Advice: Knowing exactly how much you need to sell each week to cover your costs will help you make better business decisions. Knowing your break-even point is important. It allows you to understand the impact of changing conditions on your business, and it allows you to make changes to ensure you don't operate at a loss.

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Knowing how much money is likely to come in and how much money you'll need to pay out at any given time is essential. Your cash flow forecasts will tell you if you have enough cash to meet day-to-day operations or finance expansion plans. Cash flow management is a critical area of your business and allows you to make sound business decisions. Keeping your finger on the pulse of cash flow is critical, and requires active management.

Advice: To survive unforeseen emergencies, every business needs a cash reserve or secure and profitable forward orders that will cover the operating costs of the business. If you have a three-month buffer of cash reserve, or forward orders you should have enough time to put your survival strategies in place before you run out of cash.

Advice: You pay your bills on time and so should your customers. Otherwise, your money is funding their business. Managing your debtors' book is essential to ensure the cash flow of your business is not affected. The sooner you can identify and act on late paying customers, the better your chance of getting paid. If debt problems get out of hand, they could affect the cash flow and reputation of your business.

Advice: Monitoring business loans and the amount of debt your business runs up on a monthly basis will ensure you don't end up owing more than you can afford, which could lead to eventual business failure.

Advice: It's important to know there are no financial issues coming up that could derail your business financially. The last thing you need is an unexpected expense. Keep track of when loans are payable, when equipment will need replacing and other large expenses that could affect your business. Knowing this beforehand allows you to take quick action.

Advice: Often small business owners fall into the trap of being very busy but not actually making any money. It’s important to trade for profit, not sales. Do you really know that you make a profit on everything that you do?

Advice: It's very easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day running of your small business and not notice when something goes wrong. You need regular information on key parts of your business to monitor operations and solve any issues before they become much worse.

Advice: Often small business owners fall into the trap of being very busy but not actually making any money. It’s important to trade for profit, not sales. Do you really know that you make a profit on everything that you do?

Advice: To stay in business, your sales need to at least match or preferably exceed the rate of inflation. You should monitor your sales performance on a monthly basis and consider how your actual performance compares with your expectations. If you have falling sales and don't see any future growth, then the viability of your business could be in doubt.