Do I need a CFO? · Section 1 of 4
Cash visibility
Can you see your cash coming?
1What it is
Cash visibility is the difference between a bank balance and a forecast. The balance tells you where you are; visibility tells you where you'll be in six weeks — after payroll, after the tax payment, after the customer who always pays late pays late.
Most businesses that fail are profitable on paper when they do. They run out of cash between a big receivable and a big bill. That gap is the thing a CFO watches before anything else.
2The signs you need help here
- You check the bank app more than once a day, and it decides what gets paid.
- A tax bill, insurance premium, or annual renewal surprised you this year.
- You couldn't say, to the week, when cash will be tightest in the next quarter.
- More than a quarter of your cash is sitting in one customer's unpaid invoices.
3What a CFO does about it
- Builds and owns a 13-week cash forecast — receipts, disbursements, and the low point — and updates it every week.
- Reads receivables and payables as a calendar, not a list: what lands when, and what to chase or delay.
- Sets a cash floor and the rule for what happens when the forecast dips under it.
- Turns runway into a number the whole leadership team knows.
4What you can do yourself this month
- Start a 13-week cash flow this week — even a rough one. The habit matters more than the precision.
- List every bill over a few thousand dollars due in the next 90 days, with the week it lands.
- Rank customers by what they owe you. If one is more than a quarter of the total, that's a risk to manage, not a receivable to wait on.
5Practice — 9 questions
Every question the quiz can ask about this. Answer each to see the CFO's read behind it and how your answer scores.
1.How do you know your cash balance right now?
2.If sales stopped tomorrow, how long could you keep paying everyone?
3.How far ahead can you see your cash?
4.The last time cash got tight, how much warning did you have?
5.Who watches the cash?
6.How often does an unexpected bill or tax payment catch you out?
7.Your biggest cash outflow in the next 90 days — do you know the amount and the week it lands?
8.How much of your cash is sitting in one customer's unpaid invoices?
9.When you look at cash, what do you see?