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  1. Financial Management Financial Management is when you use your financial information as a platform for guiding your business. The primary goal is to enhance the performance of your business. 1
  2. Contents UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.........................................3 ACCOUNTABILITY - MANAGEMENT ......................................................................3 FINANCIAL SYSTEM - ILLUSTRATED .....................................................................4 WHAT IS A FINANCIAL STATEMENT ......................................................................5 THE PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT ......................................................................6 THE BALANCE STATEMENT ...................................................................................8 THE ASSETS ...........................................................................................................9 THE LIABILITIES ..................................................................................................10 ACTING ON FINANCIAL INFORMATION ...................................................12 FOCUS ON GROSS PROFIT / CONTRIBUTION MARGIN..........................................12 QUESTIONS TO FIXED COSTS ...............................................................................15 UNDERSTANDING THE ASSETS ............................................................................16 UNDERSTANDING THE LIABILITIES .....................................................................17 HELP TO TAKE ACTION..................................................................................20 THE ART OF CONSULTANCY .................................................................................20 KEEP CONTROL ...................................................................................................21 MARK-UP COMPARED TO CONTRIBUTION RATIO ................................................22 INFLUENCE ON PROFITS .......................................................................................23 INFLUENCE ON SALES ..........................................................................................25 SWOT ANALYSIS ................................................................................................26 TERMS OF SALES AND DELIVERY ........................................................................28 PRICING - EXPENSES ............................................................................................29 PRICING - THE MARKET .......................................................................................30 CREDIT SALES ......................................................................................................31 FINANCING...........................................................................................................32 DEPRECIATION.....................................................................................................33 REDUCE STOCK ...................................................................................................34 SAFEGUARDING YOUR ASSETS....................................................................36 DELEGATED AUTHORITY AND SEPARATION OF DUTIES .......................................36 RECONCILIATION .................................................................................................37 CASH CONTROL ...................................................................................................38 PHYSICAL CONTROL ............................................................................................39 WINDING-UP YOUR BUSINESS ......................................................................41 CLOSE THE BUSINESS - A GRIEVOUS DECISION ..................................................41 DANGER SIGNALS/FINANCIAL CONTROL ............................................................41 FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT .....................................................................................43 BANK INDEBTEDNESS ..........................................................................................44 2
  3. Understanding Financial Management Accountability - Management Keeping accounts is a crucial business management tool. If you are not on top of the financial paper work in your company, you will not have a chance to guide your company properly. Keeping accounts must also comply with your country´s legislation on VAT, Sales Tax and other settlement. When you are running a company you must keep annual accounts providing information on all financial activities in your firm. • Accounts must be kept on a regular basis and must be well documented with vouchers (invoices, receipts, pay slips, statements, etc.). • Vouchers must be filed for five years. You do not have to keep the accounts yourself, but you are responsible for the keeping. • As a side effect from this work, you will be able to calculate the annual tax base and currently keep track of your VAT payable. Annual Accounts Annual accounts must be kept in such a way that it is clear to the Tax Administration how you have reached the figure for the profit of your firm. Being a sole trader you obviously have to pay income tax on your profit. This is how you make the annual accounts: Total sales of the year / turnover - less the company’s total expenses = The company’s profit, which is your wage. Companies are also liable to tax, although the calculation differs from that of an ordinary taxpayer’s. If you have proper accounts you can retrieve proper financial statements. 3
  4. Financial System - Illustrated Below you see the 5 step system of accountancy. If you are able to manage this you will get a financially well managed company. Step 1 Make sure that you get an invoice for all financial transaction you make in your company. When you buy goods, get a receipt. When you sell goods, issue an invoice. When you pay out salary, make a salary statement. Step 2 Every evening you organise the invoices, receipts, salary statements and other financial documentation. File them in date order in a ring binder. I necessary write a text that explains the content of the invoice if it is unclear. This make you remember the content of the invoice when you have to do the bookkeeping. 4
  5. Step 3 At regular intervals the invoices must be entered in a bookkeeping programme. If you have many invoices you may have to do it every day. If you only have five invoices in a week, you can do it once a month. If you purchase a PC bookkeeping programme you can do it yourself. You can also outsource the bookkeeping work. Maybe to an accountant. Or to your wife, husband or to another family member. Step 4 All the invoices are now entered in the PC bookkeeping programme. The programme can now generate reports. Reports about the financial situation in the company. Step 5 Use the different reports to look critically at your company. Does it perform well? What can you do better? When you are doing this and acting on it, you are performing financial management. What is a Financial Statement A Financial Statement is a report which tells how the financial situation in the company is at a specific time. It is usually made once a year. But you can also make a financial statement every three month. There are two main subjects in the report: 1. Profit & Loss Statement The Profit and Loss statement tells about the earnings and spendings of the company during the year. This means how much income has the company had from the daily running of activities and how much has the company spent on the same activities. This part of the report tells whether the activities have been running as a profitable business in the period or not. It is called the Profit & Loss Statement. 2. Balance Statement The other main statement in the report is the Balance Statement which shows the actual value of the company as such. This means how much money is present in the company in total when the value of buildings, tools, stock, money in the bank account and in the cash box etc. is added. It also shows how much the company owes to others. A company normally owes money to suppliers, the bank and to the owner of the company. Where does the statement come from The statement reports are generated by your PC bookkeeping programme or your accountant's programme. The statement is generated from the vouchers entered in the bookkeeping programme. 5
  6. If you have entered all your vouchers correctly during the year, the statements will give a true financial picture of your business. To be able to read the statement you must know the elements in it. The Profit and Loss Statement Profit & Loss Statement for a commercial company usually follow this structure: Sale / Turnover - Variable Costs / Used Goods = Gross Profit - Fixed Costs - Depreciation - Interest = Profit Sale / Turnover Sale / turnover is the ”the money you receive from the customers” when they have purchased a product or service from you. • If you sell 10 pairs of shoes at 100 $ your sale / turnover will be 1.000 $ • If you sell 5 hours of consultancy service at 75 $ per hour your sale /turnover will be 375 $. Any sales tax will not be a part of the budget. Sales tax will be accounted for separately. Variable Costs / Used Goods In the second line of the Profit & Loss Statement all expenses directly connected with the sale are deducted. The more you sell the higher variable costs. • If you expect to sell 10 pairs of shoes you have to buy 10 pairs of shoes. • If you expect to sell 7.000 pairs of shoes you have to buy 7.000 pairs of shoes. The buying of shoes is directly connected with the selling of shoes (used goods). If you produce leather shoes you have to buy leather (raw material). The purchase of leather will show as variable costs / used goods in the budget. Consultants rarely have expenses concerning the “variable costs / used goods”. For instance an accountant has few direct expenses in producing the yearly accounts for a client. Maybe 20 sheets of paper. 6
  7. Gross Profit The difference between Sales and Variable Cost is called Gross profit. It shows how much money you have got left to pay for instance your rent, telephone, internet access, marketing and your own pay. Fixed Costs Fixed costs will usually not be higher if you sell more. And not lower when you sell less. The rent of the shoe shop will be the same whether you sell 10 pairs of shoes or 150 pairs of shoes. The staff might be able to sell 150 pairs of shoes. But they only sell 10 pairs. It takes time to lay off staff so Staff expenses is considered a Fixed cost. Fixed costs can be variable - like a telephone bill. It is because the telephone bill does not necessary vary with sales volume. The variation is due to other circumstances than the sales volume. Write Of / Depreciation You invest in a new building for your business. Or you purchase a 10 thousand dollar machine. You can not deduct such big investments in the accounts the first year. The investment must be spread out over several years. One way to do it is to depreciate / deduct / write of 30 % of the value every year. An example: • A machine cost 10.000 $. Year 1 you can deduct 3.000 $ in the operating budget (30 % of 10.000). Year 2 you can deduct 2.100 $ (10.000 - 3.000 = 7.000. 30 % of 7.000 = 2.100) For specific rules in your country contact an accountant or the relevant authorities. Interest If you borrow money in a bank you will see the interest deducted as an expense in the Profit and Loss Statement. Also the different charges to the bank can be deducted. Interest for money borrowed from family or other sources can usually not be deducted. For specific rules in your country contact an accountant or the relevant authorities. 7
  8. Profit / Net income Also referred to as profit/loss or proprietor´s salary. Net income is the proceeds a proprietor makes from running his/her business. Net income does not always exist in terms of cash. It can be partly or fully tied-up in stocks or balance due from customers. The Balance Statement The Balance Statement shows the Assets and the Liabilities in the company. • The Liabilities indicate the sources of money which have been available to the company. You could also say: “Where did the money come from” • The Assets show how the money which has been made available to the company was placed. You could also say: “What did we do with the money” The Balance Statement only tells how the company stands on one particular day, for instance the 31st December. The Balance Statement is usually made by the accountant but it is in your interest to understand it. The first Balance Statement Imagine that you start your business on the 1st January. This is also the day your Balance Statement starts. • On the 1st January you use 10.000 of your own personal money to put into your new company. On the balance sheet it looks like this: Assets Liability Cash 10.000 Owners Equity 10.000 Total 10.000 Total 10.000 On the 2nd January you buy a powerful graphic Mac computer at 3.000. You use the money from the cash box to buy it. The balance sheet then looks like this: Assets Liability Cash 7.000 Owners Equity 10.000 Equipment 3.000 Total 10.000 Total 10.000 • On 3rd January you are allowed to borrow 12.000 from the Bank. You use 8.000 of the loan to buy goods for your Art Shop. 8
  9. You put 4.000 on a Bank account for later use. The balance sheet then looks like this: Assets Liability Cash 7.000 Owners Equity 10.000 Bank account 4.000 Loan from Bank 12.000 Equipment 3.000 Stock 8.000 Total 22.000 Total 22.000 The transactions you will be doing throughout the year that effects the balance accounts will be registered like the ones shown above. Notice that Assets always equals Liabilities. The Assets The Balance Statement is divided into assets and liabilities. The Assets can also be divided into two types: the Current Assets and the Fixed Assets. A third type of Assets which is a kind of "in between" the other two is the value of the stock. Current Assets The Current Assets are the values which are fairly easy to get access to in case you need money. The Current Assets are the following: • Cash • Bank account • Staff debtors - money which staff members owe to the company • Other debtors - money which other people/businesses owe to the company • Stock – goods that you are able to sell Stock If you have a production company or a shop you add the value of all the items in stock together in the balance statement. The stock is in your possession so you are the owes who own it. Maybe you have not paid for all the stock yet, but then your debts to the stock will be shown under the “liabilities” in the Balance Statement. The value of the stock is the value which was counted in the shop or at the production plant when closing of the accounts for the year. 9
  10. Stock can fairly easily be converted to cash if needed by selling maybe at purchase value. Fixed Assets Fixed Assets are the value in the company which is fairly difficult to get hold of, that means to convert to cash if you need it - opposite the Current Assets. The Fixed Assets are: Buildings Tools and Equipment – the more expensive ones Cars Other equipment of a certain value. Total assets When you add the value of the Current Assets accounts, the Fixed Assets accounts and the value of the stock, you get the figure for the total Assets in the company. Assets Liability Cash 7.000 Owners Equity 10.000 Bank account 4.000 Loan from Bank 12.000 Equipment 3.000 Stock 8.000 Total 22.000 Total 22.000 Current Assets + Fixed Assets = Total Assets. The Liabilities The Balance Statement shows the Assets and the Liabilities in the company. The Liabilities can be divided into two different types: Money that the company has accumulated during the years Money that the company has borrowed or owes to creditors At least at the end of every financial year a company will calculate the two types of liabilities. Together they make the sum of money which is available to the company at the end of a financial year. For instance at 31st December 2005. Accumulated funds The part of the liabilities which is the money that the company owns is usually registered on the following accounts: 10
  11. Owner´s Equity Donations The Owner´s Equity is the company´s accumulated funds. It consists of money which was given to the company when it started. Probably the money came from the owner himself and/or his investors. Money which the company itself has generated from its activities prior to the financial period will be registered here. For instance the profit generated in the company in 2005 will be transferred to Owner´s Equity. If one year you lose money the amount will be deducted from Owner´s Equity. If the company is a development project or a socially oriented organisation it will now and then be granted funds. These donations will be registered on the Donation account. Creditors The money that the company owes to creditors could be registered on the following accounts: Bank loans – money borrowed from a financial institution Suppliers – goods received but not paid for Sales tax – tax owed to the government Staff tax – tax owed to the government Other Creditors – others the company owes money Liabilities = Assets When you add all the above mentioned Liabilities you get the total figure. The figure must be the same as the total figure for the Assets. This is due the accountancy system: The Double Entry System. Example from a Balance Statement: Assets Liability Cash 7.000 Owners Equity 10.000 Bank account 4.000 Loan from Bank 12.000 Equipment 3.000 Stock 8.000 Total 22.000 Total 22.000 11
  12. Acting on Financial Information Focus on Gross Profit / Contribution Margin You have received the Financial Statement from the accountant. You could now put it into a drawer or just send it to the Tax Department. If you just do this a lot of useful information would be wasted. The Financial Statement should be used as a tool to monitor the progress in the company. What has financially been running well in the company and what has not?. This kind of information is in the Financial Statement if you know how to read it. There are some key figures in the Profit & Loss Statement which are interesting to look at. One of the most interesting figures is: Gross Profit The difference between Turnover and Variable Cost shows how much money you have got left to pay your rent, telephone, internet access, marketing and your own salary (profit of the firm). Example If you sell CDs at $ 25.- on the internet and promote it like this: “No postage & packaging”, your calculation could look like this: Sales price 25.00 $. - Purchase price at CD company: 18.75 $ - Packaging and padded envelope: 01.00 $. - Postage: 02.00 $. = Gross Profit: 03.25 $ (13 %) This calculation shows you that each time you sell a CD at 25 $. you have 3.25 $ left. This has to cover other expenses than those related directly to purchasing, packing and dispatching the CD. This amount is also called the Contribution Margin or Gross Profit. Contribution Ratio You can also calculate a percentage, then it is called contribution ratio. It is done like this: Gross Profit x 100 / sales price = Contribution Ratio In the above CD example the contribution ratio is: 12
  13. 3.25 $ x 100 / 25 $. = 13 % Gross profit when selling services The Gross Profit differs substantially between different trades. The above example generates a relatively modest contribution margin. Compare this to a consultant giving management and development presentations which may cost 1.500 $ per presentation. Here you may only have 50 $ of direct expenses for the Taxi taking you to the hotel where the presentation is held. This generates a 1450 $ Gross Profit (97 % in contribution ratio). But then you probably have considerable fixed costs and you cannot expect to sell presentations 40 hours a week. The same thing applies to accountants, lawyers, psychologists and others. When Gross Profit goes down There are a number of explanations. Some of them are: If you run a shop you always lose some items. You could drop a bottle of cooking oil, a computer game could be stolen or a dress damaged You may for different reasons have chose to sell some items with a mark up of only 20% instead of the usually 40 % mark up You have built up a big stock because of bad sales The cost price has risen but you have not yet raised your price You use more raw material than earlier You may have sold some items cheaper because you wanted to reduce a large stock. Too much staff compared to the size of production Get higher Gross Profit Possible solutions to get a higher Gross Profit: Make sure that items for sale not spoilt during transport or in the handling in the Shop Investigate the price level for each of your items. Are you charging too little compared to others in the area? You should always take the highest price possible for your products. On the other hand, if the price is too high you might sell less. 13
  14. Investigate the items you are selling. What is selling and what is not. If special items are going slowly, do not sell them. It is too expensive to have items in stock which do not deal with them. Maybe you could also sell other items which you do not have in the shop at present. Make sure that you have a stock control system. If stock taken from the store room is not registered when it enters the sales facilities it will be too easy to sell the items without entering the money in the cash register. One always has to know how much was on the shelves in the morning and how much was left in the evening. The value of the difference between the amount of goods in the morning and in the evening should be in the cash register. Example – production company If a production company or a tailoring workshop has a negative Gross Profit, what can you do? First you should be happy that you are able to see, that there is a problem. If the company activities were not divided into sections on the Profit & Loss Statement you might not have noticed that the production/workshop was running with a loss. Possible reasons for a low or negative Gross Profit: Compared to the production, too many people are working in the workshop, the productivity is too low (the staff make too few items) The price of items is too low or too high Low sale because there is no market for your products Possible solutions for getting a better Gross Profit: Adjust the number of staff to the actual possibility for sale Better marketing of the products - sell more products More efficient work with the same staff Adjust the design or make a new collection of your product which suits the customers. Close down the workshop and transfer the staff to other duties or they may even be made redundant. You could also decide that you accept a negative Gross Profit if the activity has some value which can not be dealt with in financial terms. The product might provide a valuable service which would otherwise not be available to customers and thus increase your range of customers in general. If this is the case you can decide that the Profit from other sections will have to pay for the loss in this section. 14
  15. Questions to Fixed Costs Profit & Loss Statement for a commercial company usually follow this structure: Sale / Turnover - Variable Costs / Used Goods = Gross Profit - Fixed Costs - Depreciation - Interest = Profit Each of the items in the Profit and Loss statement should be examined at regular intervals. You can always minimise costs or optimise performance. The questions you could ask when looking at the Fixed Costs / Overhead expenses could be: Can we reduce any of the Overhead Expenses without affecting the production income negatively? Do we need to buy stationary for 1.950 $ and what is it that we bought? Go through all entries in the Salary account. What do each staff member in the administration get in salary? Is it too high – or too low? Can we reduce some of the bank fees? - And what kind of expenses are included in bank fees? Why is the cash deviation so big? Can we find less expensive consultants which are just as good? Do we have to spend so much on transport? Does mileage on the cars relate to expenses on gasoline? Why are transport costs not put on variable costs under the different sections so it would reflect the sections' use of the car? Which buildings have we maintained this year? Who did the maintenance work and on what price? Did we get an offer from three contractors? Have we chosen the best way of depreciation and do we have obsolete machinery? Are there banks who give a lower interest rate? Some of the answers to these questions might give you some ideas for adjusting the Overhead Expenses. 15
  16. Understanding the Assets The Balance Statement shows the Assets and the Liabilities in the company. The focus is here on the Assets. Example Here is an example of a Balance Statement from a business, that are selling goods from a shop or are producing items in a factory. Assets Liabilities Cash 5.000 Creditors 10.000 Bank account 7.000 Loan from Bank 11.000 Debtors 3.000 Tax 2.000 Stock 11.000 Owners Equity 19.000 Equipment 4.000 Buildings 12.000 Total 42.000 Total 42.000 Cash The asset “Cash“ tells the reader that you had 5.000 in “real money” in somewhere in your company on this specific day. 5.000 is a lot of money to keep on the premises. But maybe you just received the cash from a Debtor in the morning and have not had the possibility to put it into the bank account. If possible always have your debtors to pay their debts directly to the bank. It is safer. Bank account If you look at your bank statement it should in this instance show that 7.000 is placed on your bank account. This is money you can withdraw from the bank when you need it. Debtors Debtors are persons or businesses that owe your company money. The amount of money stated on “Debtors” represent the money you hopefully will see placed on your bank account within the next 30 days. When you sell on credit to a person this person becomes a debtor. You should at least every month go through your Debtors file. The ones who have not followed their payment obligation should be contacted at once. There might be debtors who have been in this account for years. It might be an idea to remove these debtors because they will never pay. You cannot consider debtors who cannot pay an asset. It is a loss. 16
  17. Stock The figure stated in Stock is what you have found when you did your stocktaking. This means you counted all the items in the stock and figured out how much it worth. You should evaluate the quality of your stock at least once a year. Are you still able to sell the specific item? Is it too old and obsolete? If you continue to count stock which is worthless the asset called “Stock” will not represent the correct value. Equipment If your company has bought any big machines, cars or expensive office furniture the current value should be stated here. Each year you depreciate (write-down) the value of the different pieces of equipment so it always represents the actual value on the specific day. If during the years you have bought a new big machine you add the price of it in the account. If you have many different kinds of equipment it could be wise to make different accounts. It will then be easier to overview these assets. You could make these three account instead of just one: Equipment Production, Equipment in Offices and Cars. Each year you should review each piece of equipment and decide whether it is entered to the current market price or not. If not there might be a reason for not stating it at market price. it is important for you know why. Buildings If you have bought the building in which you run your company you state the value of it here. If you live close the a major city the value may have risen considerable during a year. The value of the building makes your company financially solid. Remember to write up the value of your premises. Understanding the Liabilities The Balance Statement shows the Assets and the Liabilities in the company. In the following the focus is here on the Liabilities. 17
  18. Example Here is an example of a Balance Statement from a business, that is selling goods from a shop or are producing items in a factory. Assets Liabilities Cash 5.000 Creditors 10.000 Bank account 7.000 Loan from Bank 11.000 Debtors 3.000 Tax 2.000 Stock 11.000 Owners Equity 19.000 Equipment 4.000 Buildings 12.000 Total 42.000 Total 42.000 Creditors Creditors are usually the companies from which you buy your goods and equipment. If they are so kind to give you credit you are a creditor to these companies. The Balance Statement only tells how the company stands on the particular day you have chosen to do the accounts. The amount stated may be different tomorrow. To day it says 10.000. Tomorrow maybe only 9.000 because you have paid a creditor 1.000 in cash. (the Cash Account will then go down to 4.000) To be a trustworthy business man you should go through the Creditors file at least each month. Then you can make sure that you pay your bills on time. Loan from Bank Nearly every business owner must use a financial institution to administer the flow of money in the company. Banks can lend your business money to large investments like buying a business premises or a car. It can also allow you overdraft facilities in case of a temporary shortage of money. You can split the different loan facilities on different accounts. It will help you get an overview of your loans. Tax and other public obligations Nearly all countries make companies collect different taxes. Taxes that are used to make the country run. These taxes could be sales tax, tax deducted from staff salaries, health insurance tax, environmental and clean water duty. These taxes have to be paid at regular intervals so on the Tax Account you accumulate all these taxes. 18
  19. Owners Equity This account shows how much “The Company” owes to the “Owner of The Company” Imagine that you on the 1st January start your business. This is also the day your Balance Statement starts. • On the 1st January you use 10.000 of your own personal money to put into your new company. On the balance sheet it looks like this: Assets Liability Cash 10.000 Owners Equity 10.000 Total 10.000 Total 10.000 Hopefully this investment of 10.000 will give you the possibility to gain profit from your business. If the profit from the company the first year is 5.000 and you “leave the money” in the company the “Owners Equity” will have risen to 15.000 (10.000 + 5.000). On the other hand if you lose money from running your business the loss will be deducted from the “Owners Equity”. 19
  20. Help to Take Action The art of consultancy It is necessary for an entrepreneur to seek the assistance of various consultants for business start-up, running and developing support. Other than family Knowing quite well that the best consultants for an entrepreneur is family and friends and the company’s employees – and not least other entrepreneurs – this section focuses on the professional consulting service in terms of private or public advisers, lawyers, account officers, etc. Prepare consulting Consulting services can be a crucial factor for a company’s prosperity and eventual survival. Proceed with common sense and thoughtfulness. Good advice does not turn up spontaneously. It takes preparation and follow-up. And first and foremost successful consultancy service takes an entrepreneur disposed to consulting, an entrepreneur who knows how to use a consultant. Mainly, two types of consultancy need exist for the entrepreneurial business: • Technical consulting services • Strategic consulting services Technical Consulting Services Typically, an entrepreneur will have to identify the need for technical consulting services him/herself as it usually arises from a problem that requires a here-and-now solution. A problem arises and the entrepreneur begins a search for a consultant specialised in the specific field. If the right one is found the problem is solvable and the entrepreneur can resume interrupted work. Technical consulting services include accounts, IT acquisitions, web site creating, working out sales letters, etc. Strategic Consulting Services Whereas technical consulting services solve a specific problem, strategic consulting services cover the over all challenges a business owner comes up against. Answers, which strategic consulting services can help you find: • Which clientele should I aim at? • Should I focus on one service only? 20
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