Check three business days before your provider draws the funds, not before employees are paid — those are different dates and the draw is usually earlier. Compare the true cost of the run, which is gross wages plus employer taxes plus benefits plus anything withheld and remitted onward, against money you will genuinely have: the reconciled balance, less what is already committed, plus only the receipts you would actually bet on. The output should be a verdict rather than a number. If it is short, work collections first, then discretionary supplier payments, then owner pay, then credit. Never the tax deposit.
What this actually feels like
There is a particular kind of Tuesday where you open the bank account more often than you need to. The run is Friday, the balance is probably fine, and you are doing arithmetic in your head that you would rather not be doing.
Nothing about that is a cash problem yet. It is an information problem — you do not know, and the not knowing is occupying the part of your attention the business needs for something else.
What it costs to do by hand
Done properly from scratch it is twenty to thirty minutes per run: pull the funding report, check the reconciled balance, net off commitments, assess which receipts are real.
With a current cash forecast it collapses to a glance. Without one it is half an hour that is easy to skip in a busy fortnight — and the fortnights you skip it are the ones where overtime pushed the run higher than usual.
Payroll cash planning
The full check, the order to work the levers if you are short, and why the payroll tax deposit is the one thing that is never a lever.
Read the guide →Input, skill, output
- QuickBooks — Balance, commitments and receivables.
- PayPal — Incoming payments before the draw date.
- Mail — Where the chase drafts land for approval.
- Forecast cash — Can the wage run be met?
- Chase what is owed — Overdue invoices scored and drafted.
- Hold to send — Reminders wait for your approval.
- Cash verdict — Payroll covered, yes or no.
- Chase drafts — Written and waiting, if there is a shortfall.
- Collection priority — What to collect, and by when.
Who this is for
- You have employees and the payroll draw is your largest fixed outflow.
- Your customers pay on longer terms than you pay your people.
- You have checked the bank balance more than once in a payroll week.
If none of those describe you, this is probably not your first priority — and the rest of the library may point somewhere more useful.
Common questions
How far ahead should I check?
Three business days before the funds are drawn. Every useful lever — collections calls, supplier conversations, credit draws — needs a day or two to work.
Is the draw date the same as the pay date?
No, and confusing them is a common way to be short on a day you thought was safe. Providers typically draw one to several banking days earlier, and bank holidays move it earlier still.
What does a run actually cost?
More than gross wages — add employer taxes, benefits, and amounts withheld that you remit onward. Take the exact figure from your provider funding report rather than estimating.
What do I do first if it is short?
Call your largest overdue accounts and ask for payment this week. It is the fastest lever, costs nothing, and creates no future obligation.
Can I delay the payroll tax deposit?
No. It is money held in trust, penalties escalate quickly, and liability can attach to individuals personally. If you are even considering it, that is a call to your CPA, not a decision to make alone.
See it on your own books, once
The First Close is one real month of your books, closed properly and configured to your chart of accounts, delivered inside two weeks. Full reconciliation against every processor, every exception flagged with the transaction behind it, and the narrative written. $497, refundable if the packet is not delivered, and it credits in full toward the first month if you continue.
Get Your First Close — $497 See a sample packet