Its a solid foundation for any business, having a forward focused plan informed by some historical backwards looking data if you have it, will give you vital information to inform your decision making. Learn more here ->

Preparing the budget in itself will force you to review the financial drivers or financial line items in your business and highlight areas where you could make changes.The quickest, easiest benefits that are in your sole control are generally in your cost base so start there.

You can have your Accountant help with this, build yourself a simple spreadsheet, or there are now online cash forecasting tools available that are very easy to use such as business.govt.nz Cashflow forecaster tool ->

Banks more than ever should be sympathetic to your requests for extensions to existing debt facilities or putting in place new facilitates.Despite the government backed funding scheme, Banks are not simply obliged to offer you new lending.Banks will still want to see a financial forecast to ensure you have a plan to service the debt over time. So go to the Bank prepared. Learn more here ->

On 12 May the NZ Government announced new loan funding source not involving the banks, for businesses with less than 50 FTEs and loans up available up to $100k interest free, this may be a less onerous option for you to work through. Learn more here ->

Review Equity options, talk to friends, families or look at online funding platforms such as kick - starter or pledge - me... you may not like the idea of giving up some shareholding in your business but it may keep your business alive.
Pledgeme ->
Kickstarter ->

Working Capital is just financial jargon for how cash flows through your business.

How could you bring forward cash forward from customers? For example if you offer 30 days credit on sales could you reduce this to 7 days? Could you get customers to prepay for one - two months in advance, it's not as uncommon as you may think.

Can you delay your cash payments to creditors and suppliers... think about payment holidays and deferrals, extended credit terms, vendor finance, lease holidays or even barter exchanges. One thing I’d say is ask your Customers and Suppliers for help, lay your cards on the table, discuss options... if you don't ask, people cant help.