Day 1: Get an exact number, not a feeling
Pull the actual bank balance and list every payment due over the next 14 days with its date and amount. "Tight" is not something you can act on. A specific shortfall on a specific date is.
Day 1–2: Rank the payments that cannot move
Payroll and superannuation, tax obligations, and any supplier whose loss would stop the business trading come first. Everything else — including payments you'd rather not delay — is negotiable by comparison.
Day 2–3: Call before you're asked to
Landlords, suppliers and the ATO respond very differently to a business that calls first with a proposed plan than to one that goes quiet and misses a payment. Early, direct contact is usually the single highest-leverage thing you can do this week.
Day 3–4: Separate a cash problem from a viability problem
Is this a one-off timing gap — a slow-paying customer, a seasonal dip, a single large cost landing at the wrong time — or is the business losing money most months regardless of timing? The right response is different for each, and getting this wrong wastes the rest of the week.
Day 4–5: Pull forward what you can actually control
Chase overdue invoices directly and specifically rather than with a generic reminder. Review what can be paused, delayed or renegotiated without damaging a relationship the business will need again.
Day 5–7: If it's a timing gap, look at the right kind of finance
A short-term facility matched to a defined, temporary gap — invoice finance against unpaid invoices, or a working-capital facility sized to the shortfall — can bridge a genuine timing problem. It will not fix a business that is structurally losing money each month; that needs a different conversation first.
What not to do
Don't borrow against a problem you haven't diagnosed. Don't let the ATO or a major creditor find out through a missed payment instead of a phone call. Don't keep trading on the assumption something will turn up without evidence that it will.
Useful official guidance
The Australian Government's cash-flow guide recommends keeping financial records current, forecasting cash movement and engaging early with creditors and the ATO when a shortfall is identified.
If it's a timing gap, don't wait to fix it.
The finance path is fastest when the gap is already defined. If you're not sure whether this is timing or something deeper, start with the complimentary assessment first.
General information only. This article does not replace accounting, tax, legal, insolvency or credit advice for your circumstances. If the business cannot pay its debts as and when they fall due, obtain professional advice promptly.