17/09/2026
Profitable on paper, tight in the bank. It is the most common thing owners tell us, and it is not a contradiction.
Profit is recorded when you invoice. Cash moves when someone actually pays. Between those two dates sit your customers, your VAT, and every cost you have already committed to.
One recent example: £214,000 of profit for the year to date, £31,000 in the bank. The difference was not missing. It was owed to the business, owed by the business, or already spent in principle.
If the gap between those two numbers is a mystery in your business, that is the thing to fix first.