As mentioned in Part One of our Business Life Cycle series, we sat down with Kashoo Controller and CPA, Siena, to discuss the four stages of the Business Life Cycle. She provides some insights on how each stage relates to the small business owner, and how Kashoo can help with your Business Life Cycle and steer you (and your business) in the right direction at each stage. To recap, there are four stages of the Business Life Cycle. They can be categorized as; Startup, Growth, Maturity, and Exit/Rebirth. In Part One of this series we went over the Startup Stage and the Growth Stage. In this article we’ll discuss the Maturity Stage and the Exit/Rebirth Stage, and how the tools and features within Kashoo can help small business owners reach their goals during these stages of the Business Life Cycle. Business Life Cycle Stage 3: The Maturity Stage Businesses at the Maturity Stage, also known as the “Established Stage,” will have achieved some major milestones worth celebrating. This period may be characterized by a steady rate of healthy revenue and profits, as well as the existence of a structured management team. This is a good time to re-invest your profits back into the business, and use retained revenues to improve your products and services. You may also be looking to increase your customer base, or perhaps make your existing clients happier. Nevertheless, its likely you’ll need tools that can diversify your accounting activity into groups/categories. How Kashoo Helps with the Maturity Stage This is where Kashoo’s Project Accounting feature can save you from headaches by allowing you to group all income and expense transactions into any project you desire. An added benefit is that there’s no limit on how many projects you can setup within Kashoo. So it doesn’t matter whether you have multiple job sites, physical locations, departments, campaigns, or any other type of category, Kashoo has you covered. An often-dreaded reality within the accounting world is that of going through a financial audit. Understandably, no one enjoys this process. However, it’s important to understand that it can happen at any time, and often occurs in the Maturity Stage of the Business Life Cycle. Not to despair! By maintaining your records in Kashoo, your business will be prepared to provide the necessary financial documents such as an Income Statement or Balance Sheet, and your General Ledger. Not only will you have reports from your current fiscal year, you will also have easy access to your historical financial figures. And thanks to our file attachment capability, you can be confident in having a backup copy of all your transaction records, regardless of whether they’re for invoices, bills, or account transfers. With maturity also comes stability, which in turn leads to new goals and ventures. This might be the perfect time to partner with another business, attract new investors, or expand your horizons with a new product/service offering. Each of these scenarios will present financial challenges of their own. Lenders and investors will feel more comfortable after reviewing your financial records, be it a Balance Sheet, Income Statement, or Project report. What if they request you to generate a custom report based on your financial data? Kashoo provides multiple export options such as Excel, CSV, and Google Sheets to give you the ultimate flexibility in creating customized reports, trend diagrams or forecasts to present at proposal meetings or in a boardroom. Business Life Cycle Stage 4: The Exit/Rebirth Stage The final stage of the Business Life Cycle is the Exit or Rebirth Stage. It is aptly named because it represents a time when the continued existence and future of your business is carefully under review. How can you make the best strategic decisions that impact the long-term outlook of your business? Probably the best source of knowledge and guidance comes from the advice of an advisory team, or an individual such as a CPA. A significant weight of their analysis will be based upon past, present, and expected financial performance. How Kashoo Helps with the Exit/Rebirth Stage Having all your records in Kashoo gives you the ability to export a variety of reports and print/send them to anyone who needs them. For added convenience, it’s possible to grant access to other users (like your Accountant) and have them find any information they require. Users with granted access can login to Kashoo, generate the reports they’re looking for, and provide you with invaluable insight regardless of their location. Additionally, what if you decide to enter a new market across borders and invoice in more than one currency? USD, EUR, or CAD? That’s not a problem, as Kashoo offers multi-currency tracking in virtually any currency you desire. Invoices and bills can be tracked accurately using a preset exchange rate which automatically adjusts based on the date, or you can choose to enter you own exchange rate to prevent any discrepancies. The same reporting capabilities are at your fingertips in any currency. No longer are you limited to just your physical location. Welcome to a world of opportunities! That concludes our two-part series of the Four Stages of the Business Life Cycle. If you’d like to see how Kashoo can help you succeed at each stage, sign up for a free trial today — no matter what stage your business is in!
