In some organizations, managers and leaders often fall into the trap of believing that financial management is something that the accounting team is fully responsible for everything. While there will be areas like cash management, payroll, paying suppliers and collecting payments from customers that can be handled by the team of accounting, financial management falls within the remit of all managers and leaders.
These managers and leaders often have doubts about this area, often have the belief that it is difficult and complex. The truth is that if you are an expert in your area of business, you can excel in financial management . Following are some key tips to help you resolve these questions:
Tip 1: Actively participate in the construction of a budget
Most companies now devolve budgetary responsibility as much as possible. As a result, managers have the opportunity to participate actively in determining things like:
- Sales volumes
- Temporary staff to fill vacancies
- Staffing levels to deliver sales
- Preferences purchases products to be used in delivering agreed volumes
- Investment in new equipment or facilities
Do not miss the opportunity to determine your budget.
Tip 2: Be clear about your guesses and assumptions
A budget is a plan for the future based on the best evidence we have at the time of preparation. You will have to make assumptions about things like sales growth, turnover, sickness, bank deposits , inflation of prices, etc.. Make sure to submit the budgets of the hypotheses are clearly stated.
Tip 3: Work with your accountant
The accountant who works with you in the business is essentially his personal affairs adviser. Use your accountant in this way and you will reap many benefits. If your accountant get a better understanding of their area of business, he will be the main driver of revenue and costs, also will be extremely useful when it comes to reviewing performance throughout the year.
In addition, your accountant can model the results for you based on different assumptions and help you get a much clearer picture of the risks they might have to handle.
Tip 4: Share the budget with your team
As a manager and leader, your success depends on team results. Take the time to share your budget with your team, including the principal assumptions upon which it rests. If the team knows what they propose in terms of financial results, they will try to do well operationally to get the best result.
Tip 5: Taking Responsibility
When things get rough is very easy to start to look elsewhere for excuses. If you have been involved in establishing a budget that you have signed, focus your energies on getting positive results leaving behind the search for perpetrators.
Tip 6: Monitor performance and take action
Make sure you have a process to closely monitor actual performance against budget. If things go well you will see if there are more possibilities to increase performance. If on the other hand things are not so good as expected, focus on the changes you need or take the steps that need to take to get back on track.
Tip 7: Focus on the most important numbers
With respect to financial management, managers can sometimes get lost in a lot of details and trivia. Be clear about what the big numbers you have to pay more attention, because probably constitute about 90% of its budget. In most companies will be as follows:
- Revenue from sales or services
- The cost of salaries for employees
- Increased non-salary cost, including materials
Make sure you have a good understanding of what impacts these numbers represent in the business, so you can keep things on track.
At the end of the day, internal financial statements such as budgets only reflect what happens operationally. Keep these tips in mind and is at the forefront of your business information and so you will have a great opportunity to excel as a manager.

