashboard that enables automated debt collections, analysis, and debtor prioritization. Now you can send payment reminders through multiple channels, including email, SMS, and WhatsApp.

ZikZuk’s cash flow forecasting allows businesses to control future cash flow using actionable financial data. With the right information, your business can now expand seamlessly.

Now comes the most important aspect of a business’s financial information management process: Data Security. You can blindly rely on ZikZuk’s 100% Secured End to end encryption that comes with two-factor authentication. Also, the company’s secure cloud storage ensures that your data is in safe hands and you stay in total control of your critical business data.

Conclusion

If you think that running a business is only about coming up with great products and services, then you might want to reconsider your view of the business world. Financial management is as important as your company’s sales and marketing efforts. Every year, thousands of companies across the globe run out of business because of the lack of proper financial planning. You would not want yourself to be in such a threatful position.

If you want to thrive in this ultra-competent business age, you better handle your money effectively and establish strong financial health that would benefit both your customers and your staff. We believe that the smart money management tips that we have provided above will help you in the long run. We wish you all the best!