The future of your business has arrived. Cash flow forecasting is the game changer you have been looking for and Accountants Plus are the team-mates you need to bring home the win.
Cash flow forecasting is your financial road-map, predicting how money will flow through your business in the months and years to come and helping you create winning growth strategies.
Why Accountants Plus?
Learn from the past and predict the future with forecasting services from Accountants Plus. The extensive forecasting experience of our chartered accountants, combined with the very latest cutting-edge forecasting software, is a potent combination that has already helped hundreds of business just like yours to reach their potential.
What is a Cash Flow Forecast?
Cash is king in any business, and if you don’t have a handle on yours, it won’t be long until you get dethroned.
Sometimes cash is easy to come by, sometimes things are a bit tight. Drops in cash flow don’t mean your business is failing. You could simply have bought some new equipment or invested big in staff training but it is how you handle these peaks and troughs that will determine your long-term success.
Cash flow forecasts mean you will never be caught short and can plan far more effectively for both periods of plenty and potential shortfalls.
Once you have a better picture of when these periods will be, you can identify exactly what actions you need to take, and when.
How can a cash flow forecast help my business?
As a successful business owner, we’re sure your mind starts racing when you think of all the things you could do to grow if you could predict the future.
Let’s imagine for a second that you are the owner of a restaurant chain. With an accurate cash flow forecast, routine budgeting for upcoming costs like staff wages, rent, and supplies becomes a breeze, but this is only the beginning.
Restaurants are one of those businesses where there are significant seasonal changes in footfall. At Christmas, bookings will be through the roof, whilst in January or the heat of summer, things can be a little quieter. With a cash flow forecast, the financial impact of these trends is so much easier to handle.
Find the perfect moment to purchase that new oven when business is booming and cash flow is strong, and save that exciting menu switch-up or promotions for slower months.
Even better, the expected financial impact of these actions can also be predicted thanks to the market leading software we provide and the expertise of our team. Trying out new business strategies in advance without having to gamble the finances of your company on a whim reduces risk massively and ensures you know exactly when to pounce on your next big opportunity.
Cash flow forecasting can also be beneficial as part of a charity accounting package, helping non-profits to make more informed financial decisions.
Types of Cash Flow Forecast
How far into the future should your forecast look? It depends on your business goals, and once we have sat down with you and listened to exactly what you are looking to achieve, we will tailor our forecasting services to match.
Picking the right reporting period is key to the success of any cash flow forecast as it can majorly effect how accurate and reliable the results are.
Short-Term Cash Flow Forecast
Spanning anywhere from a week to a month, short-term forecasts are great for daily calculations, ensuring your business is able to make it to a point where long-term forecasts are possible.
Short-term forecasts are ideal for liquidity planning and identifying if emergency additional funding will need to be sourced.
Medium-Term Cash Flow Forecast
Often performed on a quarterly basis, medium-term forecasts can help you to optimise your business strategy, allowing you to take advantage of opportunities in the next few months and make sure you are in a position to take them.
Long-Term Cash Flow Forecast
Set yourself up for long-term business goals, with forecasting that looks far into the future and projects up to 5 years in advance. No one knows how business events will turn out over that period of time. That is why we will revisit the assumptions and possible scenarios every year with you. Our experienced team of expert accountants will talk you through the financial permutations and discuss with you each new scenario that you want to consider.
Despite the uncertainty, long-term cash-flow forecasting is extremely valuable. It forces you and all of your colleagues to think about possible changes which could present challenges or opportunities. That thinking process prepares you for taking advantage of whatever does happen – whether that’s an industry change, new regulations, or a new technology.
At Accountant’s Plus we have the tools and expertise to plan for the future with confidence, giving you the solid foundations to build your dreams into reality.
Who should create a cash flow forecast?
With all these fantastic benefits, you are probably chomping at the bit to create your own cash flow forecast at this point.
Wait a second! Remember, as wonderful as an accurate cash flow forecast can be, an inaccurate one is fatal. Making key financial decisions based on inaccurate accounts or using outdated software? Not a good idea.
If you were building a new premises for your business, you would hardly do it yourself would you? You would call in the professionals. Otherwise, your company would be at constant risk of literally collapsing at any given moment.
Financial assets are just as important as physical ones, if not more so, so you should only ever use an experienced accountant when creating cash flow forecasts.
The two most important things when creating cash flow forecasts are the quality of the software used to create the predictions, and the expertise of the person interpreting the results the software produces.
