In this lesson, you will learn how to identify how cash moves in and out of a business. More importantly, you will learn how to identify the silent killers of cash flow that lurk in companies. In four weeks we will explore the difference between profit and cash and how to spot it in your financial statements. Financial statements are a reporting of what’s happened in the past. Successful business owners need to be able to understand the past, while preparing and forecasting the future. Cash is considered King, and in this course, we will explore the reason why.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Understand why cash is considered king and how to get, keep, and grow it in your business
- Understand the critical difference making a profit on paper and having cash in your bank account
- Identify how cash flow problems begin and understand that it is not a problem that only small businesses have
- Analyze a company’s financial statements and identify problems areas and develop probable solutions
- Manage the critical components that drive cash flow in a company, and what adjustments you can make immediately
- Prepare a company to make a loan request from the bank to meeting operating cash shortages.
Core Values
We believe that cash flow can be eliminated as a reason that businesses fail. 82% of business owners who failed blame poor cash flow management as the reason. Primarily, it was a lack of understanding the difference between paper profit and actual cash that contributed to the problem. Our economy requires a robust small business ecosystem to support the overall business community. So, each failure present both a challenge and an opportunity for other connected businesses.
The concepts taught in this course are a culmination of almost 40 years of practical application by some of the largest financial institutions in the country. These are the secrets taught to bankers to evaluate the overall health of a business when they are trying to help small business owners. For the last 5 years, Mike Milan, (aka Cash Flow Mike), has developed a unique and modern style to connect the three pillars of small business. That is, he brings tried and true academic concepts to life with a modern approach for business owners, bankers, and accountants to speak the same language.
His experience with commercial banking is one of the keys to helping accountants work more effectively with their clients, by sharing the processes employed by the bank. Businesses survive when they can generate cash through their core business activities. This course focuses on that principal function.
Through education and application of these concepts, the accountant and business owner can keep business in business. Cash Flow is an often-overlooked function in a business, and once you begin to “feel” a problem happening; its often too late. Cash flow problems manifest themselves in a myriad of ways and are not limited to just small businesses. Cash flow discipline must be exercised by every business to maintain its survival and fuel additional growth.
Employing these strategies puts the accountant and business owner on the same page as the banker. This course is a strategic sample of the Small Business Banking course taught by Mike Milan to thousands of bankers at the Graduate School of Banking at LSU, the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, and the Pacific Coast Banking School. Bankers understand that cash to a business is like oil to an engine, it keeps everything running smooth. In this course, you’ll be able to see your businesses cash flow through the eyes of the financial statements.
