It’s business planning season and, if a review of the financial forecast is less than stellar, it could be time to boost your business’ cash flow, writes Complete Commercial Finance’s Karl Lanham…

Autumn is a critical period for businesses to set goals, align strategies, create budgets and forecast for the year ahead. Putting in the hard yards now creates a firm footing for the future and a strong start for the coming year. But what if the outlook looks uncertain and the forecast falls short of a company’s ambitions for growth?

In its recent thought leadership report, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) cited uncertainty, including tax volatility and global issues, as a major challenge for UK firms. In its Q2 Business Confidence Monitor, it reported that 55 per cent of businesses had described the tax burden as a growing challenge that is directly impacting their decisions about investment. The ICAEW suggests that improved access to affordable finance is part of the solution required to support and grow UK plc.

It may sound counterintuitive, but finance can help many businesses to shore up cash flow and fund investment, which is key to growth. Whether it’s purchasing new equipment, machinery or hiring people, an expansion of operations can make a business more profitable, increase the value of the company and provide security, even in tough times.

Advanced manufacturing and engineering is one of West Norfolk’s most productive sectors, which contributes £530m – around 28 per cent of the area’s total economic output – and it is vital that continued investment continues to feed the success and growth of this industry for our region. With a wide spectrum of business finance, from asset finance and refinance to commercial mortgages and invoice discounting, we frequently talk with companies that are surprised that there are so many funding options, including specialised sector finance, which can support their operations and plans for investment.

Intelligent use of funding can be an invaluable business tool and working with a broker, such as Complete Commercial Finance, can help companies to tap into cash which otherwise wouldn’t be readily available to them. Speaking with many local business owners, there appears to be a slight hesitancy ahead of next month’s Autumn Budget with a ‘wait and see’ approach, but my advice would be to forge ahead with planning and to undertake a thorough business finance review to know what options are available.

As former United States Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld once said, “There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know, we don’t know.” My advice to business owners is to plan as usual and focus on what they can do to achieve the best outcomes in 2026.

Visit ccf.finance or call 01553 611619 to speak to Karl Lanham and arrange a free business finance review.