Weekly cash flow checks to avoid unwelcome surprises, and including staff welfare in your Incident Response Plan
This morning we give you the lowdown on why checking your cash flow on a weekly basis can help you to avoid any welcome surprises, plus we guide you through your Incident Response Plan and why including staff welfare is paramount.
Weekly Cash Flow Checks: Stay Ahead of Surprises
Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. Without it, even profitable businesses can run into trouble. Yet many business owners, and even some finance teams, treat cash flow as a monthly or quarterly review item. That’s a mistake.
A weekly cash flow check is a simple, powerful habit that keeps you informed, proactive and in control. It’s a simple routine that will help you to keep your business financially healthy, spot opportunities early, and gain confidence in every decision.
What can weekly checks do for you?
Weekly cash flow checks can help you to:
- Avoid surprises. When you review your cash inflows and outflows weekly, you’ll spot timing gaps, slow-paying clients, or unexpected expenses before they become urgent.
- Plan smarter. Being able to see what’s happening to cash will help you make better decisions and avoid problems. For instance, should you delay a payment, push harder on collections, or hold back on spending?
- Spot opportunities early: Regularly reviewing cash flow can reveal trends and openings you might otherwise miss, such as funds that are available to grow the business or potential savings on expenses.
What are the core steps for a weekly check on cash flow?
Hopefully, you’re convinced of the benefits, but how do you do it? Here are five steps to a weekly check on cash flow.
STEP 1: Update Cash Position
Start by reviewing your bank balances and reconciling them with any outstanding invoices and bills.
You’ll need to make sure your accounting data is accurate and up-to-date, but this should help you know exactly how much cash is available.
STEP 2: Project the Next 2-4 Weeks
List out everything you expect to receive and everything you expect to pay out over the next 2-4 weeks.
This will help you to see where potential shortfalls could come, or where you might have an opportunity.
STEP 3: Compare Forecast to Reality
Look back at last week’s projections and notice how they differed from what happened in reality. Make sure you know the reason “why” behind differences. Was it a late payment? Were there unexpected expenses? Or did a sale you were expecting not come off?
As you do this, you’ll get better at estimating what’s likely to happen in future. For instance, you might tend to be too optimistic about when customers will pay you.
STEP 4: Identify Action Items
Based on what you’ve learned, you should be able to list out some actions that can be taken over the coming week.
Don’t necessarily try and list everything possible. You only have a week before the next review. Make sure that you flag the most critical issues so that you can make a meaningful adjustment.
You might decide to set a program of calls to customers to chase collections, defer non-critical expenses, or adjust staffing plans.
STEP 5: Document and Track Trends
Keep a simple log of your weekly checks. Over time, patterns can emerge that will help you in your budgeting, forecasting and decision making.
Tips
- A simple spreadsheet with columns for inflows, outflows, net cash and comments can be a good start and make it easier to collect and record the information you need.
- Many banking apps can be set to automatically notify you if balances drop below a preset threshold.
- Consistency is key, so you’ll want to schedule a fixed day each week for this review. Mark it in your calendar and make it non-negotiable.
Bottom line
Weekly cash flow checks can transform your financial management from reactive to proactive. It can mean peace of mind and smarter decisions, and give you an insight into your business that goes way beyond what day-to-day bookkeeping allows.
If you would like assistance in making a cash flow check part of your weekly routine, please get in touch. We would be happy to help you!
Why “Staff Welfare” Should Feature in Your Incident Response Plan
Cyber incidents, data breaches and operational disruptions don’t just affect systems – they affect people.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has published guidance called “Putting staff welfare at the heart of incident response” to help organisations consider the impact of a cyber incident on the people involved. While the guidance has been available for some time, the increasing prevalence of cyberattacks continues to make it timely.
When things go wrong – whether it’s a cyberattack, system failure or security breach – employees may feel stress, uncertainty, fatigue, guilt, or anxiety. The NCSC’s view is that if welfare is overlooked, it actually undermines the resilience of the whole response effort. A team that’s burnt out or demoralised is less able to think clearly, act decisively, or recover well.
What the NCSC recommends
The guidance lays out five core recommendations for making sure that staff welfare is considered:
- Include all staff in the incident response plan: When planning how you will respond to an incident, identify the staff that will be affected by it. Consider what the potential stresses might be. For instance, what if key staff are absent? Can you call on staff to handle incidents outside normal working hours? Planning can reduce unnecessary stress if an incident happens.
- Build a culture where staff feel safe to speak up: In a stressful incident, people cope with it differently. The guidance encourages a positive, secure culture where staff will feel able to speak up if they are feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, or need help, or if they spot worrying signs in their colleagues. This will help you to handle a problem before it becomes too serious.
- Plan your internal communications: During a live incident, people want clarity. Keep everyone – including staff that are not directly involved – informed about what’s happening.
- Be conscious of staff concerns: Staff are likely to worry about how the incident will impact their own livelihoods, whether because their personal information has been stolen or they will lose their job. Clearly communicating how the business plans to get through the incident can help people focus on what they need to do rather than worrying.
- Practise your response: Practice can help your staff feel better prepared. NCSC offers a free Exercise in a Box that can be used for this purpose.
If you have an incident response plan (or are planning to build one), it’s worth reviewing it through a welfare lens by using NCSC’s guidance.
To review the guidance, see: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/putting-staff-welfare-at-the-heart-of-incident-response