Is Cash Management Keeping You Awake at Night?
March is Credit Education month! As part of that, we hope to give our readers some new perspectives and information on credit awareness and options. We’ll touch on several facets of Credit Education from personal to business credit. First up — Small Businesses!
Here at First South Bank we hear from brave small business owners that have managed to keep their doors open or opened new businesses in this changed economy. There are a number of things that keep small business owners awake at night, but we often hear that managing cash flow is the most worrisome. Logically it seems that cash flow issues can be managed with a suite of bank products from loan facilities to electronic bill payments. But, was does that really mean? What does cash management mean? How much time and effort does it take to implement cash management products?
These are all great questions, let’s take the first question and clarify with some definitions. Cash management is the efficient use of banking tools that help collect and distribute cash while saving the business owner time and money. Another commonly used banking acronym that needs defining is ACH. ACH stands for Account Clearing House. Simply put, it’s the electronic transfer of funds. Another term commonly used in cash management is imaging, which is the transfer of an image of a check or other monetary instrument.
How much time and effort does it take to implement cash management? The answer is easier than you think! A well trained banker can easily assist with your needs just by asking the right questions and listening to the answers. While cash management may seem complicated and time consuming; these products will save you time and effort in the long run. Consider these common problems and the cash management solution:
1) You are often unable to pay your bills on time because you are waiting for your customers to pay you.
Consider using ACH services to debit your customer much more efficiently than waiting for a check to arrive
You may also use an Invoicing service that sends your invoice to your customer with a convenient option to pay online.
You might also try paying your bills with our credit card solution and you may be able to negotiate better payment terms if you pay before the bills is due!
2) You find yourself rushing at the end of the day to gather your checks and deposit slips so that you will make the end of the day banking cutoff.
Have you thought about Remote Deposit Capture which sends images of checks to First South Bank for deposit using a scanner that is located conveniently at your office? And has a 10PM cutoff?
3) You find yourself spending valuable time calculating hours and gathering employee time cards. You find that your employees are less productive on paydays because they want to get to the bank to cash their checks. You find that you are not an expert in accounting but can’t afford another employee to make sure that you are paying your employees and withholdings properly.
Why not use ACH services to transfer money directly from your business account to your employee’s bank account on paydays? No more paper checks to deliver and time lost at the bank.
You may consider also using a service that will take care of payroll and account all for one flat monthly fee
4) What if you’ve had fraudulent activity and want to close your bank accounts so that no one can ever take money from me again?
The solution to this terrifying occurrence is to make sure fraud never happens to your business using Account Reconciliation with Positive Pay. After emailing us a list of checks and ACH’s that you’ve authorized, the bank makes sure that nothing but those listed items clears your account and that your account is reconciled. Provides you great piece of mind.
Now that you know how simple and easy cash management is to use please call one of our experienced bankers to help you set up your cash management account today. We’ll help you focus on what you do best: Running your business!
By: Kim Asby, Cash Management Sales Officer
Washington, NC
