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5 minutes with our finance manager, Jocelyn Cunningham

Jocelyn does the number-crunching for Tasbuilt, let's find out a bit more...

Posted On

  • May 26, 2019

Tell us a little bit about yourself...

I guess I can be called the EFB (End of Family Brat)..

I’m the youngest of five, and some of my earliest memories are wandering around building sites hand in hand with dad amongst the builder’s mess and plaster dust…. so I guess building is in the blood...

I have been with Tasbuilt almost from day one, back in 2003…taking on a finance role that has continued to this day..

What motivates you?

I have a determined mind-set and am target driven – I love hitting my KPI’s!

What hurdles and obstacles have you overcome?

I’ve had some big obstacles in life, particularly in my early years but I’m sure these have given me a level of grit and determination that I wouldn’t have otherwise, so I am grateful for them.

From a business perspective, I have seen Tasbuilt through some tough times along with some good times..

Family businesses are a great thing, but you feel a sense of obligation and responsibility that means you carry your share when the chips are down...

Where do you see Tasbuilt in five year’s time?

Tasbuilt this year has gone from strength to strength, and with a continuing strong economy and a government favourable to business enterprise, I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon!!

I see Tasbuilt having a factory and display home facility in the South of the state within 5 years, sending modules to the mainland and to be filling out our vision fully –

“To be Australia’s leading and most respected modular builder and employer of choice”

Walk us through the basics of a Cash Flow Forecast

I run a Cash Flow Forecast at Tasbuilt that is monitored daily and is one of the best administration tools we use in the business (well, that’s my opinion!!)

This runs for in thirteen-week blocks, and shows all in-comings (customer payment installments, interest earned, rebates etc) and all outgoings (creditor payments, wages, drawings, direct debits, transfers to savings accounts etc). This is then reconciled with our main trading account on a daily basis….

I think this simple excel document would benefit every business on the planet, and I love sharing and explaining it to like-minded finance buffs!!

Is it possible for a company to have positive cash flow but still be in serious financial trouble?

Yes, absolutely – you can have a profitable business and still fail. In fact, the number one reason for business failure is under-capitalisation – running out of cash. ...

Most businesses that have cash flow problems do so because they fail to look at their financial statements until problems become too big to handle. A company making a profit can have a negative cash flow for many reasons…. because of the lag time sending out products, when the customer pays etc etc…

That’s why a cutting-edge Cash Flow Forecast is imperative!!

You are a problem solver, so tell us – why are manholes round and pizza boxes square?

Ha ha…. great question, Tasbuilt!!

Let’s start with the manhole question – I think manholes are round because most men are round and not square… 😊 and also a round manhole cover cannot fall through its circular opening, whereas a square manhole cover could fall in if it were inserted diagonally ..

And..

I think pizza boxes are square because they must be much easier to store square than round???!!

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