Budgeting & Cash Flow Forecasting
Creating budgets and projecting cash flow to plan for expenses, identify shortfalls, and support informed business decisions. We build the financial roadmap so you can manage your business with confidence.
The Blind Spot
Most small business owners know roughly how much money comes in each month. They have a general sense of what goes out. But when you ask them to quantify the gap between the two over the next three to six months, the answer is usually a guess. That guess is what they use to make hiring decisions, equipment purchases, and expansion plans.
Running a business without a budget or a cash flow forecast is like driving without a fuel gauge. You might be fine today. But you have no way of knowing when you are about to run out. The businesses that survive slow seasons and unexpected expenses are the ones that planned for them before they happened.
The Budget
The Budget
A budget is your spending plan. It takes your expected revenue and maps it against every recurring cost, from payroll and rent to insurance and materials. It tells you what you can afford and where you need to cut before the bank account tells you the hard way.
The Forecast
The Forecast
A cash flow forecast is your timeline. It projects when money will arrive and when it will leave. Revenue might look strong on paper, but if your biggest client pays on net-60 terms and payroll hits every two weeks, you can be profitable and still run out of cash.
What Goes Wrong
Cash flow problems rarely announce themselves with a single dramatic event. They build quietly. A contractor takes on a large job and fronts the materials cost. A restaurant owner hires extra staff before the busy season. A service company lets receivables age past 60 days without following up. Each decision makes sense on its own, but together they create a shortfall that shows up at the worst possible time.
We have seen this pattern repeatedly across construction companies, medical practices, and service businesses in the Tampa Bay area. The owner is focused on growth, on winning the next contract or serving the next customer. The financial side falls behind because nobody is watching the numbers week to week. By the time the problem becomes visible, the options are limited and expensive.
Missed Obligations
Missed Obligations
When cash runs short, something does not get paid. It might be a vendor, a quarterly tax payment, or a loan installment. Each missed obligation carries a cost, whether it is a late fee, a damaged relationship, or a penalty from the IRS or the state of Florida. These costs are entirely avoidable with planning.
Reactive Decisions
Reactive Decisions
Without a forecast, every financial decision is reactive. You are scrambling to cover payroll instead of planning for it. You are turning down opportunities because you do not know if you can afford them. A business that operates in reaction mode cannot grow deliberately. It just survives.
What We Build
We sit down with you, look at your actual financial data, and build a budget that reflects how your business really operates. Not a template from the internet. Not a spreadsheet full of optimistic assumptions. We use your historical numbers, your current contracts, your seasonal patterns, and your fixed obligations to create something you can actually manage against.
From there, we build a cash flow projection that shows you the road ahead. You will see exactly when tight months are coming and have time to prepare. You will know how much runway you have before a major expense hits. And when an opportunity comes along, you will have the numbers to evaluate it clearly instead of guessing.
Clarity on Capacity
Clarity on Capacity
You will know what your business can handle. Can you take on a new hire? Can you invest in equipment this quarter? Can you afford to carry that slow-paying client? These questions stop being gut feelings and become decisions backed by real projections that account for your actual cash position.
A Living Document
A Living Document
A budget is only useful if it gets updated. We do not hand you a PDF and walk away. We work with you to review the numbers regularly, compare actual performance against the plan, and adjust the forecast as conditions change. The goal is a tool you use, not a file you forget about.
Tampa Bay's Small Business CPA Firm
First Step:
A Short Conversation
Tell us about your business and where you need support. We'll walk through your situation, answer your questions, and give you a clear quote.
