Over the past few weeks I’ve heard mutterings about Greece fiddling its figures in order to gain entry to the Euro and the sentiments in this blog crossed my mind at the time. However suggestions of fraud (or similar) should not be taken lightly and I decided to keep my thoughts to myself. Mutterings are one [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Cash flow and funding category.
Double dip or not – 5 tips for steering through uncertain conditions
When the credit crunch hit I was struck by how many businesses adopted a slash and burn mentality. Doubtless many businesses had been complacent and there was fat that could be trimmed, but also there was a reluctance to spend money on the things that would take them forward, whether it was marketing, skills, IT or [...]
Benefits and pitfalls of invoice discounting
Invoice financing is an increasingly popular form of funding. It has to some extent been associated with distressed businesses, although it can also be a good way of funding growing businesses. What is invoice finance? In broad terms the funder provides finance at an agreed percentage of outstanding customer balances. Typically a proportion of [...]
How fraud prevention can improve profits and cash flow
In my last blog I spoke about the increased risk of fraud in the current climate and the challenges of SMEs in preventing fraud. Whilst businesses can thrive on friendliness, informality can also result in loose procedures that leave a business exposed to fraud or error. Here are some tips which should not only help [...]
Lord Sugar’s New Year message “Success? It’s down to you all the way” > Don’t take it to extremes!
Lord Sugar’s new year message “Success? It’s down to you all the way” was published in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph. Whilst he gave some excellent down to earth advice about the banks: “They are not a charity and they do not have to lend money to any Tom, Dick and Harry” and “Forget them unless you [...]
Football and business: You need a balanced team to survive and thrive!
I recently participated in a discussion on LinkedIn entitled “Entrepreneur Success is down to people, people, people – do you agree?”. When I joined the discussion, a sales person was lauding the importance of sales in a business and someone with a marketing background was talking about the benefits of marketing. I mentioned how value [...]
