Safe Harbour Cash Flow Pack

What it is

When a company is in trouble the director's adviser asks the same three questions: can it trade through, what does the plan show, and how will we prove we watched it. The Safe Harbour Cash Flow Pack answers them in five business days with the forecasts, the comparison and the monitoring record the law expects, built to the adviser's brief so their advice rests on numbers that hold.

How we do it

We take the adviser's brief (the proposed course of action and the questions the pack must answer) and the company's books, debtors, creditors, ATO and super position, and facilities.

We build a 13-week cash flow with the low point and the actions that move it, then an integrated 12 to 24 month forecast under the proposed plan with every assumption listed.

We estimate the outcome for creditors under the plan and under the liquidation alternative, with the basis for each figure, so the better-outcome judgement has numbers behind it.

We schedule the conditions the adviser will check: employee entitlements and superannuation paid, tax lodgements current.

While the plan runs we deliver a monthly monitoring pack: actual against plan, variances explained, assumptions re-tested, so the record of watching exists.

Is this for you?

Clients usually call us for this when:

• A lawyer or accountant has raised safe harbour or a restructure with you.
• A Director Penalty Notice, ATO demand or bank request has arrived and you need a plan in days.
• A restructuring practitioner wants the cash flow work done before an appointment.
• You want to keep trading and need to show the plan is more than hope.

What you receive, and what each gives you

• 13-week cash flow forecast with the low point, the week it falls and the actions that move itThe 13-week cash flow and the low point.
• Integrated 12 to 24 month profit, balance sheet and cash forecast under the proposed course of action, with the key assumptions listedThe integrated forecast under the plan.
• Better-outcome comparison: the forecast outcome for creditors against an estimated liquidation outcome, with the basis for each figureThe better-outcome comparison against liquidation.
• Employee entitlement and tax lodgement status schedule (the conditions the adviser will check)The conditions schedule.
• Monthly monitoring pack: actual against the plan, variances explained, the plan's assumptions re-testedA monthly monitoring pack for as long as the plan runs.
• Workpapers in a form the adviser can rely on and attach to their adviceWorkpapers the adviser can attach to their advice.
• One 60-minute working session with the director and their adviserA working session with you and your adviser.

What changes for you

• The adviser's advice rests on documented analysis, which is what the law asks for.
• You know the week cash gets tight and what moves it.
• The record of monitoring exists from month one.
• The practitioner's fee stays on the appointment, not on building spreadsheets.

The questions it answers

• Can the company pay its debts as they fall due over the next 13 weeks?
• What does the plan deliver for creditors against liquidation?
• Are super and lodgements current, and if not, what does that change?
• Are we on plan this month?

Words we use, explained

Safe harbour

Protection from insolvent-trading liability for directors who develop and follow a course of action reasonably likely to lead to a better outcome than immediate administration or liquidation (Corporations Act s 588GA).

Appropriately qualified entity

The adviser whose advice the director relies on for safe harbour; typically an insolvency practitioner, turnaround adviser or lawyer. Wickham is not that entity.

Better-outcome test

The comparison between what creditors are likely to receive under the plan and under liquidation.

Small business restructuring

A formal process for companies with liabilities under $1 million, run by a registered practitioner, with a plan proposed in 20 business days.

What we’ll need from you

A one-page checklist comes with the engagement letter, with a private page to upload everything. The main items:

• Last two years' financial statements and the current year to date from the accounting file
• Aged debtors and creditors today, with disputed and doubtful items marked
• ATO account statement and lodgement status; any payment plan or Director Penalty Notice
• Payroll and superannuation position: last pay run, super paid to date, any arrears
• Bank, loan, lease and finance statements and facility limits
• Work in hand and expected sales for the next six months
• The adviser's brief: the proposed course of action and the questions the pack must answer

Not included

• Advice on directors' duties, safe harbour eligibility or the choice of restructuring path.
• Acting as the appropriately qualified entity, or dealing with the ATO or creditors for the company.
• Bookkeeping or correcting the books.

The technical detail

A 13-week cash flow, an integrated 12 to 24 month forecast, a comparison against the liquidation alternative and a monitoring pack, built to the brief of the director's lawyer or restructuring adviser. Wickham supplies the numbers; the advice on duties, safe harbour eligibility and any appointment stays with the appropriately qualified adviser, and we work alongside them.

Often paired with

13-Week Cash Flow Forecast: The 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast alone when the question is cash, not solvency.

Connected Reporting: Connected Reporting afterwards, so the monitoring becomes the ordinary monthly pack once the plan has worked.

Common questions