Most business financial difficulty does not arrive overnight. It builds over weeks while the headline numbers still look acceptable. The companies that handle it best are the ones that catch the drift early, while there is still room to adjust suppliers, terms and timing rather than react under pressure.
Signals worth tracking every month
- Your closing bank balance is trending down month on month, even in a steady trading period.
- You are relying on incoming customer payments arriving exactly on time to meet your own outgoings.
- Aged debtor days are creeping up and chasing is slipping down the to-do list.
- You are paying suppliers later than agreed, or in part, to manage the week.
- VAT, PAYE or Corporation Tax set-asides are being dipped into for day-to-day costs.
What to do once you see them
Build a simple thirteen-week cashflow forecast and update it weekly. It does not need to be sophisticated, only honest. Map the weeks where money is tight before they arrive, and you can decide calmly whether that is a timing problem, a margin problem or a demand problem. Each needs a different response.
If a Credicorp Flex or Credicorp Slice repayment falls in one of those tight weeks, contact us early. We would always rather talk before a payment is missed than after. Acting in advance keeps far more options on the table for your company.
See also: Building a thirteen-week cashflow forecast, What is an HMRC Time to Pay arrangement, and when should we ask for one?, How do we avoid making difficulty worse with quick-fix borrowing?.