Cash flow is the pulse of your business | Commercial Accounting Services Milwaukee

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any small business. Some business experts even say that a healthy cash flow is more important than your business's ability to deliver its goods and services! While that might seem counterintuitive, consider this: if you fail to satisfy a customer and lose that customer's business, you can always work harder to please the next customer. If you fail to have enough cash to pay your suppliers, creditors, or employees, then you're out of business!

What is Cash Flow?

Cash flow, simply defined, is the movement of money in and out of your business; these movements are called inflow and outflow. Inflows for your business primarily come from the sale of goods or services to your customers, but keep in mind that inflow only occurs when you make a cash sale or collect on receivables. It is the cash that counts! Other examples of cash inflows are borrowed funds, income derived from sales of assets, and investment income from interest.
Outflows for your business are generally the result of paying expenses. Examples of cash outflows include paying employee wages, purchasing inventory or raw materials, purchasing fixed assets, operating costs, paying back loans, and paying taxes.

Note: An accountant is the best person to help you learn how your cash flow statement works. Please contact us and we can prepare your cash flow statement and explain where the numbers come from.

Cash Flow versus Profit

While they might seem similar, profit and cash flow are two entirely different concepts, each with entirely different results. The concept of profit is somewhat broad and only looks at income and expenses over a certain period, say a fiscal quarter. Profit is a useful figure for calculating your taxes and reporting to the IRS.
Cash flow, on the other hand, is a more dynamic tool focusing on the day-to-day operations of a business owner. It is concerned with the movement of money in and out of a business. But more important, it is concerned with the times at which the movement of the money takes place.
In theory, even profitable companies can go bankrupt. It would take a lot of negligence and total disregard for cash flow, but it is possible. Consider how the difference between profit and cash flow relate to your business.

Example: If your retail business bought a $1,000 item and turned around to sell it for $2,000, then you have made a $1,000 profit. But what if the buyer of the item is slow to pay his or her bill, and six months pass before you collect on the account? Your retail business may still show a profit, but what about the bills it has to pay during that six-month period? You may not have the cash to pay the bills despite the profits you earned on the sale. Furthermore, this cash flow gap may cause you to miss other profit opportunities, damage your credit rating, and force you to take out loans and create debt. If this mistake is repeated enough times, you may go bankrupt.

Analyzing your Cash Flow

The sooner you learn how to manage your cash flow, the better your chances for survival. Furthermore, you will be able to protect your company's short-term reputation as well as position it for long-term success.
The first step toward taking control of your company's cash flow is to analyze the components that affect the timing of your cash inflows and outflows. A thorough analysis of these components will reveal problem areas that lead to cash flow gaps in your business. Narrowing, or even closing, these gaps is the key to cash flow management.
Some of the more important components to examine are:

• Accounts receivable. Accounts receivable represent sales that have not yet been collected in the form of cash. An accounts receivable is created when you sell something to a customer in return for his or her promise to pay at a later date. The longer it takes for your customers to pay on their accounts, the more negative the effect on your cash flow.
• Credit terms. Credit terms are the time limits you set for your customers' promise to pay for their purchases. Credit terms affect the timing of your cash inflows. A simple way to improve cash flow is to get customers to pay their bills more quickly.
• Credit policy. A credit policy is the blueprint you use when deciding to extend credit to a customer. The correct credit policy - neither too strict nor too generous - is crucial for a healthy cash flow.
• Inventory. Inventory describes the extra merchandise or supplies your business keeps on hand to meet the demands of customers. An excessive amount of inventory hurts your cash flow by using up money that could be used for other cash outflows. Too many business owners buy inventory based on hopes and dreams instead of what they can realistically sell. Keep your inventory as low as possible.
• Accounts payable and cash flow. Accounts payable are amounts you owe to your suppliers that are payable at some point in the near future - "near" meaning 30 to 90 days. Without payables and trade credit, you'd have to pay for all goods and services at the time you purchase them. For optimum cash flow management, examine your payables schedule.

Some cash flow gaps are created intentionally. For example, a business may purchase extra inventory to take advantage of quantity discounts, accelerate cash outflows to take advantage of significant trade discounts, or spend extra cash to expand its line of business.
For other businesses, cash flow gaps are unavoidable. Take, for example, a company that experiences seasonal fluctuations in its line of business. This business may normally have cash flow gaps during its slow season and then later fill the gaps with cash surpluses from the peak part of its season. Cash flow gaps are often filled by external financing sources. Revolving lines of credit, bank loans, and trade credit are just a few of the external financing options available that you may want to discuss with us.
Monitoring and managing your cash flow is important for the vitality of your business. The first signs of financial woe appear in your cash flow statement, giving you time to recognize a forthcoming problem and plan a strategy to deal with it. Furthermore, with periodic cash flow analysis, you can head off those unpleasant financial glitches by recognizing which aspects of your business have the potential to cause cash flow gaps.
Need assistance? We can help you analyze and manage your cash flow more effectively and make sure your business has adequate funds to cover day-to-day expenses.
We at Small Business Accounting Solutions LLC, work closely with small business owners in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Washington counties. As a "one-stop-shop", we provide our clients with complete Accounting services, Business and Individual Income Tax preparation, Payroll services, Quickbooks training and more! Small Business Accounting Solutions, LLC 1025 S Moorland Road Suite 500 Brookfield, WI 53005 Phone: (262)547-6000 http://www.sbasgroup.com

Payroll Services in Milwaukee | Small Business Accounting Group

 Small Business Accounting Solutions LLC serves Milwaukee, Waukesha, Brookfield. We offer payroll solutions to meet all of your business's needs. Call us today at 262-547-6000.

When it comes to paying employees, laws and the IRS have made the payroll function a time consuming nightmare for the small business owner.
Small business owners spend an average of eight hours a month performing payroll functions. That's 12 full days a year that could be spent generating sales, prospecting new business opportunities, improving products or services, or servicing customers.
We offer payroll solutions that meet your business's needs and enable you to spend time doing what you do best--running your company.

Why Outsource Your Payroll...

• It's Cost Effective
  Use your staff more efficiently by letting us handle payroll and the associated legal details. Reduce overhead by removing the need to hire specialized employees.
   
• It's a Time Saver
  Our payroll service eliminates the burden of customizing, updating and maintaining your own payroll system--no more data entry, no more researching updates or new laws, no more worries.
   
• Worry Free Payroll Tax Filing
  Eliminate the risks of calculating and filing your own payroll taxes by having professionals do it for you. Federal, state and local payroll tax laws are frequently changing and becoming more complex.  How much time do you want to spend  learning all the rules and keeping your information up to date?
   
• Allows You To Focus On Core Competencies
  Our professional staff allow you to focus on the core competencies of your business. We are accounting professionals--you get the experts working for you and with you.
   
• Comprehensive Reports
  You get a wide variety of user-friendly and accurate payroll reports. For a nominal fee, we will include union reports, certified payroll, workers' compensation reports and much more.

Get the Payroll Solution That Best Fits Your Needs.
We know that when it comes to payroll service - no one size fits all. That's why we offer the following 3 custom payroll processing options.
1. Comprehensive Payroll Services
Our Comprehensive Payroll Service takes care of all of the payroll processing for you, so that you won't have to. You get...

• Your payroll checks prepared and printed on-time, every-time.
• All of your payroll checks are laser printed on "blank" check stock to ensure maximum security and meet the micro encoding standards as set forth by the Federal Reserve System.
• Free Direct Deposits
• Worry Free IRS and State tax reporting as well as EFTPS tax deposits.
• User friendly, and easy to understand monthly, quarterly, and annual payroll tax reports, including W-2, W-3 and 1099 forms.
• Detailed reports on your employee's vacation, sick days, and personal days accruals.
• Creation and filing of the required new hire reports
• Your payroll records maintained in tip top shape.

2. After-the-Fact-Payroll Services
We will take your manually-prepared payroll records and other payroll information and post this information to our data files, so you get...

• Worry Free IRS and State tax reporting as well as EFTPS tax deposits.
• User friendly, and easy to understand monthly, quarterly, and annual payroll tax reports, including W-2, W-3 and 1099 forms.
• Detailed reports on your employee's vacation, sick days, and personal days accruals.
• Creation and filing of the required new hire reports
• Your payroll records maintained in tip top shape.

3. Online Payroll Processing
You can enter your employee's hours and earnings securely online and get...

• The ability to instantly print payroll checks on your own printer.
• Free Direct Deposits
• Worry Free IRS and State tax reporting as well as EFTPS tax deposits.
• User friendly, and easy to understand monthly, quarterly, and annual payroll tax reports, including W-2, W-3 and 1099 forms.
• Detailed reports on your employee's vacation, sick days, and personal days accruals.
• Creation and filing of the required new hire reports
• Your payroll records maintained in tip top shape.

Custom Payroll Reports Service
There seems to be an endless amount of special reports Government agencies require. We can prepare the following reports for you.

• Worker's Compensation Audits
• Unemployment Claims
• Social Security Audits
• Child Support Audits
• W-2 and W-3 processing
• 1099 and 1096 processing
• Preparation/assistance with Federal and State registration forms.

We at Small Business Accounting Solutions LLC, work closely with small business owners in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Washington counties. As a "one-stop-shop", we provide our clients with complete Accounting services, Business and Individual Income Tax preparation, Payroll services, Quickbooks training and more! Small Business Accounting Solutions, LLC 1025 S Moorland Road Suite 500 Brookfield, WI 53005 Phone: (262)547-6000 http://www.sbasgroup.com

How to build your Milwaukee Business the Nice Way | Milwaukee Small Business Advisors

How to build your Milwaukee Business the Nice Way.

I learned that business owners want us to listen to them, guide them and not surprise them with fees and tax liabilities. It's personally important to me to have a relationship with each client - and to communicate clearly in a language that everyone understands. I want my clients to reach their goals - and want to do more than just crunch numbers for them.
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
It's interesting to see how many small businesses try as soon as possible to follow the example of some large corporations to build an impersonal "corporate image."
People actually prefer to do business with people, not institutions. The last time you called an organization with a problem, weren't you frustrated and didn't you experience emotional pain while "going through voice mail hell" or being transferred until you got connected with a person who could solve your problem? Corporate leaders with good marketing sense understood this.
When we think of Hewlett Packard, we think of Bill and Dave. Lee Iacocca rebuilt Chrysler largely by being the corporate spokesperson in commercials. No advertising has been more successful for Wendy's than Dave Thomas telling us about his latest fast food offering. According to John Sculley, former president of Apple Computer, it requires 16 times the investment for an existing customer to replace the profits of one who is lost.
Keeping existing customers is a key to running a successful business.
Why we lose customers?

According to a study conducted by the Technical Assistance Research Project in Washington D.C., 3% leave for convenience, 9% because of a relationship, 15% because of product, price or delivery problems, and 5% for other miscellaneous reasons.
That leaves 68% for the most significant reason: perceived indifference. Customers want to feel important and appreciated. A key to build customer loyalty is to build a relationship with customers/clients/patients where they feel important and appreciated!
In any business, but especially a business where there is contact with a customer and a representative of the company either in person or on the telephone, the best way I know to cement that relationship is through personal notes - thank you notes!
Personalize thank you notes by hand addressing the envelope and using a real postage stamp. A hand-written note is best. But if your handwriting is terrible, be sure to sign the letter in blue ink.
When should you write thank you notes?
When you are getting started in business or in sales, you should write a note after any contact, including meeting someone at a seminar or when you exchange business cards. Learn to be sincerely appreciative and express that appreciation. If you deal with a problem, apologize personally with a personal note and be sure the problem is resolved as quickly as possible; maybe even sending another note after it's done.
You certainly will want to acknowledge major purchases and referrals with thank you notes. You can sometimes exploit or manipulate people and make a sale. But when you become an "assistant buyer," a friend who helps the customer make transactions in his or her best interest, and express your interest in the customer as a person, you are building a business or a sales career that will provide for you and your family for years to come.

We at Small Business Accounting Solutions LLC, work closely with small business owners in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Washington counties. As a "one-stop-shop", we provide our clients with complete Accounting services, Business and Individual Income Tax preparation, Payroll services, Quickbooks training and more! Small Business Accounting Solutions, LLC 1025 S Moorland Road Suite 500 Brookfield, WI 53005 Phone: (262)547-6000 http://www.sbasgroup.com