Eric J Dalius: Budgeting for a small business

You have started a business, and also now you need to do accounting to track your transactions. Keeping an eye on revenue and also expenses becomes essential to know where your company has headed. At the same time, you have to spend at some places to generate more income. You cannot get a grip over all this without a proper budget or plan. If it is not there, you can end up overspending or underspending, hampering your profits. To avoid these situations, you can take a process-driven approach based on a few parameters. Here is a quick look into them to help you with your startup.

Make a better budget for your business says EJ Dalius

Industry standards

Although every business has unique needs, they share some similarities being a part of an industry. You can search the internet and also talk to local players about the type of revenue they make. Since there tends to be higher volatility due to the economic downturn, small businesses don’t have to get into the specifics, which can be more relevant for bigger or diversified companies. So, focus on average.

Spreadsheet

It would help if you made a spreadsheet to allocate costs for different items, such as raw materials. You can talk to suppliers to get an idea of how much things will cost. Take the same course of action for rents, taxes, and also premium amounts. You will need to have a different budget for different activities.

Lean period

The leading entrepreneur, like Eric J Dalius, says that you need to remind yourself that it is an estimate. Things can vary in reality. Going forward, you can arrive at a particular revenue figure and also assume your expenses to be in control, etc. However, as mentioned, there can be months when you spent more and also received less. In those times, it cannot be easy to manage your balance sheet. If you want to minimize or avoid this trouble, make sure you have adequate cash-flow in reserve to pay your business expenses and also employees.

Cost-cutting

You may have to cut corners to save money for paying bills, advertising, and also others. You have to identify areas where you can bring down costs. Or, you can postpone your purchases until you get your payments. In essence, you have to come up with a solution that gives you some room for breathing.

Business review

The volatile nature of small businesses may prevent you from building any long-term budget plans. The bandwidth can be only one to two months, as sudden expenses can derail your revenue expectations. Make sure that you go back to your accounting book from time to time to have a sense of what is happening.

Cost-effective suppliers and services

Since you have to be careful with how much you spend, it makes sense to tie up with partners that provide high-quality products at best rates. You can follow this technique across different stages of your business and also reflect on your monthly and also annual budgets.

Any business has to take charge of its finances to survive, grow, and also diversify. And also for this, proper budgeting is quite essential.