Check your cash position
Track your cash flow at least weekly – if not daily. We’ve put together this simple cash flow monitoring tool to help you track when you expect to get cash in and when you expect to pay cash out.
It’s been designed to be used to provide you with clarity, through simple assumptions and approximations. It covers a 90-day period only, as it is intended for short-term use.
It deliberately compromises on detail and completeness, to gain speed and simplicity. It’s a framework to gather your thoughts and put the most important parts of your finances into perspective.
Know your numbers
In times of uncertainty, it’s more important than ever to get to grips with the numbers in your business. The good news is that you don’t need to be an accountant to have the key information you need at your fingertips.
Produce a visual dashboard for your business – the three or so metrics that tell you whether you’re on track. Make sure there’s a balance of leading and lagging indicators on there, and ensure they’re aligned with your strategic objectives. Update and review them every day or week to ensure you’re on track.
Calculate your break-even point; it’s a good number to know. Ideally, make sure you set targets above break-even. Plan to make a profit, but know where the break-even line is in case things don’t go to plan.
Increase awareness amongst the team about what each objective means. If things are simple, clear and aligned – good things will happen. If not, it’ll be much harder work to achieve your objectives. Don’t forget, revenue is much easier for someone to affect (and understand) than profit.
Deferring payments
Your first stop for help improving your cash flow is to consider deferring your tax payments to HMRC. If you have upcoming payments for VAT, Corporation Tax or PAYE, we’ve put together a short guide showing you how to do this.
A lot of businesses are also entitled to a grant payment of £10,000 under the Business Rates Payers Scheme. This amount is more if you’re a hospitality business. Look at holding off your business rates payment while you check with your local authority to see if you are eligible for any of the concessions. Different councils have different procedures to apply and receive it. If you haven’t heard from yours yet, please give them a call.
Funding
There are lots of questions about how you can access funding right now. In summary, our advice is:
- Make the most of government support measures and HMRC deferments first.
- Speak to your bank manager to help them understand your business and your plan so that if you need funding, they are more likely to give it to you. You can talk to them specifically about overdraft facilities, and a Recovery Loan application.
The government has put systems in place to deliver access to loans and grants. In reality, it may take weeks until the cash hits your bank account. If you need a cash injection within the next six weeks, our advice is to seek alternative funding as soon as possible – Swoop is a good option to apply for alternative finance. You can use this link to create an account and start a quick search that will match you with suitable funding providers.
Managing your personal finances
If you’re worried about your personal finances throughout this time, our key recommendations are:
Reduce your bills – this could involve cancelling subscriptions you no longer use, switching and saving on your energy bills or finding a better mortgage deal.
Delay your bills – talking to your bank about a temporary payment freeze on loans and credit cards for up to three months or taking a mortgage repayment holiday (this won’t affect your credit score).
Act quickly if you need credit. Unfortunately, the financial impact of COVID-19 has forced lenders to withdraw a number of their products from the market. So if you need to apply for credit, doing it sooner rather than later will help you secure the right product at the right price.
Our financial planning team has put together some other tips in key areas to help your personal finances.
