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. 

On this episode of Future Of Business we are tackling invoice collections and scourge of long payment terms. Poor collection process and long payment terms crush a businesses cash flow and their ability to grow.

Did you know:

"1 in 5 invoices to ASX200 companies are outstanding longer than 30 days!"

"A one day reduction in debtor days was worth an additional $18,000 in the bank for your average SME!"

We are excited to have on the show business guru -  Rachel White, CEO of CFO For Rent - to help us understand the impact of poor collections on a businesses cash flow, but more importantly discuss simple tips and technology to get your small business paid faster. Have the notepad at the ready, this episode is full of some super useful information! 

Here we go... a new financial year! We hope you have set some ambitious goals for FY 2018. We can help you achieve them.

One of our goals for this financial year is to align people, process and technology with effective cash flow management. Reporting is the critical final step in this process. Whether you are the finance manager, the external bookkeeper or even the CEO, reporting is critical to highlight problems, and more importantly, map out the best course of action to reach the most optimal solution.

This week on the Future of Business we are excited to have Guy Pearson, co-founder of Practice Ignition and Chairman of Interactive Accounting, on the show to share his experience and insights on how to best deliver business advisory in your firm.

The Skippr team has been hard at work testing, learning and developing over the past few months following invaluable feedback from our users. Thanks for all that have contributed. We couldn't have done it without you!

Budget 2017 was in short, inoffensive. The crux was stimulus through infrastructure spending and big bank levies. There was a mention of improving accountability and transparency with welfare benefits. The Australian homeowner gained most of the attention with an array of housing affordability measures.

But what did the 2017 budget bring for the Australian small business?

Tune in to the Future Of Business to hear from Noel Tuifino (My Accounts) and James Carey (Prime Partners Accounting) as we discuss some of the wins and losses from Budget 2017 for small business.