OER-CRAFT

COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL VIABILITY

AST_COU_2_EN  

 Title:
COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL VIABILITY
 Keywords
Money, Economic viability, Solvency, Liquidity
 Author:
AE
 Languages:
English
 Objectives/goals:
•    know the components of a feasibility plan

•    value the importance of participation and rigor during the process of development of a feasibility plan

•    evaluate investment possibilities and know the critical aspects of production and marketing

•    Have an essential tool for decision making, forming alliances and, in short, to seek the success of the projects from of real and relevant information


 Description:
- Contextualization of financing decisions within the financial decisions of a company.

- Objective of financing decisions.

- Interrelation between investment decisions and financing decisions.

- Main financial decisions



 Course contents:

 Financial viability

What is a balance?

Clic to read  What is a balance?



The Balance is an accounting statement that reflects the situation of the company at a given time, it is what we call "Balance Sheet".

This situation is summarized in four large groups:

1- Assets: what the company has in "property". Ex: Premises, machinery, licenses, money, etc.
2- Rights: what they owe the company. Ex: Accounts of clients pending collection.
3- Obligations: the debts of the company. Ex: loans ...
4- Equity: The capital (funds invested in the company by the partners), the reserves, the benefits not yet "distributed" ... less the losses (if any), is what we call Net Equity.

The balance sheet reflects the status of these 4 groups at a date determined and ordered in two "parts":

(1) The ASSETS reflects what the company HAS (assets and rights).
(2) The LIABILITIES (Net Equity) reflects what the company MUST (obligations).

The Net Equity reflects the "wealth" (capitalization) of the company through its capitals and its results or, what is the same, the difference between what He has (the asset) and what he owes (the liability).

In short, the Balance Sheet:

1- Express the situation of the company on a specific date
Assets and rights in the Asset.
Debts in the Liabilities.
Capital, reserves and results in Net Equity.
2- It is always expressed in monetary units.
3- The total of the Assets will always be equal to the Liabilities plus the Net Equity.




Structure of a balance

Clic to read  Structure of a balance



The Asset is usually subdivided into:

1. NON-CURRENT ASSETS, also known as: REAL ESTATE or FIXED ASSETS.
Assets and rights that will remain in the company in the long term (more than 1 year).
2. CURRENT ASSETS best known by CIRCULANTE:
Goods and rights (which will become short-term money) and money. For the purpose of a better analysis, the currency is classified according to its degree of availability (ease of converting it into cash) into three groups:

2.1 Stocks
2.2 Realizable: rights (pending payments), their greater or lesser availability depends on the due date and the unpaid.
2.3 Available: money (and "liquid" assets), are the only really available assets.

The second part of the Balance is subdivided into:
1 / NET EQUITY, also called: OWN RESOURCES, OWN FUNDS or NON-DEMANDABLE LIABILITIES.
It mainly includes: Capital, reserves and results.
2 / LIABILITIES, also referred to as FOREIGN RESOURCES OR DEMANDABLE LIABILITIES.
In turn and based on its expiration (enforceability) it is ordered as:

2.1 Non-current liabilities also referred to as Long-term Demanding. They are debts for more than one year.
2.2 Current or Required short-term liabilities. They are debts less than a year.
The CURRENT ASSETS is the one that allows us to face the payment of the DEBT (Required).

It is important to compare the working capital with the Required in the short term and always try to maintain a reasonable margin (more circulating than required in the short term).

The MANIOBRA FUND is what allows us to deal with "guarantees" to the payment of the debt. The easiest way to calculate it is:
Current - Required short term.

The Maneuver Fund:
- It must always be positive (more circulating than required in the short term).
- It must be higher or lower depending on the availability of the working capital.
- It must be balanced in relation to the Required.
The "margin" between Circulante and Exigible CP is the F.M.




Recommendations

Clic to read  Recommendations



Basic principles to recommend:

- The external resources should not exceed 70% of the total financing needed.

- The remaining percentage should be supplied with own resources.

- Subsidies should not be trusted as the main means of financing a new project.

- An unforeseen amount should be reserved



 Profit and loss account

What is it?

Clic to read  What is it?



It is presented as a list of the expected expenses and income for a given period of time.

- An exhaustive list of the FIXED EXPENSES of the business must be developed, which are independent of the volume of activity (rent, fixed part of supplies, social security fees, salaries ...)

- Next, the VARIABLE EXPENSES are determined, closely linked to the activity (Example: manufacturing materials of the product, in which the quantity will be greater the greater the production, in service companies the cost of the hour of the personnel).




Tips

Clic to read  Tips



- It is advisable that a young company be charged as little as possible with fixed expenses and opt for a structure of variable costs depending on the volume of the business.

- None of the items of foreseeable operating expenses should be forgotten

-The provisions for depreciation of fixed assets should be included (provided that they are amortizable).

- The financial charges derived from external financing must be calculated (in case it should be used).



 Treasury

What is it?

Clic to read  What is it?



It is very useful as an aid to determine cash inflows and outflows and to plan liquidity (in a few cases, liquidity deficiencies, due to insufficient forecasting, determine the short-term failure of some business projects).

It is necessary to influence the difference between income and collection and between expenditure and payment.

The income is generated when the sale takes place and the collection when the liquidity derived from that sale is received.

The expense occurs when the obligation is generated (with a supplier ...). Payment is generated when cash out.

Collection periods must be adjusted with payments to suppliers to avoid Treasury mismatches.

The knowledge of these data will allow to know the treasury needs and the moment in which these may be manifested, thus being able to anticipate in advance the search for cash financing when liquidity is scarce or, in the opposite direction, when liquidity is high, study the placement of generated funds.


 Financing

What is it and financing classes

Clic to read  What is it and financing classes



The sources of financing are the liquid resources or means of payment of the company to meet its monetary needs.

The sources of financing involve the acquisition of capital, both fixed and circulating.
Depending on whether the Sources of Financing belong to the company or belong to third parties outside the company (and therefore required), there are two types:

OWN FINANCING SOURCES: these include the share capital, the repayment fund, the reserves and the self-financing.

SOURCES OF FINANCING: those that the company has for a certain time, after which it has the obligation to pay interest and return the amount obtained. In broad strokes the following modalities are distinguished:

- Long and medium term credit, that is, with a term of more than one year.

- Short-term credit, whose maturity is less than one year and is intended to finance the operation of the company.

Companies are like living beings in continuous movement. Financing is your food and as such should be balanced:

When we finance the investment of a machine with a useful life of 8 or 10 years, do not do it with a short-term loan, because we would financially suffocate the company, forcing it to accelerate the investment quickly. The ideal:

EQUAL DURATION OF THE FINANCING WITH THE USEFUL LIFE OF THE FINANCED
(Example: It would be a mistake to finance computer equipment for more than two years, because the speed with which they become obsolete is truly amazing)




Sources of funding

Clic to read  Sources of funding



PERSONAL LOAN
It is a loan contract constituted with a personal guarantee, to assess this guarantee the creditworthiness of the client is considered and with it the ability to repay the loan.
It presents a very weak guarantee so the financial institution will authorize its concession based on the amount and the term.

OBJECT:
- Finance the acquisition of low-value equipment.
- Finance the acquisition of goods and services for consumption.

MORTGAGE LOAN:
The fundamental difference with personal loans lies in the importance of operations. The loans, having a guarantee that confers greater security to the financial institution, allows operations to be carried out not only for a larger amount but also for a longer term.

OBJECT
- Finance the acquisition of homes, land, premises, warehouses ...
- Finance business investments.
- Refinance previous operations, financed with personal loans, thus achieving greater financial balance

LEASING
Also called Financial Leasing. It is an operation whose purpose is the transfer of the use of movable or immovable property in exchange for the payment of a fee and that, necessarily, includes a purchase option at its end in favor of the user. The assets have to be affected by a business activity.
Widely used in SMEs, where you do not have to face any initial input. It has the advantage, at the end of the contract, of being able to acquire ownership of the property.

RENTING
Rent of an asset in exchange for a periodic fee. It differs from leasing in:
There is no purchase option at the end of the contract.
They are shorter term contracts.
The amount of the fee is usually determined by the degree or intensity of use of the good.
The contract can be terminated unilaterally before the end of the stipulated period.
The conservation of the good corresponds to the lessor.
It is mainly used for means of transport and mobile machinery of large works (cranes, excavators, etc.) and for computer equipment.
It does not appear on your balance sheet as indebtedness

CREDIT POLICY
It is a source of short-term financing, used by companies to cover treasury mismatches that may occasionally concur.
Extraordinarily it is used to temporarily finance investments on which a subsidy has been resolved, it is called “bridge financing”.
Unlike the loan, which implies an instantaneous availability of capital, the policy implies having a limit that is used according to the needs of the company.

COMMERCIAL DISCOUNTS
It consists of the advance, by the financial entity, of the amount of a credit on customers of the company, supported by bills of exchange or promissory notes.
The purpose of this financing is to provide the company with greater liquidity, in return the financial entity receives interest and commissions, which directly deducts the anticipated value. It can be done sporadically or under the formula of the discount line.

REAL GUARANTEES
This denomination includes those guarantees that fall on operations with a repayment term of more than 10 years. In this case the guarantee is the property on which the loan falls. This means that, if you stop paying, the lender will have the power to seize the property as a form of payment.
However, the embargo does not always cover the entire loan. It is important to know that, the seizure of the property only closes the debtor position if the value of the property exceeds the loan. Otherwise, the borrower and his guarantors will respond to the debt, as indicated by current legislation: "With all its assets present and future."

PERSONAL GUARANTEES
This type of guarantee includes loans that do not fall directly on real estate. We therefore talk about consumer loans or personal loans, which are granted based on our credit history, demonstrable solvency, etc. While it is true that in this type of guarantees there is no asset linked to the loan, when the time comes to default, the banking entity may execute the personal guarantee through the seizure of some real property of our property (both present and future) .

PIGNORATIVE GUARANTEES
We are facing a guarantee modality through which, the loan is granted after depositing in the bank an amount equal to the loan plus the interest applied. While the loan remains in force, the balances deposited will be pledged, that is, they cannot be used.
During the duration of the balance of balances, these will be remunerated.

AVALISTAS
On this occasion the guarantee is not financial or real estate. This involves the involvement of third parties who will respond in the same way as the holder against the debt incurred and generally in solidarity.



 Commercial viability

Key steps

Clic to read  Key steps



If you want to sell, you will have to create your own formula. It seems that the goal of all companies is to sell more, however, most companies do not spend time defining the sales strategy.

There is a question we should all answer, do you want to sell more or better?

Observe:
- Analyze market changes
- Adapt to new trends
- Understand new customers

Create:
- Search our differential element
- Tune up our ingenuity and our creativity
- Define our formula for sale
- Combine traditional marketing tools and unconventional tools

To sell:
- Reach the customer differently
- 1,2,3 Action plan to sell

Listening to the market and customers, observing and not asking, and although the temptation is to sell everything, it is good to concentrate the sales force on what is of most interest to us.




Look

Clic to read  Look



Companies are worried because their sales have fallen, entrepreneurs are afraid to launch and not sell, but few people have cold blood to stop and observe.

Observing is the first step to sell. Before throwing yourself crazy to try different formulas to sell more, take some time to observe:
- Analyze market changes.
- Value new trends.
- Understand new customers.

To sell more, you will have to do other things:
- Look at the new trends that succeed and how they affect your business, or how you could adapt to them or just what ideas you can think of when you see them.
- Study companies doing well and think about what they do differently.
                             Analyze three types of companies:
- Companies in your sector that are direct competition, come on, those that can take you out a customer.
- Companies in your sector that are referents.
- Companies that you like even if they are not from your sector.
- Detect the changes that your customers are suffering and think about them in the most segmented way possible, trying to analyze the different groups you work with.

We are living in times of change, but the most striking thing is that the speed of change is vertigo. If you stand still, you will disappear sooner or later, so watch and then make decisions.

And there comes the part that costs my clients the most, to see how to adapt their company or their business project to the changes detected.




Create

Clic to read  Create



Before going out to sell we have to create our formula to sell and this demands method and time. This formula to sell, works independently of the sector and the company, but we will have to adapt it for each case, taking into account the situation of the company, its experience in the market, the range of products, its personnel and its resources.

Our proposal can be based on:
- Price (low-medium-high)
- Differentiation
- Service
- Specific approach
- Combination of the above

And we will have to work the 4P of marketing (Product, Price, Positioning and Promotion) and the 4 C (Customer, Cost, Comfort and Communication).

"The better we know our customers and their reasons for purchase, the easier it will be to define the sales process"

All this we have to be able to define in a phrase that engages our client and summarizes our business philosophy.

"Create your hook phrase"
But in addition, to sell you have to build trust and for that, the simplest thing is to start by defining what we are good at and think about how we are going to transmit it.

“You have to know how you are going to introduce yourself”
It is essential to be aware that we are not alone, so to sell you have to build and maintain a support network. And this is where my clients resist the most, because we have been educated so as not to have to ask for favors; This is the mentality that needs to be changed, we do not ask for favors, we collaborate and create a support network with which we all win.

"Create your network!"
Who do you know Who could you collaborate with? What can you do for your network?
What could your network do for you? And we also have to do our homework and work hard analyzing customer problems and looking for solutions.

"Selling is meeting the needs of your customers"
We have to think from the customers point of view, it is the fundamental secret to create the formula to sell. Put yourself in the place of your client.





To sell

Clic to read  To sell



The formula to sell does not work alone, you have to start it and for that, you have to go out and sell. I know clients capable of not going out to sell with the excuse of improving the product or the formula to sell. You have to leave and there is no other!

Key elements for selling:
- Planning
- Coordination
- Organization
- Tracing

I have to define where my clients are and how I will reach them. Plan that commercial action and start ... Not all customers want the same, or at all times you can offer the same, so I have to know what adaptations I am willing to make in my product and / or service before going to sell.

And here begins the fundamental element of the sale: learn. Learn from products, customers, our competitors, suppliers, the market ... and share that knowledge with the rest of the company and implement changes.

Knowledge per se does not work: knowledge has to lead to modifications and changes in our sales process.

If you want new customers, you will have to sell to sites other than the ones you are going to now. But the fundamental trick is to look for the complicity of your clients, so that they talk about you and prescribe you

How could you turn your customers into your sellers?
Do not forget to analyze the critical factors, those elements in which you cannot fail. You have to have them very well controlled. There are two elements that were not so important at the time of selling and that are now fundamental: COLLABORATE and SURPRISE

You always have to listen to the market and customers to detect opportunities, to adapt your product, to create your speech, to look for allies, to find new markets ... It is clear that the sale is not born from the benefits of the product but from the needs of the client, so listening to our customers has to be our number one priority if we want to sell.
And listening to the client does not mean asking him, because as you know those who know me, I always say that the clients lie, surely in an unintended way, but we do. So you do not have to ask and if you listen, an active and non-judgmental listening that will allow us to really know the problems, the expectations and the situation in which our clients move.

But the big mistake of the small companies I work with is dispersion and I never tire of saying that you can not be everything, sell everything, reach everyone and please everyone. It would be nice but not possible, so you have to focus and, for that, you have to choose.

The fear of choosing is paralyzing and companies are stuck at this point: you have to focus on what is of most interest and what the company feels most comfortable with.
Choosing means stop doing some things and stop selling certain products and services ... and focus on those that give us more value today or we think they will give us tomorrow.


 Indicators


 Related material:
2.1_artcademy_course_commercialandfinancialviability_level2_ae_english.doc
 Training Fiche PPT:
2.1_artcademy_course_commercialandfinancialviability_level2_ae_english.pptx