Any company will live and die by its cash flow. It's no secret that if the financial position of the enterprise is brought into question, its output can suffer. For small businesses, issues can quickly be compounded.
Whether it's losing the ability to properly service existing customers, or not being able to develop new products and offerings, a limit to company capital can be a lot more prevalent if resources are already stretched.
Of course, this phenomenon is relatively standard across the globe, but how do New Zealand's small businesses stack up?
New Zealand against the world
Research collated by SimplyCashflow suggested that Kiwi companies do relatively well, but there are still grounds for improvement. New Zealand sits second in the statistics for businesses suffering failure as a result of cash flow issues - with 66 per cent of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) closing their doors due to financial woes.
Australia fares slightly better - with 61 per cent - while the UK trails some way behind its Antipodean rivals - with 80 per cent of SMEs failing when company capital runs dry.
However, New Zealand massively lags behind when it comes to start up companies. Seventy per cent of the country's new businesses fail in the first five years, putting it ahead of the US, Canada and Ireland as well as the UK and Australia.
Getting on track
Consequently, keeping a handle on cash flow is incredibly important at the beginning of any businesses life - as well as going forward. Two of the biggest steps in getting on top of all of the applicable facts and figures are centred on invoicing quickly and consistently assessing finances.
CashManager from Accomplish allows small businesses to keep facts and figures easy to digest at a glance. New Zealand trails behind some of the similarly developed countries across the world, and the best way to boost the overall financial health of the country's SMEs will be through implementing only the best practices.