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Having said that, let's offer a few reminders.
First and foremost, available cash is always an owner's primary concern, especially in the short term. You must always have enough cash available to pay taxes, payroll, rent, debts, vendors, etcetera on time. This could mean that your attentikon should first go to inventory management.
Longer term profits are, of course, essential. But remember, you don't need profits every month, just over time. Learning about managing expenses may be time very well spent.
A third item that every owner must monitor is debt. Managed right, debt is a friend. But, not contained, debt can be the business' undoing. Become familiar with debt management well before you regret not paying enough attention to it.
On all of these primary issues, there are ample take-aways throughout The ROI.
Take the Profits Quiz!
Take the Balance Sheet Quiz!
Take the Inventory quiz!
Take the Cash Flow Quiz!
The typical accounting package lists expenses in alphabetical order. From Advertising, to Auto Expenses, then Bank Charges, and so on. Lines and lines of separate expense items, all detailed to the penny. How useful is that?!
But, there IS a simple trick that will let you make sense of all that data: simply re-organize the individual expenses on your P&L into 5 "buckets" of expenses.
That simple step transforms all that accounting data into management information. At The ROI, we call this process the PROFIT Finder!
Go here to use The ROI's Retail Expense "Bucketizer." It's free!
The quizzes tested your knowledge of the basic language of retail finance. And may have pinpointed where you need to improve. Exactly why The ROI has developed four online training courses!
Each combines a self-paced training course with a retail projecting calculator. (Plus, an entertaining case study of the I. M. Surviving Company!) • Projecting & Controlling Retail Profits • Projecting & Controlling Inventory • Projecting & Controlling Retail Cash Flow • GMROI Inventory Productivity
The ROI's online eLearning Kit - Projecting & Controlling Profits - deals directly with the retailer's day in and day out challenge. See for yourself, in advance, whether you will have a profit.
Learn This Once - Profit From It Over and Over
It may take you about an hour to work through this eLearning course on Projecting & Controlling Profits. You will learn:
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ROI Members have unlimited access
But too often, it has been shrouded in mystery. Too complex and/or too expensive. Up until now!
In the Projecting Inventory Buys (Basics of Open-to-Buy) eLearning Kit, you will learn:
Now, The ROI makes it easier than ever for you to put this tool to work in your retail operation.
It shows how fluctuations on the P&L (changes in sales, margins, expenses) and changes in inventory turns combine to affect cash flow.
Some call it "connecting the dots". We call it, "Now, everyone will 'get it'!"
What you will learn:
The Retail Owners Institute® has been empowering retailers since 1999 to "Turn on their financial headlights!" Our tools and resources are trusted by thousands of store owners to help grow profitable, resilient businesses.