Build a business bill calendar and see cash crunches weeks ahead

Why most “urgent” bills weren’t a surprise

Look back at the last time the business scrambled for cash. Chances are, the bill itself wasn’t new. The pay run was always going to be on Thursday. The BAS was always due on the 28th. The insurance renewal came around the same week as last year. What was new was the collision — several known bills landing in the same week as a slow customer.

A bill calendar is the simplest tool for seeing collisions coming. It takes an hour to build, ten minutes a week to maintain, and it changes the question from “how do we cover this by Friday?” to “how do we handle week 7?”

Which bills belong on it?

Everything that leaves the account, grouped so nothing gets missed:

Category	Typical timing	Notes
Wages	Weekly, fortnightly or monthly	Awards and agreements set the cycle; at least monthly otherwise
Super	Within 7 business days after each payday	Payday Super from 1 July 2026; 20 business days for new employees or funds
PAYG withholding	With your BAS	Monthly for medium withholders, quarterly for small
GST (BAS)	28 Oct, 28 Feb, 28 Apr, 28 Jul — or the 21st monthly	Weekend or public holiday dates move to the next business day
PAYG instalments	Same quarterly dates	Prepayment of income tax
Income tax	After assessment	Can be large in a good year
Rent and outgoings	Usually monthly	Plus annual outgoings reconciliations
Supplier runs	Per your terms	Group by due date, not invoice date
Loan and equipment finance repayments	Per agreement	Weekly, fortnightly or monthly
Insurance renewals	Annual	Often clustered around 30 June
Registrations, licences, subscriptions	Annual or monthly	Small individually; noticeable together
Leave peaks and final pay	Seasonal or event-driven	December, school holidays, departures

The ATO notes that small withholders (withholding $25,000 or less a year) generally pay PAYG withholding quarterly, while medium withholders pay monthly — so check which applies to you before you set the BAS dates.

How do you build it in an hour?

Step 1 — set up the grid. A spreadsheet with a column for each week for the next 13 weeks, and a separate tab for the next 12 months by month.

Step 2 — add the fixed dates. Pay days, super deadlines, BAS and PAYG, rent, loan repayments. These rarely change.

Step 3 — add the variable bills. Supplier runs based on current invoices and usual volumes. Estimate conservatively.

Step 4 — add the annual items to the 12-month tab: insurance, registrations, leave peaks, EOFY, the December break.

Step 5 — add income beside it. Only money you’re confident of: reliable customers, contracted milestones, card settlements. Leave out invoices that are already late until they’re paid.

Step 6 — run the balance. Opening balance, plus income, minus bills, carried forward week by week. Colour any negative week red.

business.gov.au offers a free cash flow statement template if you’d rather not start from scratch.

What should you do with a red week?

A red week three or more weeks out is an opportunity, not a crisis. Work through this order:

1. Move what can move. Can a supplier run shift a week? Can an optional purchase wait?
2. Pull income forward. Invoice faster, chase the two biggest debtors, ask for part-payments on large jobs.
3. Talk to creditors early. A request made three weeks ahead is received very differently from one made the day before.
4. Size the remaining gap — the deepest red week, not the first. See how much to borrow.
5. Arrange funding calmly if the gap remains. With weeks of notice, you can compare structures rather than take whatever lands fastest.

If the gap is real, you can start an enquiry weeks before the crunch — it’s far easier than starting on the day.

Which weeks are usually the tightest?

Every business is different, but a few patterns repeat across Australian businesses:

• The last week of the month after a quarter — BAS and PAYG instalments on the 28th, often alongside rent on the 1st. See BAS due date.
• Every pay week under Payday Super — super now follows each pay run within 7 business days. See late super guarantee.
• Late June to late July — insurance renewals, stock and year-end costs, then the April–June BAS on 28 July. See EOFY cash crunch.
• December to January — leave, fewer business days and slower customer payments. See the December timeline.

How does funding fit into a calendar?

Once you can see crunch weeks in advance, funding becomes a planning choice rather than a rescue:

• One predictable peak a year (EOFY, December): a short-term loan arranged a few weeks ahead, repaid as the peak passes.
• Recurring red weeks (every BAS quarter, every month-end): a line of credit, drawn in the red week and cleared after.
• A big one-off (a tax bill, a deposit, a customer failure): a loan sized to that event, possibly property-secured.

Unsecured and cash-flow options typically run from $5,000 to $500,000 for trading businesses, sized on turnover and bank statements. Property-secured loans run from $20,000 to $5,000,000, with $20k to $250k possible same day and up to $5m within 24–48 hours — useful to know, but much less necessary when you’ve seen the week coming.

An illustrative example

Illustrative only. A café group with three sites builds its first bill calendar in September. The 13-week view shows two red weeks: the week of 28 October, when the July–September BAS lands alongside rent for all three sites, and the second week of January, when December’s leave-heavy pay runs and January rent collide with slow catering payments. The owner negotiates a one-week shift on a supplier run for October, which clears the first red week, and arranges a small line of credit in early December for January. Neither week becomes an emergency.

What belongs on the 12-month tab?

The weekly view catches next month’s crunch; the annual view catches the ones a weekly view can’t see yet. On the 12-month tab, list:

• All four quarterly BAS and PAYG instalment dates, with an estimate of each amount based on last year and current trading.
• Insurance renewals, with last year’s premium as a placeholder until quotes arrive.
• Annual registrations and licences — vehicles, trade licences, industry memberships, software.
• Known leave peaks — school holidays, the December break, staff who’ve booked long leave.
• Contract milestones and big expected receipts, so you can see when large sums should arrive.
• Loan maturities and lease expiries, which often need a decision months ahead.
• Your income tax estimate, updated once your accountant has a view in May.

Review it once a month, and move anything that falls within 13 weeks into the weekly view.

Who should maintain it?

Whoever is closest to the numbers each week — often a bookkeeper, office manager or the owner. The important thing is consistency: ten minutes every Monday morning beats a thorough review every quarter. If you have an accountant or bookkeeper, ask them to build the first version with you; many already have the data in your accounting software.

Turn a red week into a plan

The best time to arrange funding is when you can see the need coming and nothing is on fire yet. If your calendar shows a red week, tell us how deep it is, when it lands and what’s causing it. There’s no credit check when you first enquire, your details go to one team rather than a string of lenders, and a real person reviews your plan and calls you. Please fill in the form accurately — the amount, the date and any property — so what we arrange fits the week it’s needed for. Or run the triage checker to see your likely pathway first.

See if you qualify →