Why Businesses Have a Cash Flow Problem
When I moved in here, I had a small problem and a local builder came round and fixed it. They did a good job and got me out of a hole.
Yesterday, six months later, I got a bill for the work. The only surprise was that it was probably about twenty pounds less than I had expected.
As I usualy do with bills that aren’t worth disputing, I decided to pay it immediately. I have given up on cheques and always pay bills by direct transfer. But there were no bank account details on the bill or even an e-mail address. So I had to ring them up to get the information I needed. And the phone was engaged.
I do think this is typical of many small businesses and is it any wonder they have a cash-flow problem!
The Anonymous Widower 
Builders are notorious for being bad at administration. One of my daughters-in-law is an accountant and tells of builders, especially self-employed, who turn up at year end with carrier bags full of receipts. They have no idea of which costs should apply to which jobs and no records to show that the items purchased were for business purposes. Even my own builder who has undertaken some large projects for me over the years produces very unprofessional looking quotations and invoices. This is where education fails people at all levels. We all need to know about basic accounting, insurance, pensions, mortgages, legal agreements, etc., but there is nothing in our education system to teach these things. Such knowledge is fundamental to our daily lives and is learnt either by those who have sufficient education to realise that they need to find out, or through bitter experience by those who are most vulnerable.
Comment by John Wright | June 22, 2011 |
I agree, these are basic life skills. We have taught our daughters these skills and more, as they were growing up, when we were dealing with something ourselves – they also have a pretty good idea how to register a death, organise a funeral, and execute an estate.
We are dealing with a builder at present who is excellent, well organised, we are very impressed. If anyone lives in Folkestone area, we can recomment Paul Doel.
Comment by liz | June 22, 2011 |