Highly profitable, but always short of cash

On paper the business was doing well: it was highly profitable, with plenty already in place. But the owners kept hitting cash crunches and couldn’t work out why. They were running several systems that didn’t talk to each other, so the numbers didn’t line up, debtors were slipping through the gaps, and there was no single clear picture of where the money was going.

We came in as their Financial Controller to find the leaks and give them control:

• Cash flow: built a cash flow forecast so they could see what was coming in and going out, and when
• Systems: joined up their financial systems so the numbers made sense across the business and debtors stopped falling through the cracks
• Month end: introduced a month-end checklist and proper monthly reporting
• Bookkeeping: directing their offshore bookkeeping team so the work is accurate, consistent and on time
• Costs: reviewed spend across the business, including moving work from contractors to internal staff and cutting costs in the right places
• Funding: arranged debt funding to support cash flow while the changes took effect

• Cash position massively improved once the leaks were found and fixed
• Lower costs from switching contractors to internal staff and targeted cuts
• Debtors back under control with joined-up systems
• Funding in place to support cash flow
• Reliable month-end reporting they can act on