What tools do you currently use to manage cash flow? Let’s see if it’s time to update your cash flow management system…
Are you an accountant or bookkeeper? Do you consistently come across clients who are struggling with cash flow management problems?
When it comes to cash flow management, forecasting your clients’ cash flow can be an invaluable step to not only helping your clients improve their respective businesses, but also scaling yours.
You already know how to analyse, manage and forecast your clients’ cash flow, but you’ve landed here because you’re searching for fresh and innovative ways to do so.
In a world that is constantly changing, we understand just how challenging it can be to remain ahead of your competitors with fresh ideas – we know, we’ve been there.
That’s why we created this article to help you reflect on what tools you currently use to manage cash flow, and help you take a leap forward with using the latest cash flow tools.
In fact, that's why we created an advisory software with acash flow management system built-in to help you scale your practice. Start your 14 day free trial.
What are some potential issues that your clients are facing with cash flow management?
Let’s start by taking a look at what some common cash flow issues are…
Late payments – when the work has been done, but the invoice hasn’t been paid. If your clients' customers aren’t paying on time, this could be causing detrimental impacts on cash flow. So how are you helping them prepare for this?
Changes to staff – if your clients have a high staff turnover, or they’re growing quickly and hiring more people, they’re likely spending a lot of cash on hiring and training new staff, as well as paying wages. Are your clients aware of the impacts of this?
Unexpected expenses – if you could predict everything your client might have to spend money on, that would be the most ideal situation, wouldn’t it? But unfortunately, unforeseen events happen. Damage to your clients’ place of business might occur, a key piece of equipment might break; the list goes on. Unexpected expenses are going to occur, so while you can’t predict these for your clients, you can help them prepare for them.
Too much inventory – a common issue for many of your clients might be an overstock of inventory. They’ve already spent the cash on stocking up on their product, but now it’s not selling and they’ve got to find a way to cut their losses and get rid of inventory. How are you going to help them do this?
What are some ways you are attempting to solve these cash flow management problems for your clients?
Now let’s take a look at how you’re helping solve these issues (and how they might be causing issues of your own)...
Reviewing your client's cash flow position – something you’re probably doing on a regular basis is reviewing your client's historical and future cash flow to identify trends (both positive and negative). But if you’re doing this without a cash flow tool, you’re likely spending hours of time manually sifting through data, which is why you’re on the search for a cash flow management system.
Creating daily cash position reports – to help your clients gain a general picture of how much cash comes in and out of their business, on a daily basis, you’ll be spending time creating daily cash position reports, as well as completing other cash flow reporting. Having a cash flow reporting tool to help you do this is essential, as it can save you hours of time and offer visual graphs to share with your clients.
Cash flow projections – in addition to helping your clients with managing their current cash flow position, you’re likely looking ahead projecting how your clients’ cash flow might look in the future, as we mentioned earlier. A cash flow forecasting software can help you do this quickly and accurately – the days of having to do this task manually are over!
Cash flow planning – in addition to cash flow projections, you’ll be helping your clients with understanding future visibility of taxes and other expenses that they’ll need to set cash aside for on a monthly and yearly basis. (And what the risks associated with failing to do so might be.) Having a clear view of your clients’ data can help make this process easier.
And finally, what cash flow management tools and strategies can be used to manage cash flow problems?
Now that we’ve identified your clients common cash flow issues, and in turn, identified your pain points associated with solving these issues, it’s time to identify which cash flow tools and strategies you can use as a solution.
We identified that the main issues associated with helping your clients manage their cash flow is time, accuracy and efficiency. You have the expertise to analyse your clients’ cash flow, offer advice and make projections – but for the most part, you’re stretched for time. Analysing a multitude of client data manually takes hours of time – not to mention it is not as accurate or efficient as it could be. But luckily, in today's day and age, there are automated cash flow management systems that can make this process easier for you. So let’s see what they are…
The two cash flow tools you should be using:
1. Xero – accounting software
You’re more than likely already using Xero, and if you’re not, you need to be. Xero is leading in the FinTech space for cloud accounting software. It’s easy to use, it’s intuitive, it’s based in the cloud, and it automates all of the client data you used to sort manually.
Xero has cash flow forecast tools and cash summary reports to help you analyse and forecast your clients’ cash flow more efficiently than any other accounting software has helped you before. If you haven’t jumped onboard the Xero train yet, it’s time to.
2. Aider – advisory software
The second cash flow tool that you should be using is Aider’s Advisory Intelligence Platform. Aider’s advisory software was built with Xero in mind – it connects seamlessly, pulling your clients’ Xero data and helping you bring it to a more complete and accurate state.
Offering you an aggregated view of all of your clients’ data, Aider presents your clients’ Xero data on one clear, intuitive dashboard – meaning that you no longer have to click through multiple Xero tabs.
Aider has a plug and play cash flow projection tool that uses bank transactions in real-time to track your clients’ actual cash flow position and then draw accurate cash flow estimates accordingly. Aider also generates daily cash flow position reports for you, so that you don’t have to do this manually.
The two cash flow position reports that Aider generates daily are:
The historical cash position– using historical data, this tool helps you quickly analyse which clients might be in trouble with their cash flow, so that you can support them quickly.
The estimated cash position – using AI technology, Aider’s cash flow estimate tool looks at historical spend and receipt patterns of previous periods to predict your clients’ future cash position. This tool makes it easier to complete cash flow projections quickly, easily and accurately, so that you can help your clients plan ahead.
Other helpful cash flow tools that Aider’s advisory software has:
Accurate, real-time data from Xero– analysing your clients’ Xero data in real-time, Aider makes it easy to investigate invoices and due dates; so you can quickly see how your clients are tracking with cash flow.
Benchmark other clients’ cash flow data in the same industry – another great tool you can use in Aider to help you with cash flow management is benchmarking with Aider’s financial dashboard. Because Aider provides you with an aggregated view of all of your clients’ data in one place, you can easily compare other clients from the same industry to see how they are performing with cash flow; this can help you better understand the industry standard.
Send cash flow insights to your clients with the click of a button – not only does Aider automate all of the data for you, it actually presents it to you in visual graphs and easy-to-understand insights. And, you can send these to your clients directly via the platform using Aider’s email communication feature. This saves you valuable time, and makes it easier for your clients to understand the data.
Ready to take your clients cash flow to the next level?
Now that you know which cash flow tools can help you help your clients, there's no time like the present to get started
Instead of spending hours of time analysing your clients’ data manually, let artificial intelligence do this for you. Jump in, take a look, easily spot which of your clients might be in trouble with their cash flow, and reach out to them straight away.
With cash flow management systems like Xero and Aider together, you can be more efficient, more accurate, and more proactive with helping your clients with cash flow. Not to mention you can look ahead and help them prepare with accurate cash flow projections.
Searching for cash flow tools to help you scale your advisory services?
