EOFY 2026: What to do if your cash flow is tight at year-end

There’s a familiar pattern in how cash flow tightens at EOFY. Tax lands around the same time as BAS, payroll keeps running, supplier invoices don’t pause for financial year boundaries, and a couple of customers who were “about to pay” are now taking their time.

Most of these cash flow pressures are normal business activity, but EOFY lines them up in a way that’s hard to ignore.

If things feel tight right now, the goal isn’t to “push through” it, but to get control of the sequence.

Step 1: Get a real cash position

Before you make any decisions, ignore the profit-and-loss and focus on one thing: what cash is actually coming in and going out in the next 2–4 weeks.

Break it down simply:

• Cash already in the bank
• Money definitely coming in (keyword being “definitely” — don’t base this on assumptions)
• Fixed outgoings you can’t avoid 
• Everything else that is flexible in timing

This is where most stress either reduces or spikes. In many cases, the pressure shows up when customer payments don’t land on schedule.

Step 2: Lock payroll and tax first

There are only a few non-negotiables in cash flow planning: things like wages, super, and core tax obligations.

If those aren’t covered, you’re likely dealing with a structural issue rather than a timing one.

Once those are secure, you can start making rational decisions about everything else instead of trying to juggle it all at once.

Step 3: Chase receivables like they actually matter (because they do)

Go line by line and separate:

• money arriving this week
• money “promised” but not scheduled
• money you’ll need to actively chase

Then actually chase it, firmly, early, and without overthinking it.

A lot of SMEs sit on receivables longer than they should because they don’t want to damage relationships. But if you’ve done the work, you’ve earned the right to get paid.

Step 4: Stop trying to manage everything equally

When cash is tight, everything starts looking urgent, and it’s easy for owners to get stuck there.

You need to rank decisions in a very unglamorous way:

• Must pay now (payroll, tax, critical suppliers)
• Should pay soon (key suppliers, essential ops costs)
• Can wait (everything that doesn’t stop the business operating tomorrow)

The mistake most businesses make is treating “can wait” items as if they carry the same weight as the essentials. Running this ranking usually creates more breathing room than trying to cut costs randomly across the board.

Step 5: Don’t let supplier payments drift

This is where short-term relief can quietly turn into longer-term pain.

It’s normal to negotiate timing with suppliers when things are tight, but it becomes a problem when it turns into vague delays with no clear structure behind them.

If you need to move payments, set a clear date upfront and stick to it. Otherwise, you end up carrying pressure forward without actually solving the underlying gap.

Step 6: If there’s still a gap, treat funding as a timing tool

If your cash inflows don’t match your obligations, you’ve basically got three options:

• delay payments (limited usefulness if it keeps rolling forward)
• rely on receivables arriving perfectly on time (risky at best)
• or bridge the gap

That’s where short-term funding comes in. This might be:

• a short-term business loan to cover EOFY obligations
• invoice finance to unlock cash already earned
• a working capital facility to smooth timing mismatches

Used properly, these tools help prevent a temporary timing issue from disrupting payroll, suppliers, and decision-making.

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Step 7: Fix the pattern, not just the month

EOFY pressure usually feels sharpest when working capital has already been stretched heading into June.

So once you’re through it, the useful question is: what caused the squeeze in the first place?

Common answers are boring but consistent:

• receivables collected too slowly
• margins tighter than expected
• no deliberate cash buffer built into operations
• decisions made off profit, not cash timing

None of these are dramatic, but they add up over time and can turn EOFY from a manageable period into a cash crunch.

What matters most when the numbers get tight

EOFY doesn’t create cash flow problems, but exposes already existing timing gaps.

When things feel tight, the fastest way back to control is simple: get clarity on cash, prioritise what actually keeps the business running, and stop treating every outgoing payment as equally urgent.

After that, decisions get a lot less emotional and a lot more practical, and that’s usually where things stabilise.