Economic forecasts for Brazil are conservative. Of course, in a scenario like this, purchasing power takes a hit, business moves more slowly, and sales may suffer a bigger impact — and so may your company's results.
All the more reason to sharpen your management analyses and keep a close eye on the company's numbers. Aligning commercial actions will be fundamental to improving results over the course of the year.
Management analyses: what you need to keep in sight
The first quarter is already gone. How were your results? Were the targets met?
If your company managed to sell everything it set out to in the first 3 months of the year, great! But you need to chart paths to keep the same pace over the coming months.
Now, if your company fell short of its desired sales target for those months, the warning light is on! More than ever, it is time to double down on management analyses. And even if your company hit its sales target but profit was not what you expected, you still have a problem to solve.
That is why we have listed below some indispensable analyses to keep (or put!) your company on track.
Sales Report
How much did you sell last month? Who was your best salesperson? Which customer bought the most? This information helps direct efforts toward those who buy the most. It can also help you realize it is time to replace one of your sales professionals.
In addition, the sales report is the tool that will serve as a thermometer to gauge how close your company is to reaching the result targets that were set. Sales are what guarantee revenue, collections (let's set defaulters aside), and the resulting ability to meet your obligations.
Selling is not an easy task, but you do need to have the numbers achieved at hand to guide your decision-making.
Billing Report
So sales keep moving along — and how is billing doing? It is important to keep an eye on it so you do not miss invoicing a sale. A contract may run late or even sit on the desk of someone who is on vacation, for example.
Late billing can affect the month's results and even your cash flow, by pushing the payment deadline further out as well.
Oh, and when it comes to billing, you also need to evaluate returns. Yes — because there is no point in your company invoicing, say, R$10,000 and having 90% of that come back as returns. At the end of the day, your number was much lower, and if you look only at billing, you may be fooling yourself.
Income Statement (DRE)
A well-prepared income statement will give you an overview of your company's financial status, with information such as:
- Total sales revenue;
- The organization's general expenses;
- Costs related to products and services;
- Sales taxes and other taxes levied on the operation;
- The profit the company earned from its operations.
For more efficient management, the income statement is fundamental and should be analyzed whenever a month ends to measure the effectiveness of the practices adopted so far. Based on it, you can make decisions to direct, for example, cuts to costs or expenses, or even indicate the possibility of an investment.
It is worth highlighting here that, for your management analysis to be efficient, categorizing expenses is essential. Separating the types of expenditures will allow a careful assessment of what can and cannot be eliminated. To speed up this analysis, start by separating fixed and variable expenses. If you manage to reduce a fixed cost, for example, the impact will be greater, since it will also affect the following months.
Cash Flow
Of course, selling is fundamental for your company, as is managing your results. But having your cash flow at hand can be the difference between struggling with payments or not. This means it is necessary to reconcile inflows and outflows.
If your customers pay you between the 5th and the 10th, for example, it is quite important that payments to employees and suppliers happen after that, right? You also need to know whether revenue has come in and what amount is available to settle your commitments.
And you will only notice that this process is misaligned — that the company's account is running out of balance, or that at some point in the month it goes negative and there are losses from fines and interest — if you have a cash flow ready for review.
Technology as an ally in management analyses
Managing the company and running the right management analyses will be much easier and more efficient if you have technology as an ally. A simple solution that automates operational functions and offers views delivering the information you need to steer your business is fundamental.
In times of digital transformation, data handled in spreadsheets or solutions that do not provide the management analyses you need can no longer be part of your day-to-day.
That is why we want to talk a little about the Useall system, an online management system that will make managing your business much easier. The solution helps with sales, purchasing, financial, inventory, CRM (customer relationship), and production management. With all these routines integrated, you save time and can count on:
- Dynamic indicators and management analyses such as overdue accounts, financial position, income statement, cash flow, and more;
- Invoices and payment slips;
- Management best practices;
- Distinctive service;
- Multi-user access with predefined permissions;
- A multi-company concept that supports branch offices.
In addition, because it is in the cloud, you can skip buying servers, machine licenses, backup procedures, and other IT (Information Technology) routines. In fact, you will not even need an IT professional.
Take stock of your company's first quarter to stay on course for the year. Also assess whether the information you have available to steer your company toward success is sufficient. And get to know the Useall management software to better understand what the management routine is like with information at hand!
If you prefer, contact us.
Originally published in Portuguese at useall.com.br.