Home topics finance finance-cash-flow Accounting Advice Advice Accounting Incumbent businesses struggling to put customers first Guest Author June 30, 2015 With the end of the financial year behind us now is the time of year to come up with resolutions, especially for small to medium sized enterprises. “Way too many SMEs are in ‘set and forget’ mode when it comes to cash flow management,” says David Henderson chief executive of accountancy group ROCG Asia Pacific and founder of CashMaxforecaster.com. “It’s never too early to start planning for the end of the financial year. In fact preparing for the June 30 is a year-round job,” he said. Henderson said the special needs of the end of June 30 often catch SMEs by surprise, even though the same things must be done on an annual basis. “Cash flow can become one of the biggest problems for small and medium businesses at the end of each financial year,” he said. “There can be a down-time in trade for stocktake, slashing of profits margins due to seasonal sales, the settling of debts, chasing of creditors, and a binge of last minute budget-balancing spending. “Without planning, tax time obligations can deplete current cash flow reserves and this can have a negative impact on the following year’s operations,” he said. SMEs have the advantage over big business in that they can more readily adapt to the changing environment in which they operate, Henderson believes. But some fail to do this and pay heavily. “It is not