Budgeting and cash flow management
Understanding the cash that moves through your business is essential.
You need to manage your finances so that you can pay your expenses, keep your business running and pay yourself a wage.
Cash incoming (income) can include:
- sales of products or services (either one-off payments or regular instalments)
- grants
- commission
- royalties
- interest on investments
- tax rebates.
Cash outgoing (expenses) can include:
- rent
- utilities (water, electricity, internet)
- advertising fees
- professional fees (legal, accounting, IT, marketing)
- rates
- staff wages
- insurance.
Cash flow - the lifeblood of your business
Cash flow is one of the most critical indicators of your business’s financial health because it shows whether you have enough money available to meet your day-to-day expenses, such as paying suppliers, staff and bills.
Even if your business is profitable, poor cash flow can lead to serious problems.
By actively managing your cash flow, you can identify shortfalls in advance, make informed financial decisions, and ensure your business remains stable and resilient through seasonal changes or unexpected costs.
Want to better understand your business cash flow?
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) offers free online courses designed to help you understand how to strengthen your small business.
Need help managing and improving your cash flow?
The Australian Government provides tools, tips and advice to help you take control of your finances.
To help you, business.gov.au has a cash flow statement template that you can download and use to create your current or forecasted cash flow statement.
Start creating your own cash flow statement.
Create your cash flow statement
Download our template to create your current or forecast cash flow statement.
Profit and loss statement
A profit and loss statement is sometimes referred to as a P and L statement or income statement.
A profit and loss statement lists your sales and expenses and tells you how much profit you are making or how much you are losing.
A profit and loss statement is usually created every month. By doing so it enables you to see where you can make savings or improve income to increase the overall profit of your business.
Create your own profit and loss statement
Download our template to help create a profit and loss statement for your business
The difference between profit and loss and cash flow statements
A profit and loss statement measures profit (or loss) and a cash flow statement tracks the cash in and out of the business.