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16.6.2022 | Last updated: 19.2.2025

8 min read

Cash visibility: Benefits, challenges, strategies & tools

Nomentia
Nomentia

You should know this: waiting for end-of-day or weekly cash reports simply doesn’t cut it anymore. When it comes it comes to managing cash flow, forecasting, and making crucial decisions – you need real-ticash visime cash visibility. Whether you’re managing a single account or juggling multiple subsidiaries across the globe, having complete visibility into your cash positions isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential. If you’re still relying on outdated systems or manual processes, you’re not just falling behind — you're putting your business at risk. Let’s take a look at: 

What is cash visibility?

Cash visibility means knowing how much money your business has, where it is, and how it’s being used. Cash visibility is about seeing the full picture of your cash—across all bank accounts, currencies, or locations—in a way that’s clear and up-to-date. For example, imagine running a business with multiple accounts spread across different banks. Without cash visibility, you might not know exactly how much is available in each account or whether you’ll have enough to cover upcoming payments. Cash visibility helps you stay on top of these details.

Real-time vs. periodical cash visibility 

  • Real-time cash visibility provides you with live updates about your cash position. You can see exactly what’s in each account right now. For instance, if a payment goes through, your balances update immediately. 
  • Traditional cash reporting is based on periodic reports—daily, weekly, or monthly. It shows you past balances and transactions but doesn’t reflect changes happening in real time. If a large payment comes in today, you’ll only see it in tomorrow’s report. 

Cash visibility – who’s in charge? 

Cash visibility is a shared effort:  

  • Treasury manager oversees the organization's cash management, monitors cash flow, manages bank relationships, and forecasts cash needs. 
  • Chief Financial Officer (CFO) responsibilities include setting financial strategy, ensuring financial stability, and providing oversight on cash management practices. 
  • Head of Finance develops financial strategies and ensures that cash visibility is integrated into broader financial strategies and operations. 
  • Finance Director/Manager oversees budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting. 
  • Controller ensures that cash transactions are accurately recorded and reported, contributing to overall cash visibility.
  • Cash manager monitors daily cash positions, manages short-term investments, and ensures liquidity. The cash manager is directly responsible for maintaining real-time cash visibility and optimizing cash flow. 
  • Chief executive officer (CEO): Setting the overall strategic direction, ensuring financial health, and making high-level decisions. While not directly involved in day-to-day cash management, the CEO relies on accurate cash visibility to make informed strategic decisions. 

Benefits of cash visibility 

Achieving complete cash visibility offers numerous benefits. Here’s some: 

  1. Better decision-making: Real-time access to cash data allows for more informed and timely financial decisions about investments, expenses, and resource allocation. With a clear understanding of cash positions, organizations can be more agile and responsive to market changes. 
  2. Improved liquidity management: Better visibility into cash positions lowers the likelihood of cash shortages and makes it easier to take advantage of investment opportunities. 
  3. Accurate cash flow forecasting: Cash visibility is to accurate, reliable forecasting, planning for future needs and working capital management. 
  4. Reduced financial risk: Visibility to potential cash flow issues allows proactive risk management and minimizes the likelihood of financial crises. 
  5. Better stakeholder communication: Clear and accurate cash visibility improves transparency with stakeholders and builds trust and confidence in the organization’s financial health. 
  6. Cost savings: Cash visibility plays an important role in reducing the need for short-term borrowing and optimizing interest income. 
  7. Enhanced credit management: Better visibility into cash flow helps in managing credit terms with suppliers and customers and improves relationships with business partners and optimizes cash conversion cycles. 

Key challenges of cash visibility 

Achieving cash visibility can be challenging due to various factors. Things to look out for include: 

  1. Data fragmentation: Cash data is often spread across multiple systems, departments, accounts, banks, subsidiaries, and locations. This makes getting a unified view difficult and result in poor forecasts. 
  2. Manual processes: Collecting and consolidating cash data using spreadsheets is time-consuming and prone to error. These delays and inaccuracies hinder responsiveness. 
  3. Lack of integration: Financial systems and tools that are not integrated create silos of information and result in a fragmented view of cash positions. 
  4. Poor forecasting: Inaccurate or infrequent cash flow forecasting can lead to unexpected cash shortages or surpluses. 
  5. Complex cash flows: Challenges in timing, multi-currency management, and intercompany transactions increase the difficulty of creating complete cash visibility. 

How to improve cash visibility  

Improving cash flow visibility is essential for effective financial management. To improve cash flow visibility:

  1. Implement cash management tools and system: Set up integrated cash management software that gives you a clear, real-time view of your cash—what’s coming in, what’s going out, and how much is left. The system should also provide detailed cash flow reports so you can make better decisions based on facts, not guesswork. 
  2. Centralize cash management: Consolidate your cash processes across all departments and locations. By doing this, you’ll avoid duplication and get one clear view of your cash. Use centralized treasury systems to streamline everything from account tracking to payment processing. 
  3. Regularly forecast cash flows: Look ahead and plan for future cash needs. Use historical trends and market data to predict when you’ll have surpluses or shortages. Regular forecasts ensure you’re not caught off guard by big payments or unexpected slowdowns. 
  4. Automate accounts payable and receivable: Manual processes like invoicing, payments, and account reconciliations take time and can lead to errors. Automate these tasks to speed things up and ensure accuracy. This also reduces delays in collecting customer payments and paying suppliers. 
  5. Optimize working capital management: Managing cash flow isn’t just about cutting costs, but also about freeing up cash that’s tied up in inventory or unpaid invoices. Monitor your inventory levels carefully, negotiate better payment terms with suppliers, and follow up on late payments to improve cash flow. 
  6. Improve communication and collaboration: Cash management isn’t just a finance team issue—it involves everyone. Ensure that finance, operations, and other departments regularly share updates about cash needs and status. Hold routine meetings to review cash flow reports and tackle potential issues as a team. 

Best cash visibility tools and technologies 

Let’s take a look at different tools to improve cash visibility.

Cash visibility tool / technology Cash visibility improved Cash visibility challenge Best use cases
Treasury management system (TMS) Provides real-time visibility into global cash positions, automates cash flow forecasting, and centralizes data from multiple banks and accounts.  High costs; difficult to customize, implement and maintain; requires training; slow updates; poor integration; reliance on consultants; monolithic design; long onboarding process.  Large corporations with complex cash management needs, multinational companies, organizations with multiple bank accounts and currencies. 
Cash management system Consolidates accounts to provide near real-time cash balances, automates tracking of inflows and outflows, and simplifies reconciliation processes.  Limited scalability for growing businesses; may lack advanced features like forecasting; challenges integrating with other systems.  Small to medium-sized businesses seeking simpler tools for day-to-day cash visibility improvements.
Bank connectivity solutions Offers real-time updates on cash positions by directly linking to banks, enabling live tracking of transactions and balances.  Limited by connected banks’ capabilities; requires secure implementation; integration with existing systems can be challenging.  Businesses needing direct and seamless connections to multiple banks for real-time updates. 
Payment hub solutions Centralizes all payment processes, ensuring consistent visibility over outgoing cash and reducing delays caused by manual workflows.  Can be burdensome to set up; complex integration with legacy systems; overkill for businesses with lower payment volumes.  Multinational companies or businesses with large payment volumes needing a centralized platform to track and manage payments. 
Liquidity management solutions Improves visibility into cash reserves, aligns inflows, and outflows, and provides insights into fund allocation and liquidity risks.  Requires detailed data for accuracy; high implementation costs; complexity may deter smaller businesses.  Companies with significant cash reserves or complex liquidity needs, businesses prioritizing precise control over their short-term financial health. 
Enterprise resource planning systems Improves visibility by integrating financial data across departments, consolidating cash flow reporting, and enhancing forecasting accuracy.  High costs; lengthy deployment; fragmented visibility if not implemented business-wide; complexity makes it less user-friendly for cash-specific purposes.  Medium to large enterprises looking for a comprehensive solution to manage all business functions, including financial visibility. 
Cash flow forecasting software Enhances visibility by projecting future cash inflows and outflows, highlighting potential shortages or surpluses in advance.  Relies on accurate historical data; output depends on input accuracy; requires expertise to interpret and use effectively.  Businesses of all sizes seeking improved forecasting and planning to avoid cash flow surprises. 
Accounts payable / receivable automation tools Improves visibility into pending and collected payments, streamlines invoicing, and accelerates cash collections to maintain up-to-date balances.  Initial setup is complex; integration with existing systems can be challenging; not all tools offer a unified view of accounts receivable and payable simultaneously.  Organizations with high transaction volumes, businesses aiming to improve working capital visibility and reduce errors in payment processing. 
In-house banking solution Provides visibility into internal cash flow between subsidiaries, reduces external dependencies, and gives a clear overview of group cash positions.  High setup costs; suitable primarily for large organizations; requires well-defined processes and policies to function effectively.  Corporate groups with multiple entities and significant intercompany transactions. 
Bank account management (BAM) solutions Centralizes account information, providing clear visibility into account structures, balances, and transaction histories across all banks.  Maintaining up-to-date information can be labor-intensive; costly for businesses with fewer accounts or less complex banking structures.  Large organizations managing numerous bank accounts or operating in multiple regions. 
Data analytics and business intelligence (BI) tools Improves visibility by identifying cash flow trends, anomalies, and potential risks, allowing for data-driven decisions and strategic planning.  Requires accurate and consistent data inputs; needs skilled personnel to analyze and interpret insights; implementation costs may be a barrier for smaller companies.  Companies aiming to use advanced analytics for long-term financial planning and businesses looking to optimize cash flow visibility through data-driven approaches. 

How to choose the right cash visibility tool for you? 

  1. Assess your business needs: Start by clearly identifying the pain points you face with cash visibility. Are you struggling with forecasting, tracking cash flow across multiple accounts, or dealing with errors due to manual data entry? For instance, if you have a global operation with various currencies and accounts, real-time visibility across all regions might be a priority. Define specific objectives for the technology, such as reducing manual errors or gaining better forecasting accuracy. Be clear about how the solution will address these needs. 
  2. Evaluate your current systems: Review your existing tools to understand their strengths and limitations. Are they providing adequate cash visibility, or do they require significant manual input? This will help you identify gaps that the new technology needs to fill. For example, if your current ERP system offers basic financial management but lacks detailed cash flow insights, you might consider adding cash flow forecasting software for improved accuracy. Consider how the new solution will integrate with existing systems like ERPs, payment hubs, or accounting platforms. If integration is difficult, it could delay the implementation and affect the user experience. 
  3. Determine your budget: Estimate the total cost of ownership for the new technology, factoring in implementation costs, training, and ongoing maintenance. This will help you make a realistic decision within your budget constraints. If you're a mid-sized business with limited resources, you might opt for a cash management system over a more expensive TMS due to its lower cost and sufficient capabilities. Next, calculate the potential return on investment (ROI). Will the solution reduce errors and save time, or will it help in improving working capital management? Assess whether the technology will justify its cost over time. 
  4. Research available technologies: Conduct thorough market research to identify solutions that match your business’s needs. A business focusing on improving cash flow accuracy might research cash flow forecasting software to gain clearer projections of cash needs. Alternatively, a company looking to centralize bank data might look into bank connectivity solutions. Then, compare different vendors based on pricing, features, and customer reviews. Look for case studies or testimonials that reflect how the solution has worked for similar businesses. 
  5. Consider scalability and flexibility: Ensure the solution can grow with your business. For instance, if you anticipate expanding internationally or adding new subsidiaries, choose a technology that can scale and adapt to new complexities. If your company is planning to expand into new regions, a TMS that can handle multiple currencies and diverse cash management processes might be necessary. Check whether the technology is customizable to your unique business processes. A one-size-fits-all solution may not offer the flexibility needed for specialized requirements. 
  6. Evaluate security and compliance: Data security is crucial when dealing with financial information. Verify that the solution adheres to the latest industry standards for security, including encryption and user access controls. Also, confirm that the system complies with any relevant regulations in your industry.  
  7. Request demos and trials: Request a hands-on demo or trial version to evaluate the software in real-world scenarios. This helps you assess whether the solution can address your needs as expected. If you’re considering a TMS, request a demo to see how it integrates with your current banking systems and whether it provides the real-time visibility you need. 
  8. Assess vendor support and training: Evaluate the level of support offered by the vendor, including response times and availability of customer service. A lack of adequate support could lead to downtime when issues arise. Make sure the vendor offers comprehensive training programs to get your team up to speed quickly. A solution that’s easy to use out of the box can save time and reduce the need for extensive training. 
  9. Make an informed decision: Involve key stakeholders in the decision-making process to ensure that everyone is aligned on the objectives and expectations. Finance teams, IT, and other relevant departments should provide input on the choice of solution. 
  10. Plan for implementation: Once the decision is made, develop a detailed implementation plan with clear timelines, responsibilities, and milestones. Ensure that everyone involved knows their role in the process. 

Complete cash visibility – with Nomentia

Complete cash visibility is essential for businesses looking to stay on top of their finances. The right cash visibility tools help you to effectively to keep track of cash flow, make informed decisions, and manage your finances better. The right solution gives you clear, real-time insights into your cash, helping you stay ahead of potential issues before they arise. Don’t let outdated methods hold you back. Get in touch to learn more about Nomentia’s cash visibility solutions. 

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