LMP Accountants

Most business owners can't tell you what their cash position will look like in 60 days.

That's not a criticism. It's just not something most accountants ever help them build.

Here's what a basic 90-day cash flow map looks like.

What comes in:
-Invoices due in 30/60/90 days
-Average debtor payment days (the days they actually pay)
-Any lump sums expected (asset sales, refunds, grants)

What goes out:
-Payroll, including super
-BAS due dates
-Rent, subscriptions, regular outgoings
-Loan repayments
-Supplier bills with longer terms

The gap:
-What's the lowest your account balance hits. When?
-Can you cover everything in that window?
-If not, then what?

This is not complicated. It's a spreadsheet and a conversation.

But most businesses don't have it.

And when a pressure point hits, they're scrambling.

If you want to build this and don't know where to start, reach out.

It's the kind of thing that takes an hour to set up and saves a year of stress.

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | 🌐 lmp.com.au

Let me say something that might upset a few bookkeepers.

Xero is a great tool.
It is not a cash flow management system.

A business owner opens their Xero dashboard, sees green numbers, and thinks everything is fine.

Then they can't make payroll!

The problem isn't Xero.

It’s doing exactly what it's designed to do: record your financial transactions accurately and present them clearly.

The problem is using a recording tool as a forecasting tool.

Xero tells you what happened. It doesn't tell you what's about to happen.

Cashflow management means looking forward: what comes in over the next 30, 60, 90 days, against what goes out over the same time period.

📦 Suppliers
👥 Payroll
🏦 Super
🏢 Rent
🧾 Tax

Xero can help you build that picture. But it won't do it on its own, and the numbers won't pop up and warn you.

That requires a process. And usually, a conversation.

If you're running a growing business on Xero reports alone, you're driving by looking in the rear-view mirror.

Worth a chat if that sounds familiar.

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | 🌐 lmp.com.au

Division 7A catches more business owners than any other tax issue — and most of them didn't know it was happening.

Here is what it is and how to stay clear of it. 👇

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | lmp.com.au

Early in my career, I sat across from a business owner who’d had a great year.

📈 Revenue up.
💰 Profit strong.
👏 He was proud of it.

He’d also been drawing from the company account when things were tight. Running costs. A bit for the family. The usual.

Nobody had told him it needed to be formalised.

By the time we looked at it together, the accumulated balance had been running for three years. The tax bill that came from it wasn’t small.

He wasn’t a bad businessman. He wasn’t trying to avoid anything.
He just hadn’t had the right conversation.

That stuck with me.

It’s why I ask every client, every year: “How are you paying yourself, and how is it classified?”

It’s a 10-minute question that can save you years of regret.

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | 🌐 lmp.com.au

You built the business.

You drew from it when you needed to.

Here is what nobody told you about what that actually means. 👇

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | lmp.com.au

Most business owners manage their bank balance and call it financial management.

That's not wrong, but it's not complete either.

The businesses that grow without crisis are the ones that track both.

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | lmp.com.au

Profit and cash are not the same thing.

Here is why that gap appears and where your money actually went. 👇

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | lmp.com.au

You finished the year.

Your accountant's report says you made a profit.

A good one, actually. So you look at your bank account, but it doesn't add up.

The profit is real. The cash isn't there. And nobody explained why.

Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in many businesses. Not because anything has gone wrong. But because profit and cash are two completely different things, and most business owners are never told that.

SO WHAT IS PROFIT?
Profit is an accounting concept.
It records revenue when you earn it and expenses when you incur them, not when the money actually rolls in.

AND WHAT IS CASH?
Cash is what's actually in the bank.
Money available right now.

The gap between them is real, and it has a name: "Working Capital".

Every dollar sitting in unpaid invoices, unsold stock, or work you've done but haven't billed yet is profit you have earned that hasn't become cash yet.

If you withdrew money from the business account this year without calling it wages, the gap is even wider. (More on that another time.)

Understanding the difference doesn't require a finance degree. It requires one conversation with the right person.

If you've faced this situation - making profit on paper, but almost nothing in the bank - drop me a DM. It's usually fixable. And it's always worth understanding.

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | lmp.com.au

A client came to us three years after they should have.

✅ They had built the business well.
✅ Good turnover.
✅ Consistent profit.
✅ Growing team.

The structure they started with had never been reviewed.

When we looked at it, the setup made sense for a business doing $200,000 a year.

🌟 They were now doing $1.8 million.
🌟 The trust they had was distributing income in the least tax-effective way possible.
🌟 The director drawings had no franking to offset them.
🌟 They were paying more tax than they needed to — every single year.

We changed the distribution strategy.
We restructured how they paid themselves.
We put a formal review into the annual process.

Within two years, their tax rate dropped by 8 percentage points.
Not through anything aggressive.
Just through a structure that finally kept pace with the business.

The business had not changed.
The outcome had.

If you have never had someone sit down and ask whether your structure still makes sense — this is what that conversation looks like.

Let's talk.

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | lmp.com.au

Division 7A is quiet.

Until it isn't.

Here is what silence from your accountant can actually cost you.

Darren Haycraft
LMP Accountants — Taxation | Accounting | Business Consultancy
📞 (03) 9723 7100 | lmp.com.au