Managing Cashflow for Small Business
                     Managing Cashflow 
for Small Business
Any business owner will tell you that managing 
business cashflow can be a real juggling act. Cashflow is 
one of the most common problems that cause business 
owners to lose sleep. Gaining control of your small 
business’ cashflow will go a long way to improving your 
peace of mind and reducing stress.
So how Can a Business Improve its Cashflow?
Identify
Identifying certain triggers in particular sales and 
payments will make a significant difference to cashflow 
management. Analysing outgoing payments and noting 
when they regularly occur will go a long way to ensure 
strong cashflow. Some of the key areas to consider are:
• Payroll for staff
• Supplier payment terms and conditions
• Australian Tax Office
• Utilities
• Finance including bank fees and loans
• Rent
• Payment to suppliers
• Customer payments including refund policies
There are number of business costs that must be 
accounted for to help create better cashflow management 
for your small business. Becoming aware of business costs 
and when they are due takes us to the next step…
Awareness
Being aware of every cost to the business goes a long 
way to helping solve cashflow issues. Knowing the 
impact of these costs and outgoings will further help 
understand and improve cashflow management for 
your business over the course of a month or quarter.
Outgoings that need to be paid weekly, fortnightly, 
monthly or quarterly can be prioritised or delayed 
according to payment terms and conditions to improve 
cashflow. Minimising the incurrence of late fees or 
interest costs is a priority. Obviously, not meeting terms 
or paying suppliers late will result in interest payments 
or penalties being applied – all of which are detrimental 
to positive cashflow. Being aware of supplier’s terms 
and conditions and ensuring your organisation’s terms 
and conditions are robust is critical to business 
continuity.
Along with these cashflow areas, there are other key 
triggers including:
• Staff payments, especially with casual and full time 
workers or during busy trading periods
• Finance costs especially with large payments for 
equipment
• Outstanding debtors and overdue invoices – Coming 
to terms with debtors to create agreements can 
make paying off invoices quicker and easier
• Running accounts receivable reports
Chasing customers for payments adds to the stress 
when you have expenses to pay. Implementing 
invoicing systems that are fast, on-time, and 
automatically follow-up outstanding invoices helps 
keeps cash flowing.
Tailored systems
Cloud Accounting and applications can assist businesses 
large and small with their cashflow management. 
Cloud-based accounting solutions forecast business 
income and costs better and create a system to trigger 
key information that helps assess major business 
decisions such as major purchases or use of finance 
that impact on cashflow.
New cloud accounting software options such 
as Xero and QuickBooks Online are powerful 
applications that automate many business tasks and 
generate reports quickly, helping you understand your 
position better. Being securely cloud-based, these 
cutting-edge systems allow you to access information 
from anywhere on any device. Accessing real-time 
financial data gives businesses greater control and 
allows better business decisions to be made.
If your looking for more information on how to best 
manage your cashflow check out our blog around 
5 tips to improve your cashflow or speak to one of our 
experts today.