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My bookkeeper's reports arrive weeks late: how do I keep track of cash weekly?

Why are month-end reports too late for managing cash?

Because they describe a month that has already gone. The books have to be reconciled, the accruals posted and the pack put together, so it often lands two or three weeks after the month it covers. That is fine for profit, tax and the year-end. It is no use for cash, because cash moves every day. A VAT payment, a customer who pays a fortnight late and a big supplier bill can all land in the gap between one pack and the next.

None of that is your bookkeeper doing a bad job. The monthly pack does a different job. What you need alongside it is a weekly number you can check yourself.

What should I check every Monday?

Five steps, in this order. In Xero most of it is already on the screens you have.

1. Check the bank is up to date. Make sure last week's bank feed is reconciled, or at least that nothing big is sitting unmatched. Every number below is only as good as the ledger it reads.
2. Work out your net cash. Cash in the bank, plus what customers owe you, minus what you owe soon: VAT, PAYE, suppliers falling due. This is the money that is actually yours, and it is nearly always smaller than the bank balance. (Doing it line by line from a Xero trial balance.)
3. Turn it into months. Divide net cash by what the business costs to run for a month. That is your cash cushion, your months of cash. Own Your Numbers rates net cash at or below zero as critical; above zero, under one month is very high risk, one to two months high, two to three months medium and three months or more low.
4. Look at who owes you, oldest first. Run Xero's Aged Receivables report as at today with Ageing By set to Due Date to see how overdue each unpaid invoice is. Pick the few to chase this week. (Which customers to chase first, with a worked ranking.)
5. Look at what is leaving soon. The Aged Payables report, plus the next VAT and PAYE dates. Nothing on that list should surprise you on the day it leaves.

Then write down three to five things to do this week. Chase these two invoices. Hold that purchase until the VAT has gone. Ring the supplier about terms. Short is the point.

Does the Monday check work if the books are behind?

Only partly, and it is better to know that than to trust a wrong number. If sales invoices go in late, or bills sit in a drawer until month-end, the weekly figures will look better or worse than the truth. The fix is small: ask your bookkeeper to keep three things current every week, even if the full pack stays monthly. The bank feed, the sales invoices and the supplier bills. That is enough for a weekly cash check you can believe.

Do I still need my bookkeeper's monthly reports?

Yes. Profit, margins, VAT returns, the year-end: those still come from the monthly close, and the weekly check does not replace any of it. Think of the monthly pack as the full service and the Monday check as the warning light in between. One tells you how the business is performing; the other tells you whether there is enough cash to keep it running.

Can the Monday check be done for me?

Yes. Everything above you can do yourself, and if you will genuinely do it every week, do. What Own Your Numbers does is the doing: it connects to your Xero read-only and every Monday sends a one-minute briefing with your cash, net cash and cushion in months, a risk rating from low to critical, the debtors to chase, the bills coming up and the five things to do this week, by email or WhatsApp. It cannot change anything in your Xero. It is not a forecast and it does not replace your bookkeeper; it reads the same ledger, so the same rule applies: keep the books current and the briefing stays true.

If you would like to share it, you can give your bookkeeper or accountant access to the briefing too, without anyone getting write access to your Xero. (How bookkeepers and accountants run it for clients.)