Cash Is Back at the Top of the CFO Agenda — Five Numbers Business Owners Should Be Watching
Profit matters.
But a profitable business can still run out of cash.
That distinction is getting renewed attention in corporate finance.
Protiviti's 2026 Global Finance Trends Survey found that 83% of CFOs rank cash management among their top three areas requiring the most attention in response to economic and trade-policy volatility.
Finance teams are increasingly focusing on cash-flow forecasting, working-capital dashboards and more timely liquidity reporting rather than waiting for month-end financial statements to reveal a problem.
Small and midsize businesses should take the same lesson seriously.
You do not need a Fortune 500 treasury department to improve cash visibility.
You need to know the right numbers.
Here are five worth watching.
1. Cash on Hand
Start with the obvious question:
How much unrestricted cash does the business actually have today?
This sounds simple, yet many owners mentally treat all bank-account cash as available.
Some of it may already be committed to:
Payroll
Payroll taxes
Sales taxes
Vendor payments
Loan payments
Estimated taxes
Customer deposits
Capital expenditures
The bank balance therefore does not always equal spendable cash.
A better cash report separates actual liquidity from amounts already spoken for.
2. The 13-Week Cash Forecast
An annual budget is valuable, but it can be too broad to identify an approaching cash squeeze.
A rolling 13-week cash-flow forecast looks at expected receipts and payments week by week.
For each week, the company estimates:
Cash coming in
Customer collections
Cash sales
Financing proceeds
Other receipts
Cash going out
Payroll
Rent
Vendors
Debt payments
Taxes
Capital purchases
Other obligations
The purpose is not to predict every dollar perfectly.
The purpose is to identify the week in which a problem might emerge while there is still time to respond.
If the forecast shows cash getting tight six weeks from now, management can accelerate collections, delay a discretionary purchase, adjust inventory, use a credit facility or explore another solution.
If the problem is discovered the day payroll is due, the options are much worse.
3. Accounts Receivable Days
Revenue does not pay bills until the cash is collected.
If customers are taking longer to pay, a growing income statement can hide deteriorating cash flow.
Businesses should watch:
Total accounts receivable
Amounts over 30, 60 and 90 days
Average collection period
Largest overdue customers
Concentration among major customers
Suppose sales rise 15%, but receivables rise 40%.
That difference deserves attention.
The company may effectively be financing its customers.
An aging report should therefore be a management tool, not just something the accountant reviews at year-end.
4. Gross Margin
Higher revenue does not automatically create more cash.
If the business is selling more at lower margins, cash can become tighter even while top-line growth looks impressive.
Track gross profit dollars and gross margin percentage.
Then ask:
Have supplier costs increased?
Are discounts becoming more aggressive?
Are labor costs rising faster than prices?
Are freight or tariff costs changing the economics of products?
Are low-margin customers consuming disproportionate resources?
Cash problems often begin as margin problems.
The sooner they are identified, the more options management has to respond.
5. Tax Cash Requirements
Taxes are one of the easiest cash obligations to underestimate because the expense and payment dates do not always match the period in which the business earned the income.
Depending on the company and its owners, cash may be needed for:
Payroll tax deposits
Sales and use taxes
Corporate estimated taxes
Owner estimated taxes
State taxes
Property taxes
Extension payments
A pass-through business can be profitable without paying federal income tax at the entity level, while its owners still need cash to pay taxes personally.
That makes tax distributions and estimated payments part of cash management.
Businesses making unusually large investments, sales, bonuses or distributions should model the tax consequences before assuming excess cash is available.
Cash Management Is Really Decision Management
The Protiviti survey also found rapid adoption of AI in finance, including widespread use in forecasting, but only 35% of finance organizations said they were highly or moderately effective at measuring AI return on investment.
That is an important reminder.
Better technology can improve forecasting, but software does not replace management discipline.
A sophisticated forecast based on inaccurate receivables or unrealistic assumptions is still a bad forecast.
Businesses need:
Reliable accounting data
Realistic assumptions
Regular review
Clear responsibility
Timely management decisions
Don't Wait for the Tax Return to Discover a Cash Problem
Tax professionals and accountants often see cash problems after they have already developed.
The books show rising receivables.
Margins have slipped.
Tax payments were not reserved.
Debt has increased.
The owner took distributions based on bank balances rather than projected obligations.
Those signals can often be identified earlier.
If your business has experienced rapid growth, changing margins, slower customer payments or increased borrowing costs during 2026, consider reviewing a short-term cash-flow forecast with our office before making major year-end spending or distribution decisions.
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About Our Firm
Tim Thompson CPA PLLC is located in Dallas, Texas and is an expert in all areas of Texas taxes. We can help with individual or business taxes, tax resolution, tax preparation, and tax planning services.