Cash flow management and modelling

Cash keeps things running, but poor oversight can put your business in trouble. Fortunately, our cash flow management and modelling service gives you clarity, control, and confidence regarding your business’s financial situation and its future.

We work with organisations across various industries, from sports governing bodies and creative agencies to not-for-profits and hospitality businesses, building tailored forecasts, implementing robust systems, and helping you plan ahead.

Whether you’re navigating seasonal changes, hoping to scale, or searching for funding, our cash flow modelling can help you go from staying afloat to moving forward with confidence.

What is cash flow management and modelling?

Cash flow management is how you track, analyse, and optimise how money moves in and out of your business. It’s in place to maintain and improve your business’s financial stability.

Cash flow modelling goes one step further and forecasts future movements, taking the form of scenario planning, risk assessments, and predicting potential shortfalls or surpluses. This is particularly valuable in sectors like hospitality, where income fluctuates seasonally, or health and beauty, where cash-intensive investments are common.

Combine the two successfully, and you’ve got a forward-thinking approach to stability, helping you plan proactively instead of reacting.

Why is cash flow management and modelling important?

Your business could be making a fortune on paper, but if there isn’t enough in the bank, you’ll probably run into problems. Proper cash flow management prevents these issues by giving you a real-time picture of where you stand and what could be around the corner.

This helps you:

  • Prevent cash shortages so you can meet obligations.

  • Improve decision-making to maximise growth opportunities.

  • Reduce reliance on external, short-term funding like high interest loans.

  • Strengthen financial stability during economic downturns or slow periods.

  • Integrate with your broader financial strategy, linking to budgeting, debt management, and profitability forecasting.

Cash flow and business growth

Ambitious businesses need liquidity, and hiring new people, investing in new tools, or expanding into new markets requires the freedom and flexibility that reliable cash flow brings. Our cash flow modelling and management service helps you plan growth realistically and sensibly, without compromising on ambition.

We also make sure you don’t outpace your resources, which can be especially useful for creative agencies managing project-based income and sports organisations planning around event-based revenue.

From negotiating better supplier terms to planning for seasonal downturns, to name a couple, our cash flow management service gives you the foundation to scale.

Six cash flow management and modelling mistakes

Many businesses, especially growing ones, fall into the same traps when it comes to managing their cash.

Here are some of the most common issues we’ve come across and how to avoid them:

1.     No cash flow forecasting

If you don’t forecast properly, you’re flying blind, and your business is vulnerable to unexpected shortfalls.

Get around this with forward-looking cash flow models that show what’s ahead and demonstrate best case, worst case, and most likely scenarios.

2.     Overestimating revenue and underestimating costs

Many business owners get ahead of themselves and overestimate how much their business is making after operational costs. This leads them to plan for scaling when they aren’t ready.

To avoid this all-too-common mistake, base your forecasts on realistic assumptions and historical data where available.

3.     Over-reliance on one revenue stream

Many newer businesses are doing fantastically on paper, but a huge chunk of their income comes from one client or product. This puts them in a precarious position when things change, and they often do.

Diversifying revenue streams is highly advised to dodge this potentially fatal error, and modelling different risk scenarios can help you prepare for the unexpected.  

4.     No emergency cash reserve

An emergency cash reserve could be a lifeline when you enter a quiet period. Instead of running into cash flow panic, build and maintain a buffer to weather any storm.

5.     Poor payment terms

Being too lenient with credit and slow with collections can have negative knock-on effects for your cash flow and seriously damage your business.

Instead, negotiate robust terms and use automation to ensure prompt invoicing and reminders. This way, you won’t be caught short.

6.     Lack of real-time monitoring

A lack of real-time monitoring is a common oversight, but without the right tracking in place, improvements can’t be made in your business.

To get around this, use the right technology to monitor key metrics and flag issues before they turn into crises.

How we can help

Managing cash flow and modelling is somewhat of a balancing act, but you don’t need a circus performer to get it right. Instead, you need a team of experts with the technology and capabilities to handle it for you.

That’s where we step in, with a tailored cash flow management and modelling service that gives you visibility and control over every penny coming into your business. From one-off projects to ongoing support, we help you make better decisions more comfortably and plan effectively for the future.

This can be achieved with:

  • Custom cash flow modelling that flags risks and finds opportunities based on your business forecasts and objectives.

  • Cash flow health checks to review your current position and dish out practical recommendations.

  • Automated monitoring tools to give you real-time insights that are crucial for planning.

  • Working capital optimisation with strategies to manage stock, invoices, and supplier payments more effectively.

  • Debt and finance advisory to help you fund growth sustainably and effectively.

  • Scenario planning and risk management so you can prepare for the best, worst, and most likely.

Whether you’re in hospitality, creative services, health and beauty, sport, the not-for-profit space, or any other industry, we can tailor our services to your industry and your world.