Where is your cash quietly getting trapped?
Find the hidden gaps in your cash flow and put a number on what poor cash management is costing you each year — most businesses lose thousands without ever seeing it.
Takes ~2 minutes · All figures stay in your browser until you choose to share them
Conversion Cycle
Days from spend to paid
Working Capital
Cash trapped in operations
Cash Runway
How long reserves last
Annual Cost
Cost of the inefficiency
About this tool
Cash Flow Gap Calculator
Plenty of profitable Australian SMEs still run short of cash. The reason is usually timing, not profit: money goes out to pay suppliers, wages and stock well before it comes back in from customers. That waiting period is where working capital gets quietly trapped — on the balance sheet things look fine, but the bank account tells a different story. The Cash Flow Gap Calculator puts a number on that gap. You enter your own figures — monthly revenue, how long customers take to pay, how long you take to pay suppliers, stock on hand, payroll, reserves and financing terms — and it shows you where cash is stuck and roughly what the inefficiency is costing you each year. It's a diagnostic for the timing problem most owners feel but can't quite measure.
How it works
The tool works from the numbers you type in — nothing is assumed or hard-coded, so the results reflect your business, not an average. Its headline measure is your cash conversion cycle: the number of days between paying for your inputs (stock and suppliers) and collecting from your customers, calculated as debtor days plus inventory days minus creditor days. A lower figure means less of your cash is tied up waiting. From the same inputs it estimates your working capital gap (cash locked in receivables and stock net of supplier credit), your monthly cash burn or surplus, and how many months your reserves would last at that rate. It then builds an indicative annual cost of poor cash management by combining the carrying cost of late payments, the opportunity cost of capital trapped in the cycle, and your bad-debt write-offs. Each measure is banded green, amber or red so you can see at a glance which lever — debtor management, supplier terms, inventory, or reserves — is hurting most, and it returns a short list of specific, figure-based recommendations. It's general information to help you see the problem, not personal financial advice.
Who it’s for
Australian small and medium business owners and managers who are profitable on paper but feel cash-tight, and want to see exactly where their working capital is trapped and what it's costing them.
- The cash conversion cycle — debtor days plus inventory days minus supplier (creditor) days — measures how long your cash is trapped between paying for inputs and getting paid, and lowering it frees up working capital without needing more sales or more debt.
- A business can be profitable and still run out of cash: profit is an accounting result, while cash flow is a timing problem, and the gap between the two is exactly what this tool quantifies from your own numbers.
- The three biggest levers on a cash gap are getting customers to pay sooner, negotiating longer supplier terms, and reducing stock sitting idle — small shifts in each compound into a materially better cash position and a longer runway.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between being profitable and being cash-positive?
Profit is what's left after costs on your profit-and-loss statement; cash flow is about when money actually moves in and out of your account. You can invoice a big job, book the profit, and still be short of cash for weeks because the customer hasn't paid while your suppliers, wages and BAS are due now. That timing mismatch is the cash flow gap. This tool models it by comparing how fast money comes in (debtor days) against how fast it goes out (creditor days, payroll and stock), so you can see the gap in days and dollars even when your P&L looks healthy.
How do I actually shrink my cash conversion cycle?
There are three main levers, and the tool flags which one is costing you most. First, collect sooner — tighten payment terms, invoice promptly, and use automated reminders to cut the share of late-paying customers. Second, pay suppliers over a sensible term rather than early, so their credit funds part of your cycle. Third, reduce stock that sits idle, since inventory on the shelf is cash you've already spent but can't use. Improving any one shortens the cycle; improving all three compounds. The calculator quantifies the working-capital release from each move so you can prioritise the highest-impact change first.
Are my figures safe, and do I need my accountant's numbers to use it?
Your figures stay in your browser as you work through the calculator — nothing is shared until you choose to unlock the full report. You don't need precise, accountant-verified numbers to get value: sensible estimates of your monthly revenue, average debtor and creditor days, payroll and reserves are enough for a useful first read. Treat the output as a diagnostic that tells you where to look and roughly how much is at stake, then bring the specific issues it surfaces to your bookkeeper or accountant to confirm and act on. It's general information, not personal financial advice.
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