Accountants tell us that turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is king. This is so
true in a crisis and even more so when the world is in a major pandemic with no end in sight, with every country impacted and every single person’s life changed.
In my lifetime and in most people’s lifetime the world has never seen anything like it. The
closest we have got is 9/11 and the financial crisis of 2008. But already we can see the
impact is bigger both in terms of lives lost and economically.
Community pharmacy has had its most difficult time ever. However, at least we are still trading unlike many other professions and businesses.
I cannot tell you today what will happen in the future but one thing I do know is that those
who will survive will be the ones that understand “cash is king” and more importantly how to manage cashflows and predict several months in advance their individual cash positions.
Only when you know this can you start to make plans of what to do next. Whilst this is not easy and most certainly virtually all community pharmacies will not have the time to think about this faced with unprecedented demands during this crisis.
However, you will need to make the time quickly. If you do not, you face a certain financial cliff edge and you will have no way out. A cashflow tracker can be accessed via Innovate Pharma Services.
Sanjay Patel is Director and Management Consultant at Innovate Pharma Services.
