A view from the dashboard

Days and nights punctuated with the ping of notifications?

Just because your dashboard’s right in front of you, are you sure you have the full picture?

Say your income figures are running at an all-time high. Well done! Before you break out the bubbly, run some queries to make sure business is as good as it looks.

Expenses: If your income has gone up, have expenses increased too? What about when you factor in operating costs such as rent and salaries?

Inventory/stock: Have your inventory/stock purchases increased for ongoing higher sales? Keep an eye on inventory. If you have a lot more than you need to run your business, extra costs such as holding costs and write-downs may arise.

Margins: What’s your margin between revenue and cost? Has it grown, shrunk or stayed the same as income increased? What’s your margin for other outlay? Don’t stymie your cashflow with an unexpected tax bill.

Debt: What are your current debt levels and projected repayments? Can you knock back some business debt? You might gain real traction here.

Growth: What are your plans to grow the business further? Time line? Sketch in the investment you think it will take.

If you’re operating right up to your income, you could be trading yourself into a hole. Any unexpected cost or drop in sales could hit hard. To keep your business growing, you need to fund your plans, keep business debt manageable, and meet your tax obligations.

Talk to us if you’d like another perspective.