Services
Cash Flow & Financial Visibility
Profitable firms run out of cash. A rolling 13-week cash forecast tells you where your cash stands every week for the next quarter — so liquidity is managed, not discovered.
The problem: profit on the P&L, surprises in the bank account
It is the classic project-firm trap. The income statement shows a healthy margin. The backlog is solid. And yet, twice a year, someone opens the bank account and feels their stomach drop — payroll is Friday, a milestone invoice hasn't paid yet, and the money is thinner than the profit suggested.
Profit and cash diverge in project firms for structural reasons. Revenue is recognized when work is earned, but cash arrives when invoices are paid — and in milestone billing, those moments can be months apart. A large project win can actually consume cash: you staff up, pay payroll, fund travel and subcontractors, and wait sixty or ninety days for the first real collection. Growth can feel like a cash crisis precisely when the business is doing well.
The other driver is timing. Project costs are weekly and predictable — payroll doesn't wait. Receipts are lumpy and conditional — dependent on client approvals, milestone sign-offs, and pay cycles you don't control. A P&L smooths all of that into monthly averages. Cash doesn't care about averages.
Most firms manage this by watching the bank balance and hoping. That's a lagging indicator of a forward problem: by the time the balance looks wrong, the choices are already bad — emergency line draws, delayed vendor payments, awkward client conversations. Cash problems are almost always solvable when seen early, and almost always expensive when seen late.
What you get
A working cash-management system: forecast, discipline, and visibility into the timing that actually matters.
Rolling 13-week cash forecast
A week-by-week view of opening cash, expected receipts, and planned disbursements — refreshed continuously so it always looks thirteen weeks ahead. The single most useful page in your finance function.
Receipts and disbursements scheduling
Receipts tied to real billing milestones and client payment patterns; disbursements tied to payroll runs, vendor terms, and planned spend. Both are specific and dated, not statistical.
Milestone-billing tracker
Every upcoming milestone — amount, billing trigger, invoice status, and expected collection — in one place, connected to the forecast. When a milestone slips, you see the cash impact immediately.
Liquidity alerts and headroom analysis
Clear flags when the forecast shows weeks dipping below your minimum cash threshold, plus the analysis to act: how much headroom you have, and which levers — collections, spend timing, credit — close the gap.
Typical cadence: a weekly cash review rhythm
Cash moves weekly, so we review it weekly. The rhythm is deliberately light:
We update the forecast
Each week we roll the 13-week forecast forward: actual receipts and payments against plan, new milestone information, updated collection timing, and any changes in planned spend.
You review the week ahead
A short review — thirty to forty-five minutes — covers what's coming in, what's going out, and where the pinch points are. The agenda is decisions, not data entry.
Decisions happen early
When the forecast shows a dip six weeks out, you act on it now: accelerate a collection, defer a discretionary payment, or arrange funding on your terms. Early action is cheap; late action isn't.
Who it's for
This service fits project-based firms of 10 to 250 people where cash timing drives real decisions — which it does for nearly all of them. It's especially valuable if you bill on milestones, if your clients pay on net-60 or slower terms, if you've felt the "profitable but tight" squeeze, or if you're growing and finding that every new project eats cash before it produces it.
Outcomes
- No surprise shortfalls: see tight weeks coming far enough ahead to act calmly, not frantically.
- Payroll confidence: know, every week, that payroll is covered — and that you didn't find that out by accident.
- Smarter funding decisions: use a credit line as a planned tool rather than an emergency measure — or discover you don't need one at all.
- Collection discipline: a milestone tracker makes overdue follow-up a scheduled activity, not an afterthought. Cash arrives faster when someone is watching it.
Frequently asked questions
Why 13 weeks? Why not a month, or a full year?
Thirteen weeks — one quarter — is the horizon where action still matters. A one-month view only shows what has already happened; a full year is too uncertain to act on. Thirteen weeks is far enough to see a shortfall coming and close enough to do something about it: accelerate a billing milestone, adjust vendor timing, or tap a credit line before it becomes urgent.
We already watch our bank balance. Isn't that enough?
A bank balance tells you where you are today; it says nothing about payroll three weeks from now. Project firms run into trouble precisely when balances look healthy — a big milestone check arrives, spending drifts up, then a slow billing month exposes the gap. The forecast turns a snapshot into a forward view.
How much time does the weekly cash review take?
About thirty to forty-five minutes once the forecast is built and running. We do the heavy lifting — updating receipts, disbursements, and milestone timing — and the review itself is a short, focused conversation about decisions, not a long meeting.
Related services
Cash visibility pairs naturally with planning, reporting, and decision support.
Forecasting & Financial Planning
Feed the cash forecast from a rolling 12-month plan anchored in backlog, staffing, and margin.
Performance Reporting & KPIs
Track the monthly story behind the cash with a management pack that connects profit to liquidity.
Decision Support & Profitability
Use cash insight in pricing, hiring, and funding decisions with CFO-level judgment in a steady cadence.
Run your projects with financial confidence.
Talk to a finance advisor who speaks project economics — backlog, bench, WIP, and margin — not just accounting.