13-week cash flow forecasts and proactive planning that keep your UK business solvent, fundable and ready for every tax deadline.
Profitable businesses still fail when cash runs dry. Our UK cash flow management services give you a rolling 13-week forecast, scenario planning and timed tax provisioning so you always know what's coming in, what's going out, and exactly how much you can safely draw. Delivered by an ACCA-qualified accountant on fixed monthly pricing, with replies inside 72 hours.
We build a live, rolling 13-week cash flow forecast in Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage, mapping every receipt and payment week by week. You see your lowest projected balance before it arrives, so a slow-paying customer or a quarterly VAT bill never becomes a crisis. The forecast is refreshed monthly against actuals so it stays honest.
We ring-fence cash for every liability on its real due date: VAT quarterly, Corporation Tax 9 months and 1 day after your year-end (19% to £50,000 of profit, 25% above £250,000, with a 26.5% effective marginal rate between), PAYE/NIC monthly, and Self Assessment payments on account. From April 2026, MTD for Income Tax also applies to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000, so we build that rhythm in early.
We track your debtor days, creditor days and stock turn, then tighten the cash conversion cycle. That means credit control routines, sensible payment terms, and using supplier credit deliberately rather than by accident. We also assess the VAT Cash Accounting Scheme (open to businesses with taxable turnover of £1.35 million or less), which lets you pay VAT only once your customer has paid you.
Before you hire, buy equipment or take on a big contract, we model it. Best case, worst case and a realistic middle, each shown against your 13-week runway. We factor in capital allowances on equipment, the £1,000,000 Annual Investment Allowance and 100% full expensing for companies, so the timing of a purchase works for both cash and tax.
For owner-managed limited companies we plan a tax-efficient, cash-safe split of salary and dividends, checking distributable reserves before anything is paid. Dividends are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35% across the basic, higher and additional bands above the £500 dividend allowance, and we make sure each drawing leaves enough cash behind for the company's own tax bills.
When the forecast shows a shortfall, we act early rather than late. That can mean arranging an invoice finance or overdraft facility, restructuring supplier terms, or negotiating an HMRC Time to Pay arrangement to spread a VAT, PAYE or Corporation Tax bill in instalments and reduce late-payment penalties. Early action keeps you in control and protects your credit standing.
Because we provision for VAT, Corporation Tax, PAYE and Self Assessment on their real due dates, the money is already set aside when HMRC asks for it. No scramble, no emergency borrowing, no late-payment interest.
You deal with a single named, ACCA-qualified accountant, not a call-centre queue. They understand your forecast, your seasonality and your goals, and reply within 72 hours.
Cash flow work sits inside transparent fixed pricing at £99, £199 or £499 a month on a rolling monthly basis. You can scale up or step down as your needs change, and there are no hourly-rate shocks for picking up the phone.
We work live inside Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage, so your forecast reflects this week, not last quarter. When you're weighing a hire or a big purchase, you decide on current numbers, not guesswork.
Every engagement is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. If the forecasting and planning don't earn their keep in the first month, you don't pay for it.
Late payment is the single biggest cause of cash flow strain for UK small businesses, because the work is done, the cost is already paid, and the money simply has not arrived. A forecast can be perfectly accurate and still leave you short if a large invoice slips three weeks past its due date. The fix is partly behavioural and partly legal, and we build both into your credit control routine.
Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts legislation, if you have not agreed a payment date with a business customer the law treats the payment as late 30 days after they receive the invoice or you deliver the goods or service, whichever is later. You can agree longer terms by negotiation, up to 60 days, or beyond that only where it is genuinely fair to both businesses.
Once a commercial payment is late you are entitled to statutory interest of 8% plus the Bank of England base rate, calculated on the overdue amount until it is paid. On top of the interest you can claim a fixed sum towards your debt recovery costs: £40 for a debt up to £999.99, £70 for a debt between £1,000 and £9,999.99, and £100 for a debt of £10,000 or more, plus any reasonable recovery costs above that.
In practice the goal is rarely to charge the interest, it is to have it in your terms so customers pay on time in the first place. We set sensible payment terms, automate reminders before and after the due date, and reserve the statutory remedies for the accounts that genuinely need pressure. If chasing is taking over your week, our credit control service runs the whole cycle for you while protecting the client relationship.
See also: UK invoice requirements explainedHow to invoice as a sole traderCredit control services
Yes. There are two distinct levers, and they solve different problems. The first is smoothing a lumpy bill before it ever becomes a crisis by changing how you pay VAT. The second is negotiating instalments with HMRC when a bill is already due and the cash is not there. We use the first to prevent squeezes and the second only as a deliberate, planned fallback.
To smooth VAT, the Annual Accounting Scheme is open to businesses with a projected VAT taxable turnover of £1.35 million or less. Instead of four quarterly returns and four irregular payments, you make regular advance payments across the year based on your last return, file a single annual return, and then settle the difference with one balancing payment or refund. It turns an unpredictable quarterly hit into a steady monthly outgoing your forecast can absorb, which is often the difference between comfortable and constantly firefighting.
When a VAT, Corporation Tax, PAYE or Self Assessment bill is already looming and the cash will not stretch, HMRC may agree a Time to Pay arrangement that spreads the amount over instalments. The important caveat is that interest still runs on the outstanding balance. HMRC late payment interest is set at the Bank of England base rate plus 4% and is currently 7.75%, so an instalment plan buys you time and predictability but is not free. We model the plan against your 13-week forecast first, so you commit to instalments you can actually meet rather than defaulting a second time.
If your forecast is already showing a shortfall in the next quarter, the time to act is now, while you still have options. Book a free Tax Health Check and we will tell you which lever fits your position and set it up properly.
| Lever | Who it suits | Effect on cash flow |
|---|---|---|
| VAT Annual Accounting Scheme | Taxable turnover £1.35m or less | Replaces lumpy quarterly VAT with steady advance payments and one annual balancing payment |
| HMRC Time to Pay arrangement | Any business that cannot pay a due bill in full | Spreads VAT, Corporation Tax, PAYE or Self Assessment over instalments; interest still accrues at 7.75% |
| VAT Cash Accounting Scheme | Taxable turnover £1.35m or less | You pay VAT only once your customer has paid you, protecting cash when debtors are slow |
See also: VAT Cash Accounting Scheme explainedHMRC Time to Pay for Self AssessmentHMRC interest and penalties on late paymentBook a free Tax Health Check
Three numbers tell you almost everything about your cash position, and most owners only look at the bank balance, which is the least useful of them. The bank balance is a snapshot of the past. Cash flow management is about what the balance will be in eight to twelve weeks, and whether your operating habits are quietly draining or building cash. We surface these alongside your forecast so a decision is never made on gut feel.
The first is your lowest projected balance over the next 13 weeks. This is the figure that matters most, because it tells you whether payroll, rent and tax bills all clear without intervention. If the low point dips below your minimum comfortable buffer, you have weeks of warning to chase a debtor, delay a purchase or arrange a facility, rather than discovering it the morning payroll bounces.
The second is your cash conversion cycle: how many days cash is tied up between paying a supplier and collecting from a customer. Shortening debtor days, taking sensible supplier credit, and holding less idle stock all release cash that is already yours but currently locked up. Small, repeatable improvements here usually free more cash than any one-off cost cut.
The third is runway: how many months you can keep operating at your current net cash burn before you run out, which matters most for early-stage and seasonal businesses with lumpy income. We track all three live inside Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage, so the figures reflect this week, not last quarter. If you want to understand the mechanics yourself, our guides on runway and burn rate and on the management-account KPIs worth tracking are a good place to start.
See also: Startup runway and burn-rate forecastingKPIs and management accountsBank reconciliation for small business
Understanding your business needs.
Crafting your custom accounting strategy.
Quick and easy integration.
Consistent monitoring and reporting.
3-statement forecasts, scenario modelling, and investor-grade financial models.
Read moreBank-ready and investor-ready business plans with financials that hold up.
Read moreDirect line to your account manager for the questions that come up between calls.
Read moreAged debtor chasing, payment terms enforcement, and collections support.
Read more
Thirteen weeks is the window where most cash crises become visible while you still have room to act - chase a debtor, defer a supplier, draw on a facility, or pull a planned outflow. Annual forecasts are too coarse to spot a payroll squeeze; monthly ones lag the weekly cash cycle most SMEs actually run on. The 13-week model is the standard tool used by turnaround practitioners and lenders.
Read-only access to your bank feeds, accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, or Sage), and your aged debtors and creditors reports. The first forecast is built within the first week of onboarding and reviewed with you live; from then on it updates automatically each week against actuals.
Crisis cash flow work starts the same week. We map every committed outflow against expected receipts for the next 6 weeks, identify which payments are statutory (PAYE, VAT, pension) versus discretionary, open conversations with priority creditors, and draft a Time to Pay submission to HMRC if needed. This is included in standard engagements, not billed as emergency consultancy.
Yes. Our forecasts use the format UK clearing banks, asset finance providers, and invoice discounters expect - opening balance, weekly receipts split by category, weekly payments split by category, closing balance, and headroom against any covenants. The same pack supports CBILS, RLS, and standard overdraft renewals without rework.
Seasonal businesses get a working capital cycle layered on top of the base forecast - peak inventory build, customer deposit timing, off-season fixed cost runway, and the cash trough that typically follows a peak. We back-test against your last two years of bank statements so the forecast reflects reality, not best-case planning.
Thirty minutes with an ACCA-qualified accountant. Most owners uncover £1,000-£3,000 in annual savings on the first call. If we are not the right fit, you walk away with a free tax review on the house.
