Forecasting: taking the guesswork out of your finance strategy.

As a business owner, it’s increasingly difficult to ride out the changing economic conditions and manage the financial ups and downs of doing business in 2024.

According to recent data from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), 11,053 companies went into administration in the 2023-24 financial year.

Knowing what’s around the next corner would be incredibly helpful. This is where forecasting tools and financial projections can become a real game-changer. 

Why your small business should embrace financial forecasting.

Good financial management starts with solid bookkeeping and accounting processes. But your accounts only tell you what’s happened in the PAST – not what will happen in the FUTURE. 

Financial forecasting takes this historic accounting data and projects areas like cashflow, operating expenses and revenue forward in time. In essence, what you get is a projection of how your finances may look one month, six months or even a year down the line.

Why is this important?

Let’s take a look at just a few of the benefits of using accurate forecasting to manage the financial strategy and health of the business:

Accurate predictions.

Your forecasting software can analyse your historical data and current trends to provide accurate predictions of future sales, expenses and cash flow. These forecasts allow you to accurately see how your finances will look in the future.

How First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can help: We make sure your bookkeeping and management accounting is always up to date and accurate. This means your financial data is reliable, which is critical for effective forecasting.

Proactive financial management.

Armed with these forecasts, you can quickly see where there’s a need to boost revenue, manage cashflow or optimise your allocation of resources. In short, this information helps you assess and avoid the big finance pitfalls. 

How First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can help: By outsourcing your bookkeeping processes to us, you’ll have access to accurate and timely financial data. This gives you the insights you need to make proactive decisions, without worrying about the time-consuming administrative tasks.

Improved cashflow management.

Forecasting helps you spot any potential cashflow shortages or surpluses. This prior warning gives you time to take cost-cutting action to rebalance cash shortfalls, or find useful ways to reinvest the surplus cash.

How First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can help: Cashflow forecasting is one of our key services. By working with First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, you’ll have a clear picture of your current and projected cash position, enabling you to stay ahead of any financial challenges.

Better allocation of resources.

With a deeper understanding of your future financial needs, you can allocate resources like equipment and staff more effectively. This helps to boost growth and expansion, while keeping your finances in a healthy position.

Data-driven decision-making.

With a forecasting solution in your app stack, you have the data, forecasts and reporting needed to make truly informed decisions about your business's financial future, and to review these decisions on a regular basis.

Talk to us about adding forecasting to your app stack

There’s a wide choice of financial forecasting apps out there, all of which can neatly integrate with your existing accounting software and business reporting systems. 

Our team at First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can set up, manage, and integrate solutions like Futrli.

We’ll work with you to choose the best fit for your business and ensure the tools are effectively implemented.

Speak to us about how forecasting can bring clarity to your financial future. With accurate, up-to-date data and the right systems in place, you’ll feel more confident about tackling whatever comes next.

Benefits of outsourcing payroll during the holiday season

The holiday season is a time to celebrate, reflect on the year, and enjoy a well-earned break, and the benefits of outsourcing payroll during the holiday season can’t be overlooked when it comes to reducing stress and handling year-end tasks.

From organising staff leave to ensuring holiday pay is processed correctly, managing payroll during this period can feel overwhelming.

Outsourcing your payroll could be the solution you need to reduce stress, save time, and enjoy the festive season without the administrative burden. 

Here’s how it can make a difference for your business.

1. Stay on Top of Holiday Pay Obligations

The end of the year often brings questions about leave entitlements, public holiday pay rates, and other seasonal payroll requirements. 

Getting these details wrong can cause confusion, dissatisfaction, or even legal complications. 

A professional payroll service ensures all calculations are accurate and compliant with regulations, so your employees are paid correctly every time.

Outsourcing your payroll is especially helpful during the holiday season, when obligations like holiday pay and staff leave become more complex. 

The benefits of outsourcing payroll during the holiday season include reducing errors and ensuring employees receive what they’re entitled to without the stress of manual calculations.

2. Avoid Disruptions During Staff Leave

With staff often taking holidays over Christmas, your business might find itself short-handed just when payroll deadlines loom. 

Outsourcing ensures payroll is processed on time, even when key team members are away. This continuity helps avoid late payments and ensures smooth operations.

3. Save Time When You Need It Most

The lead-up to Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for many businesses. By outsourcing payroll, you free up valuable time to focus on other priorities, whether that’s meeting customer demand, finalising year-end accounts, or simply enjoying some downtime with your family.

One of the key benefits of outsourcing payroll during the holiday season is the time it saves. With fewer administrative tasks on your plate, you can focus on growing your business or spending quality time with family.

4. Ensure Compliance with Confidence

The rules around holiday pay and end-of-year reporting can be complex. 

A dedicated payroll service understands these requirements and ensures your business stays compliant. This reduces the risk of errors or penalties, giving you peace of mind that everything is handled professionally.

5. Focus on Your Business, Not Admin

As a business owner, your time is best spent growing your business, not on repetitive tasks or areas that require specialist skills or knowledge. 

Outsourcing payroll allows you to focus on what you do best while leaving the technical details to the experts.

Why Choose First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray for Your Payroll?

At First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, we understand the pressure that comes with running a business during the holiday season. 

Our payroll services are designed to ensure everything runs smoothly, so you can focus on what matters most.

• Accuracy Guaranteed: Your staff are paid the right amount, on time, every time.
• Stress-Free Compliance: We handle all the details, ensuring your business meets its obligations.
• Efficient Processes: Our expertise saves you time and money, so you can invest your energy elsewhere.

Take the Pressure Off This Holiday Season

The benefits of outsourcing payroll during the holiday season go beyond just saving time. They ensure accuracy, compliance, and peace of mind for your business. Don’t let payroll stress weigh you down this Christmas. 

By outsourcing your payroll to First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, you can ensure your team is taken care of while freeing yourself to enjoy the festive season.

Get in touch with us today to discuss how we can help your business.

How to keep your small construction company on track.

Times are tough in the Aussie construction industry. 

With rising costs, a lack of labour and a challenging economic climate. This is leading to a rising number of business failures.

About 1,400 construction firms filed for bankruptcy in the second half of 2023, according to a recent article from Inside Business. 

And it’s not just financial challenges that sole traders and contractors are facing. There’s also the stress of the physical and mental pressure of running your own construction business.

So, what can you do to keep your small construction company on track?

As a contractor, it’s hard work balancing your on-site time against the administrative and business-focused time that’s needed to keep your company fit and healthy.

But without a razor-sharp focus on cash, business development, profit margins and your own wellbeing, the business is liable to flounder – making business failure a possibility. 

Seven ways to keep your construction business healthy

1. Avoid working with just one customer.

Putting all your eggs in one basket is a risky move, so look into working with a varied mix of big and small clients to spread that risk. Even if you lose a few clients, you’re still left with a viable income stream. 

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can help you identify which clients and projects are most profitable by providing management accounting services. This ensures you have a clear view of your revenue streams and their long-term viability.

2. Diversify your revenue streams.

If all your income comes from one service, it’s time to diversify! Consider moving into new services or project areas, giving you multiple revenue streams and reducing your reliance on one source of income.

3. Optimise your cost management.

The major upfront costs and slow payment times in construction can make it difficult to keep cash in a positive position. Rising costs for raw materials are also a major headache. So, now’s a good time to explore strategies to reduce your overheads and negotiate better deals with your suppliers. 

We provide cashflow forecasting and budgeting tailored to the construction industry. By working with First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, you’ll gain insights into your spending, enabling you to negotiate better supplier deals and plan for periods of tight cashflow.

4. Build strong relationships.

Stable, long-term customer relationships are crucial to your success. So put some real effort into nurturing partnerships with customers and suppliers, so you have a secure pipeline of projects and reliable supply chains.

5. Make good use of technology.

If you can automate an administrative process, automate it! Use the latest AI business tools to automate the answering of your business phone, the booking of customer appointments and the chasing of outstanding payments etc. Using digital tools helps improve your efficiency and can also cut your costs too.

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can assist you in identifying and integrating accounting software, like Xero, to streamline processes such as invoicing, payroll, and debt collection. This allows you to spend more time on-site and less on admin.

6. Utilise the available government support.

The Government wants construction to flourish, so it’s important to be aware of the available government grants, subsidies or tax incentives that can ease your financial pressures and help you to grow and prosper.

7. Take good care of yourself.

It’s crucial to not take on more work than you can handle. As with any industry, you need time away from work. Overworking and spending every waking hour on the business can be counterproductive. 

How We Can Help You Stay on Track

The construction industry is facing hard times: that’s the reality in the current market. But with careful planning, management and strategic thinking, you can overcome the challenges.

Talk to First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray about:

• Managing your cashflow: With tools like forecasting and budgeting tailored for construction.

• Streamlining your admin: Through efficient accounting software and automated processes.

• Developing a long-term strategy: Focused on reducing costs, diversifying income, and improving profitability.

We’re here to help you keep your small construction company on track. Let us take care of the numbers so you can focus on building your future.

Direct Debits and Online Payments

Do You Have Direct Debits and Online Payments Set Up for Your Business?

Making it easy for your customers to pay you is vital to business success. Getting direct debits and alternative payment methods linked to your business is so easy these days there's no excuse not to give your customers multiple ways of making payment.

Many service-based businesses choose direct debit arrangements with their clients to avoid late payment. If you’re often chasing overdue payments, consider implementing direct debit arrangements to reduce your administration time.

If you’re already using online accounting software, check the add-on solutions and choose one that integrates with your accounts. This means that the payment platform information feeds directly into your accounting software to be easily matched to customer transactions.

Need help integrating your systems? First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can review your accounting software and implement the direct debit or online payment solutions to suit your business.

Make it Easy

You probably already have bank transfer information set up, but adding several other methods such as PayPal, debit cards, and credit cards allows customers to choose the method most convenient for them at the time. Many customers appreciate the automation and simplicity of direct debits.

Make sure your payment terms and conditions are clear on your website and invoices and don't forget to include all your chosen payment methods for customers!

Unsure about setting this up? First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can help ensure your payment terms are communicated clearly and that all payment methods are displayed on your invoices.

Worried About Costly Fees?

You have the option to choose whether you will absorb the cost of the payment gateway processing fees or whether you will add the cost to your invoice and charge the clients extra. Your accounting software will then allocate the funds accordingly to invoice payment and fees received.

Looking for guidance on managing fees? We can help you decide the best approach for your business and set up your accounting software to handle these charges automatically, saving you time and avoiding errors.

Better Transaction Recording

When you integrate direct debits and online payment methods with your accounting system, you dramatically reduce errors in recording customer payments – which means less time spent on your accounts!

Not Sure Where to Start?

If you’d like to make it easier for customers to pay you, talk to us about which solutions are best for your business. We can discuss which platforms have the best and most secure integrations with the accounting software you use.

Streamline Your Systems with Expert Support

Improving your payment systems doesn’t have to be complicated. With support from First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, you can implement direct debits and online payments that save time, reduce admin errors, and improve cash flow. Contact us today to get started.

Cashflow and cost control

More than ever, cashflow is a vital part of staying afloat, whether your business is in recovery or growth mode.

Revenue, profit, and your bottom line are always important, and in 2024, maintaining steady cashflow remains the foundation for keeping your business running smoothly and adapting to challenges as they arise.

Regular cashflow forecasts will help you keep that in focus. Here’s why:

Cost control  

If you can't reach your targets for income, reining in your costs may give you a little extra head room to manage cashflow while you plan your next move.

At First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, our team provides detailed cashflow analysis and forecasting services, ensuring you have a clear picture of your financial position. With actionable insights, we help you identify areas where costs can be reduced without compromising business quality.

Visibility on outgoings 

Cost control can be a challenge when it’s hard to pinpoint hidden costs or where established ways of doing things cost more money than they should. You may also have been coping with unexpected expenses, as you’ve adapted your business for unplanned circumstances.

We can your financial systems and processes to identify inefficiencies. Our expertise in management accounting ensures your data is not only accurate but also timely, so you’re never left guessing where your money is going.

Improving business practice

It's more than just keeping an eye on outgoings (though that's important). It's about looking at each aspect of your business and business systems (or the gaps where there should be business systems) to see if poor practice is driving costs up unnecessarily.

Streamlining your processes can drastically improve your cost control. We work with you to implement appropriate apps to improve efficiencies, save time and money, and reduce costly errors.

It can be useful to break it down  

You can look at cost centres such as office supplies or freight. Or you can look at what those costs do for your business.

It can help to analyse costs in terms of cost of sale and overheads.

Cost of sale and overheads

Cost of sale (also known as Cost of Goods Sold or CoGS) is how much it costs you to make a sale. In a business which sells products, CoGS is based on the price paid for the product, plus any costs necessary to put the merchandise into inventory and make it ready for sale, including shipping and handling. You can even break it down to calculate the cost of sale of individual units.

Overheads are general business expenses. They can’t be tracked directly to sales. Overheads are what it costs you to open your doors (whether online or actual) every morning.

What’s your plan?

1. Reduce unnecessary expenses
   Now might be the time to trim every expense that’s not related to your core product or service.
2. Suppliers
   Are you able to work with your providers to ask for discounts or more favourable payment terms on either cost of sale or overhead expenses?
3. Talk to the team
   Analyse your costs and involve your team, including frontline sales staff.
4. Advertising
   It might be a false economy to cut back on advertising, as customers are online looking for bargains and price-checking alternatives. Targeted campaigns might work better.
5. Prioritise
   Can you pinpoint the products most likely to bring the fastest or best return and hold back on products that are a slower sell?
6. Promote or discount
   If you have old or slow-moving stock, can you discount it and convert old stock to cash? If you can attract customers now, you may be able to use it to spotlight your other products.

Making managing cashflow easier

Every dollar you can pull back from your costs can go straight into cashflow. Whether your sales are booming or slow, keeping your costs under control is key to sustaining growth and stability.

At First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, we understand the importance of managing your cashflow effectively. From cashflow forecasts to systems that streamline your operations, we partner with you to ensure your business has the financial stability it needs.

Want to get a handle on cash flow in your business?

Whether your sales are boom or bust, you want to make sure that your costs aren't holding you back. We can help.

Talk to us if you'd like to review your costs and your systems to keep costs under control. .

Planning for seasonal dips in income

Seasonal dips in income can be highly challenging when you’re a small business. But there are proactive ways to predict, plan for and overcome these dips in revenue.

The key to dealing with seasonal dips is to know when they’re most likely to occur, and to have measures in place to spread your income and revenue pipeline over the course of the year.

Understanding seasonality in your sector

If your business is seasonal such as pool supplies, or a ski gear specialist, you’ll be used to the peaks and troughs, but many 'non-seasonal' businesses experience times during the financial year where sales and revenue peak – and, on the flipside, where sales and revenue experience a pronounced dip.

When income is low at certain times of the year, it makes for challenging times. First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can assist by analysing your business's financial history to pinpoint these peaks and troughs. Our expertise in management accounting provides insights that help you understand your sector’s unique seasonality and prepare for it.

So, what are the key ways to plan for this kind of seasonality?

Forecast your seasonality

It’s vital to know WHEN you’re most likely to experience any seasonal dips. Looking at bench-marking reports for your industry is one way to predict the seasonality in your niche or sector. But you can also use your own accounting data to great effect. Look back through your profit & loss reports and spot where the peaks and troughs have occurred over preceding years.

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray offers forecasting services to help you assess this historical data. With our support, you can anticipate and prepare for quieter periods, ensuring that your financial planning is well-informed and tailored to your business.

Charge a premium in peak time 

One straightforward approach is to apply premium pricing for your products/services during the busy season. By increasing your pricing, you boost your overall revenue, giving you more working capital to see you through the leaner months when sales and income are at their lowest.

Our team can work with you to develop a pricing strategy that aligns with your cash flow needs, helping you make the most of high-demand periods while securing funds to navigate slower months.

Offer additional peak-time services

Offering added extras and other additional service lines during peak time is another way to maximise the season. In the months where customers are most engaged, look to upsell these premium services and offer more value. Satisfied clients will be more inclined to pay for added extras, giving you an increased revenue stream from the same number of customers.

We can help identify and structure these peak-time offerings, ensuring you’re positioned to maximise revenue during high-demand times.

Target other markets

Exploring other related markets is another useful tactic. When you’re experiencing downtime, look for other ways to monetise your existing assets, products or services. For example, if you’re a hotel where sales peak in summertime, offer discounted conference space in the winter months to boost revenue.

Diversify your products/services

If one product/service has a known seasonal dip, look at adding an additional product or service to offset this downtime. For example, a a ski resort could promote bike-riding or hiking breaks during the warmer summer months to keep revenue constant. Likewise a pool maintenance firm could establish an outdoor fireplace business for the colder months.

Have a regional e-commerce strategy

If you’re dependent on a small local market, broadening your marketing and e-commerce strategies can help to attract a wider customer base – and bolster sales. Paid advertising through Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter can easily target new geographical markets, bringing in new customers and giving your revenue a much-needed uplift during seasonal troughs.

Talk to us about planning for seasonality

If your business is struggling with seasonal dips, and the resulting impact on cashflow, come and talk to us. We’ll help you identify the timing of your seasonal downtime, and come up with a clear strategy for stabilising your income across the year.

Get in touch to start planning for seasonal dips in income.

What value can automation bring to your business?

Automation has the capacity to revolutionise your efficiency and productivity. But how many of the automation features that are available to you are actually being used?

Could you be getting more value by building automated processes into your operational framework?

Removing the manual workload to streamline your processes

There’s a very simple mantra when it comes to making the most of automation

If there’s a manual task in your business that’s taking up time, automate it now!

The more time you and your team spend on low-level administration, data-entry and form-filling, the less time you have available for actually running your business.

With your software tools maximised, your automated processes can be chugging along in the background, doing the heavy lifting and freeing up your time to focus on client service, sales and strategy etc.

So, which elements of your everyday operations could you be automating? And which apps and software solutions can help you to achieve your automation goals?

Here are some areas where automation and smart systems can really help to add value

Automated bookkeeping and digitisation of paperwork

Apps like Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) and Lightyear offer you the opportunity to automate your bookkeeping and record-keeping. These solutions let you snap a photo of a receipt or invoice, digitise the contents and then automatically create an expense claim or bill in your accounting system. There’s no keying in and the whole process is synced with your choice of cloud accounting platform.

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can assist in setting up and managing these tools, ensuring your automated bookkeeping runs seamlessly.

Automated employee expenses

Apps like Weel (formerly DiviPay) give you automated control over your employee expenses. Using either virtual or physical credit cards, your staff can pay for expenses and payments are then automatically synced with your main accounting platform.

That means no late expenses claims, no need for petty cash and no wasted time keying in the receipts. All employee expenses can be tracked, measured and paid, with the whole expenses process automated from start to finish.

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can implement these tools for you and manage the processes to keep your records accurate and timely.

Automated payment collection from your customers

With payment gateways like Stripe and GoCardless you can automate your cash collection. By using a modern payment gateway, you make it easier for clients to pay their bills. 

But you also automate the actual cash collection and bank reconciliation process too. Money can be instantly paid to your main business account and all the transactional data pulled across to your accounting platform. That means less admin, and faster payments too.

Talk to us at First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray about implementing these gateways to smooth your cash collection process.

Automated marketing and social media posts

Digital marketing is key to finding customers and growing your business. You can automate a large chunk of your marketing work. These solutions let you create automated emails, target specific customer audiences and track your return on investment (ROI) in forensic detail.

Where to Begin with Automation?

Automation is about making your business work smarter, not harder. With tools like Dext, Lightyear, Weel, Stripe, and GoCardless, you’re equipped to streamline key areas, reduce admin time, and focus on what truly matters.

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray is here to help you integrate these systems seamlessly into your operations. Reach out to learn more about optimising your automation journey for efficiency and cost savings.

Talk to us about understanding the different App options to help you automate your business.

Understanding your revenue drivers

For your business to make money, you need to generate revenue.

You produce revenue through your usual business activity by making sales, getting your invoices paid, or taking cash from paying customers. So, the better you are at selling your products/services and bringing money into the business, the higher your revenue levels will be.

But what actually drives these revenue levels? And how do you get in control of these drivers?

Knowing Where Your Cash Is Coming From Is More Crucial Than Ever

As a business, you face multiple challenges, such as navigating an economic downturn, adapting to decreased consumer buying, and adjusting to evolving trading and market demands.

Understanding your revenue drivers is the first step to managing cash flow effectively. When you have a clear picture of where your revenue is generated, you’re better equipped to pivot or reinforce certain areas of your business as required. This insight allows for informed decision-making and confidence that your strategy aligns with high-impact areas of the business.

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can support this strategic thinking, helping you analyse revenue sources and overall business performance to identify where your revenue is strongest and how to enhance it further.

Important Areas to Consider

Revenue Channels

Where does your revenue actually come from? Do you create income from online sales and ecommerce, through retail sales in bricks and mortar stores, or through wholesales to other businesses? You may focus on just one of these channels, or it could be that you use a mixture of two, three or more.

With First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray’s support, you can measure the performance of each channel, making it easier to refine and improve your approach as your business and the market evolve.

Revenue Streams

Your total revenue will be made up of a number of different streams. Knowing which ones are most productive and the return they’re delivering helps with prioritisation.

For example, if 80% of your income comes from 20% of your products, perhaps you need to tighten up your product range and ditch some of the poor sellers.

If you’re selling more services to one particular industry, perhaps you should focus more marketing in this specific niche, or downscale your sales activity in less profitable niches.

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can assist by tracking these metrics, providing data-backed insights to support decisions on product lines and markets.

Product/Service Split

Do you know which products/services are the most profitable in the business?

Which products/services have been resilient to market changes (giving you some revenue stability) and which have adapted well to change?

The more you can dive into your metrics and find the most productive and adaptable products and services, the greater your ability is to provide constant and evolving revenue for the business.

With First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray’s expertise you can ensure you have access to real-time financial data to gauge what’s working well. 

Value vs Volume

Is your revenue based on selling high volumes at low margin or low volumes at a high margin?

Based on this, can you move your margin down to create a more attractive price point (and more value for customers)? Or are their ways to push volume up, shifting more units and boosting total revenue?

By diversifying into new channels, new streams or new products/services you can aim to balance value and volume to create brand new sales – and higher revenue levels.

With First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, you can dive deeper into understanding this balance. By analysing value versus volume, you may find ways to adjust your margin to make products more appealing or identify opportunities to increase volume without sacrificing profitability.

Get Support with Revenue Generation and Growth

If you’re looking to better understand your revenue drivers and make informed financial decisions, First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray is here to help.

We specialise in management accounting, providing insights that empower your business to grow. Let us handle the details so you can focus on what you do best, knowing that your numbers are in expert hands.

Talk to us about exploring and understanding your revenue drivers

We’ll review the numbers in your business, help you to understand your revenue drivers and will give you proactive advice on enhancing your total revenue as a company.

Get in touch to kickstart your revenue generation.

The difference between profit and cashflow

The purpose of a business is to make money, and that means you need to know the difference between profit and cashflow.

Net profit is what you have left after you deduct all your business expenses from all your revenue. You can improve net profit only by changing the things that affect revenue and expenses.

For example, if:

• You renegotiate with your suppliers, you may get stock cheaper, or carry less inventory
• Your staff engage with customers better, you can learn more about what they do and don’t like – and get more business
• You can roster staff differently, you may be able to run your business more efficiently.

Cashflow comes from various sources. However, it also covers operating expenses, taxes, equipment purchases, repayments, distribution, and so on. 

Note that a profitable business does not always have good cashflow. And a business with good cashflow is not always profitable. For example, you can have good cashflow, and loss-making expenses.

If you're unsure about your cashflow or how to improve it, First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray can help. Our services include regular cashflow forecasting and reporting, so you always know where you stand financially.

Keeping cash crowned as King

Your business can’t survive without cash.

The following six takeaways are essential for business success:

1. Protect your cash position, by knowing what it is. Build a cashflow statement and always keep it up-to-date. If you foresee a shortfall, start at once to fix it. At First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray, we help create and maintain cashflow statements, ensuring you have real-time data to support your decisions.
2. Create a cash buffer as an insurance against unexpected difficulties.
3. Protect your cash position against revenue shocks, by maintaining a balance equivalent to at least two months of operating expenses. We work with you to establish realistic cash reserves based on your business needs.
4. Be realistic with revenue expectations. Take action now if it looks like sales are not going to get you to breakeven. If you need help analysing your revenue trends or setting achievable financial goals, we can provide expert advice and guidance.
5. Credit checking up front will reduce the risk of customer non-payment. Make sure you follow up with clear payment terms agreed in writing. Communicate regularly with customers and automate where possible. We can help streamline this process through automation, freeing up your time to focus on growing your business.
6. Every dollar you spend reduces cash reserves. The best way to protect your cash is to create a budget for the spend you know you need, and stick to it.

Ready to Improve Your Cashflow?

If you're looking to improve your cashflow or need advice on managing profit and cashflow together, make time to talk to us. 

First Class Accounts Ovens & Murray provides a full range of bookkeeping services, including cashflow forecasting, budgeting, and management accounting, so everything gets done on time, accurately, and efficiently. We're here to help ensure your business stays financially healthy, allowing you to focus on what you do best.