VISIBILITY

Your business has been growing rapidly, but your cash is low, and you're worried that you will need more cash soon to avoid missing a payroll, but without clear visibility into the finances of your business, it's impossible to know how much is needed and when.

Because you have not formally established budgets and financial tracking mechanisms, you don't know if your financial decisions are truly adding profits to the bottom line, or taking profit away. 

You are unsure of the profitability of each product line or division. As a result, you don't know which endeavors are profitable and which ones are not.  Without this information, making good decisions about product lines is not possible.

CASH FLOW

Your business has been hit hard by the economy.  Sales are down, the cash balance is low, and your vendor payables are building up.  You know you need to take action immediately, but without clear visibility and a thorough understanding of the financial implications of your choices - it's not possible to evaluate the best course of action.

You've thought about hiring a financial manager, but even when sales are good, the money needed to employ a dedicated, competent financial manager is just not in the budget yet.

Your sales are up, but your cash flow is weak. Customers don't seem to be paying promptly. As a result, you are struggling to make payments on your monthly obligations.  You are very concerned and wonder how the business can be growing profitably and running out of cash at the same time.

ORGANIZATION MANAGEMENT

You may or may not have a finance background, but either way, you're running a business now.  You have enough things to worry about, and are not able to devote the necessary time to managing all aspects of accounting and finance, even if you want to.

Because you lack expertise in finance, you don't know what is involved in establishing the kind of financial controls, structure and process that are required to mitigate the many financial risks present in every-day business to ensure sustained profitability.

As a small business owner, you are responsible to provide all the building blocks necessary for a functioning business (such as human resources, employee benefits, recruiting, IT support, insurance, legal protection, etc.).  Because there are holes in your network of service providers, you are unsure if you have sufficiently covered the bases and if you're paying too much for the bases you do have covered.

A large customer just agreed to accept your proposal, but has required that you sign their twelve pages of terms and conditions, some of which does not make sense.  Because you have no-one in-house that can review and give you advice, and you don't want to get an expensive attorney involved, you decide to take the chance and agree to them for the sake of the new opportunity.

When you ask your managers questions about the status of current inventories or receivables, you get unclear or vague responses.

REPORTING

Your bank is displeased with your financial reports. As a result, your bankers have become unsure of your credit worthiness and are unwilling to extend you credit.

You are about to seek additional funding, but you don't know how to project your future growth and profitability in a credible way.