Financial management is one of the most critical aspects business owners should consider when running a company. To be successful and profitable, the company should develop long-term strategies concerning the financial aspects of the business. Whatever decision a business makes will create an impact in their finances in some way— from operations to sales, or even their human resource department.
Every aspect of a company will somehow relate to its overall financial conditions, so part of financial management and business planning includes mitigating financial risk.
What Is Financial Risk?
Businesses make sure that they have a steady cash flow as these funds are the lifeline of a business. When this is overlooked, companies subject themselves to financial risks that will lead to all kinds of financial stress. Four common types of financial risks that may disrupt your cash flow, include the following:
Market Risk
This risk refers to how your business will be affected by the change of a business environment. For example, if a company cannot keep up with technological changes in an industry, it can shift customers into buying from competitors.
Credit Risk
This is the risk of not getting paid by clients. Naturally, this will disrupt a company’s cash flow that may lead to the realization of losses.
Liquidity risk
This is when a company cannot quickly convert its assets to cash, which is also a factor in not paying obligations immediately.
Operational risk
When operations go downhill, which can be caused by fraud, poor management, or lack of planning, among many others, it will put the business under financial stress as they are not making a profit.
These risks can be assessed by reviewing a company’s financial statements and projections to mitigate risks. Financial risk management includes continuously planning all aspects of the company that may disrupt its cash flows and strategizing on how to lessen or avoid them. Failure to prepare for financial risks will lead to several financial problems or challenges that may put the company on edge.
What Are The Common Financial Problems Faced By A Business?
It doesn’t matter if you have a well-established or growing business. No matter what, business owners need to thrive in their field and monitor essential aspects such as finances and operations. Below are some of the common challenges businesses face.
- Cash/Capital Constraints – Many well-established or growing businesses often encounter this challenge; many surveys and studies have shown that there was a drastic fall in cash or capital flow. Companies faced severe difficulties as a result of this; their activities, sales, and expenditures were all adversely affected. Constraints in this area can cost huge and long-term losses if not attended immediately.
- Workforce Recruitment and retention – many business owners face challenges regarding their workforce. The workforce is one of the second largest aspects that affect a business. Investing to improve the hiring process is important, and so is investing in your current workforce. The workforce is the one that deals with the day-to-day operations and is on the front line of the business.
- Marketing – Marketing and advertising are the business aspects responsible for providing you with customers that affect your revenues. Neglecting this area of your business could stifle your growth and have an impact on other crucial components of your organization, such as operations and sales.
- Time Management – This is one aspect that business owners must also pay attention to. As an owner, you might want to divide your time and attention equally and provide the best at every deal. Lack of this practice may cause business owners or CEOs to be inefficient and lose track of the business processes.
- Administration – The ones who deal with the paperwork of the businesses, such as Bookkeeping, tracking expenses, and cash flows, procurement, and sales, also assist with legal aspects such as taxes and employee benefits. Lack of management of administration may also significantly affect the whole business since they are responsible for the administrative dealings of the business.
Five Ways To Manage Financial Instability
Setbacks are always part of operating a business, and with the market being more competitive than ever, companies can only expect even more problems to come, especially in financial stability. Here are ways to help you effectively tackle financial instability in your business:
- Construct a proper cash flow: Planning when and where you will be getting your cash for your next expenditures will give you enough time to handle any contingency if it were to occur. If you have an urgent payment that needs to be settled and you don’t have funds, at least you have an option on who you can borrow funds to pay your outstanding debt. Yes, you are using debt to pay off your debt, but this is only to give you a boost to get out of the cash slump.
- Manage and prioritize payments: When settling debt and expenses, you should know their classification depending on their urgency. Prioritize those essential debts first, and then cover the less important ones. That will allow you to determine where you need to inject your cash flow. You can start by finding any unnecessary spending of your business since it is one of the main issues in your budget management that causes overspending. Look for a cheaper supplier with the same quality and effectiveness as your current supplier.
- Have a better communications system: Be transparent. Your employees, investors, and customers need to be informed, so ensure that even your communication system is correctly placed so that facts will circulate, and no one will be misinformed.
- Shake things up, Modify and Adjust: Sometimes, the leading financial problem is choosing the wrong people for the job. If your employees are not cut for their jobs, expect a mess. You need competent people to ensure that the business will operate efficiently and effectively. Hiring an auditor to handle the reorganization of your business, including the plan, will come in handy.
- Concentrate on maintaining & expanding customers: The best way to handle a financial struggle is to build a good cash flow. Focusing on research and marketing strategy to boost your market will positively affect your profit.
Final Thoughts
Financial challenges test the capability of a business. It is essential to prepare your businesses for financial setbacks. It may take some time to recover from a financial loss, but it is crucial that you remain calm and determined to get through this challenging moment. When such financial setbacks arise, there are actions you may do to help you protect your market position and overcome these challenges. Make sure you have backup plans, which will help you when things don’t go well with your first plan.
Having a good cash flow is one thing you need to prepare. Manage and prioritize well your payments as they are essential. Distinguish between necessary and non-essential costs throughout the next quarter; this will assist you in the project where you should be placing your cash flow. Adapting to changes is also vital for businesses to survive; if a business can’t adapt to the new changes, it is more likely not to survive. Remember, it is always better to come prepared than never.
