Paid, payable, and the gap in between

You can have a good year and run out of money in March. Both statements are about the same business, and neither one is a mistake.

What the balance actually tells you

A bank balance is a photograph taken this morning. It knows nothing about the invoice you sent on Tuesday, the tax you owe in January or the annual insurance that leaves on the first. Read alone it is the most confident wrong number you own.

The four figures worth keeping in view

What is in the account. What is owed to you and by when. What you owe and by when. What is already spoken for — tax, rent, the pot you promised not to touch. Everything else is detail you can look up when you need it.

Why the gap widens as you grow

Bigger clients pay later. A business doing twice the work often waits twice as long to be paid for it, so growth shows up first as a cash squeeze and only later as a better year. Expecting that makes it a plan instead of a shock.