Profit is an accounting story; cash is a bank fact, and they diverge for predictable reasons. Your cash is usually tied up in unpaid customer invoices, stock on the shelf, loan principal repayments, tax set aside, and money you’ve drawn out — none of which show up as an expense in your profit. A profit-and-loss can look healthy while the account runs dry.
What it depends on
Where judgement stays human: A bookkeeper can show you exactly where the cash went; deciding what to change — terms, pricing, drawings, a buffer — is the judgement call worth having with someone who’s seen it before.
The profit-and-loss records a sale when you invoice it, not when you’re paid. So a profitable month with slow-paying customers produces profit on paper and nothing in the bank. Growth makes this worse, because you fund the next job before the last one pays.
Then there are the cash outflows that never touch the P&L: repaying the principal of a loan, buying equipment, drawings, and GST/PAYG you’re holding for the ATO. Add those up and the “missing” cash is usually fully accounted for — once someone maps it.
A bookkeeper can show you exactly where the cash went; deciding what to change — terms, pricing, drawings, a buffer — is the judgement call worth having with someone who’s seen it before.
Sydney Bookkeeping · general information current as at 1 September 2026. This is general information only, not personal financial, tax or legal advice.