You can have great products, a growing customer base and the best team in the world, but if you’re not getting paid in a timely fashion and can’t meet your bills as they fall due, even the most outwardly successful business can go awry with remarkable speed.
“Effective cash-flow management is crucial throughout the year, but it takes on added significance during tax season when financial demands peak. For many business owners, this time of year can be particularly busy as they juggle large financial outflows, such as tax payments and other significant expenses,” says Brendan Crowley, head of AIB finance and leasing.
With careful planning, businesses can mitigate some of this pressure and maintain a healthy financial position. “By keeping a close eye on cash flow, businesses can not only stay secure and profitable but also make informed decisions about future investments, spending, and building an emergency fund,” he explains.
“This preparation helps businesses remain resilient against any of the various financial challenges that can arise unexpectedly. Taking control of cash flow not only supports immediate needs but also lays the groundwork for long-term stability and success.”
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One way that businesses can manage significant expenses, such as annual tax bills or pension contributions, is by spreading them over a period of time.
“This approach can help ease demand on cash reserves, providing businesses with greater financial flexibility to handle both expected and unexpected expenses. For many, managing these payments over several months rather than all at once can make a substantial difference in maintaining cash flow stability,” says Crowley.
Working capital finance solutions such as AIB’s PromptPay and Insurance Premium Finance are short-term finance products which enable businesses to spread payments over six to 11 months, easing cash flow pressures.
Attitudes to the role of cash management in growth have changed somewhat in recent years. “Pre-2022, growth was defined as increasing revenue, somewhat ignoring the increase in associated costs due to the ease and abundance of private funding,” says Karl Rogers, chief investment officer at Elkstone Partners.
“This has changed to a focus on sustainable profitability which considers both the revenue and cost components as it relates to profitability. While not the core revenue driver, having your excess cash directly add more to your bottom line helps increase your firm’s cash position which can be used against some costs, improving both the revenue generation and profitability of the organisation. For those firms with significant cash holding, squeezing out an extra one to two per cent makes a material difference to the bottom line.”
Free templates available online, and through banks and finance providers, can help with cash flow management.
“They can really help you to anticipate shortfalls in advance of them becoming a critical issue, and to identify seasonal trends and patterns, whether in relation to your customer service, or your payments behaviour, which can ultimately lead to gaps in your cash flow,” says Aoife McGinley, head of client services at Bibby Financial Services.
Have a strong credit policy in place too. “Be very clear with your customers what their payment terms are, and make sure to put it on your invoices or customer statements; it all helps facilitate cash coming in a timely manner. Consider both early payment discounts and late payment charges, none of these considerations should be off the table,” she says.
If your business is on a growth trajectory the risk of overtrading - when you expand too quickly without the financial resources to support it - is a very real risk. An invoice discounting facility can help. With it your provider pays the lion’s share of an invoice up front, typically 80 per cent but in some instances up to 90 per cent, and pays the outstanding amount, minus a fee, when the invoice is settled.
“It bridges that gap between asking for and receiving payment, unlocking cash from unpaid invoices which then releases working capital that the business has already earned,” explains McGinley.
It’s competitively priced too, thanks to partnerships with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI). “We’re also a relationship-based funder which takes the time to meet and talk with clients so that we can grow the facility with their needs,” she adds.
Whatever tools or facilities you use, getting on top of cash flow management is vital. “Whether it’s paying Revenue, staff or suppliers, those things simply can’t be done if there isn’t cash in the bank, and that’s what brings things to a halt,” says McGinley.
“If your customers are paying you on a 60-day term but you have to pay your suppliers in 30, it’s not going to work unless you have a way of plugging that gap. That’s why it’s so important to do that forward planning.”
