• “It’s about knowing how much you can afford to risk, and having an actual number for that. You could be sitting on cash that you don’t need,” says Colin Hewitt, founder of Float.
• Cash flow is vital for growing your agency. But it’s hard to think of creative growth solutions without having a clear view of the numbers.
• In this month’s CFO Surgery, Colin takes us on a whistle stop tour of how you can use Float’s forecasting tool to help map out growth plans and prioritise what investments you should be making next.

Cash flow forecasting is vital for growth. You need to know how much money is in the bank so you know when – and how much – you can invest in your business. 

But it’s hard to do all that in a spreadsheet. And it’s especially hard to think of creative growth solutions without having a clear picture of the financials. 

Enter Float. 

Float is an online cash management and forecasting tool that helps agencies and start-ups get an accurate picture of past, present and future cash flow. 

It’s also the only project-based forecasting solution which shows the fully loaded costs of taking on a new project, and how the timings of the project income and costs can impact on cash flow. 

You can use it to create different scenarios for a specific goal you’re trying to achieve and see how much it’ll cost you over time – or how much you’ll have to save up in order to make it happen. 

For example, say you want to grow your team by ten people. You can work out how much each hire would cost you every month, and then factor that into your cash flow forecast – without fiddling with your actual data. 

Float then gives you a visual representation of what that looks like, so you can see clearly if it’s a risk worth taking. (Or, in other words, if the graph is still pointing in the right direction.)

“Sometimes people say, ‘We’re fine, we have a good collection process – cashflow isn’t our problem’,” says founder Colin Hewitt. 

“But in uncertain times, it’s about knowing how much you can afford to risk, how much you want to save, and being able to quickly see around the corner when unexpected events occur.”

“You could be sitting on cash that you could be investing in the business, or not holding enough for the future drawings you’re planning to make.”

Colin will be joining our monthly CFO surgery to give a whistle stop tour of how you can use Float’s forecasting tool to help map out growth plans and prioritise what investments you should be making next. 

Come along to find out how your agency could benefit from forecasting this way and get your questions answered by the expert.