Nobody wants their business to fail. Although it's impossible to predict the future with 100% accuracy, a cash flow forecast is a tool that will help you prepare for different possible scenarios in the future. 

What is Cash Flow Forecast?

Cash flow forecasting is the process of estimating how much cash you'll have and ensuring you have a sufficient amount to meet your obligations. By focusing on the revenue you expect to generate and the expenses you need to pay, cash flow forecasting can help you better manage your working capital and plan for various positive or challenging scenarios.

A cash flow forecast comprises three key elements: beginning cash balance, cash inflows (e.g., cash sales, receivables collections), and cash outflows (e.g., expenses for utilities, rent, loan payments, payroll).

Making decisions never ends for contractors like you. Being adaptable is one of the basics of good decision-making skills.

Think of decision-making as being in a bumper car. You are continually driving and trying to avoid the other bumper cars. Suppose you hit one you back up and go again (reminder this is the only safe place to hit other vehicles). The rest of the time, life as a contractor feels more like the Indy 500. You are driving as fast as you can, passing other cars, making pit stops, and scrambling to make it to the finish line.

Translate this to a typical daily life of a construction contractor:

• The paperwork, processes, and decision-making are never-ending
• The concept of time is all about 10 minutes
• Your coffee brews in less than 10 minutes
• Take a shower in less than 10 minutes
• Load the dishwasher in 10 minutes
• Take out the trash in less than 5 minutes
• Read your email in less than 5 minutes
• Decide what bills to pay in less than 5 minutes
  

As a construction business owner, you operate in a multi-faceted changing environment doing the impossible with limited time, money, and resources on every project, and soon as one is finished, another one is waiting for you. You are highly skilled, intelligent, and adaptable.

You press a few keys on your keyboard thinking you are going to get the results you want, accurate bank balances, a report showing who owes you money and whom you owe money to, a Profit and Loss Report and Balance Sheet Report you can understand and if all goes well perhaps even some Job Costing Reports.

Instead, what you get is a hot steaming pile of fertilizer that cannot even be used in the garden. Many contractors like you feel like hiring a Professional Contractor Bookkeeping Service is a waste of money when you should do it yourself. That is often what leads good contractors like you into The Vicious Construction Company Failure Cycle.

If there's one thing last year taught us, it's how quickly the world has changed in such a short time and that we cannot take anything for granted. While we can all hope that the pandemic is a once-in-a-lifetime scenario, there is a lot in life and in business that is uncertain, and there is a great deal we can learn from the response to COVID-19 to help plan for the future.

Yes, your construction company might have changed drastically in recent months. There is good news in that, too. It means your business is adaptable and that you can find ways to survive.

Every small construction business owner knows how challenging it is to cut down expenses without somehow compromising internal or external quality. Regardless of your business's nature, the first step to reducing your overhead costs is to take the time to go through every single expense you have. Next, assess which ones are necessary for your business to operate smoothly, what can be trimmed down, and what can be eliminated.

It's important not to rest on your laurels. Continually thinking of ways to reduce your overheads is essential for a healthy cash flow, so conducting regular reviews of your business expenses should be a routine task.

Estimating and submitting bids is one of the most stressful and nerve-wracking sides of your construction business. It is essential to keep in mind that "break-even" in the construction business is challenging to calculate because most projects are one-of-a-kind custom jobs. Proactive contractors have systems and cost libraries with pre-priced assemblies for bidding, which works in conjunction with Strategic Construction Accounting to provide management with progress invoicing, job costing, and job profitability.

With poor bookkeeping, misguided judgment, and clerical errors come bad decisions on what projects to bid on and not to bid on until eventually, you'll run out of time and money. This is why some construction projects fail or, worse, construction companies get bankrupt. 

A wise business owner once said, "Happiness is positive cash flow." As a business owner, I'm sure you agree. Everything is better when your cash-in exceeds your cash-out.

A cash crisis can be emotionally devastating, and it can even kill your business. If you've ever had to beg, borrow, and steal to cover tomorrow's payroll, you know what I mean.

Having a proper cash management system allows you to:

• Know when, where, and how your cash needs will occur.
• Know what the best sources are for meeting your additional cash needs.
• Be prepared to meet these needs when they occur by keeping good relationships with bankers and other creditors.

The starting point for avoiding a cash crisis is allowing your accountant to develop a cash flow projection for you. Your construction accountant can help you develop both short-term (weekly, monthly) cash flow projections, help you manage daily cash, and long-term (annual, 3-5 year) cash flow projections to help you develop the necessary capital strategy to meet your business needs.

Each contractor type has unique construction accounting needs, which means if the QuickBooks process is custom-fitted to each construction company's needs, it is a beautiful thing.

We have listened as our contractor clients have described to fellow contractors how "fast and easy QuickBooks is and what wonderful reports it generates," while the other contractor will tell in no uncertain terms what a piece of junk it is. The difference is in the QuickBooks set up. Two woodsmen will cut and stack vastly different firewood piles in a day if one uses a chainsaw as it was intended and the other uses it as a cross-cut saw. Same tool, different result!

QuickBooks users are generally not stumped by the software; they are confused by the accounting information necessary to complete the transactions. Quick access to correct information is essential to maintain the accuracy of your financial records.

There are no limits to the number of items that can be entered into QuickBooks improperly. Messy files build transaction by transaction or merely put invoice by invoice, receipt by receipt can all be entered into QuickBooks incorrectly. No pop-up will say, "This Is WRONG" – Do It Over.

Typically, in the first month of the year, many contractors with expensive high-end construction software are re-examining if QuickBooks for Contractors is all they need and if switching over to it makes sense.

I chat with Contractors every day. You tell me your stories - about your challenges in running a business, keeping up with the bookwork, estimating and bidding jobs, doing the work and collections from clients, and having or not having employees and paying their taxes. 

The first thing we ask is which of The Four Types of Contractors best describes your company?

Salt of The Earth

Dog And Pickup Truck

Professional

Enterprise Level

Having used several high-end construction software programs costing over $60,000 and a few low-cost programs under $500 like QuickBooks and Peachtree, and some free online bookkeeping programs, I have concluded that for contractors with annual sales volume under $5,000,000, the only answer is QuickBooks For Contractors. For an in-depth comparison of QuickBooks versions, click here.

We started using QuickBooks when it was first released in the DOS version in the early 1990s and had been raving fans of it ever since. It's had problems and growing pains; however, Intuit, the parent company of QuickBooks, is right about finding and fixing the issues as evidenced by the number of contractors using it compared to their competitors.