The payment list mixes old arrears with bills due later
Date cash obligations individually rather than treating all payables as immediately due or deferrable.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
The total hides when the pressure occurs
A hypothetical owner receives a $120,000 payables report and assumes every amount must be paid this week. Some invoices are already overdue, some fall due later and others are under genuine review. Build a dated obligation list before making promises. The total is important, but it does not describe the timing or legal position of each item.
Check invoice dates, agreed payment conditions and any documented changes. Identify overdue amounts without assuming the system's default due date is correct. Keep disputes and queries visible as separate facts. An invoice being questioned does not automatically mean payment can be deferred, so obtain advice where the contractual or legal position is uncertain.
Business.gov.au recommends a cash-flow statement showing incoming and outgoing money and clearly labelled estimates. Use verified due dates and realistic receipt assumptions to locate the pressure points. Do not simply move overdue items to next month to make this month's plan balance. A forecast should expose unresolved obligations, not conceal them through convenient scheduling.
In the hypothetical example, a creditor may have been asked for more time but not agreed. Keep the original obligation visible and show the request separately until the position is confirmed. Preserve any accepted arrangement and its conditions. A friendly conversation or lack of reply should not silently become a new payment date in the plan.
Provide the dated schedule, cash information and relevant disputes to the appropriate adviser. Avoid using the list as an automatic rule for favouring whichever creditor has the earliest date or loudest demand. Where financial distress raises solvency concerns, the decision requires a broader assessment of the company and its obligations.
Assign someone to verify changes and keep evidence of revised terms. CRP can help organise the commercial information. A useful schedule explains what is due, what is proposed and what remains uncertain, so the response to the cash gap starts from the actual commitments rather than one undifferentiated total.
