Calculate your result
Use figures from the same period and currency. Avoid mixing estimates with verified amounts without noting the difference.
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Why this matters
A cash-collection decline affects survival only after it is translated into cash collected, essential costs and available reserves. The same percentage drop can be manageable for one business and fatal for another. This calculator focuses management on how long reserves could support the business after the selected cash-collection decline if essential costs remain at the entered level. The answer is useful because it turns a general cash concern into a quantified decision with a time window, owner and next step.
Use normal monthly cash collections, a realistic decline percentage, a line-by-line essential cost budget and unrestricted cash reserves. Keep every figure in the same currency and planning period. Separate confirmed cash from hoped-for sales, and label estimates so they are not mistaken for verified balances. Cash-flow guidance should be read as an operating forecast, not a statement of profit. The central discipline is timing: cash must be available before an obligation becomes due.
How to act on the result
- Model mild, expected and severe cash-collection drops instead of relying on one forecast
- Identify costs that can be reduced at each trigger level without destroying the ability to serve customers
- Prepare customer retention, collection and replacement-revenue actions before reserves are consumed
Stress-test the result by changing the most uncertain input. A responsible decision should survive a slower collection case, a cost overrun or a delayed receipt. Recalculate when new evidence arrives instead of allowing an old output to become a permanent forecast.
Common mistakes and limits
Watch for assuming revenue equals cash collected, treating all costs as fixed, ignoring seasonality, and entering a one-time reserve as if it renews every month. This calculator does not prepare a GAAP or IFRS cash-flow statement, predict insolvency or establish that financing is affordable. It is a management diagnostic built from the figures entered. When the model produces less than three months of survival, management should create a weekly cash-control plan and consider professional turnaround advice.
What this calculator answers
How long can the business survive after a cash-collection decline?
Formula and assumptions
New monthly burn = essential costs − reduced monthly cash collected; survival months = cash ÷ new burn.
The result is an estimate. It is only as reliable as the inputs, and it does not account for every tax, legal, financing or operational consequence.
Worked-example method
Use the prefilled sample values, calculate once, then replace every input with numbers from your records. The result will show a risk level, key measurements and one recommended next move.
How to interpret the result
- Low: no immediate gap or the entered position is comparatively protected.
- Medium: manageable pressure exists, but it should receive a dated correction plan.
- High: the problem can materially damage cash or operations and requires near-term action.
- Critical: the entered assumptions indicate immediate loss, shortage or survival risk.
Authoritative references
Sources provide general business and operational context. The formula and result are decision-support estimates created by Business Rescue Tools.
Frequently asked questions
What does this calculator tell me?
How long can the business survive after a cash-collection decline?
How is the result calculated?
New monthly burn = essential costs − reduced monthly cash collected; survival months = cash ÷ new burn.
Should I make a major decision from this result alone?
No. Use the result to identify and quantify a problem, then verify the underlying records, assumptions and local legal or accounting requirements.
Does the site store the figures I enter?
This browser-based calculator runs in your browser and does not submit the figures to our server.