Paul Sweeney Accountant
Accountant / Business Coach and Advisor/ Speaker / Podcast Host. Paul Sweeney brings over 25 years of hands-on experience in accounting and business advisory to the forefront. Paul is a dynamic speaker and host of The Business Behind Your Business podcast, leveraging his passion for business to engage audiences with conversations to help your business grow and thrive. https://linktr.ee/paulsweeneyaccountant
How many weeks could you be wrong for?
30 September 2026 How long is your runway? ↓ Hello Reader, A client rang me in March, pretty pleased with himself. He'd just signed a bigger lease, taken on two more staff, and committed to a new supplier contract, all in the same fortnight. Growth, he called it. He wanted to talk it through, but really he wanted me to agree with him. I asked him one question before we went anywhere near the detail. If none of this works the way you're expecting, how many weeks can the business absorb that...
What the best businesses did differently in a crisis
23 September 2026 The difference wasn't luck ↓ Hello Reader, We've spent the last few weeks on two habits. Checking your cash weekly, so problems surface early. Protecting time for what matters, so priorities don't get buried. Here's a real example of what happens when both of those habits are missing, and when they're not. During the global financial crisis, I was given the job of visiting every client in our practice and helping them get through it. What I found wasn't one story. It was two...
Your week fills up fast. What are you protecting?
16 September 2026 Put the big rock in first ↓ Hello Reader, A few weeks ago we talked about the five minute cash check. Look at what's in the account, what's due out, what's coming in. Simple, but it only works if you actually do it every Monday, not just when you remember. The same problem shows up with priorities. Ask most business owners what they should be working on, and they can tell you straight away. They know the decisions that have been sitting too long. So the knowledge isn't...
Why your business plan keeps getting forgotten
9 September 2026 The reason good plans don't get followed ↓ Hello Reader, Over the last few weeks we've talked about cash. Checking it weekly, not monthly. Knowing your real number before you commit to a spend. That habit tells you where you actually stand, right now. But there's a question that habit doesn't answer. Where are you trying to get to? Most business owners have written a plan at some point. Goals for the year, maybe a few priorities. Then three months later, it's sitting in a...
The four numbers that stop bad spending decisions
2 September 2026 Before you spend, check this first ↓ Hello Reader, Before you say yes to a big purchase, a new hire, or a bigger order, there's one question worth asking first. Can my cash actually support this over the next month, not just this week? Most owners answer that question with a feeling, not a number. That's how a decision that looked fine on Monday turns into a scramble by the third week of the month. Here's a simple way to check, using numbers you already have. Write down...
One week until the Cash Flow series starts
27 August 2026 Episode 1 drops next Thursday ↓ Hello Reader, Seven days out. Episode one of the Cash Flow series goes live Thursday 3 Sep, 9am. And the honest truth about podcast algorithms is this — if you don't follow before it starts, there's a good chance you never see episode two. So do this now, while you're thinking about it: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Takes ten seconds. Then you're set for all ten episodes. Talk soon, Paul Sweeney Chartered Accountant & Business Advisor Grow Your...
The number most business owners never check
26 August 2026 What a monthly report can't tell you ↓ Hello Reader, Most business owners have a monthly habit. They check the profit and loss, see how the month went, and move on to the next one. That's useful. But on its own, it isn't enough. A monthly report only tells you what already happened. By the time a cash problem shows up there, it has usually been building for weeks. Say a big customer pays two weeks late in August. By the time you see it on your August report, it's already...
What's actually keeping you up at night?
20 August 2026 An important question ↓ Hello Reader, The Cash Flow series starts in two weeks. Before I finish scripting it, I want to ask you something directly. What's your biggest cash flow frustration right now? Is it customers taking too long to pay? Not knowing your number until it's already tight? That gap between what the P&L says and what the bank account says? Hit reply and tell me. I read every one of these, and I'm building parts of this series around the real answers — not the...
The three places cash actually leaks (it's rarely spending)
19 August 2026 Strengthening cash flow ↓ Hello Reader, When cash feels tight, most people cut costs first. Sometimes that's the right move. Often it isn't. Here's why. Profit is what's left over once you take your expenses away from your revenue. But profit doesn't care when money actually moves. If you send a customer an invoice, that counts as revenue, even if they haven't paid you yet. If a supplier sends you stock before you've paid for it, that still counts as an expense. Cash works...
Why profitable businesses run out of cash
14 August 2026 A series I've been wanting to make for a while ↓ Hello Reader, Quick one today. I get asked the same question more than any other, in one form or another: "Paul — I'm making money. Why does it never feel like it?" The honest answer is that profit and cash are not the same thing. And almost nobody has ever had that explained to them properly. So I'm fixing that. Starting on 3 Sep, I'm launching a new ten-part series — Cash Flow — walking through exactly why this happens and...
Accountant / Business Coach and Advisor/ Speaker / Podcast Host. Paul Sweeney brings over 25 years of hands-on experience in accounting and business advisory to the forefront. Paul is a dynamic speaker and host of The Business Behind Your Business podcast, leveraging his passion for business to engage audiences with conversations to help your business grow and thrive. https://linktr.ee/paulsweeneyaccountant