Akansh Prasai, Director of Talent Crowd, has always had a deep passion for technology. As a curious child, he’d take apart his Nintendo console and put it back together to understand how it worked.

Akansh has enjoyed a diverse career in the IT space from managing technology support teams right through to developing a niche skillset in the area of technology recruitment. It was in 2014 that he founded his first business: a technology recruitment firm built on the principles of integrity, transparency and trust. “I found this area of IT to be deeply rewarding, but eventually felt restricted by traditional recruitment firms, who valued profits over building long-term relationships with clients,” Akansh says.

The timely payment of income from our employers keeps us going; it helps to pay for our day-to-day expenses – the mortgage, electricity, water, phone bill, loans and groceries. 

You could say that mastering the art of business cash flow can be compared to mastering the art of balance and equilibrium. It’s all about knowing what’s coming in, whilst managing what’s going out. Whether you’re an established small business or right in the start-up phase, having a clear understanding of cash flow is imperative and is the key to long-term growth.

Even if your business model is second-to-none, you’re showing signs of profitability and you have investors knocking on your door, you simply won’t survive if you can’t manage your business’s cash flow. Cash is the lifeblood for any business, keeping it afloat. If you don't have cash in the bank to support this, there’s a good chance your business will sink very quickly.

Kate Chalker is the type of person you want in charge of a growing business. Intelligent, enthusiastic, and articulate, she has the air of someone who while juggling multiple balls at once is always in control.

As we discussed in part-one, while delayed payment on accounts payable is often accepted among the business community as a fact of life, it can have serious ramifications on small businesses.

Managing working capital and ensuring that you have access to cash when you need it is a critical part of being a business owner. However, according to Xero Small Business Insights, only 52 per cent of Australian small businesses were cash flow positive in April 2019.

Every business faces the typical challenges of getting paid by customers, paying taxes, paying suppliers and accessing finance.  Simple processes in theory but unfortunately tiresome and unexciting to the extent that they are often neglected or totally forgotten about until it is too late. 

Skippr has been listening and learning about these challenges to develop technology manage these processes proactively to save time and instill confidence within a business owner and their finance team that they have the cash to achieve growth, prosperity and balance.

The Skippr team is super excited about this product update as it is another step closer to our core mission - giving a business cash flow confidence. 

Christmas in Australia is a joyous time of year hallmarked by great weather, school holidays and family time. Many small businesses see their sales skyrocket at the end of the calendar year, but for some the festive season is marred by huge disruptions to your businesses cash flow. 

What do you need to do prepare your business for the festive season?

Hear from  business gurus - Andrew Van De Beek from Illumin8 Accounting, Sam Musgrave from Nine Advisory, David Boyar from Sequel CFO and Troy Townley from HTA Advisory - who have shared their 12 merry tips that will get your small business ready for christmas.

"Approximately $16 billion is currently owed by small businesses to the ATO. "

Managing all the different facets of a business is a challenge. One area that is often neglected and in turn costly, is compliance and reporting with the government organisations like the ATO and ASIC.

In this new era of accounting where cloud technology is driving automation, accountants and bookkeepers need to re-align their revenue models to what the customer is willing to pay. Value-based pricing is simple in theory but challenging in practice as lens of value is shifted from the practitioner to the customer. 

Tune in to another episode of Future Of Business and hear from Sophie Hossack, Country Manager of Receipt Bank, as she reveals some of the key benefits to value-based pricing but also tackles the challenges many practitioners face in adopting and delivering value-based pricing in their firm and to their customers. Some fantastic takeways in here for any accountant and bookkeeper building a practice for the future.