1. Cash is King... Cashflow management

2. Working capital

4. Debtors: speed up cash collection  Put in place credit control procedures  Check invoices are being paid before they are due  Get commitment re payment date  Speak to the customer if invoice is likely to be contentious  Don’t include lots of work on one invoice  Don’t leave invoicing til month end  Concentrate production resources on items which can be completed and billed in the month  Interim bills?  Put cash collection at the top of YOUR priority list  Be hard with non paying customers – “STOP”  Credit checking and credit limits

5. Stock  Clear out old stock – even if at a loss, convert to CASH  Speak to suppliers – “just in time”/consignment stock/return unwanted stock  Resource locally if exchange rate, transport costs, minimum order quantities and payments in advance are an issue  Extend credit taken from suppliers

6. Why forecast?  To quantify how much cash you need  To be on the front foot in discussions with your bank  To see if you are going to breach banking covenants  To help fulfil your legal obligations as a director  To force you to review every aspect of your business

7. Tax  Get accounts done quickly if there’s a loss  File VAT returns on time and pay by direct debit for an extra 10 days credit  For self employed, can you reduce your payment on account?  HMRC more accommodating in cases of difficulty making tax payments

8.  Be ruthless in your review of cost  Make cash YOUR priority  Strong leadership is vital – this is YOUR job  Take control of the cheque book  Take security for directors loans  Do you have surplus assets you could sell? Other tips

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