What UK Finance Teams Should Look For in 2027 – Daily Business

Cash flow management software brings bank, accounting and operational cash data into one place so finance teams can see liquidity, forecast movements and test decisions. For a UK mid-market company, the key question is whether it provides reliable data, a practical forecast and enough control to act early.

Start With Real-Time Cash Visibility

Open Banking and Multi-Bank Connectivity

The first test is connectivity. A finance team managing several accounts, lenders or entities should not have to download statements and combine spreadsheets manually. Look for open banking or other secure multi-bank connections, automatic transaction updates and clear controls over data access. This matters because a forecast is only as useful as its underlying data. Keep cleared cash separate from expected inflows and outflows, with balances visible across the group. Data quality should also be part of the assessment. Teams need confidence that balances and forecast assumptions are updated consistently when several people contribute.

Consolidated Multi-Entity and Multi-Currency Reporting

Growing companies need a group view without losing entity-level detail. Software should consolidate subsidiaries and accounts while allowing users to drill into individual entities. Multi-currency support is also important where balances, invoices or forecast items are held in different currencies. Exchange rates and currency effects should be visible, not hidden in a spreadsheet adjustment.

Make The Forecast A Working Tool

A rolling 13-week cash forecast is a practical benchmark because it focuses attention on the period where liquidity decisions become immediate. The system should update the forecast as actual transactions arrive, show variances and make it easy to assign assumptions to receipts, payroll, tax, suppliers, debt and other material flows. Scenario modelling is equally important. Finance leaders should be able to test what happens if a major customer pays late, a project is delayed, costs rise or borrowing changes. A useful system lets the team compare scenarios without overwriting the base forecast. The UK payment environment shows why timing matters. According to the Department for Business and Trade’s 2025 statistics, large UK businesses paid suppliers in an average of 32 days and 15% of invoices were paid late. A further 14% of invoice value was paid late. These figures cover reporting large businesses, not the whole UK economy.

Look Beyond Forecasting

Accounts Receivable Follow-Up

A cash flow platform should connect forecasting with action. AR features can flag overdue invoices, show expected collection dates and help finance teams prioritise follow-up. The aim is to support credit control, not replace it. Automation is becoming part of the wider finance technology conversation. Deloitte’s July 2026 UK CFO survey found that 93% of CFOs expected investment in digital technology and assets by UK businesses to rise over the following 12 months, while 73% had become more optimistic about AI improving business performance. For a buyer, that makes it worth examining what is genuinely automated rather than accepting an “AI” label. Another 2026 benchmark, based on 200 UK finance professionals, found that only 15% of organisations surveyed had fully automated accounts payable. Automation should remove specific manual tasks, not add another layer of administration.

ERP and Accounting Integration

Buyers comparing cash flow management software should check whether it pulls actuals and accounting information from the ERP system and, where appropriate, returns reconciled or categorised data. The goal is one dependable flow of information rather than parallel versions of the cash position. Reporting flexibility matters too. Finance teams may need a detailed operating view for treasury colleagues and a concise liquidity summary for the board. Agicap, for example, describes connected banking and accounting data as providing “a single source of truth.” Its published functionality includes bank and ERP connectivity, cash forecasting, consolidation and receivables management. Agicap is one example of the feature set buyers may encounter, but the same criteria should be applied to any shortlisted platform.

A Reusable Evaluation Checklist

Before signing a contract, finance teams can ask:

• Can it connect to required banks and update transactions automatically?
• Does it provide a rolling 13-week forecast with variance tracking?
• Can users model downside, upside and operational scenarios without changing the base plan?
• Can it consolidate entities and currencies while retaining entity-level detail?
• Does it support AR collection follow-up and expected payment timing?
• Does it integrate cleanly with the existing ERP or accounting platform?
• Are permissions, audit trails and data controls appropriate for the finance function?
• Can the team export or share management-ready reports without manual rebuilding?

The right fit depends on the company’s bank estate, entity structure, ERP, forecasting maturity and internal controls. A useful system should reduce reconciliation work while giving finance leaders a clearer view of what cash is doing now and what could happen next.