Cash flow in a small business - a simple action plan

Up­dated: Septem­ber 2026

Making a profit does not mean there is always money in your busi­ness ac­count. An in­voice may be re­cor­ded as rev­enue even though the client will only pay it a few weeks later.

Cash flow shows when money ac­tu­ally comes into the busi­ness and when it has to be set aside for taxes, salar­ies, social se­cur­ity con­tri­bu­tions and other ex­penses.

Prepare a short forecast

A good ap­proach is a fore­cast cov­er­ing the next few weeks. Start with the cur­rent ac­count bal­ance, then enter ex­pec­ted re­ceipts and all planned pay­ments.

Split your flows into groups

• Re­ceipts: client pay­ments, grants, re­funds and fin­an­cing.
• Fixed ex­penses: salar­ies, ZUS, taxes, rent, loan in­stal­ments and sub­scrip­tions.
• Vari­able ex­penses: ma­ter­i­als, sub­con­tract­ors, mar­ket­ing, trans­port and in­vest­ments.

How can you improve liquidity?

1. Issue in­voices as soon as the work is done.
2. Mon­itor re­ceiv­ables even before they fall due.
3. Align the due dates of your own li­ab­il­it­ies with ex­pec­ted re­ceipts.
4. Keep money for taxes sep­ar­ate from funds for day-to-day ex­penses.

Warning signs

A grow­ing amount of over­due re­ceiv­ables, reg­u­larly post­pon­ing tax pay­ments and de­pend­ence on a single large client can all in­dic­ate worsen­ing li­quid­ity.

Regular review

Once a month, com­pare your fore­cast with actual re­ceipts and ex­penses. Ex­plain any larger dif­fer­ences and update the plan for the coming weeks.