How to keep track of finances in a small business: user case of Present Perfect Agency
Present Perfect Agency is a language services agency that helps
businesses with translations, support, business documentation and everything related to languages.
Website: https://presentperfect.agency/
Facebook: @present.perfect.translations
Elena Mironik is the founder and head of Present Perfect Agency.
She first used Finmap while working for an IT recruiting agency.
In her business she has been keeping track of finances in Finmap since the first day.
Elena likes to keep track of money, especially when it comes in.
In your opinion, when does a business need to implement cash flow management?
- After the cash gap, so as not to repeat the experience
- When profits fall, to find the cause
- When the business gets big enough
- Before the cash gap occurs in order to avoid it
Of course, it is never too late to implement cash flow management, but ideally a smart entrepreneur will have a system for accounting for money from the first day of business. Elena, the founder of the language services agency Present Perfect Agency, agrees with this. “From the very first transaction, I started keeping all the records in Finmap,” she says.
In this case study, we explain why even though she runs a small business, Elena decided to keep system accounting right away and how Finmap helps her.
Problem
Originally, Elena worked at an IT recruiting agency, but at the end of 2020 she decided to strike out on her own and founded the Present Perfect Agency. Both then and now she trusted Finmap to account for business money. Why?
The deciding factor to try Finmap was its simplicity.
Elena learned about the service from Alexander Solovyov (co-founder of Finmap), whom she had known for a long time. She saw on social networks that he was developing a solution for financial accounting. Therefore, when the IT recruiting agency had the task of accounting, Elena immediately decided to try the product.
Before that, she had analyzed services to automate processes. However, she found only solutions suitable for large businesses, which were too complicated and expensive for a small company. Finmap, on the other hand, was simple, straightforward, and accessible.
When Elena decided to start her own business she knew from experience that she wanted to use Finmap to keep records.
Task
Elena had no difficulty in keeping a financial account. But there were three key tasks:
- Accounting shouldn’t take a lot of time. Elena knew that she was already going to be spending a great deal of time getting her business off the ground and didn’t have extra time to spare manually maintaining spreadsheets.
“The lack of scalability, the manual operations, and the limitations in the amount of data make the whole process around an Excel spreadsheet quite time-consuming,” Elena told us.
- She wanted simple to use and easy to understand data:
“Both Excel and Google spreadsheets require a certain amount of expertise. Every time I needed to calculate new values I had to reopen Excel, perform manual operations and recalculate. I didn’t start my business to become a spreadsheet expert.”
- Keeping records in one place. At her job at an IT recruiting agency, Elena encountered situations where she had to give someone access to a spreadsheet. But at the same time she didn’t want to open all the data. As a result, she had to create copies of the tables. Of course, afterward they got mixed up, and the meaning and logic of their maintenance was forgotten. It was easier to burn everything and start all over again, than to figure out what was what.
The Decision to go with Finmap
“I’m glad I don’t have to use some big-business solution and try to bolt it onto the smaller projects I’ve had to work with.”
After analyzing the financial accounting at her former places of work, Elena noticed that many important indicators were not taken into account. In Finmap, she started entering absolutely all data, including hosting and email costs. She categorized expenses and revenues*. In this way a system appeared and payments stopped getting lost.
* Categories in Finmap allow you to designate types of income and expenses. This helps you keep track of income and expenses in each specific type. For example, how much a company spends on Facebook ads, how much it earns on one particular project.
When she started her business, Elena also set up accounting by category right away. Present Perfect Agency has a small number of fixed costs (e.g. software for translators), as well as variable costs for paying translators depending on the projects.
All expenses can be planned in advance and tracked in the Payment Calendar* to avoid cash gaps.
* The payment calendar in Finmap displays all scheduled receipts and expenses by date. For example, you specify that you pay $500 in office rent each month on the 17th. The payment calendar will note each month on the 17th that you have $500 to spend.
Elena also finds the account panel very helpful. Present Perfect Agency clients pay to accounts in Ukraine, foreign banks, personal cards, cash, and can even do it in cryptocurrency.
All actual information about the amount of money in the accounts is displayed in Finmap. Elena doesn’t have to go to each bank and wallet separately. She can see at any time how much money is on hand and where it is exactly in the company right now.
It is also important for Elena to keep track of the movement of funds, to understand where they are coming from, and where they are going. The company has accounts in different currencies, not only in Ukraine but also abroad. The “Money/Cash Flow” report helps her in this.
* The “Money” report in Finmap shows your cash flow. It allows you to see how much money is coming into the company and how much is being spent.
Another key report at Present Perfect Agency is the “P&L “* statement. With its help Elena can identify profit for a certain period, which departments are generating profit, and where she is incurring loss.
* P&L report is a profit and loss statement. Shows the company’s profit and loss for a certain period, for example, a month. To do this, all expenses for the same period are subtracted from all income for that period.
It is also important to Elena that she can enter all the data in just a few minutes, not only from her computer, but also through a Telegram bot. Therefore, the information is not lost and is always as up-to-date as possible.
Because business has been going well, Elena recently hired an assistant. As a result she is now able to delegate some of the record keeping. With Finmap it is easy to set restrictions and choose what information the employee can add, what information can be viewed, and what information is reserved for Elana’s eyes only. This means she doesn’t have to make copies and create chaos in accounting for the sake of confidentiality.
Because business has been going well, Elena recently hired an assistant. As a result she is now able to delegate some of the record keeping. With Finmap it is easy to set restrictions and choose what information the employee can add, what information can be viewed, and what information is reserved for Elana’s eyes only. This means she doesn’t have to make copies and create chaos in accounting for the sake of confidentiality.
As a result
“It’s that headache you take off yourself and you don’t have to think about it along with the other issues in the OP that come up every day.”
✅ When Elena worked for an IT recruiting agency, she learned that Finmap was an efficient, easy-to-use system for recording money. She saw that with Finmap not only was incoming money from clients and expenses for recruiters’ bonuses recorded, but also many fixed costs, such as hosting fees, corporate e-mail, etc. were organized and easily accessible. This past experience was the reason she chose Finmap when she opened her own company.
✅ It is convenient for Elena to create useful reports. Finmap itself generates them on the basis of the data entered in the form of clear charts and graphs. Reports can be exported to PDF or Excel.
“In our last job (at an IT recruiting agency), we had a tradition of managers also reporting to employees. And, of course, it’s convenient when you can just upload a PDF and that’s it,” Elena shared.
✅ A systematic accounting of finances is also set up at the agency. Elena sees at any time how much money is in each account, which payments from clients have been received and which are pending, how much has been spent, and what payments are planned.
✅ Accounting takes minimal time. This is especially important in a small business when the owner has many tasks on a daily basis and no large team to delegate to.
“Everything is in front of your eyes, you press 2-3 buttons, and you can enter/receive all the information.”
✅ To enter data, all you have to do is use a Telegram bot. That is why nothing is lost, because you can add incoming or outgoing data even when standing in traffic or drinking coffee.
✅ And most importantly, Elena notes, thanks to Finmap there is “an understanding of where we are going, how we are developing, whether we are scaling and what is worth paying attention to.”
To implement systematic cash flow management and see the full picture of your business at any time, connect Finmap at the link:
14 days free. Our care service will help you find a deep solution and use maximum service opportunities for your company.
You can learn more about the Present Perfect Agency at: https://presentperfect.agency/
