The four basic dials to turn:
There are four basic ways to increase the cash position of a company: 1) inject cash through borrowing or investment, 2) decrease spending or payments on debt, (3) increase efficiency of operations, and 4) increase revenues or advance payments from customers.
…with one warning:
Even before examining the tactics of cash flow management, we’ve got to acknowledge that you never, ever should slip on payment of payroll taxes. The temptation to do so in tight times is tremendous, but the liability for such taxes is personal to senior management as individuals and cannot be waived or negotiated away. I advise all of my companies to use an impressed payroll service, one that takes the taxes from your bank account along with the net payrolls each period ( I have a story about this for later in this insight.) A close second for the same reasons are sales taxes and income taxes. Both take a bit longer for the appropriate authority to move to freeze accounts because the processes of doing so are more involved. But all forms of tax must be paid to avoid catastrophe, if not merely avoid 25% penalties and accumulated interest.
Let’s examine the decreases in spending first.
There are several classes of obligations and several types of providers within each. Assuming that the company is not already on the “cash only” list from materials suppliers requiring payment to those just to keep the business flowing, then when cash is tight, payments to ongoing providers of necessary services or products must rise near the top of the list. If there are several alternative suppliers of the same service that regularly deal with the company, then you have more power in lengthening payments to one.
[Email readers, continue here…] Calling vendors when payment is due but a payment missed is always appropriate and will buy the company time and goodwill. But promises made must be kept, even if the amounts of payment are small. Some people advise that a company make small payments of any size to most vendors, stating that these will keep the wolf from the door during tough times. I agree, but spreading the cash prevents making significant payments to those vendors needed most for continuing operations, and the balance is worth careful consideration.
Address the highest cost vendors, including credit cards and private lenders.
In general, next in line are those that charge stiff penalties for late payment, including landlords, private lending companies with high rates of interest, and credit card companies. Often last are the lawyers and accountants who protect you and help you to plan your recovery, only because they above all others are vested with you in your recovery and success.
Accelerating revenues come next.
Close supervision of delinquent receivables is time-consuming but absolutely necessary. There are statistics that show clearly that the likelihood of payment drops quickly as receivables age beyond terms. And I’ve seen many company receivables clerks do a stunning job of collecting right on time by calling a few days ahead of time to check on the progress of a pending payment.
Thirty years ago, I stretched to buy a new home for my family that was above my ability to borrow at the time, but a bargain in a fast-rising market. My solution, aside from a first and second mortgage, was to call a number of my best customer CEO’s, explain the problem-opportunity and ask for early payment of receivables. I promised each and later delivered a boatload of extra value for that evidence of good faith. As I recall, every one of the CEO’s agreed to advance payments, and I did reward them with extra services. What may have seemed as a sign of weakness turned into a long term celebration of mutual trust and respect among peers.
Offering discounts, prepayment bonuses and more…
Many companies have recurring revenues, often billed in advance, for maintenance or other services. Merely sending out the invoices for each period’s pre-billing up to a month in advance of the start of the period will accelerate cash flow considerably. Many companies ask for deposits before performing services. Increasing the percentage of a contract as deposit is often unquestioned by small to mid-sized customers. Large corporations, those probably most able to pay such deposits, are usually the first to push back, often quoting “policy”, whatever that is, as the authority preventing compliance with such a request.
I promised a story about payroll taxes, and it is not a good one, despite the best of intentions. One of my companies where I served as chairman used a payroll service company that impressed payroll taxes along with payroll employee direct deposits and remitted those taxes directly to the authorities. Well, almost. One quarter, the company just did not receive its copies of the quarterly reports. I had wisely suspected this payroll company already and had the company switch to QuickBooks Payroll at the start of the new quarter. It turns out that the two founders of the small payroll services company absconded with (stole) all the taxes from all of their payroll clients from mid-May through end of June that year. Since no tax authority notified any clients during those weeks no one was aware that the money was gone, and forms never filed.
Millions were stolen. It is now years later, and our company as well as others have double-paid all the taxing authorities those missing taxes, including interest, but with penalties waived. The two founders are in Federal prison and about five percent of the missing funds were recovered by the Justice Department and returned to the companies. So, it seems that even conservative cash tactics such as using an impressed service for payroll can lead to disaster. Who knew?
Next week, we turn to the more pleasant issues relating to growth, and explore some of the areas rarely considered when the rising tide lifts all boats. Those of us who have experienced exhilarating growth have stories to tell that make it obvious that the thrill of the wild ride makes the effort more than worthwhile. But growth has its issues too, and it is time to explore these.
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