answer the questions below by sharing your thoughts, ideas, insight, and experience with your classmates.

• Properly managing your finances might affect your business.
• To manage your company's finances, make sure to pay yourself, keep good credit, monitor your books, and plan ahead.
• Debt funding for small businesses means interest fees alongside repayments, while equity funding excludes interest but may come with less control over your company affairs.

The importance of managing your business finances

Any business owner needs to educate themselves about their business and their market. Understanding the basic skills needed to run a small business - such as doing simple accounting tasks, applying for a loan or drafting financial statements. In addition to education, staying organized is a major component of sound money management. "There is nothing more terrifying, costly or risky than showing up at your accountant's office at the end of the year with a shoebox of receipts and nine of your last 12 bank statements."

1. Pay yourself.

If you're running a small business, it can be easy to try and put everything into day-to-day operations. After all, that extra capital can often go a long way in helping your business grow. Alexander Lowry, a professor and director of the master of science in a financial analysis program, small business owners shouldn't overlook their own role in the company and should compensate themselves accordingly. You want to ensure that your business and personal finances are in good shape.

2. Invest in growth.

In addition to paying yourself, it's important to set aside money and look into growth opportunities. This can allow your business to thrive and move in a healthy financial direction. Edgar Collado, the chief financial officer of Tobias Financial Advisors said business owners should always keep an eye on the future. "A small business that wants to continue to grow, innovate and attract the best employees [should] demonstrate that they are willing to invest in the future," he said. "Customers will appreciate the increased level of service. Employees will appreciate that you are investing in the company and in their careers. And ultimately you will create more value for your business than if you were just spending all your profits on personal matters."

3. Don't be afraid of loans.

Loans can be scary. They can lead to worrying about the financial repercussions that accompany failure. However, without the influx of capital, you obtain from loans, you may face substantial challenges when trying to purchase equipment or grow your team. You can also use loan proceeds to boost your cash flow and thus face fewer issues paying employees and suppliers on time.

4. Keep good business credit.

As your company grows, you may want to purchase more commercial real estate, acquire additional insurance policies and take out more loans to facilitate all these pursuits. With poor business credit, getting approval for all these transactions and acquisitions can be more difficult. To keep good credit, pay off all your debt funding as soon as possible. For example, don't let your business credit cards run a balance for more than a few weeks. Likewise, don't take out loans with interest rates that you can't afford. Only seek funding that you can quickly and easily repay.

5. Have a good billing strategy.

Every business owner has a client that is consistently late on their invoices and payments. Managing small business finances also means managing cash flow to ensure your business is operating at a healthy level on a day-to-day basis. If you're struggling to collect from certain customers or clients, it may be time to get creative with how you bill them. "Too much cash tied up in unpaid invoices can lead to cash flow problems, a leading cause of business failure," said James Stefurak, managing editor of Invoice Factoring Guide. "If you have a chronic late-paying customer, which we all do, instead of badgering them with repeated invoicing and phone calls, try a different approach. Change the payment terms to '2/10 Net 30.' This means if the customer pays the invoice within 10 days, they receive a 2% discount off the total bill. If not, the terms are full payment due in 30 days."

6. Spread out tax payments.

If you have trouble saving for your quarterly estimated tax payments, make it a monthly payment instead. That way, you can treat tax payments like any other monthly operating expense.

7. Monitor your books.Do your best to set aside time each day or month to review and monitor your books, even if you're working with a bookkeeper. It will allow you to become more familiar with the finances of your business, but also provide you with a window into potential financial crime.

8. Focus on expenditures but also ROI.

Measuring expenditures and return on investment can give you a clear picture of what investments make sense and which may not be worth continuing. Deborah Sweeney, CEO ofMyCorporation, said small business owners should be wary of where they spend their money.

1. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 the (most important) and 1 being (least important). How important do you feel managing your business finances is to a stable financial future? Explain your reason for choosing?

2. I have worked in several workplaces that shared with employees how much money they made in sales revenue, how much debt liabilities, and perhaps some financial goals with their staff. Have any of your jobs also informed you about financial information? In what way would you keep up with your day-to-day business financials? How would you communicate/share the financial state of your business to staff/employees so they are aware?

3. When it comes to owning a business, owners arecontinuously learning and wanting to improve the many areas within their business. This article is for business owners looking for advice on how to manage their company's finances. I would say that developing business relationships with banks, accountants, financial advisors, small business assistance centers, etc can also benefit your business. Most businesses fail within the first 5 years they open. Many because of mismanaging money. What would you about not knowing enough when it comes to business financials while running a business? Many banks, investors, vendors, etc. take advantage of those of us who are not knowledgeable about our financials. How would you navigate this dilemma trying to run your business or someone else's?

4. With the COVID pandemic, supply chain issues making businesses have problems having enough products on the shelves to fulfill customers' needs, micro-chip shortages in the US, shipping costs going up, and other challenges that businesses face; it makes it hard to think ahead about what your business will be looking like in one year or five years. It might be better to just plan for the short term and focus on current assets, and liabilities. Some say, there will always be business issues that need to be addressed today. "If you're not looking five to 10 years ahead, you are behind the competition." Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not explain?