Getting Your Cash Flow Through Christmas and January

The last invoices go out a week before Christmas. The roller door comes down, the phones go quiet, and most of your customers are at the beach until the middle of January.

Your costs keep going. Wages, annual leave, rent, insurance, the software that bills on the first of the month. For a lot of businesses the tightest cash weeks of the year are not in winter. They are the six weeks either side of New Year.

None of that is a reason to worry. It is a reason to look at it now, while there is still time to do something about it.

Why the gap opens

Money coming in slows down first. Clients on 30-day terms push December invoices into late January. Some offices close for three weeks, and nobody approves payments while they are away.

Money going out does not slow down at all. Staff still get paid, and many take their annual leave over the break, so you pay for the time away as well as the work either side of it. Fixed costs land on the same dates they always do.

That mismatch is normal. The businesses that feel it most are the ones that only notice it in January.

What is different this year

This is the first Christmas under Payday Super.

Until 30 June 2026, super for October, November and December was due by 28 January, so that payment often landed in the quietest month of the year. From 1 July 2026, super has to reach your employees’ funds within seven business days after each payday.

In practice, super now leaves with each December pay run rather than in one amount in January. January may feel a little lighter. December will feel a little heavier. It is better to build that into the plan than to find it on the day.

The BAS for October to December is due on 28 February. That gives some breathing room, but it is still paid from the cash you have in February, after the quiet weeks.

Map the ten weeks

A cash flow forecast does not need to be complicated. A simple list works.

Take the weeks from mid-November to the end of January. For each week, write down what you know is going out: each pay run and its super, rent, loan repayments, insurance renewals, subscriptions and any tax payments. Then write down what you realistically expect to come in, based on how your customers actually paid last summer rather than on their invoice terms.

Where the two columns do not meet, you have found your gap, and you have found it in November.

Before the break

Most of the useful moves are small, and they need to happen before mid-December.

• Send invoices as soon as the work is done, and follow up anything overdue before offices close.
• Ask for deposits on work booked for January and February.
• Talk to key suppliers about timing if a large payment falls in the quiet weeks.
• If you rely on an overdraft or a business facility, check the limit now rather than in January.
• Decide what you will draw from the business over Christmas, including any bonuses and gifts, and when.

A quiet January is fine

There is nothing wrong with a slow January. Plenty of good businesses have one every year. The difference is whether it arrives as a surprise or as a line in a plan you made in November.

If you would like help building a simple forecast for the summer, or working out how Payday Super has changed the rhythm of your cash, talk to us before the break.

As always, if anything sparks a question or you’d like to sense-check your position, we’re here for a conversation.

Call 1300 866 113 or book via our website.

This is general information only. Please seek professional advice for your specific situation.

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