When growth arrives before the cash

A bigger order lands. The team has worked hard for it. Why might the next few months feel tighter rather than easier?

Consider an imagined SME. A new customer agrees to pay after delivery. Suppliers need paying before the work begins. Extra people must be brought in now. The order may be profitable, but the business has to carry those costs before the customer’s money arrives.

Sales sees a win. Delivery sees work to prepare. Finance sees a gap to fund. Each view matters. The leadership question is whether they met before the deal was agreed.

The same deal, different clocks

The IFRS Foundation’s overview of IAS 7 makes a basic distinction: under the indirect method, profit is adjusted for non-cash transactions and differences in the timing of operating receipts and payments. Profit and cash flow tell different parts of the story.

For a CEO, the question goes beyond reading the accounts. If the customer takes longer to accept the work, who sees the effect on cash soon enough to respond? If funding the order means delaying another commitment, is that choice visible to the people depending on it?

In the imagined business, a sound commercial opportunity could still leave little room for a delay. That does not make growth a mistake. It makes the timing, conditions and funding part of the growth decision.

What would you need to trust the next step?

Our working theory asks how decisions across sales, delivery, finance and leadership support one another. Here, trust would mean having grounds to believe the business can carry the opportunity through to payment, while recognising what remains uncertain.

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