Many finance professionals have focused on cost optimisation since the pandemic began having such a significant impact on business and economic health. If you’re searching for ideas on how to save money or cut costs over the coming months – you’re not alone.
- Topic:
- Finance
Aside from the fact that 2020 has been an unprecedented year for business challenges, there are a variety of reasons why your business growth management may not be hitting the milestones expected. In this article, we take the perspective of a Finance Director or CFO and examine some factors in the business growth process that may be holding the business back. We also discuss practical ideas for how to manage business growth more assertively in 2021 and beyond.
- Topic:
- Finance
One of the fundamentals of being human is a desire to work with or alongside others. By working as a team, we can often achieve more; and the process of focusing on achieving a shared goal can be a positive experience too. Although Finance teams have traditionally sat together and worked in groups, the world of work is changing. The onward march of technology, a tsunami of data, and the rise of remote working, have all had an impact on the Finance function. In this brave new world – how can you empower Finance to work effectively as a team?
- Topic:
- Finance
Cash flow issues in business can cause serious problems – in fact it’s one of the most commonly cited reasons why companies fail, especially SMEs. But there are also plenty of actions that can be taken by finance professionals to improve cash flow. In this article we look at some the most common cash flow issues in business, as well as some actions that can be taken to address them.
- Topic:
- Finance
Knowledge is power – so the saying goes – and timely information is the key to project profitability analysis. It’s not enough simply to have a profitable project plan on paper, because once everything is up and running and things change, staying on top of the information is crucial. In this article, we look at project profitability analysis from the Finance leader perspective. We identify 10 ways in which the profit margin in project management can be protected and maximised.
- Topic:
- Finance
The Making Tax Digital rules first came into force in 2019. Prior to that, it was estimated that HMRC was losing up to £4bn per year as a result of simple errors on tax returns. When VAT taxpayers filled out their returns it was common for mistakes to occur, often unintentionally, because spreadsheets weren’t always sophisticated enough to highlight when something didn’t quite add up, and filling out a pen and paper tax return was even more problematic…
- Topic:
- Finance
With England now in its second lockdown, finance leaders in businesses across all industries find themselves in a similar position to March - but with one distinct advantage.
When we entered lockdown earlier this year, we were all gripped by uncertainty, no one working today has lived through anything like this, so from the day-to-day point of view of a finance team, it was all about reacting, re-forecasting, re-budgeting and stabilising cash flow in any way possible - while simultaneously setting-up remote working and learning to operate in a different way to usual.
Businesses as a whole were quick to react to the outbreak and introduce contingency plans, with almost 80 per cent of businesses in response to one survey claiming they had already put these plans in place before the end of March. Only each business will know themselves how effective those contingency plans have been.
Now with lessons learned, businesses go into this lockdown with experience which is vital to navigate through difficult trading periods and means finance teams are better equipped to understand what the financial data in lockdown is telling them and how to turn plans into action.
- Topic:
- Finance
We all know that Black Friday 2020 is set to be a little different. However, despite the obvious challenges of one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the midst of a global pandemic, retail finance teams will still be preparing to carefully balance forecasting, stock control, payments and transactions to ensure that Black Friday brings a much needed boost to a sector that’s been hit hard.
- Topic:
- Finance
Paying bills and making payments affects each and every one of us every month of our adult lives. For most of us, we have the income to ensure that all our bills can be paid on time whenever possible.
Yet when this relates to businesses - payments aren’t always made for the date the invoice is stamped with. This could be put down to a number of contributing factors, like cash flow issues, disputes over the goods or service received or the workload of finance teams meaning they fall behind on actioning payments. It may even be because there’s no short-term tangible consequence for a business that chooses to pay late.
When it comes to big businesses, incoming late payments might not have the same impact or potential damage that a late payment can have on a small business, which relies more heavily on its cash-flow to function month-to-month.
In fact, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), 50,000 small firms go out of business every year in the UK due to late-paying clients. Showing just how important it is for all businesses to keep up with payments to their suppliers and partners.
- Topic:
- Finance
Technology has always altered the way we live and work but this year, things have happened at a much quicker pace than many of us ever imagined.
The big difference in 2020 is that technology has not been the catalyst for change. With dramatically different circumstances in both our work and personal lives being forced upon us, change has driven our requirements for technology rather than the other way around.
- Topic:
- Finance
