Business cash flow crisis: what to do in the first 72 hours

A business cash flow crisis rarely arrives with warning. A big customer pays late, a tax bill lands at the same time as a quiet month, the bank reduces a facility or a supplier suddenly wants cash on delivery. Whatever the trigger, the first 72 hours matter more than any other stretch, because that's when you either take control of the situation or let it take control of you.

This guide gives you a practical, hour-by-hour plan for those first three days. It's written for New Zealand business owners who are under real pressure right now, and it works whether or not you end up borrowing. Plenty of Kiwi businesses are in the same position: Centrix reported 3,035 company liquidations in the year to May 2026, up 14%. Most of those didn't start with a bad business. They started with a cash gap that wasn't dealt with quickly enough.

What should you do first in a business cash flow crisis?

Stop, and get the real numbers before you do anything else. You need to know exactly how much cash you have, what must go out and when, and what will actually come in. Every other decision, from who to pay to how much to borrow, depends on that picture.

It's tempting to start firing off emails or moving money around. Resist it for a few hours. A clear view of the gap turns panic into a list of problems you can solve one by one.

Hours 0–12: how do you get a clear picture of your cash?

Build a simple short-term cash forecast. It doesn't need to be pretty. A spreadsheet or a sheet of paper works.

1. Record every bank balance as of today, including overdraft limits and credit cards.
2. List everything due to go out in the next 14 days: wages, PAYE, GST, loan repayments, rent, suppliers, insurance, leases, council rates.
3. List everything you realistically expect to receive in 14 days. Only include money you're confident about, with dates.
4. Find the gap. For each day or week, subtract outgoings from incomings and see where the balance goes negative.
5. Extend to 13 weeks. Roll the same approach forward three months, to see whether this is a short squeeze or a longer problem.
6. Mark the hard deadlines. Payday, IRD due dates, loan payments and any legal notices such as a statutory demand.

Get your accountant or bookkeeper involved if you can. They can pull the figures from your accounting software quickly and spot items you might miss.

Which bills should you pay first?

When cash is short, not all bills carry the same consequences. Prioritise the ones that keep the business running and those where delay makes the debt grow fastest.

Priority	Payment	Why it comes here
1	Wages and holiday pay	Staff must be paid what they're owed; the minimum wage is $23.95 an hour from 1 April 2026
2	PAYE, KiwiSaver deductions and GST	This money is collected on behalf of others; Inland Revenue adds penalties and interest when it's late
3	Secured lenders	Missed repayments can put property, vehicles or equipment at risk
4	Critical suppliers	If they stop supply, you can't trade your way out
5	Rent and essential services	Premises, power, phones and insurance keep the doors open
6	Other unsecured creditors	Important, but often open to a negotiated payment plan

If you can't pay tax in full, still file your returns on time and contact Inland Revenue. IRD charges a 1% late payment penalty the day after the due date and a further 4% on day seven on the unpaid amount, plus interest on overdue tax. Filing and making contact keeps options like an instalment arrangement open.

Don't use GST or PAYE as an informal loan to the business. It feels like breathing room, but it's the most expensive money you can borrow and it draws IRD attention quickly.

Hours 12–24: how do you stop cash leaking out?

Once you know the gap, shrink it from both ends: cut what's going out and speed up what's coming in.

Slow the outflow:

• Pause non-essential purchases, subscriptions and discretionary spending.
• Delay stock orders that aren't needed for the next few weeks.
• Review staff rosters against real demand, fairly and within your obligations as an employer.
• Put capital spending on hold unless it directly generates cash soon.

Speed up the inflow:

• Invoice every completed job today, not at month-end.
• Call your biggest debtors personally and ask for payment, or a firm date.
• Offer an easy way to pay, such as a payment link or direct credit.
• Look for slow-moving stock or surplus equipment you could sell quickly.
• Submit any payment claims or progress claims that are due.

Late-paying customers are one of the biggest causes of a cash squeeze. Our guide to late-paying customers and cash flow has scripts and systems to get paid faster.

Hours 24–48: who should you call, and what should you say?

Call the people who can hurt your business most before they call you. Creditors are far more flexible with owners who make contact early, explain the situation honestly and come with a plan.

Who	What to say	What you might get
Inland Revenue	Returns are filed or will be; here's what you can pay and when	An instalment arrangement, set up in myIR
Your bank	What's happened, what you're doing and what you need	A temporary limit increase, repayment pause or restructure
Key suppliers	You value the relationship; here's a realistic payment plan	Extended terms or a staged catch-up
Landlord	A short-term issue; here's when you'll be back on track	A deferral or payment plan
Your accountant	Here's the forecast; what have we missed?	A second opinion and help with IRD and the bank

Keep every conversation factual and calm. Only promise what you can actually deliver. A missed promise does more damage than a realistic, slower plan. For a deeper playbook, read how to talk to creditors and buy time.

Hours 48–72: what funding options can close the gap?

By day three, you should know whether cost cuts and faster collections are enough. If there's still a gap, it's time to fund it. The right option depends on the size of the gap, how long it will last and what security you have.

Option	Best for	Things to weigh up
IRD instalment arrangement	Tax debt you can repay over time	Penalties and interest can continue; you must keep new tax up to date
Bank overdraft or limit increase	Short gaps for businesses the bank is comfortable with	Banks can take time and may decline if trading has dipped
Supplier payment plan	Trade debt with suppliers who want to keep you	Only covers that supplier; doesn't create new cash
Property-secured business loan	Larger or urgent gaps where you own property	Needs property equity and a clear exit
Selling an asset	Surplus property, vehicles or equipment	Can be slow; don't sell core assets at fire-sale prices

If you own property, a property-secured loan can often clear several problems at once: pay IRD in full, catch up suppliers and give the business breathing room. Our urgent business loans page explains how quickly that can happen.

How much should you borrow?

Borrow enough to close the gap your 13-week forecast shows, plus a sensible buffer for things that slip, and no more. A loan that only covers this week's shortfall leaves you back in the same place a month later. A loan that's far bigger than the problem adds cost without adding safety.

Work out three numbers before you apply:

• The hard debts to clear now, such as overdue GST and PAYE, arrears with key suppliers and anything subject to legal action.
• The trading gap, which is the lowest point your forecast balance reaches over the next three months.
• A buffer for late payers or a slower recovery than planned.

Then check the total against the equity in your property. Our guide on how much you can borrow against your property shows how to estimate it, and if tax is the main pressure, our IRD tax debt loans page explains how funds can be paid straight to Inland Revenue.

What should you avoid doing in the first 72 hours?

Pressure pushes people into decisions they later regret. Steer clear of these common mistakes:

• Ignoring letters, calls or emails from IRD or creditors. Silence escalates the problem.
• Taking on expensive, fast-repaying debt that drains daily cash, such as short-term merchant advances, without a plan to repay it.
• Rushing to appoint a liquidator before exploring funding or a restructure. Liquidators charge fees that are paid before creditors, and directors lose control of what happens next. Our guide to alternatives to liquidation explains other paths.
• Moving money or assets around in ways you can't explain later.
• Going it alone. Your accountant, lawyer and lender are all more useful early than late.

Example scenario

A Christchurch café owner found out on a Monday that a catering client would pay a $38,000 invoice six weeks late, just as a two-month GST return and a quarterly rent payment fell due. The 13-week forecast showed a gap of about $65,000 that would last into autumn.

By Tuesday, the owner had paused a planned equipment upgrade, called three suppliers to agree staged payments and filed the GST return with a note to IRD. On Wednesday, with a home worth about $780,000 and a $310,000 bank mortgage, the owner applied for a $70,000 second mortgage. It cleared the GST, covered rent and gave a small buffer, with interest capitalised so no monthly repayments landed during the slow months. The loan was set up to be repaid by refinancing with the bank once trading recovered.

How do you stop a cash flow crisis happening again?

Once the immediate pressure is off, use the calm to build some protection:

• Keep the 13-week forecast going and update it weekly.
• Set aside GST and PAYE in a separate account as you collect them.
• Tighten credit terms and chase overdue invoices on a fixed schedule.
• Build a cash buffer of at least a few weeks of fixed costs.
• Arrange funding before you need it, so a future squeeze doesn't become a crisis.

Key takeaways

• Spend the first 12 hours building an accurate 14-day and 13-week cash forecast.
• Pay wages first, then deal with PAYE and GST by filing and contacting IRD.
• Shrink the gap by slowing spending and speeding up collections.
• Call IRD, your bank and key suppliers early, with a realistic plan.
• If a gap remains and you own property, a property-secured loan can close it quickly.
• Don't rush into liquidation before exploring funding and restructure options.

Get help closing the gap

If your forecast shows a gap you can't close by cutting costs and chasing debtors, and you own property in New Zealand, fundU can help. We're a direct lender, so our credit team makes the decisions quickly, and we consider IRD debt, bad credit and bank declines case by case. Read more about our working capital finance, then see if you qualify. It takes a couple of minutes and doesn't affect your credit score. If it's urgent, call us on 09 875 4577.