Cash Flow Management Solutions That Keep Your Bank Balance Healthy

Take an online seller turning over £1.2 million a year. Sales peak in November and December. To be ready, they spend £80,000 on stock in September and October. That money goes out weeks before the sales come in.

On paper, they are having a great year. The 13-week forecast tells a different story. It shows the bank balance dropping to £6,000 in late October, just as a £25,000 VAT bill falls due. That low point is the lowest projected balance, and it is a problem.

Because they can see it in August, they have time and choices. They order slightly less stock, agree 60-day terms with one supplier, and move VAT onto a scheme that softens the quarterly hit. The low point lifts to a safe level. The crisis simply never happens.

Setting up our cash flow management services takes about a week, and most of the work is ours.

1. You give us read-only access to your bank feed and accounting software, plus your latest lists of who owes you and who you owe.
2. We build your first 13-week forecast and walk through it with you live, in plain English.
3. We agree your comfort buffer and the levers that fit your business, from payment terms to tax timing.
4. From then on the forecast updates every week, and we flag anything that needs action before it bites.

Late payment is the biggest cause of cash flow stress for small firms. The work is done, you have paid your costs, and the money just has not arrived. The fix is part habit and part law, and we build both into your routine.

If you have not agreed a payment date with a business customer, the law treats a payment as late 30 days after they get the invoice or you deliver, whichever is later. Once it is late, you can charge statutory interest of 8% plus the Bank of England base rate. With the base rate at 3.75% (June 2026, GOV.UK), that is 11.75% a year on the overdue amount.

You can also claim a fixed sum towards your costs: £40 for a debt under £1,000, £70 for £1,000 to £9,999.99, and £100 for £10,000 or more, plus reasonable recovery costs on top.

In truth, the goal is rarely to charge the interest. It is to have it written into your terms so people pay on time. We set sensible terms, send reminders before and after the due date, and keep the legal remedies for the accounts that really need them. If chasing is eating your week, our credit control service runs the whole cycle for you.

Yes, and there are two ways. One smooths a lumpy bill before it ever becomes a crisis, by changing how you pay VAT. The other is an instalment deal with HMRC for a bill that is already due. We use the first to prevent squeezes and the second only as a planned fallback.

To smooth VAT, the Annual Accounting Scheme is open to businesses with VAT taxable turnover of £1.35 million or less. Instead of four quarterly bills, you make steady advance payments through the year and settle up once. A lumpy quarterly hit becomes a calm monthly one your forecast can absorb.

If a bill is already due and the cash will not stretch, HMRC may agree a Time to Pay arrangement, which simply means paying in instalments. Interest still runs on what you owe, at the HMRC late-payment rate of the base rate plus 4%, currently 7.75% (June 2026, GOV.UK). So it buys time and calm, but it is not free. We test the plan against your forecast first, so you only promise instalments you can actually meet.

Seeing a shortfall in the next quarter? The time to act is now, while you still have options.

Three numbers tell you almost everything. Most owners only watch the bank balance, which is the least useful, because it only shows the past.

First, your lowest projected balance over the next 13 weeks. This tells you whether payroll, rent and tax all clear on their own. If it dips below your comfort level, you get weeks of warning, not a nasty morning surprise.

Second, your cash conversion cycle, the days between paying out and getting paid. It has three parts: how fast customers pay you (your debtor days, sometimes called days sales outstanding), how long you take to pay suppliers (creditor days), and how long stock sits before it sells (stock days). Chasing invoices sooner, taking fair supplier credit, and holding less idle stock all shorten it and release cash that is already yours but locked up.

Third, your runway, how many months you can keep going at the current rate. This matters most for seasonal businesses with lumpy income. We track all three live in your software, so the numbers are about this week, not last quarter.

Two questions, one answer: let the forecast decide, not your gut. You keep a buffer, then take what is left once tax is set aside.

For the buffer, a useful rule of thumb is enough cash to cover your fixed costs for a few weeks to a few months. A steady business can hold less. A seasonal seller needs more, because the quiet months still have bills to pay.

For what you take out, the safe figure is what remains after you have set money aside for VAT, Corporation Tax and your own Self Assessment, and after your buffer is topped up. We show you that number each month, so a wage or dividend never quietly tips you into the red.

Fair question. Here are honest answers to the doubts owners usually have about cash flow management services.

• Can I just do a spreadsheet? You can, and some owners do. The catch is that a spreadsheet is only as fresh as the last time you touched it, and it does not warn you when a number changes. We keep the forecast live and tell you when something needs action.
• Is it worth the money? Good cash flow management services pay for themselves the first time they stop a missed tax bill, a bounced payment, or a panic loan. Most owners say the bigger win is sleeping better.
• Will an accountant lecture me? No. We are on your side. We explain things in plain English and help you decide. We do not tell you off.
• Is my business too small? No. The squeeze is tightest for smaller firms, so this is where cash flow management for a small business helps most. We work with owner-managed companies, ecommerce and retail sellers, and startups from around £150,000 turnover up.
• What does it cost, and am I locked in? A fixed monthly fee of £129, £250 or £499, billed monthly, so you are never tied in. And there is a 30-day money-back guarantee if the first month does not earn its keep.

If you are tired of guessing whether next month will clear, that is exactly what we fix. Book a free Tax Health Check. We will look at your numbers, show you your lowest projected balance, your cash conversion cycle and your runway, and tell you the one or two levers that will help most. No jargon, no hard sell.

It is the simplest way to see what our cash flow management services can do for your business.

This page is general guidance, not personal advice. Every business is different, so book a call before you act on anything here.