 Launching the service today, CommBank has released new research revealing that small businesses are investing a significant amount of time managing finances that could potentially be better spent dedicated to growing their businesses.
The survey of over 500 small business decision makers found that more than 10 days a year are spent managing business finances, with 75 per cent of this time devoted to internal planning and management tasks. Breaking down some of the time spent on respective tasks, the research found that chasing payments/invoices took up a total of 2.4 days, scheduling outgoing payments 2.2 days, while forecasting business cash flow took up 2.1 days. When it comes to cash flow, key items of particular importance to small businesses include: knowing when outgoing payments are due (91 per cent), knowing when incoming payments are due (88 per cent), knowing when their account balance hits a lower limit (79 per cent) and knowing when incoming payments are made (86 per cent). Clive van Horen, Commonwealth Bank executive general manager, small business, noted that “one of the biggest pain points for small businesses” is time spent daily chasing payments and checking accounts, which adds up over the course of the year at the expense of other areas of their business. “We have developed Real-time Alerts to give small businesses a snapshot of their cash flow on-the-go, so they can see important payments coming in and out of their business accounts as they happen,” van Horen commented. “By providing customers with updates that fit seamlessly into their working routine, it gives them the freedom to spend more time managing and growing their business, and less time monitoring their accounts.” Real-time Alerts is available now, with further information available here. |
