Business Tools

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Profit & Loss Performance Tutor (5-year trends)

A financial performance 'learning' exercise which will help managers to understand how the Profit and Loss figures from their business can be used to track performance over five years by developing key performance RATIOS.  This exercise will enable you to become competent in assessing business performance trends in your operation and shows where the ratios come from and how these can then be used to map the future!

Profit & Loss Analysis and Trends (last six months)

This exercise shows more detail over a more immediate trading period (the last, or any, six month period) and involves more attention with expense details.  The control and understanding of expenses in any business is a key responsibility of senior management simply because one or two months of unbudgeted or unscheduled expenses can cause the P & L to plunge into a loss situation, which then has to be reversed (or exceeded) in the next trading period.  The exercise highlights the importance of regular P & L reporting and analysis so that future months can be adjusted to ensure an acceptable full year result.

Profit & Loss "What-if" Scenario Generator

This business performance tool has been designed to allow business owners to assess the current Profit and Loss performance of their operation, at any stage of the financial year, and determine whether, under current financial conditions, the P & L trends are likely to deliver an acceptable operating profit.

Many SMB owners exhibit a strong need, or desire, to review the existing financial performance trends of their business under current market conditions, and with the revenue, cost and expense details reflecting year-to-date "actuals".  If the existing financial indicators point to an unsatisfactory profit result, the business owner can "test" a range of alternative business initiatives and immediately examine the financial impact of changes to any Profit & Loss elements on the operating profit outcome.

Business Target Generator

This simple tool allows the operator to generate a number of basic ‘what-if’ situations regarding operating profit.
The idea is that the operator selects a dollar value profit target for their business – either a month, quarter or year – it is simply a specific period output.  The accounting logic works in reverse, from Operating Profit through Expenses to Gross Profit.  The business then uses their current gross profit margin rate to calculate the value of sales required to generate the selected profit target, taking into account the expense level input.

Inventory versus Sales Mix Calculator

A business offering a "range of products" will often face the challenge of maintaining a constant balance between sales ratio and stock mix, particularly for the top (say) 10 products.  

A consistent lack of balance between sales and stock is often a "double cash whammy" - BOTH lost gross margin from missing out on sales AND having cash tied up in products that are selling slowly or not at all.

For businesses offering 20 - 200 products, inventory management and control is a critical function, particularly considering the cash invested in the asset value of inventory.  In companies that trade in high numbers of products [e.g. 1000+], at any one time there is likely to be 10-15% of "redundant inventory" which will be tying up considerable cash assets.  Balancing inventory to product demand usually means saving vast sums of working capital.

This tool is designed to be a sales ratio/product inventory mix calculator which seeks to balance stock levels with products sales, and allows a specific number of 'weeks sales' to be specified for product stock levels.  The asset value (and working capital) released by creating a inventory which reflects product demand and which stipulates an acceptable forward sales "cover", is the objective output of this business analysis tool.

Margin versus Markup Calculator

This basic tool allows the operator to input a unit cost price and then applies a range of selected mark-up percentages to that unit price.  The selling price, profit margin and gross profit per unit are then calculated.

Learning to use Microsoft Excel for business analysis

Most (if not all) PCs being used in businesses today are running Microsoft applications such as WORD, EXCEL, POWER POINT and ACCESS database.  These are the standard functional programmes running on your PCs.  Everyone knows how to use WORD for writing notes, letters, memos and email attachments.

However, few PC users in small businesses are aware of the major assistance that is available in business analysis and reporting by becoming proficient in MS EXCEL (and POWER POINT).  They truly are the wonder software tools of modern business.

The Business Solutions Shop management team are highly skilled in using MS EXCEL for a vast range of business analysis, reporting, problem solving and presentation functions. 

We can teach either the fundamentals or advanced EXCEL skills to you or your key staff members at your place of work.  No more away-from-work courses which don't use your own figures.  We will use your financial and operational information when we teach you to become an EXCEL user.  This way, everything you learn and do is immediately available in your business.  The training is tailor-made for your team and your business.  Imagine generating report tables just like you have seen on our website and then turning those numbers into colour graphs and putting them into a slide show for the staff or your account.  It's not that hard! 

Now you really know what's happening in your business and what's likely to happen!

Using your MYOB system information to generate financial performance reports

Many small businesses will be using MYOB Premiere accounting software to run the financial accounting procedures in their companies.  While this accounting software provides one of the best SME financial recording, processing, reporting and accounting support systems, there are functional gaps in the system-generated reports with regard to the level of sophistication in performance reporting and analysis you have seen used on this web site.

It is necessary to reformat the core figures generated by the many system reports available to the MYOB user that can be 'exported to EXCEL' for further analysis.  It is important to understand that when an entire MYOB report is exported to Excel, the calculation logic used inside MYOB to generate the report, does not survive the export journey into the Excel table.  Therefore, a whole series of new formulae must be created in the new Excel table to allow any new calculations, comparisons and analysis.

To be able to take advantage of the massive amount of financial performance information available from MYOB, the user requires a 'more-than-learner' knowledge of Microsoft Excel to create financially meaningful performance reports for planning future business improvement.

The Business Solutions Shop has developed expertise in creating comprehensive performance reports from the MYOB data base of financial information.