Everything you need to know about cash flow, liquidity, and financial management

Admittedly, creating a budget plan can be a challenge. Usually, high demands meet limited funds, leading to power struggles over budgets and, consequently, the inefficient use of resources. Simply skipping the budget plan? That is definitely not a solution, as planning creates transparency regarding the financial situation at both the project and company levels. But how does budget planning work? We have valuable tips and a step-by-step guide for you.

Every company has to deal with regular and one-off payments every month. These include salaries, rent, tax payments, insurance premiums, and loan repayments, as well as repairs, acquisition costs, and marketing expenses. These costs must be settled either immediately or within a payment term. Salaries are usually paid at the end of the month, while taxes and loan repayments are due monthly or at specific intervals. This can lead to a high financial burden at certain points in time.

What do project-based companies have in common? That’s right: an often packed and stressful daily routine. Ongoing projects with tight deadlines, demanding pitches for new clients, and unexpected change requests, all alongside internal tasks like accounting and HR—the to-do list for agencies, consultancies, and any other project-based business often seems endless. That is precisely why it is so important to follow a stringent project management approach, including well-thought-out project planning. In this blog post, we will show you what ideal project planning looks like and share tips and tricks that lead to project success.

Factoring is a smart financing method where you sell your outstanding customer invoices to a third party and receive immediate cash. Especially when your company needs quick liquidity, factoring offers the financial flexibility to avoid waiting for payments. Whether it is true, non-recourse, or undisclosed factoring: in this article, we explain how factoring works, the different types available, and the benefits it brings to your business.

In start-ups, craft businesses, and other small to medium-sized enterprises, invoicing often falls directly on the person providing the service. Many entrepreneurs only appoint an employee to handle invoicing and bookkeeping once the company reaches a certain size. However, proper invoice management should not be a question of company size, but a matter of course.

The economic aftermath of the pandemic is still being felt, and now inflation and current global politics are creating new uncertainties and bottlenecks for companies of all sizes and sectors. Due to the economic impact of the pandemic alone, up to 25,000 insolvencies are expected in 2022—primarily among small businesses. Insolvency seems to hang over many entrepreneurs like a sword of Damocles, but what exactly is insolvency? When is it a risk? And what are the consequences for a company?

Anyone running a business knows that things often turn out differently than planned. If you only think in one direction at the start, internal and external factors you didn't account for can force a company to rethink or even change its strategy, and often you may not be flexible enough to react to favorable events. That is why it is important for entrepreneurs to play through various scenarios and prepare potential strategies. Setting up scenarios can serve as a decision-making aid for strategic alternatives and help in developing concrete strategies for unexpected internal and external events. Scenarios are primarily used in financial and liquidity planning to better estimate changes in cash flow and avoid liquidity bottlenecks.

Time is money – a statement most agencies would immediately agree with, as time is usually in short supply in their day-to-day work. This is a stress factor that, alongside high client expectations, competitive pressure, and a simultaneous shortage of skilled workers, often puts too much strain on agencies.

Startup life is rarely routine. Every day is different from the last and usually quite different from what was planned. Decisions must be made quickly, alternative strategies developed, and flexible action enabled. To ensure this, employees often take on high levels of responsibility and decision-making power. A large portion of the decisions to be made during a startup's growth phase involves expenses—whether it's subscriptions for essential services, office furniture and tech for new colleagues, or simply a team brunch at the office. In the past, you had to go to the boss or an assistant every time, explain your request, and borrow the only available credit card along with the linked phone to receive the TAN. That cost time and nerves—something that is inherently scarce in a startup.