Cash flow = crucial: Sean Boer from Roberts + Morrow shares his top tips for small businesses

In the New England region, business owners know how to weather change. From boutiques to family farms and local trades, the region has always relied on resilience and community spirit, but even the proudest operator will tell you that cash flow can be the toughest part of keeping things steady.

 

This is something Sean Boer knows well. A Chartered Accountant and Manager in the Business Intelligence team at Roberts + Morrow, Sean works with businesses across Armidale, the New England and the Mid North Coast regions. After starting his career with top Brisbane firms, he moved into advisory because, as he puts it, “I wanted to help small businesses from a performance perspective, not just a tax perspective.”With Roberts + Morrow best known for their tax expertise, Sean’s team adds another layer: helping regional businesses understand their numbers, improve performance, and, most importantly, build confidence in the decisions they make.

What’s the first step a small business owner can take to get a clear picture of their cash flow?

Cash flow is one of the biggest questions we get asked about, and it’s where a lot of stress comes from. I always recommend starting with a simple three or six-month rolling cash flow forecast. You don’t need fancy software – a spreadsheet or a cash flow forecast sample is enough to map expected income and expenses. Just make sure you include tax, wages, loan repayments and any major purchases. This will give you immediate visibility into shortfalls and help you make informed decisions.

What are the most common cash flow mistakes or blind spots you see?

The biggest one is confusing profit with cash. You might look at your books and see a $100,000 profit, but your bank balance hasn’t moved. That can be stressful and confusing. This usually comes down to timing: when you get paid versus when you pay suppliers, or the impact of capital purchases and tax bills.

How can businesses avoid those mistakes?

Everyone has blind spots in business, usually because the owner is trying to do it all: running the business, generating sales, handling marketing, and then somehow managing the finances too. For us, the way to solve that is simple: bring in a professional who can give you a hand. Having an independent third party looking over your cash flow and finances helps you sleep at night, and it puts you a huge step ahead of most other small businesses.

Many regional businesses are seasonal. How should they plan for that?

Cyclical or seasonal swings should show up in your cash flow forecast, but only if you’ve thought about them. The key is to really understand the trends in your business. It’s easy to panic when you hit a dry spell, like December and January, when offices close and sales drop, but if you’ve mapped it out, it’s less of a shock. For businesses where income lands in a rush, maybe over a week or a month, and then expenses keep rolling in for the next three months, being cash-conscious is critical. At a bare minimum, you need to know what those expenses are. We always talk about building a cash runway: do you have three months of operating expenses covered? Have you mapped out how many sales you need to hit, and what your benchmark looks like? If you know a slow period is coming, the goal is to maximise your inflows during the good months so they carry you through. In some cases, that means going 10, 20, even 100 per cent harder while business is strong, so you’re ready when it quietens down.

What tools and systems work best day-to-day?

We always recommend Cloud-based accounting software. Xero is the most popular in Australia, it’s also affordable and easy to set up bank feeds and allows you to reconcile often. Once your data is clean and live, you can build a simple Excel cash flow dashboard on top of it to keep track of things. What I wouldn’t recommend is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on bespoke cash flow software as a small business – you just don’t need it. With the right reporting tools in place, managing cash flow can be done relatively easily, but if you’re still using an old, outdated system or trying to run everything out of Excel, you’ll really struggle to take that next step and forecast into the future.

How does strong cash flow management support bigger decisions like hiring or investing?

Strong cash management really comes down to confidence and visibility. If you’re not tracking your cash flow, it’s very easy to become an anxious operator – always second-guessing yourself, unsure if you can afford to invest, or even if you’ll be comfortable in the next few months. With a simple forecasting tool or an accountant walking you through it, those decisions get a lot easier. Suddenly you can see whether hiring another staff member is realistic, whether you can buy a new car, or if you’re spending too much on financing. Without that visibility, you’re left running the business on gut feel alone, which is incredibly difficult.

What are the early warning signs that cash flow might be heading in the wrong direction?

I always say the best way to do the right thing is to first find out what the wrong thing is, and then run in the opposite direction. Some of the early warning signs are pretty clear: relying too heavily on credit cards or overdrafts, being shocked every time a bill arrives because you’ve got no reserves, or stretching supplier payments out to 40 or 50 days and racking up late fees. Left unchecked, those small issues compound quickly. Before you know it, you can be stuck in an ATO payment plan that drags on for years. Another big one is accounts receivable, or the money people owe you. If you’re not proactive in collecting it, your debtors just keep growing. And if at the same time you’re paying your suppliers quickly because you want to do the right thing, your cash balance starts dropping fast. Those are three or four red flags we see all the time.

Regional business owners often feel under pressure. How can better cash flow management create more confidence?

Confidence comes from knowledge. Most of the anxiety business owners feel is simply not knowing what’s around the corner. If you don’t know what the next three months look like, of course you’re going to feel stressed. Cash flow management adds knowledge, which in turn adds confidence. It’s about giving yourself stability and the ability to sleep better at night. There’s no point running a business in panic mode all the time, that’s no way to live. Even a simple plan for the months ahead can ease that pressure, and if cash flow isn’t your strength, invest in support. I’ve always said: pay your staff well and pay your advisors even better. Bringing in the right people, whether internal or external, removes that anxiety and gives you the clarity you need to move forward.

Any resources you’d recommend for business owners who want to learn more?

Good to Great by Jim Collins is one I always suggest; it’s about what separates great companies from good ones. And for a practical business mindset, Alex Hormozi has great (and free) content online about focusing on what you do best and doing it well.

And finally, what’s the biggest change you see in clients who improve their cash flow?

Look, at the end of the day, the outcomes we see are less about Lamborghinis and more about mindset shifts. When people first come to us, they’re usually stressed and anxious. They’re carrying the burden of running a business and managing the finances that come with it, which often wasn’t what they expected. Six months later, it’s a different story. They’re excited to sit down with us, to go through reports, and to map out the next six months. Instead of fighting fires in the present, they’re looking to the future. Working with us, across the board, clients feel lighter, clearer and more confident after engaging us. Having a professional sit down and say, “you’re okay, here are the steps forward,” makes all the difference.

Ready to take control?

Cash flow can feel daunting, but as Sean explains, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Start with a simple forecast, keep your records up-to-date, and don’t be afraid to get support when you need it. Want to learn more about how Roberts + Morrow’s can support your business? Visit their website here to find out more.