Some businesses are finding opportunities in the COVID19 environment while others struggle. Common to all businesses is the need for astute cash management. In our article, we look at some best practices to help you best utilise your cash.

An NZ business owner was scammed out of money after a fake invoice was sent to his business. Even though he caught the scam within a couple of hours of the money being sent, banks were not able to retrieve the funds.

When businesses aren’t paid on time, it doesn’t just affect the bottom line – it affects people.

Read why the key thing for you to do is to be aware of the necessity to monitor your cash flow position on an ongoing basis, particularly relating to work in progress, stock, debtors and creditors.

We outline some of the newest updates happening in the world of Xero that should hopefully brighten up your working day. 

Xero has introduced more granular invoicing options in Projects, allowing users to show time as individual line items on an invoice. Users can now choose to include details such as the staff member, date, task and description from their time entries. This feature is available on both the web and the Projects mobile apps versions of Xero.

Getting paid quickly should be easy – but the invoicing process can often take more time than the work itself. Read Xero's in-depth invoicing guide to help your business thrive.

Wish your cash flow was more predictable? Xero has teamed up with GoCardless so you can accept direct debit payments, to get your ad-hoc and recurring payments flowing without having to go to great lengths.

Do not click on any links or attachments in suspicious emails.  Find out more about how to identify phishing and other malicious emails, and how to stay safe online in this latest Xero security alert.

As well as bringing up your profit margins, add-ons also help save you time and streamline your cash flow. Work with us to empower your business with the technology to automate mind-numbing admin tasks, and focus on what you do best. So what add-ons should be on your hit list? 

If everything goes to plan, we could see the NZ or Australian governments use e-invoicing with their own suppliers as soon as the end of 2019. That would be the signal for businesses and software makers to line up behind a single e-invoicing standard.

Summer can be a tricky time for cash flow. It doesn’t have to be; the quiet summer period can be incredibly productive. Use Xero's small business advisory panel's practical tips to avoid the summer slump.

Learn why spending time on getting your small business structure right is just as important as the exciting times ahead as a new business startup.

Whether you’re a small business, or an accountant working with one, it’s important to know which jobs deliver the best return on investment, and which ones need to be reined in.

Cue projects in Xero: a simple way to capture, track and report on the time and money spent on each job so you can proactively invoice, make informed decisions and manage your business more efficiently.

More than a third of businesses are concerned about cash flow. One in three small/medium business (SME) owners spend their evenings doing business administration and nearly 30 per cent of SME owners want to spend less time at work, according to Xero.

Any professional in most industries could probably give you five good reasons why you should declutter and organise your life or your business every time the darling buds of spring appear.

For small and medium business owners, doing this is no longer about starting the warmer weather on the right foot.

Ever wondered how you might customise your invoices in Xero to suit your particular business needs?

Then we can answer that with two words “branding theme”.

Now you can set up a prompt in Xero software to automatically send out Invoice reminders to your customers.

No chasing up payments, sending another invoice paper copy or having an awkward phone conversation.

We all know that cash flow is king. But just how much sway does it have? Well, you might want to ask the nine out of 10 small businesses that have failed because of cash flow problems.

According to Dun & Bradstreet 90% of small businesses close their doors because of poor cash flow management.

When you have more money going out of the business than is coming in, if you can’t pay your bills, you’re running at a loss. You may have a big order in the pipeline that will cover you but you might need to seek out a loan to cover you until the money comes through.

You can distinguish temporary cash flow issues from larger issues but, either way, you need to act.