Determine your immediate cash flow commitments
To support business cash flow during COVID-19, governments, financial institutions and some suppliers allowed moratoriums or deferral on payments of taxes, levies, loan instalments, insurance premiums and other payments for a certain period. Creditors and landlords may have also agreed to extended payment terms or deferred some rental payments. These deferrals will need to be paid at some point, so if you have taken up this type of relief, then you should list those commitments and include them in your cash flow forecasts for the recovery. Direct government payments to business, such as wage subsidies will also end. This will also need to be factored into your cash flow forecasts.
If your business is likely to have difficulties meeting these commitments, your options include;
- Negotiate with the relevant parties to stagger the payments to manage your cash outflow
- Review your debtors ageing report and chase up all outstanding payments
- Check if you are entitled to government grants
- Sell obsolete and old stock
- Sell non-productive assets
- Liquidate some investments
- Channel some personal funds into the business
- Contact your banker to learn about loan refinancing options (sometimes you may be able to obtain a lower interest rate or lower the monthly payment).