Minding the gap: Financial innovation is critical for accountants in addressing ‘cash slow’ pain

We directly help businesses every day, but supporting accounting professionals to deliver the essential work they do, is a big part of the picture too. I know plenty of businesses who would say their accountant holds the best, most insightful grasp of their financial position, and you’d want that to be the case, that’s the mark of a great professional advisor.

Recently, BNZ hosted an innovation showcase, where 80 accountants from across Auckland joined a group of experts from across the bank for a morning of insights, connection, and innovation. The innovation showcased from across BNZ was specific to supporting accounting professionals in their work with business customers.

The accounting community play a key role in keeping us informed of the trends they are seeing in the market and the issues their clients are faced with. Rising to the top is, unsurprisingly, the ‘cash slow’ position so many businesses are embattled with. When outgoing costs are due ahead of customer payments, businesses are consistently finding themselves on the back foot.
Who is most impacted? Transport & Logistics, manufacturing, labour hire services, and wholesale trade are the businesses at the coal face of this issue. This is significant as they collectively contribute around 19% of New Zealand’s total GDP.

If more of these businesses had cash flow agility, that 19% of GDP could be significantly bigger. Here’s where the innovation comes in – BNZ CashFlow Plus. With BNZ CashFlow Plus, eligible businesses can borrow up to 80% of the value of an approved invoice after the product or service has been delivered, instantly releasing cash into the business. The invoices are the security, so there need not be a reliance on traditional forms, such as property.

With a solution like CashFlow Plus, suddenly, there’s instant cash flow agility, offering room for both operational mobility and growth in the business. This is what cash flow freedom can do. It’s also a fast, seamless integrated web-based process, so our early adopters are reporting administrative savings too.

For our accounting community friends, this is something of a game-changer, a third option to take to their customers to compare against the long-standing two; overdraft lending or borrowing against personal property (the family home). Both of those come with pain points of their own; overdraft lending can be expensive and borrowing against the house can be complicated proposition at the best of times, but it’s even less attractive in a market when the value may be declining.

As one professional pointed out on the day, “no other bank is doing this”. Finding a way is what we do, and it’s what accounting professionals do. Together with products like CashFlow Plus we can support New Zealand businesses to reach their true potential.

If you are a key professional advisor for businesses operating in the Transport & Logistics, manufacturing, labour hire services, or wholesale trade sectors, I warmly invite you to connect with myself or any members of the BNZ Trade & Working Capital team to find out more. Alternatively, you can visit us on: Invoice financing with CashFlow Plus – BNZ

This article is solely for information purposes. It’s not financial or other professional advice. For help, please contact BNZ or your professional adviser. No party, including BNZ, is liable for direct or indirect loss or damage resulting from the content of this article. Any opinions in this article are not necessarily shared by BNZ or anyone else.