Why a cash gap occurs and how to prevent it

When the manager does not control the receipts and debits from the account, he runs the risk of running out of money. You have to pay salaries, rent, purchase goods, but there is no money. You have to take out loans or sell property. The situation when a company temporarily has no money is called a cash gap. Let's talk about three main reasons due to which it occurs.

Didn't plan expenses

Imagine that you are a cafe owner. You paid your salary, paid off the suppliers, there are no arrears on rent or taxes either. Everything seems to be fine, there are still 200 thousand rubles left on the accounts. You decide to invest them in development and pay for the courses for the chef and sous-chef.

A few days later, a person from the delivery department comes to you and says that he needs 50 thousand for car maintenance. This is a planned expense, and you forgot about it. There is no money for it - that's the cash gap.

How not to get caught up in the box office

You need to keep a payment calendar. This is a table where all the planned expenses from the account and receipts to it are entered. So you will see if there will be periods when there will be no money in the accounts. It is best to draw up a payment calendar at the beginning of the month.

Payment calendar template →

Took too much for ourselves

Often, owners take too much money out of business without thinking that these funds will be useful in the future.

Imagine you have a furniture store. There was a successful advertising campaign, many pre-orders were received, and money appeared at the box office. You've decided to reward yourself for your work and buy the latest MacBook. And then you transferred the money to the furniture suppliers, paid the salaries to the sellers, paid for the warehouse. There are no more funds left, but we still need to pay the movers and drivers who delivered furniture overtime. The MacBook will have to be sold.

How not to get caught up in the box office

You must first calculate the net profit, and then spend money on yourself. Net income is the difference between revenue and variable and fixed costs, taxes, loans, depreciation. You can take no more than net profit for yourself. And less is better, so that it remains for business development.

The terms of the project are delayed

Imagine that you are the head of a four-person repair team. You take an order for the renovation of an apartment for 500 thousand and agree on a three-stage payment: 200 thousand immediately for materials, 200 thousand after acceptance of the object and 100 thousand in a month.

You planned that you would complete the order in 30 days, so you agreed with the workers for a month of work and payment of 50 thousand each. The workers finished on time, and the customer was away. The workers agreed to wait. A week later, the customer arrived and began to check everything thoroughly. Then he invited specialists to agree on the redevelopment. It took another week. All this time, the workers called and demanded money. And you had nothing to pay with - you were in a box office gap.

How not to get caught up in the box office

You need to take an advance payment, which is enough to fulfill all obligations. It is also worth prescribing in the contract the terms during which the customer must accept or reject the project.

And other situations

There are a lot of scenarios for a cash gap. Money can get stuck in accounts receivable: you gave the client a deferred payment and you wait with an empty cash register when he does pay. Sometimes a cash gap can happen through no fault of the entrepreneur. For example, in the field of catering, you can get on a bad supplier or write off a lot of goods.

To keep these issues out of your way, make detailed project budgets and plan costs. In case a cash gap does occur, you should always have a cash safety cushion. Try to keep the money in reserve for 1-2 months of work.