Cashflow is king when it comes to running a business. And when a large government organisation controls payment of your entire income, it can be tricky to manage when there are delays in payments.
With NDIA’s client-centric service model empowering clients to choose where their money is spent and thereby creating increased competition for disability service providers, profits are tightening, leaving little room for error when it comes to cash management.
Here are some things to look out for in tightening your cash management processes, and ensuring the ongoing viability of your business:
1. Dot your I’s and cross your T’s
To ensure payment of your invoices are not delayed in NDIA’s system, make sure all information is cross-checked, accurate and complete before submitting. Learn to speak their language, include all important reference terms, and structure your invoices in the way NDIA want to receive them. Spending time getting your processes correct upfront can save huge delays later. Delays in processing due to rejection from the system for errors and incomplete information can be crippling for your cashflow and will have a flow on effect on being able to pay your outgoings like wages and rent.
2. Streamline your administration and increase productivity
Take a look at your business. How much time do your admin staff spend entering and re-entering the same information? How much time do they spend manually reconciling rosters, or fixing data entry errors?
With labour being a major cost for any business, it is imperative that we are as productive as possible with the time we’re paying for. Investigate dedicated software systems that can reduce administration time, eliminate manual entry errors, and securely transfer data to other departments that need it (like your rostering system talking to your payroll system for instance). By freeing up manual administration time, you can free up resources for more client-facing activities that can help increase your service levels and set you apart from your competitors.
3. Tighten control on your expense payments
A great way to leak cash and ultimately profits, is to underestimate or overpay your staff expense claims. As a variable cost in your business, it can be hard to accurately predict how much cash will be required when, and one unexpected blow out can have devastating effects on your cash management.
Look into software systems that can help record things such as mileage claims, or can help track receipts in real-time, affording you greater visibility over your business expenses with data available at the tap of a button. This will give you the information you need to more accurately budget for expenses and give you time to make adjustments to current plans if necessary.
CARETAG is a purpose-built, easy to use, software management system designed to streamline your administration, saving you time and money. CARETAG was designed to address the challenges of service providers in the community care industry, specifically NDIS and MyAgedCare providers. Designed as a flexible, modular system, CARETAG can integrate with your existing system, or be installed as a completely new solution, tailored to your business’ requirements. If you’d like to learn more about CARETAG, please click here, or contact us at info@caretag.com.au to arrange a demo.
