From The New Life CFO Playbook
Inside the Playbook: 5 Moves We Make When a Client’s Cash Tightens
The exact framework our fractional CFOs run when liquidity tightens the
same approach behind nearly $1 billion under management.
Over $1 billion under management
Dallas-based fractional CFO team
100+ years guiding growing companies
Our 5 Action Plans
Get a Fast Read on Whether You’re OK
Before you do anything else, you need to know: am I in real trouble, or do I have runway? A small set of safety indicator KPIs answers that in an afternoon.
See how this played out
FROM OUR WORK
We had a client walk in staring down a crisis. Once we walked through the numbers, the truth is they had less than 70 days of cash runway, but it was nowhere near the five-alarm fire they had braced for. This fast read didn’t just calm the panic. It pointed us to the actual problem. Within our next analytical phase, we had them cash flow positive and sustainable.
Don’t get caught in the trap of inaccurate visibility. Book your call and let us help.
0 1
Map the Growth to Cash Dynamic
Tight cash usually isn’t a sales problem: it’s a math problem hiding underneath. We map growth rate, gross margin, and cash-to-cash cycle to show exactly where cash is getting consumed.
See how this played out
FROM OUR WORK
One client’s business looked like it was thriving. Growth was strong, revenue was up. But underneath, a different story was hiding: their core product line was quietly losing $4 million a year. We found it through a profit analysis, product line by product line, and fixed it through building tailored product offerings and pricing. The problem was never sales. It was that the product margins were buried in high-level numbers. Don’t let an inaccurate read on the math cause a misdiagnosis.
02
Free Up Cash This Month
With the diagnosis clear, you go after the fast levers: AP timing, AR collection, pricing leakage, line of credit, inventory. Some turn cash in days. Others take 3–6 months.
See how this played out
FROM OUR WORK
One of our clients was pulling in more than $50 million a year and still hit an extreme cash shortfall. We didn’t touch a single sale. We gave their AP staff simple accountability metrics on how much to spend, which doubled their available cash in 30 days.
Ready to see what’s sitting in your own AP process? Let’s find it together.
03
Does this sound like your business?
If two or three of these already feel uncomfortably familiar, that usually means the numbers are telling a story nobody has read yet. One conversation is often enough to know which move you need first — and whether you need us at all.
Build a 13-Week Cash Forecast You Can Actually Use
A rolling 13-week forecast tells you when to defer spending, when to invest, and which expenses are tied to revenue versus long-payback bets.
See how this played out
FROM OUR WORK
A fast-growing startup we worked with was living on a knife’s edge, with cash volatility that could catch them off guard at any moment. We put a rolling 13-week forecast in place, allowing them to manage expenses and investor funding so they never ran out of cash.
04
Decide Where Cash Goes Next
A simple prioritization framework helps you assess each investment by speed of cash return — what drives cash now versus what’s a long-term bet.
See how this played out
FROM OUR WORK
Sometimes the real problem isn’t too little cash. It’s what you do with too much of it. Shiny baubles don’t always pay off. We’ve watched clients make costly mistakes simply because no one challenged the why, the strategic alignment, and the ROI behind proposed major commitments. We help you get clear on where you want to be three years from now, then map your cash strategy to get you there, on purpose rather than by accident.
05
FREE DOWNLOAD
Not ready to talk yet?
Go Deeper on All Five Moves
The 5-Move Cash Flow Playbook takes each move further than a web page can — what we look at, the order we work in, and a self-assessment you can run on your own numbers this week.
- The safety indicator KPIs we check first
- How to map growth against your cash-to-cash cycle
- The five fast levers, ranked by speed of return
- A one-page self-check you can complete on your own
Talk Through Your Situation
with a CFO Expert
If you’d like help pressure testing your numbers or understanding where cash pressure may be building, book a complimentary Cash Flow Status Check with a New Life advisor.
If you don’t have control of your numbers, you’re flying blind in an economy that is not forgiving.
— DAVID PHELPS, CEO, FREEDOM FOUNDERS