10 Tips to Survive a Cash Flow Crisis

This just went out on the wire 2 days ago, and already we’ve had calls from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and the BBC.
The Wall Street Journal boiled it down to 5 tips, which can be found on their Independent Street blog:
 
 
http://blogs.wsj.com/independentstreet/2008/10/01/five-tips-for-surviving-a-cash-flow-crisis/
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — For small business owners and entrepreneurs facing [...]

The Pros and Cons of Detailed Cash Planning

This is a series of articles on Detailed Cash Planning presented in a logic order.  To get them to appear this way in the blog, I had to write all the articles first, and then enter them in reverse order.
 

Detailed Cash Planning Defined
Who should do Detailed Cash Planning, who should not
How to guide – doing [...]

Detailed Cash Planning Defined

Detail Cash Planning is just what is says:  a very detailed approach to planning for the cash requirements of a company, and a look at whether it can meet those requirements.   
We call it detailed because it means you literally make a list of every payment you plan to make (check by check) for the next [...]

Who should do Detailed Cash Planning

Small vs. large companies
Business vs. personal finance
Starting out, no history
In trouble
In transition 

Small vs. large companies
The larger a company you are, the less likely you should be doing Detailed Cash Planning.  Part of it is the sheet magnitude of number crunching required.  Part of it is that cash has a different meaning in large companies.  You [...]

ETL – Extraction, Translation, and Loading

224.0
 
Do a Google search on ETL, and you find you’ve uncovered an entire industry.  I bet you didn’t know this:  there is a website called www.ETLTool.com devoted to following this market.  They help with research and case studies, and you can even buy their report that compares the top 18 offerings.
 
Vendors such as IBM, Oracle, [...]

Shining the Light on Franchisee Profitability and Cash Flow

224.5
 
I just got off the phone with Philip Campbell (my business partner and author of the book, “Never Run Out of Cash”).  Philip just got back from appearing on a panel at the International Franchise Association (IFA)  annual conference.  He said there was standing room only for the session – maybe 80 to 100 people.
 
Here’s [...]

KPI Series – Inventory Turnover Ratio

If you are a retailer or a wholesaler, your biggest investment is more than likely your inventory.  Turning that inventory over quickly is critical to your success. So it makes sense for you to monitor this measure and do what you can to improve your performance.  In general, the higher your Inventory Turnover Ratio, the [...]

KPI Series: Collection Period

 
What do we mean by “Collection Period”?
 
Collection Period is a measure of how long it takes you to collect your money after you make a sale.  Its unit of measure is “Days”.  If your Collection Period is 45 days, this means that on average it takes you 45 days to collect the money from the time [...]

Days of Working Capital

If you had to settle on one measure to monitor your company’s need for capital, this would have to be it. The lower the figure, the less capital you need to grow. The less capital you need to survive. Capital in a small business is not easy to come by, so it is worth spending a little time to keep on top of this critical measure.

How much cash do you have to work with?

It’s not always as simple as you think.  But it is something you should think about.
 
Philip Campbell writes in his book, Never Run Out of Cash, that there are two crucial questions you must ask yourself in order to eliminate cash flow worries:

What is my cash balance right now?
What do I expect my cash balance [...]