Statistics show that over half of small businesses fail within the first four years. Clearly that problem could be significantly reduced if  the founder / Manager understands good New Zealand small business accounting fundamentals and how to operate a business with them.

Here are some of the key elements that will help you with financial management for your New Zealand business:

• Managers may not do their own accounting, but successful ones learn how to manage with regular (at least quarterly) financial statements (balance sheet and profit-and-loss) that an internal and / or external small business accountant produced.
• Managers should know what their gross profit margin needs to be and what it is. 
• Managers track monthly sales-to-expense ratios in order to know when to adjust spending.
• Managers monitor inventory levels against projected sales, receivables and cash.
• Managers know how to calculate Accounts Receivable days and Accounts Payable days, understand the relationship between the two, and the impact of that relationship on cash.
• Managers identify the critical financial indicators and ratios that can be revealed on the Statement of Financial Performance and its relationship with the Statement of Financial Position.
• Managers consider how sales growth becomes risky when not properly funded, and that you can succeed yourself out of business.
• When a business isn’t profitable, professional Managers identify the top barriers to profitability and deal with them quickly, decisively, and without emotion.
• Successful Managers delegate many things well, but they stay close to the company’s cash picture from today to the next 12 months.

The ultimate responsibility for the business’s financial performance belongs to the owner/manager. We are very happy to sit down with you about your business and concerns you may have. We currently have small and medium business accounting clients in Botany, Manurewa, Manukau and Pukekohe and service South Auckland, West Auckland and North Shore for face to face meetings. We also have business accounting clients in New Zealand and Australia we work with over the phone or Skype. We give credit to an American Author Jim Blasingame from the USA who said this: Blasingame’s Small Business Success Attitude: 

• I accept that my small business will face challenges every day.
• As I begin my day, I will assume the attitude that, regardless of the number of challenges, the degree of difficulty, or who caused them, if my business is to survive, I must face each one.
• Therefore, I know that the only thing in question today is how well I will respond to challenges, and the future of my business may well depend on the answer to that question.

Please fill out this form if you want us to start with your 2019 Financial Accounts: CW Questionnare 31 March 2019