Finance and strategy · France and Switzerland

Can your business afford to hire or invest?

You see an opportunity to develop your business. Before committing, you want to understand the full cost, how long it will take to cover it and the cash that will remain available.

Discuss my business

A profitable decision can still be hard to fund initially

Salary costs begin before the new capacity reaches its full potential. Equipment may need to be paid for before it generates receipts. We distinguish expected contribution, payment timing and the ability to support a slower start.

Calculate the full commitment

Include employment costs, recruitment, training and equipment, or purchase, installation and operating costs. Distinguish expenses from cash payments.

Test a cautious scenario

Compare the expected start with slower sales or higher costs. Make volume, margin and collection assumptions explicit.

Set conditions for proceeding

Identify the order level, cash buffer and milestones needed before committing. Monitor these conditions after the decision.

Fictional example · no client results

Hiring costs may precede the contribution

Fictional example: a hire costs €6,000 per month including employment charges, plus €3,000 initially. If these costs are paid as incurred and no additional cash receipts offset them for three months, the extra funding need is €21,000. At a 40% contribution margin, covering the subsequent €6,000 monthly cost requires €15,000 of additional monthly sales.

Decision to consider: check that cash can absorb the initial period and that additional sales are credible. This threshold assumes a constant margin and excludes other new costs; it is not a hiring recommendation.

Illustrative amounts in euros. For a Swiss business, the analysis uses its management currency, payment schedule and specific assumptions.

Regular analysis that supports your decisions

We start with your data and the decision ahead. The scope and frequency of discussions are agreed before the engagement starts.

Understand your position

Accounting records, bank balances, invoices, commitments and sales assumptions: we reconcile the information and identify remaining uncertainties.

Compare your options

We explain variances, build relevant scenarios and identify the assumptions that change the decision.

Follow through on actions

Each agreed action has an owner and a deadline. Regular reviews compare forecasts with actual results to adjust subsequent decisions.

For business owners who want to act on their numbers

For owners of SMEs and startups in France and Switzerland with established operations, accessible data and decisions to prepare. The work complements your accountant or Swiss accounting adviser.

Bookkeeping and tax filings remain with your usual professionals. Financial management does not guarantee funding or increased profitability.

View a sample monthly report France · SMEs and startups French speaking Switzerland · SMEs and startups CFO service scope and pricing

What we review together each month

Ongoing support helps explain differences and choose the next actions. The numbers remain connected to a concrete decision.

Commitment: include total cost, handover, training and the time needed to reach capacity.
Cash: model a slower start and later collections before concluding that a hire is affordable.
Delegation: cost the transferred tasks without assuming every released hour generates revenue.

Fictional example illustrating our financial management method.

5. Can you hire before the receipts arrive?

Starting with month M’s €90,000 cash balance, we compare three paths. This fictional hire costs €6,000 a month, plus €6,000 of initial spending. These are assumed total costs, not a salary benchmark.

Hiring reduces closing cash in M+1 to €58,000. Before deciding, we check the lowest balance within the month, the buffer required by commitments and genuinely secured receipts. Three positive closing balances do not establish that hiring is affordable.

See the figures and assumptions

Explore your situation

Other decisions to prepare

Revenue is growing, but cash is falling?How can you improve business profitability?

Which decision is unclear today?

Describe your business, the difficulty and your next deadline. The initial conversation helps establish whether Mercova is suited to your situation.

Preparing for the first conversation

Your business, the decision on your mind and the information already available are enough to start the discussion. The initial conversation checks fit before defining annual support and its scope.