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Companies go out of business for problems like these. Even otherwise-healthy companies can go out of business for lack of cash. The projection shows how this kind of cash crisis can kill a company if it sneaks up by surprise, but can be easily managed when there is a plan for it. This is an eloquent argument for good business planning. In the third case, shown in the following illustration, we set the collection days back to the original assumption of 60 days, but change the assumption for inventory. Where previously it kept an average of about five weeks' worth of inventory on hand, in this changed assumption it now keeps two months of inventory on hand. Accountants call this Inventory Turnover. The changed assumption creates about as large a cash flow problem as the extra month of collection days. Changing Inventory Only
The change in inventory assumption shows the cash balance is again well below zero. The implications of this chart are massive. This is still a profitable company, but it has a critical financial problem. You see how the cash balance bar falls to zero in November, and almost $200,000 below zero in December. That means that this company needs new money, new loans or new capital investment, to make up its cash deficit, even though it is still profitable. This is hard to swallow until you see it happen in real business, but it is the truth and it will happen.
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