business accounting software
The Profit and Loss dissected - Part 1 - Quick overview
If you are running a small business or using small business accounting software it’s vital that you master reading and understanding your profit and loss statement. And if you are stuck You will find videos on Youtube in the Small Business Heroes channel to help you understand this report or statement.
The profit and loss reports the activity in sales, expenditure and profitability over a specified period of time.
The Profit and Loss or P&L is often referred to as the Income statement, it tracks and reports the financial activity of your business over a period such as a month or a quarter.
Here is a simple explanation to help you make sense of the profit and loss.
Here I share with you how the profit and loss is generally presented in reports created by small business accounting software
I will also explain how the profit is calculated by walking you through the simple calculations that happen when the P&L is reported.
Just one important point before I begin. Get it clear in your mind now - The profit and loss will NEVER tell you how much cash you have. Profit doesnt mean you have cash, get this fixed in your mind right now. The amount of cash resulting from financial activities is to be found in the balance sheet.
Always first is Sales (in other words how much you’ve sold),it’s also known as Income or Revenue and is always shown at the top of the profit and loss report generated by your small business accounting software The balance or amount on this line is derived from your Income Accounts.The Income accounts contain a detailed history of the products and services you have sold.
So if you’re reporting by month and in March you invoiced or sold 1,000 worth of Products or Services. This line will show a balance of 1000.00 for March.
The lines in the top section present the resulting balances from transactions that occurred in the time period specified by you
Profit and loss? How to read it - Part 2 - Expenses
In businesses that sell stock you will find a line directly below income called Cost of Goods. Reports in most small business accounting software will display this as COGS
This line represents the actual costs (COGS) associated with the Products you sold in the period you report from your small business accounting software. The purpose of this line is to help folks who sell products calculate the gross margin or gross profit, in other words the amount of profit made after taking into account the costs directly associated with acquiring and selling the goods.
Gross profit or gross margin is the sum of subtracting COGS from Income. Gross Margin is often expressed as a percentage and to calculate the gross margin and express it as a percentage just divide the Gross Margin by the value of sales you made in that period. Now if you’re a Services Business life is a little more complex if you want to determine the Gross Margin you make on Services (and you should). The reports in some small business accounting software systems will help you determine this.
Head over the to the Small Business Heroes channel in Youtube for a more in depth explanation. In the next line directly below COGS comes the Operating Expenses or costs of operating the business. Operating Expenses are straightforward to understand - they are the running costs of the business over a period of time.
This section is often divided into major groups such as Sales and Marketing, General and Administration, Research and Development. As you can see these sections represent major functions or centres of activity in a business. These rows detail the amount of money spent in a given period.
The balances in these sections are derived from Expense Accounts and it’s really important that you know and understand that there are two major types of Expense in any business. These are Fixed and Variable expenses.
How you can get people all over the world to buy your knowledge
I can 100% prove that using online video to teach new skills is the best way to promote and sell your knowledge (the small business accounting software video above took me about an hour) on the internet. I am going to walk you through a very straight forward method that will show you how to turn your knowledge into valuable content and sell it through the internet to a world wide audience. You should build your own product as it will build your confidence and skills and give you a much higher return on your efforts as all of the margin is yours and even better still you will be able to understand what makes your customers buy and build it into your next product and sell more.
I know you will be familiar with the term podcast and the chances are you may have even downloaded a podcast video or audio to iTunes and loaded it onto your iPhone or iPod. I love these video distribution platforms as they really have helped me sell and build a reputation for my low cost alternative to conventional small business accounting software such as Quickbooks or Peachtree.
The best instructional videos I have seen have always been produced using a technique called storyboarding this helps you decide and refine how you to best share your knowledge with your audience. The simplest place to begin creating a storyboard is to use Microsoft Powerpoint or Apple Keynote slide or presentation creation software as this type of content can easily be made into video. The really good news is that you can produce a storyboard, create your video and fine tune it and get it to market without spending any money what so ever the most this exercise is going to cost you is time and effort and believe me you will learn so much that you will look back and see that this is time well spent.
I have been creating my videos in Podcast, YouTube and downloadable video format for over two years now using a really fantastic tool called Camtasia Studio which is developed by TechSmith a US company, whatever you do watch all of the tutorials before downloading the thirty day fully functional trial. Once you install the Camtasia software trial you only have thirty days to get confident with the software, produce your video and maybe refine it so don’t download the trial until everything else is ready.
Get stuck into learning about these tools if you are serious about this opportunity and in the next few days I will write the article that will appear on this blog (owner permitting) that gives you an in depth view on how to create the storyboard and I will be using the small business accounting software video as a real life subject to help you thoroughly understand the techniques.
Cloud computing - the business case
Every business manager and journalist I know is talking about the advantages of cloud computing. But what is it, what does it really mean for business and what are the monetary and tangible benefits?
Cloud means Internet. The computing takes place on the Internet – instead of the software you use being installed on your computer, it runs somewhere on the Internet on a server located in a data centre usually staffed by people who are proficient in managing technology. This type of “cloud” software is commonly known as “on demand” or Software as a Service (SaaS).
Some good examples of well established Software as a Service are:
Web based CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management) – Salesforce.com pricing approximately $9 per user/month.
Small business management and accounting software (small business ERP) – Salesorder.com pricing $45 per user/month.
Medium sized business ERP software – NetSuite pricing approximately $99 per user/month.
There are 3 major benefits for every business here:
Time, cost savings and reliability
Businesses don’t require a dedicated IT expert to help them identify, commission and monitor the systems platform thus cutting operating expenses and time to deploy. The burden of regularly backing up information is eradicated as this is normally an inherent feature of the “cloud” software. Cloud software “operators” often have stand by systems that can be deployed in seconds should a catastrophic issue occur.
Easier selection and more choice
With just a web browser, businesses now have instant access to a big selection of applications they can in most cases immediately test and rapidly decide if the software fulfils their needs at no cost. This makes it very easy for innovators in large businesses to circumvent the standard information technology purchasing processes and easily test and justify their business proposal.
Superior user experience
The web provides immediate feedback to application designers and has led to significant progress in user interface design resulting in more intuitive systems in turn decreasing learning times and improving user satisfaction. This of course means faster adoption and better productivity.
Why business cannot ignore cloud computing
All of the technology and business people I regularly talk to keep talking about cloud computing. But what is it, what does it really mean for business and what are the financial and physical benefits?
Cloud means Internet. The computing is done on the Internet – in place of the software you use running on your desktop pc, it’s hosted on the Internet on a server located in a data centre commonly staffed by people who are skilled in managing technology. This type of “cloud” software is often referred to as “on demand” or Software as a Service (SaaS).
Some shining examples of popular Software as a Service are:
Web based CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management) – Salesforce.com pricing around $9 per user/month.
Small business management and accounting software (small business ERP) – Salesorder.com pricing $45 per user/month.
Medium sized business ERP software – NetSuite pricing around $99 per user/month.
There are a number of substantial benefits for every business here:
Time, cost savings and reliability
Businesses don’t require a resident IT expert to help them choose, install and monitor the technology infrastructure thus pushing down operating costs and time to deploy. The burden of vigilantly backing up data is taken away as this is often an inherent function of the “cloud” software. Cloud software “operators” usually have stand by systems that can be deployed in a very short amount of time should a disruptive failure occur.
Easier selection and wider choice
With just a web browser, businesses now have 24/7 access to a massive choice of software packages they can in the majority of cases immediately evaluate and quickly decide if the software suits their needs at no cost. This makes it straightforward for people in large concerns to circumvent the standard information technology buying processes and easily assess and justify their business case.
Better user experience
The cloud provides instant feedback to system designers and has fuelled significant progress in user interface design resulting in easier to use systems thus decreasing learning times and improving user satisfaction. This of course means faster adoption and higher productivity.
How to be more in control of your financials
Good business managers spend a significant portion of their time solving business problems. Murphy’s law states that if something can go wrong, it usually will at the worst possible time. You cannot solve a problem if you don’t know about it in the first place. Solid business management means you have to excel at adeptly resolving complex problems quickly.
In summary, every business manager has to have good financial controls. Financial controls are like early warning systems that immediately send out a signal when financial problems start to occur. Good financial reports, the type you can produce from small business accounting software is a key element in implementing good financial controls. It is critical that you can create reports using small business accounting software that let you examine the differences between planned and actuals in focus areas such as cash flow, expenses and revenue. The safest way to commence with this exercise and keep it simple is to highlight a group of the key numbers you need to track and creating just a few reports that present them in a simple format.
You should constantly be monitoring the behaviour of your margins on all products and services you sell and any changes should immediately receive your focused attention. Any change regardless of how minor in the margins or volumes of product sales should be closely scrutinised, understood and addressed as a substantial drop in profits will inevitably follow. Do not under any circumstances let fixed costs deviate from the plan, especially in the early stages of the financial year. Track your debtors position very closely and focus on the average number of days it takes to receive payment of your invoices, the best way to do this is to use the Days Outstanding or Debtors report that you should find in most small business accounting software packages.
Experience is the way to learn and over time you will learn which financial controls should be highlighted in your accounting reports, just make sure you have the right small business accounting software that can generate these.
Action steps to better financial controls
Business owners are always ready to tell you how much of their day is consumed by dealing with problems in their companies. Serious business problems generally occur unexpectedly and to the unprepared. Knowing you have a real problem to solve can only happen if you know what you should be watching. You cannot grow a good business without managers who are great problem solvers.
All businesses should have managers who know the importance of and can implement financial controls. Financial controls are the guardians that detect and bring problems to the manager’s attention. A good reporting system is essential to the support of financial controls, this functionality can be found in most good small business accounting software. It is essential that the small business accounting software you deploy in the business can give you reports to compare actual versus budgeted activity such sales, expenses and cash flow. Design your reports by selecting a small group of key numbers and operating ratios you need to manage and then as you become more comfortable with this approach add more complexity.
Be vigilant particularly when it comes to tracking and immediately understanding any deviations from the norm in your margins. Volume sales operations are particularly sensitive to changes in margins as losses can multiply quickly and therefore it is vital that you monitor both the changes in margin and volumes. You must monitor fixed expenses closely especially at the outset of the financial year and always make sure they are in line with your plan. Track your debtors position very closely and focus on the average number of days it takes to receive payment of your invoices, the best way to do this is to use the Days Outstanding or Debtors report that you should find in most small business accounting software packages.
Experience is the way to learn and over time you will learn which financial controls should be highlighted in your accounting reports, just make sure you have the right small business accounting software that can generate these.
Implementing better financial controls
Good business managers spend a significant portion of their time solving business problems. Problems have a habit of leaping out at you when you least expect them. You will never be able to spot a problem if you don’t know what to watch out for. There is no place in a management team for a manager who is not adept at problem resolution.
It is essential that every business has solid financial controls. Financial controls should be specifically designed to detect financial problems and immediately bring them to the attention of managers. A good place to start designing financial controls is around the reports you can run from small business accounting software. For example actual costs versus budgeted costs, differences in the performance in current and previous periods of revenue and expenses, behaviour of cash flows and profits are all things you have to be able to comprehensively report and therefore should be easy to generate from small business accounting software packages. Think carefully about what you want to track and monitor, pick a small group of key numbers and ratios and then design and test the reports to make sure you get the information you need, when you need it.
Margin changes can spell trouble, so you should be vigilantly tracking these and have a mechanism to alert you when changes occur. Watch your margins and changes in the number of sales, especially if you are running a business which relies upon volume sales for income as losses multiply at a frightening rate if the causes are not immediately arrested. Never take your eye of the fixed expenses of the business in the early part of the year and make sure they follow the budget. Good small business accounting software should let you easily create debtors reports (people who owe you money) and the results in these reports should be monitored closely.
Experience is the way to learn and over time you will learn which financial controls should be highlighted in your accounting reports, just make sure you have the right small business accounting software that can generate these.
How to be more in control of your financials
Every business manager will spent a great deal of time every day dealing with business problems. Murphy’s law states that if something can go wrong, it usually will at the worst possible time. Knowing you have a real problem to solve can only happen if you know what you should be watching. Every manager has to be a problem solver and get on top of problems the moment they occur.
A business cannot survive without thorough financial controls. Think of financial controls as a sentries that sound the alarm when a financial problem occurs. The majority of financial controls are based upon the results derived from your accounts which are managed using small business accounting software. For example good small business accounting software should be able to report actual costs compared with budgeted costs in a given period or versus the last period. The safest way to commence with this exercise and keep it simple is to highlight a group of the key numbers you need to track and creating just a few reports that present them in a simple format.
Vigilantly keep an eye on the margin on sales and don’t hesitate to investigate any changes regardless how insignificant they might be. Decreases in volumes of products sold or their respective margins can rapidly lead to immense decreases in profitability and therefore its important that you know about these and react quickly. Do not under any circumstances let fixed costs deviate from the plan, especially in the early stages of the financial year. Monitor the collection of payments and pay special attention to the average number days it takes for you to receive the money, this is easily done using the debtors reports to be found in most small business accounting software.
Experience is the way to learn and over time you will learn which financial controls should be highlighted in your accounting reports, just make sure you have the right small business accounting software that can generate these.
How to be more in control of your financials
The number of hours per day spent solving problems has the biggest impact on the time of good business managers. In my experience, things that can go wrong usually do at a time when you just don’t need them to. Knowing you have a real problem to solve can only happen if you know what you should be watching. Business management goes hand in hand with problem resolution.
It is essential that every business has solid financial controls. Financial controls are the guardians that detect and bring problems to the manager’s attention. Financial controls go hand in hand with the reports produced by small business accounting software. For example good small business accounting software should report actual sales revenue versus budgeted sales revenue for a specified timescale or period. Think carefully about what you want to track and monitor, pick a small group of key numbers and ratios and then design and test the reports to make sure you get the information you need, when you need it.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to quickly investigate any deviation in the margins you should of course be monitoring. I cannot stress enough to those of you in volumes sales businesses how important it is to closely track changes in margins or volumes as the effects can very rapidly cause issues. Do not under any circumstances let fixed costs deviate from the plan, especially in the early stages of the financial year. Scrutinise the debtors reports found in most small business accounting software specifically for the average number of days it takes for you to get your invoices paid, this is a really essential operating ratio that every business should have in place.
Experience is the way to learn and over time you will learn which financial controls should be highlighted in your accounting reports, just make sure you have the right small business accounting software that can generate these.
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