A comprehensive model for planning and controlling contractor cash-flow

Nowadays, because of the rapidly changing operational environment characteristic to organisations, there is a need for short project implementation period on the client side. At the same time, contractors should face a very competitive market situation. On the contractor side, in this way, there is a need for such a competitive contract price that could cover not only the cost of implementing the project work but those costs as well that are associated with financing the negative cash-flow balance period of the project work. Simultaneously, the contract price should cover some margin for contractors, while the amount of this margin is determined (beside the contract price and the actual cost) by the contractors’ actual cash-flow balance to completion. Realising and considering this need, a comprehensive model has been developed by the author to plan and control contractor cash-flow associated with the project work. This model also enables contractors to elaborate such a bid price that satisfies the above mentioned needs while it forecasts the likely margin earned by the contractor. The copyrighted model allows planning and controlling contractor cash-flow in activity/time unit manner, and also in summarised forms, considering the entire project implementation process from the outset of the work till a specified reporting date. The term ‘contractor’ in this text implies all those project-based organisations that implement project work for project client organisations.