Financial Performance

How to improve financial performance?

In order to improve financial performance, financial managers should undertake a specific process. The process includes several steps listed below.

Financial Performance: Financial objectives

Financial objectives are the goals or targets related to the financial performance of a business. They are the goals that enterprises set for success and growth. If there are no clearly defined objectives, it is impossible to move further and improve. Setting objectives enables companies to develop and widen their perspectives. However, financial objectives are not related to businesses only. Financial objectives can also be set by individuals.

As you can see, having financial objectives has an influence on what you do on a daily basis. It determines your behaviour and where and how much money you spend. Following the example, if you did not set the objective and went to Greggs every day like you used to, you would not be able to save money for the trip. The same applies to companies, if they set a specific financial goal, they need to adjust and change the way they behave in order to achieve it.

There are several types of financial objectives:

• Revenue objectives - maximising revenues,

• Cost objectives - minimising costs,

• Profit objectives - maximising profits,

• Cash flow objectives - improving cash flow,

• Investment objectives - making better investments,

• Capital structure objectives - structuring capital in a certain way.

Financial performance analysis

Financial performance analysis is a process of analyzing and evaluating a company's financial position. It focuses on reviewing, assessing and comparing financial statements - a collection of data and figures organized according to recognized accounting principles. The analysis helps to determine whether a company is making a profit or loss. It shows how the company is spending, investing and earning money. Knowing how the company is performing, we are able to make better economic decisions and assess its potential.

There are two types of financial statements:

• Income statement - showing the profit earned and loss sustained by a business entity over a particular period (usually 12 months),

• Balance sheet - showing assets and liabilities of a business at a specific point in time (usually the end of the financial period).

The analysis may also include calculating and analyzing financial ratios:

• Return on capital employed,

• Net profit margin,

• Gross profit margin,

• Current ratio.

And analyzing other aspects such as:

• Cash flow - a real or virtual movement of money. It is when an amount of cash and cash equivalents is being transferred into and out of a business,

• Budgets - in other words, financial planning, forecasting of cash received and cash payable, of incomes and revenues, and of the resulting state of the financial health of a company,

• Break-even - a number of units the firm has to produce and sell before it recovers its total costs.

Financial Performance: Sources of finance

Sources of finance are the provision of finance for a business to fulfill its requirement for short-term working capital and fixed assets and other investments in the long term.

There are two types of sources of finance:

• Internal sources - funds coming from the inside of the company. For example, capital brought by the owner, retained profit, discount selling and selling of fixed assets

• External sources - funds coming from the outside of the company. For example, long term sources such as equity shares, debentures and term loans, or short-term sources such as bank overdraft and trade credit

Financial Performance: Cash flow and profit improvement

Both cash flow and profit determine the financial performance of a company and therefore, they are the key factors to be improved. This is because a business needs cash to keep operating. When it doesn't have the cash it requires to operate, then it will come to a halt or might even have to close.

There are the key financial decisions that should be made to improve cash flow and profits:

• Designing the product in a way that will bring healthy profit margins,

• Receiving payment in an expected way that lowers the risk of having to chase invoices,

• Setting a transparent, coherent, and systematic way for managing the financials,

• Having an efficient sales approach.

Non-financial measures of performance

Non-financial measures are equally important as they fill in the gaps which are not covered by the financial measures. Even though an enterprise makes a profit and the numbers are growing, it does not necessarily mean that it is successful.

As you can see, it is crucial to take non-financial measures into consideration. Neglecting them might not only result in a lack of customer satisfaction but also in financial losses.

Examples of non-financial measures:

• Market share,

• Customer satisfaction,

• Company reputation,

• Category ownership,

• New product adoption rate,

• Innovation.