See the business clearly, and decide in time

A current view of cash, margin and obligations, while there is still a decision to make. Worth the same to the owner and to the person financing them.

Two perspectives, one philosophy

Same work. Different reason for wanting it

If you run the business

Control of the decision

You know the business better than anyone. What is missing is a current view of it, and someone to think it through with.

A current picture, not a year old one

Cash visible far enough ahead to act

Someone in the numbers alongside you

If you are financing one

Confidence in the position

You are backing a business you cannot see inside every day. The same reporting gives you a reliable read on it.

Reporting that arrives without being chased

A clear read on the financial position

Discipline that holds after the deal closes

What we look at

The diagnostic starts in the same places

Whoever asked for the work, these areas tell you the most about a business the fastest.

What is happening now

Cash

What is committed, what is coming in, and where the position lands.

Cash timing

The stretch between paying for the work and being paid for it.

Margin

Where it is earned and where it leaks, job by job.

Whether the numbers hold

Reporting quality

Does it reconcile, arrive in time, and separate operating performance.

Financial controls

Who approves what, and whether anything can move unseen.

What the business can take on

Debt and obligations

Amounts, terms, and the order they rank in.

Use of funds

What money is for, sized to the real gap.

Financing readiness

Whether the position holds up read cold from outside.

How a month runs

The ongoing work is a cycle, not a project

This is what keeps the numbers worth something on the day a decision has to be made.

Through the month

Monitor

Cash, upcoming obligations, what cleared and what is about to.

Month end

Close

Reconciled and tied out, so the month can be relied on.

Then

Report

Performance against expectation, and where margin went.

Together

Review

The few things that actually need a decision this month.

Before it restarts

Forecast

Rebuilt on what happened, not on what was planned.

Where the pressure usually is

Problems in a business rarely arrive one at a time

Six things put pressure on a finance function. They overlap, and the one making the most noise is often not the one causing it.

1

Cash timing

Money leaves before customers pay, and growth makes that gap larger.

2

Reporting and visibility

The numbers arrive late, do not reconcile, or do not show what management needs to know.

3

Margin and profitability

Revenue is moving, but nobody can see where margin is earned or where it is being lost.

4

Debt and obligations

Loans, leases, arrears and supplier terms are not viewed together with the cash the business generates.

5

Growth and capacity

The next hire, contract, machine or expansion needs a clear view of what the business can carry.

6

Controls and process

Approvals, payments, month end and ownership of the numbers have not kept pace with the business.

We look at all six before we work on any one of them. That is what stops a business fixing the wrong thing.