Cash Flow Is Oxygen in Turbulent Times: CFOs Look to Improve Working Capital Management Practices to Combat Liquidity Pressure and the Credit Crunch

Many of the tactics designed to free money from A/R, A/P, and inventories can also help boost the accuracy of cash flow forecasting - the process of continuously tracking all cash dispersals and all cash collections. For companies that need to extract the largest amounts of cash from working capital, cash flow forecasting may be the most pressing, and challenging, issue. "Cash flow forecasting generally is an area where one sees a lack of discipline. Companies that create accurate cash flow forecasts maintain strong controls around their procurement cycles as well as visibility into their sales pipelines in terms of accurate demand forecasting. Both capabilities require information and tools to extract and deliver the information.