Cash Flow Crisis Action Plan
Cash Flow & Treasury
Quick Answer
Describe your current cash crisis situation. Paste into Claude or ChatGPT. Get a prioritized emergency action plan with 48-hour immediate actions and 30-day stabilization tactics.
What You Get
A prioritized emergency cash flow action plan covering 48-hour immediate actions, 30-day stabilization actions, cash acceleration tactics, payment deferral strategies, and a communication plan for key stakeholders including lenders and employees.
Who Is This For
Business owners facing an immediate cash shortfall, CFOs managing a cash crisis, turnaround advisors helping distressed businesses, and founders who have missed a payroll or are at risk of missing one.
About This Template
Cash flow crises move fast and require immediate, prioritized action. The difference between businesses that survive a cash crunch and those that don't is often the speed and precision of the response. This template guides business owners and CFOs through describing their current cash situation, then uses AI to produce a prioritized emergency action plan covering immediate actions in the first 48 hours, short-term actions in the first 30 days, and medium-term actions to prevent recurrence.
Fill In Your Details
Your company name
e.g. $45,000
e.g. $38,000 per week including payroll of $22,000
e.g. payroll of $44,000 due in 6 days
Money owed to you with expected collection dates
Any existing credit lines, asset-based lending capacity, or financing options available
Non-essential spending or payments that could be delayed 30-60 days
The specific event or pattern that created the shortfall
Gather these details then use them to fill in the prompt below.
AI Prompts
Generate cash flow crisis action plan
Paste this prompt into Claude or ChatGPT with your situation filled in.
You are a turnaround advisor helping a business navigate an immediate cash flow crisis. Using the information below, produce a prioritized emergency action plan. Company: [company_name] Current cash: [current_cash] Weekly burn: [weekly_burn] Next large payment: [next_large_payment] Outstanding receivables: [receivables] Available credit: [available_credit] Deferrable costs: [deferrable_costs] Crisis cause: [crisis_cause] Produce a prioritized action plan: 1. 48-Hour Immediate Actions Specific actions to take in the next 48 hours to prevent missing the next payment. Prioritize by cash impact and speed of execution. 2. 7-Day Stabilization Actions Actions to take in the next week to buy time and extend runway. 3. 30-Day Recovery Actions Actions to take over the next month to address the root cause and prevent recurrence. 4. Stakeholder Communication Plan What to tell lenders, key suppliers, and employees — and when. Honesty and speed build trust. Silence destroys it. 5. Cash Bridge Calculation Calculate exactly how much additional cash is needed and by when to survive the next 30 days. Be direct and specific. In a cash crisis, vague advice is dangerous.
Sample Output
This is an example of what AI produces when you use this template.
48-Hour Immediate Actions
Action 1 (today): Call the three largest outstanding receivables totaling $127,000. Do not email — call. Offer a 2 percent early payment discount for payment within 48 hours. This is the fastest path to cash and the discount cost ($2,540) is negligible compared to the crisis risk. Target: $60,000-80,000 in accelerated receipts within 48 hours. Action 2 (today): Draw the full available balance on your $50,000 credit line immediately. Do not wait — credit lines can be frozen by lenders if they detect distress. Cost: approximately $400 per month in interest. Cash benefit: $50,000 immediate. Action 3 (within 24 hours): Call your two largest suppliers. Explain you need 30-day payment terms on the next invoice. Most suppliers will accommodate a good customer with a direct honest request. Do not ignore the invoices — ignoring creates adversarial relationships. Target: defer $35,000 in supplier payments by 30 days.
Cash Bridge Calculation
Current cash: $45,000. Next payroll: $44,000 in 6 days. Cash after payroll: $1,000 — effectively zero. Actions above add: credit line $50,000 plus early payment receipts estimate $70,000 plus supplier deferrals free up $35,000 in week 2. Total cash available after immediate actions: approximately $121,000. This provides 3.2 weeks of runway at current burn — enough time to execute the 30-day recovery plan if started immediately.