Kingswell

Stage three · Planning & FP&A

Know what could happen next.

Once you understand where the business stands, planning turns that view forward: a budget, a rolling forecast, and a way to test a decision — the hire, the price change, the investment — before you commit to it.

Build my forecastStart with a Finance Clarity Review
01Signature exhibit

Change the decision. Watch the cash curve respond.

Three versions of the same thirteen weeks. Same business, same pipeline — different decisions. Switch between them and watch where the cash low point moves.

Exhibit 01

Illustrative example

A forecast exists to change the decision, not to predict the future

Where does cash get tight, and which decision moves it?

0150k300k450kSafe minimum135791113Week
Week 4
PAYE / VAT
Week 6
Large customer receipt
Week 8
Proposed hire
Week 11
Cash pressure

£74klowest cash point

Cash crosses the safe minimum in week 11 and keeps falling.

The low point is the number that matters. Everything else is context.

02Why it happens

Growth consumes cash before it creates it.

Work is delivered, costs are paid, and the cash arrives later. Lengthen payment terms and the gap widens — regardless of how profitable the work is.

Common signs

  • Cash visibility that stops at today's bank balance
  • A forecast nobody updates because nobody owns it
  • Decisions taken on instinct because there is no way to test them
  • Profitable months that somehow leave less cash behind

Exhibit 02

Illustrative example

Revenue up, cash down

What happens to cash as revenue grows and customers pay later?

100Revenue +36%Cash −54%Month 1Month 6Month 12
  1. 01More sales
  2. 02More receivables
  3. 03More working capital required
  4. 04Less cash available

Growth can consume cash before it creates cash.

Profit is an opinion about timing; cash is not.

03What you get

A plan you can pressure-test.

Delivered

  • A budget and rolling forecast built on real business drivers
  • A 13-week rolling cash view, owned internally
  • Scenario and sensitivity modelling for hires, terms, pricing and projects
  • Investment appraisal grounded in the numbers, not instinct

What changes

  • The cash low point is known weeks ahead, not discovered
  • Hiring, pricing and investment decisions are modelled first
  • Risk and opportunity are visible before they land
  • The forecast survives contact with a busy month

Next

A plan is only as good as the rhythm behind it: who reviews it each month, and who owns the decisions it points to.

Finance PartnerSee pricing