Like in life, some things in business cannot be controlled. Purchase orders cannot be cancelled right? Let me rephrase: If you asked the average punter on the street they would say that once the purchase order is raised it cannot be cancelled. The thing is, orders get cancelled all the time. So what can you do …

There is an epic number of SME’s out there that have a huge potential to grow. They have solid forward order books and great margins in what they sell. The problem is, they lack the working capital required to satisfy their customers. You already know that traditional financiers look to the history of the business …

If you have ever referred a small business client to invoice finance, then you may have experienced the rejection. Rejection because the financier has told you that there are not enough customers. This is known as a lack of ‘debtor spread’……….

For many businesses the dream is to win a contract to supply either local, state or federal government. When you tender for these contracts you are asked to provide evidence that you can fulfill that contract. This evidence is in the form of financials. In many cases SME’s financials are not strong enough to support one of these sought after government contracts. The end result is that these contracts go to larger contractors who then sub it out to the little guys.
This has been a massive thorn in the side of growth for SMEs………until now.

If you have ever wondered what is involved in the field of forensic accounting, then this video will leave you in no doubt.

“A wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches that basket like a hawke” – not sure who wrote that, I read about it (in a book). This week we are extremely lucky to have the opportunity to interview the Managing Director of SV Partners.

After you have tried your best to improve sales growth, cut costs while maintaining quality and competition, reworked your distribution channel strategy to expand your market while maintaining a steady gross margin, the next step is to concentrate on operating expenses. Where does it all end?

Maintaining and growing gross margins is a key driver in keeping your business in profit and maintaining a healthy cash flow. At the same time, you must constantly be working out ways of increasing your margin while not losing PROFITABLE customers. This article touches on factors to take into consideration when increasing margins.

When or if you ever come to the realisation that invoice discounting or factoring could be the right solution for your business, then you need to set about finding the right factor suited to your business. Having been in the industry and worked with many referral sources I can give you some simple advice in your search.

A large proportion of businesses fail when they are in a growth phase. The main reason this occurs is a severe lack of planning resulting in no cash in the bank to pay expenses. These failed business managers don’t know how to say no to business that they cannot afford to take on.

In the excellent book E-Myth by Michael Gerber, Michael points out that the primary reason for starting and building a business is to one day sell it. If he is correct in his hypothesis, and I must say that I agree with him, then you need to look at some of the factors that make your business valuable.

The blanket question here is – suppose you had access to unlimited cash for your business. How would you spend it? Would you be able to achieve something that you are unable to right now, because you don’t have the cash?

I have on occasion been asked by colleagues (outside of the invoice discounting industry) where the risks lie in the invoice discounting or factoring business. Being an insider in this business it is quite obvious to me what the risks are, however to outsiders I may need to go into a little detail. This post deals with the risks for the financier.

When I ask a business owner what their biggest challenge is and they answer “cash flow”, I start to wonder what that means. What exactly does somebody mean when they say cash flow is a problem?
In this video post I look at what goes into the makeup of cash flow and drives it through a business.

Continued cash flow helps a business survive. In reality, most businesses constantly struggle to meet their operational expenses, while groaning under the weight of accounts payable and delays in accounts receivable. In such a scenario, invoice factoring has emerged as an excellent solution that gives the business immediate access to cash, without the shadow of debt. With invoice factoring, the business is not at the mercy of banks and their tough procedures, or lenders who expect a share of the business.