Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Casual Articles - Discover 10 Tips on How To Avoid Financial Disaster in Your Business
Lack of Operations Manuals stunting your growth?CONTENTS:1. Do you lack functional Operations Manuals? 2. Use a SYSTEM to write your Operations Manuals! 3. Yes, but my people just don't/won't write stuff down! 4. But people WILL write stuff down - if ... 5. Call to Action.1. Do you lack functional Operations Manuals?Great businesses depend on systems, not people.That's because you can duplicate systems, but not people.If your business can't duplicate salable results, it won't survive. Duplication is Nature's Survival Law.If your organization lacks Operations Manuals, your growth and success will be limited due to lack of a duplicable (documented) system.2. You can use a SYSTEM to write your Operations Manuals!Extraordinary people don't build great businesses. Ordinary people produce extraordinary results using a duplicable system. That's how you build a great business.The faster you develop good Operations Manuals the faster you will have a great business!3. Yes, but my people just don't/won't write stuff down!You will hear many excuses and attitud
-short and long term goals have been set
-financial information is prepared in a timely manner and at regular intervals
-all management information is reviewed in a timely manner and when necessary corrective action taken
2. Be honest and realistic in your decision making
If the data upon which you are taking business decisions is suspect, the business decision making process is suspect.
Further remember what you are in business for - to achieve your goals, your vision. Your goals will be more difficult to achieve if the quality of the data used to base decisions upon is suspect.
<The one ultimate reward that counts for any business organization is improvement of bottom line profitability and the return of satisfied customers. This end result must justify all the initiatives taken by upper management. Upper management utilizes a tool called “cost of poor quality (or ”COPQ”) as a barometer for evaluating six sigma projects. Apparently, it is the only way to get upper management to accept six sigma. The upper echelons of corporations have come to realize the importance of six sigma for its tangible economic benefits.understand the value of upper management support for quality/process improvement top down fully, when you learn that management does not realize the importance of investing that extra time and money in quality improvement or lacks the commitment. Let’s be straight forward, this scenario is not uncommon. Six sigma has such lasting power and broad scope that transcend departments and exposes the need (though not always) for change in organizational structure. Both of these would be hard battles to fight unless strong management support was present. Resistance of this type could be due to organizational inertia, or i
Your business continues to grow, new customers are gained, orders taken for the next generation of products that will secure the future of the business - or is the future clouded with some nagging uncertainty? The outlook is fine but things are not running as smoothly as they did a short time ago.
You took the decision to market your business more aggressively and since that time small distractions keep happening that cannot easily be explained but they need your attention to resolve.
Maybe all growing companies go through this phase. All these "little things" are resolved quickly, but there does appear to be more of them. You know, or hope, that no major surprises will adversely arise and hit your company.
But what steps can you take to give you greater comfort?
Working "on" the business rather than "in" it, has meant delegation of work to your staff. After all you cannot be with prospective customers and be talking to existing ones on day to day administrative matters. Your staff have been loyal, hard working and always done what you asked. They have worked their way up in the business.
Now, however, they are in positions where they must make decisions. Decisions that will impact upon you, your future, your wealth!
The important decisions are always referred to you, but it is the impact of all the small ones that could be catastrophic. So what action can be taken to give you some comfort?
The business cannot afford a full time administrative professional and there is not enough time for you to grow the business and run the day to day affairs. Help is required to understand the causes of some common failings within the business. An ‘early warning' system of impending problems that may create a financial disaster is necessary, so that appropriate action to eliminate concerns can be taken.
All businesses are different. However, 10 tips on how to avoid financial disaster that are useful in all businesses are:
1. Control your Business
Be sensible, practical, but above all else know what is happening in your business. So often owners think they know, but through a lack of understanding, the use of incomplete or inaccurate information, wrong or ill-timed decisions are taken. Some business owners opt out completely and take no decision at all.
Control your business by ensuring that:
- good management and accounting systems are in use
-if you do not understand the "numbers" seek help - be trained!
-all information on which you base your decisions is accurate, if in doubt have the data audited
-short and long term goals have been set
-financial information is prepared in a timely manner and at regular intervals
-all management information is reviewed in a timely manner and when necessary corrective action taken
2. Be honest and realistic in your decision making
If the data upon which you are taking business decisions is suspect, the business decision making process is suspect.
Further remember what you are in business for - to achieve your goals, your vision. Your goals will be more difficult to achieve if the quality of the data used to base decisions upon is suspect.
Four-Color printing can add a, exciting dimension to your marketing materials that can be much more dramatic than simple one or two-color printing. One or two-color printing is not necessarily inferior to four-color, but the question should be: is four-color printing really necessary for the project on hand?For example, a direct mail piece or marketing brochure that is introducing your company for the first time to a potential customer should make a great first impression and four-color printing may be the best way to communicate your products or services. However, an assembly instruction booklet to be included with a product may work fine as a one- or two-color printing project.Four-Color Pros:Many clients and designers often feel that four-color process printing gives them the most design flexibility. With four-color process printing, any color imaginable can be created, allowing the designer to make text in color or to use graphic elements for emphasis that literally jump off the page.Photographs can be reproduced in color, making product images much more believable and many different colored screen tints are possible
But what steps can you take to give you greater comfort?
Working "on" the business rather than "in" it, has meant delegation of work to your staff. After all you cannot be with prospective customers and be talking to existing ones on day to day administrative matters. Your staff have been loyal, hard working and always done what you asked. They have worked their way up in the business.
Now, however, they are in positions where they must make decisions. Decisions that will impact upon you, your future, your wealth!
The important decisions are always referred to you, but it is the impact of all the small ones that could be catastrophic. So what action can be taken to give you some comfort?
The business cannot afford a full time administrative professional and there is not enough time for you to grow the business and run the day to day affairs. Help is required to understand the causes of some common failings within the business. An ‘early warning' system of impending problems that may create a financial disaster is necessary, so that appropriate action to eliminate concerns can be taken.
All businesses are different. However, 10 tips on how to avoid financial disaster that are useful in all businesses are:
1. Control your Business
Be sensible, practical, but above all else know what is happening in your business. So often owners think they know, but through a lack of understanding, the use of incomplete or inaccurate information, wrong or ill-timed decisions are taken. Some business owners opt out completely and take no decision at all.
Control your business by ensuring that:
- good management and accounting systems are in use
-if you do not understand the "numbers" seek help - be trained!
-all information on which you base your decisions is accurate, if in doubt have the data audited
-short and long term goals have been set
-financial information is prepared in a timely manner and at regular intervals
-all management information is reviewed in a timely manner and when necessary corrective action taken
2. Be honest and realistic in your decision making
If the data upon which you are taking business decisions is suspect, the business decision making process is suspect.
Further remember what you are in business for - to achieve your goals, your vision. Your goals will be more difficult to achieve if the quality of the data used to base decisions upon is suspect.
<Transcription may be linguistic, genetic or may even relate to music. Linguistic transcription means the transfer of a spoken conversation into written language. Genetic transcription is the process of replicating DNA to RNA by the enzyme called RNA polymerize (RNAP). Transcription of music means rewriting a piece of music or recopying it.Transcription comprises of three types, namely corporate transcriptions, legal transcriptions, and medical transcriptions. Corporate or business transcription providing services offer accurate business transcripts that are delivered on time. They also deliver it in the format required and at fairly competitive prices. Business transcription is a very tedious job, and overburdens the staff. A service providing company simplifies the work by organizing and re-arranging the data. This not only saves time, but also saves the company's money.Legal transcriptions are those that record depositions, court hearings, and tapes in any language preferred by the client. Many legal transcription service-providing companies also take up large and multipart translation projects that can be managed easily. Such services als
The important decisions are always referred to you, but it is the impact of all the small ones that could be catastrophic. So what action can be taken to give you some comfort?
The business cannot afford a full time administrative professional and there is not enough time for you to grow the business and run the day to day affairs. Help is required to understand the causes of some common failings within the business. An ‘early warning' system of impending problems that may create a financial disaster is necessary, so that appropriate action to eliminate concerns can be taken.
All businesses are different. However, 10 tips on how to avoid financial disaster that are useful in all businesses are:
1. Control your Business
Be sensible, practical, but above all else know what is happening in your business. So often owners think they know, but through a lack of understanding, the use of incomplete or inaccurate information, wrong or ill-timed decisions are taken. Some business owners opt out completely and take no decision at all.
Control your business by ensuring that:
- good management and accounting systems are in use
-if you do not understand the "numbers" seek help - be trained!
-all information on which you base your decisions is accurate, if in doubt have the data audited
-short and long term goals have been set
-financial information is prepared in a timely manner and at regular intervals
-all management information is reviewed in a timely manner and when necessary corrective action taken
2. Be honest and realistic in your decision making
If the data upon which you are taking business decisions is suspect, the business decision making process is suspect.
Further remember what you are in business for - to achieve your goals, your vision. Your goals will be more difficult to achieve if the quality of the data used to base decisions upon is suspect.
<Managers fall into a trap, quite easily when the pressure is on, of doing more of the regular workload that their employees could. It makes them feel like they are achieving more personally, as well as fighting the fires that crop up every day. But this is not a sustainable solution, here's why...Most managers are measured on tangible results. It could be sales, or response times or production output. It is often number related and with this in mind, many managers seek to beef up the manpower delivering these numbers, by doing some of this work themselves.There is nothing wrong with a manager choosing to get their 'hands dirty'. To chip in with their people. In fact, when it really matters, it can be a valuable motivational activity, building team spirit.But as resources get stretched and the manager becomes an integral part of the workforce, the business starts to get dependent on their tactical input.And this stops being a management role, but a 'doing' role. At it goes on and on, with no time to develop people and strategies to make the business truly grow, develop and evolve.
1. Control your Business
Be sensible, practical, but above all else know what is happening in your business. So often owners think they know, but through a lack of understanding, the use of incomplete or inaccurate information, wrong or ill-timed decisions are taken. Some business owners opt out completely and take no decision at all.
Control your business by ensuring that:
- good management and accounting systems are in use
-if you do not understand the "numbers" seek help - be trained!
-all information on which you base your decisions is accurate, if in doubt have the data audited
-short and long term goals have been set
-financial information is prepared in a timely manner and at regular intervals
-all management information is reviewed in a timely manner and when necessary corrective action taken
2. Be honest and realistic in your decision making
If the data upon which you are taking business decisions is suspect, the business decision making process is suspect.
Further remember what you are in business for - to achieve your goals, your vision. Your goals will be more difficult to achieve if the quality of the data used to base decisions upon is suspect.
<A strategic approach is not limited to National or Major Accounts only. Unless your sales are 100% opportunistic, a strategy is still key to managing your team, and for each member of the team looking to succeed not only on an account level but their whole territory.This may seem straight forward, but there are many sales people who either do not have a strategic approach at all, or apply only aspects of a strategy to their accounts and territory. A successful strategy involves four key elements· Time Management· Planning· Information/knowledge· ExecutionThe absence of one will have an exponential detrimental effect on success, even when the other elements are applied. None of these is new to most sales people, but applying all four in a way that leads to desired results continues to be a challenge.Time Management is an issue for all business people. The reality of business today is that most of us are trying to pack 18 hours worth of work into a 12 hour day, which
-short and long term goals have been set
-financial information is prepared in a timely manner and at regular intervals
-all management information is reviewed in a timely manner and when necessary corrective action taken
2. Be honest and realistic in your decision making
If the data upon which you are taking business decisions is suspect, the business decision making process is suspect.
Further remember what you are in business for - to achieve your goals, your vision. Your goals will be more difficult to achieve if the quality of the data used to base decisions upon is suspect.
Discipline yourself to:
-write off bad debts immediately
-write down the value of obsolete or slow moving stock in the Balance Sheet
-record incomes in the correct accounting period
-record expenses in the correct accounting period
-be honest in all financial matters
-accrue for known future non-recurring items of cost and income that relate to the current period
-remain focused and take decisions that only support meeting your goals
3. Reconcile your Cash
Know your cash balance at all times. Cash is the lifeblood of your business. Do not let it drip away in waste.
Forecast your cash flows on a regular basis and be in control and manage your cash position.
Conserve all cash and recognize the dangers of:
-spending cash on items that are not necessary in meeting the goals of the business
-buying new when second hand would suffice
-structuring incentive schemes to sales instead of cash and profit
-creditor chase letters and writs may indicate cash outflows not recognized in your forecasts
-a "cheque in post" and post dated cheques mentality may further lead to errors in forecasts
4. Pay on Time - Receive on Time
Make all payments on time. If this is not possible then negotiate revised terms with suppliers. Always avoid late payment of taxes, including VAT, NI and PAYE.
Negotiate acceptable credit terms with your customers, and enforce them as appropriate.
Take control of the situation and not be a bystander!
Avoid:
-unnecessary cost and waste through not acting proactively
-offering credit terms to customers who fail to meet their contractual agreements
-failing to take up credit references for all new customers
-offering substantially improved credit terms to customers who have purchased small but now suddenly want to purchase big
-expensive debt recovery agencies
-failing to communicate with your suppliers should you be unable to meet your payment commitments
-not meeting with your bank on a regular basis
5. Communicate
Do you communicate with your staff, customers, suppliers and other groups connected with your business? Do they know that you do in fact communicate?
How do you communicate? Meetings, letters, email, telephone or other? Are your communications understood and interpreted in the manner that you intend? All too often much communication is not effective.
Consider all management and financial information that is prepared by a business. All too often there may be a cursory read, then filed and not acted upon.
This form of communication is e
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.casualarticles.com/article/46086/casualarticles-Discover-10-Tips-on-How-To-Avoid-Financial-Disaster-in-Your-Business.html">Discover 10 Tips on How To Avoid Financial Disaster in Your Business</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.casualarticles.com/article/46086/casualarticles-Discover-10-Tips-on-How-To-Avoid-Financial-Disaster-in-Your-Business.html]Discover 10 Tips on How To Avoid Financial Disaster in Your Business[/url]
Related Articles:
Are Your Quality Improvement Projects Saving You Money?
How A Simple Greeting Or Post Card Can Turn Into Cash - Guaranteed
Small Town Solo Professional Lawyers and Your Options
Bookmark it:
|