It’s easier to plan how you will grow your business if you can carefully manage your finances. Effective financial management can also help you make better decisions about the location, inventory, employees and equipment you can afford. For everything from adjusting business direction to finding your way through challenging times, it’s critical to know — and use — these financial best practices.

Create a budget
A budget is a tool to track when and how you earn or spend money. Creating a budget is an important pillar of your overall success and security. It allows you to oversee and better understand whether your business has enough revenue (incoming money) to pay its expenses. Using a budget can help you make more informed financial decisions. Create a budget.

Save for success
Savings includes money you set aside to cover future or unexpected expenses. It’s important to outline savings in any business financial plan as a way to achieve business goals, prepare for unforeseen events, maintain operations when sales are low, and earn interest, if you use a savings account at a financial institution. Learn to save.

Plan for financing
It costs money to start a business, and funding your business is one of the first — and most important — financial choices you’ll make as the owner. How you choose to fund your business can affect everything from its structure to operations. For example, if you take out a large loan, you’ll need to earn enough money to repay the loan while running your business. Start planning.

Build business credit
Before a company lends you money, it wants to know that you're capable and willing to repay the debt. It can do this by reviewing your finances, including your bank account balances. It can also look at your history of repaying other debts by reviewing your credit reports. Learn about credit reporting and scoring.