Instalments

Get your cash flow forecast right
(In an article on cash flow problems, one of our writers passed on some sound advice from the British Institute of Management …)
"The BIM experts emphasise the value of liquidity not so much as a way for the managers to sleep at night but as a way of building up a golden asset – credit standing.

This is so valuable that, in their view, it is always sound policy:

• not to overtrade;
  
• to pay promptly even if there is no discount involved;
  
• to pay promptly even if it means borrowing from the bank to do so.

Other words of advice are:

• Never get in the position of being able to buy only from firms who offer extended credit;
  
• Plan purchases according to rate of usage or rate of sale;
  
• Do not tie up more money in stock than is necessary;
  
• Remember that even with a 'seller's market' there is often a 'buyer's market' for the firm that pays cash or takes short credit.

Being able to afford to be successful boils down in the end to maintaining good records and everyone seems to agree that when building a business the cash flow forecasts are among the most important.

Keeping to them will safeguard your liquidity position and could even give you the vital edge over competitors who might just fall victims to the dreaded liquidity crisis."

Counting sheep
(We carried a story "Ewes at ten!" about an alternative use for CCTV...)
"Shepherd, Keith Wilkinson watches his flock by night on a bedside TV. Farmer Keith monitors the progress in his seasonal maternity ward out in the barn by tuning in on CCTV. Previously he had to make an hourly nocturnal trek to the barn to check on lambing. The equipment was installed by SEE Limited. Other installers in rural areas might do well to consider the business possibilities of farms."

Why microwave detectors were like film stars
(An amusing anecdote from our feature on microwave detectors ...)
"At the well-attended Security Installer Exhibition at the Novotel in January, one of our test team struck up a conversation with a total stranger. The stranger, an installer for three years, exclaimed his astonishment at the range of security equipment on show and somehow the conversation drifted to detectors. Our man just happened to mention microwaves and there ensued an interesting, but highly confusing conversation about cooking times and how the food continues to cook after it is taken out of the oven. Our test team member was slightly better informed about modern cooking techniques at the end of this chance encounter, but he was perfectly sure that the installer had neither heard of microwave detectors or, if he had, believed they were part of the modern kitchen fittings of the eighties… It is apposite that this month we take a look at a modern mocrowave detector, the Elkron M55PC, which comes to us from Setcom (UK) Ltd. By 'modern' we make the distinction between microwave detectors now available and those which many of us experienced some years ago. In the wicked old days such detectors were rather like over-rated film stars … impossible to control, over sensitive and prone to frequent breakdowns."

Shadowy preview
(Our preview of IFSEC 89 included the following…)
"The quote 'Venture not into the shadows for the Phantom will always be waiting' may or not be from Phantom of the Opera, but it appears on the brochure material for the new range of Phantom PIR detectors and floodlights from Lynteck."