Controlling expenses and managing/monitoring cash flow are critical to any successful business. Businesses that cannot correctly manage their cash flow ultimately find themselves shutting their doors within the first 5-years.
However, cash management isn't the easiest task to stay on top of, for new and even experienced business owners. There is a balance needed between having enough cash on hand to cover normal operations, marketing efforts, etc., and investing back into the business to promote its growth.
Cash-Flow Monitoring
A business must first have a basic understanding of how much cash it needs to operate, how much it has on hand, and how much it's owed. Being able to forecast future cash flowing in and out is equally important. Ideally, a business owner would want to be able to do this all without wasting time gathering data and that is where having a comprehensive system, such as NetSuite, comes into play.
The Cash 360 dashboard that is available within NetSuite gives customers real-time insight into their current cash position and overall cash flow. It is fully customizable to see different cash management activities, display reminders, current cash balance, accounts payable/receivable balances, forecasts, and more.
Source: NetSuite
NetSuite has recently rolled out an improved level of forecasting accuracy as well, by pulling in multiple new data points (planned expenses, billing schedules, sales forecasts) and combining them with open AR and AP transactions. This provides users with a greater sense of reliability from their forecasts.
Simplifying Intercompany Operations
Companies that are parents to smaller companies or even companies that have various departments within can no longer struggle with intercompany transactions and data.
NetSuite makes it easy for accounting staff to identify and link intercompany purchases and sales orders to save time and reduce the risk of financial reporting errors. NetSuite even improved upon these features by adding the ability to automatically pair vendor invoices with credit memos and bill credits.
Payment Processing Improvements
As businesses grow, keeping up with payment processing can become tedious for accounting staff. If payment processing begins to lag, it will directly convert to cash flow issues.
NetSuite offers a bulk customer payment feature that allows for invoice payments for multiple customers to be consolidated and applied in a single step. It also offers improved automation features for things like scheduled credit card payments, so businesses can remove their inefficient manual processes.
The end result is a much quicker payment processing procedure that allows cash to be recognized quicker by the business for more accurate financial reporting and forecasting.
To learn more about NetSuite, how it can assist a business, and how AccountingDepartment.com can tie it all together, reach out to us today! Our client accounting services are structured to give business owners their time back to focus on the business, instead of the accounting.
