Let’s talk about one of the sneakiest traps small business owners fall into…

Assuming they know what the heck they are talking about.

I was chatting with a small business owner this week who said, “I know I’m making good money — there’s still cash in the bank!”

Cue the classic accountant eyebrow raise.

When we dug a little deeper, we discovered that the “profit” in the bank actually included money set aside for BAS, super, and a few supplier payments still waiting to clear plus they already had existing external loans (that wouldn’t be paid off for at least 48 months if they only made the minimum repayments). In reality, the business wasn’t as cash-rich as it looked.

It reminded me of one of my favourite analogies…
Assuming your business finances are fine just because there’s money in the account is like eating a “sugar-free” chocolate cake and convincing yourself it’s healthy.

It sounds good — until you read the label and realise it’s still packed with calories.

In business, those hidden “calories” are things like unpaid bills, GST, payroll, or future tax obligations that can sneak up on you if you’re not looking closely. Or perhaps, you are simply blissfully ignoring all these things in the hope that they just magically don’t apply (kind of like how calories don’t count on your birthday).

Here are a few other common assumptions I see all the time:

• The money in your bank account = profit (usually never that easy)
• “That expense is tax-deductible, right?” (…not always 🙃)
• “If there’s cash left, I can take it out as drawings.” (…maybe, maybe not 💸)
• “I’ll worry about the numbers at tax time.” (…ouch, that one hurts later every single time!)
• “I can buy new equipment yay” (is that really the best cash flow decision right now?)

The truth is, good business decisions come from understanding your numbers — not guessing them, or ignoring them.

That’s exactly what we help with in our Financial Coaching Sessions.

We translate the accounting jargon back into every day English (ha, seriously, we do not speak accounting jargon as #yawn), we look at what’s really happening behind the scenes, we give your accounting file a serious health check and we help you make confident choices without second-guessing yourself.

So before you take another bite of that “sugar-free” cake… maybe it’s time for a quick reality check.

Book a Financial Coaching Session with us — and let’s turn those assumptions into clarity (and maybe share a real slice of cake while we’re at it).