The Non Accounting Speak Cash Flow Statement
In a previous post, we unpacked the income statement, which tells you whether your business made a profit. In this post we wrap up the financial literacy mini‑series with the report that confuses most SME owners even more: the cash flow statement. And honestly, it is the most misunderstood report in small businesses across South […]
Xero setup: Correct now, Correct Forever
Xero is one of the most powerful accounting platforms available to South African SMEs * and any small business. It is also, when set up incorrectly, one of the most frustrating. Much like anything, If you don’t use it properly, it’s useless. The problem is almost never Xero itself. It is the setup. A Xero […]
Advisory Accountant or Compliance Partner
Your accountant should be telling you things you did not know to ask.
If every conversation is reactive like you have a problem, they help you fix it, you are getting compliance, not advice.
Cash Flow Forecast: Looking forward
If there is one financial tool that I would give every South African SME owner above all others, it is not a better income statement. It is not a more detailed budget. It is a cash flow forecast. A cash flow forecast is simply a forward-looking view of what money is coming into your business […]
Why performance management starts with your balance sheet
Most South African SME owners think about performance in terms of revenue. Did we hit our sales target this month? Are we growing year on year? Is the business busier than it was last year? Revenue is a starting point, although it is only one dimension of business performance. A business can grow its revenue […]
The Xero Dashboard. Start here always
Most Xero users open the platform to do a specific task — send an invoice, capture a bill, run a report — and then close it again. The dashboard, which is the first thing you see every time you log in, gets glanced at and scrolled past. That is a missed opportunity. The Xero dashboard […]
Hidden Costs – how they are killing your business
Hidden costs accumulate quietly in the background, month after month, never large enough to trigger alarm in any individual month, increases often blown off as inflation or the usual annual increase.
Financial Goals: How to do it correctly
Every January or at least at the start of a new financial year, South African business owners and business owners around the world, sit down and write goals. Review revenue targets. Predict growth percentages. Explore new market entries. Start the search for staff to hire. Consider new systems to build. But because goal setting without […]
An Excel Spreadsheet or Xero
I have this conversation more often than you might expect. A business owner, usually one who has been running for two or three years, tells me they are managing their finances in Excel. They, or someone they know personally, have built a reasonably clever spreadsheet. It tracks their income, their expenses, maybe their invoices. They […]
The must do 21-question business check-up
I have introduced the PCP Method — the Purpose, Clarity, Performance framework I use with clients we work with. I described how the method works and why it matters. Now I want to give you something practical: a way to assess where your own business sits across all three pillars right now. This 21-question business […]