How much cash is really mine to spend?
Updated 16 October 2026
The bank balance is the number every owner looks at and the one that tells you least. Available cash is what is left after everything already committed.
Available cash is the bank balance less committed obligations, less money held for third parties, less deferred revenue, less your minimum floor, read against a rolling thirteen-week forecast.
The four places to look
Subtract what is already spoken for
Payroll due, taxes collected but not yet remitted, sales tax held on behalf of a state, bills approved but unpaid, and any debt service inside the window. Sales tax and payroll withholding in particular are not your money at any point. They are money you are holding for someone else.
Deferred revenue is a liability, not a balance
If customers pay in advance, part of that bank balance is work you still owe. Spending it is borrowing from delivery you have already been paid for, which is the most common way a profitable business runs short of cash.
Look forward thirteen weeks, not backwards
A rolling thirteen-week forecast of receipts and disbursements is the standard tool because a quarter is far enough to see a problem while there is still time to act. Updated weekly against actuals, it is the difference between managing cash and reacting to it.
Set a floor and treat it as untouchable
Decide the minimum balance the business does not go below, usually a function of payroll cycle and receivable timing, and measure available cash above that line.
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What happens next
Reading about it and having it done are different things. Here is exactly what happens if you want the second one.
- The call takes thirty minutesYou describe the business and where the numbers are letting you down. We give you an expert view of your situation, and what we would start with. There is no pitch deck.
- We look at the fileYou give us read access to the books as they are. We come back with what is wrong, what it will take to fix, and whether the answer is bookkeeping, controller work, or something else.
- We send a written scope and a priceIt lists what we do each month, what you get, the date it lands and the fee. We agree it before anything starts, and it does not change unless you agree.
- We take over the books and close the first monthWe set up access and systems and enter the opening balances. The first close lands on the date in the scope, and every one after it does too.