To achieve your long-term vision there needs to be clear direction and planning, and a good solid sales process. You also need to deliver consistently for your clients AND you need to make sure you're managing the ‘back-end’ of your business simultaneously.
The finance and administration components of a business are often overlooked or not given the due care they deserve. If you're waiting for the end of each financial year for your accountant to prepare and present your books you may get a very big surprise when you find out the results.
So, how is your business doing with its finance and administration? Ask yourself these questions:
- Who is monitoring cash-flow?
- Who's keeping an eye on your debtors?
- Are you watching creditor payments closely?
- Do you regularly monitor stock ledger amounts?
- How often is stock turned relative to sales?
- Is there any ‘slippage’ or shrinkage’ and how is that monitored and assessed?
- Are you reporting actual to budgets?
- And are you reviewing liquidity and key ratios?
