How commercial finance brokers can help clients optimise cash flow in 2026
Australian businesses face rising costs, tighter compliance and ongoing uncertainty in 2026, making cash flow management critical. For commercial finance brokers, this creates an opportunity to move beyond lending and deliver strategic advice. By leveraging working capital solutions and partnerships like Octet, brokers can help clients structure and optimise cash flow, while unlocking stronger outcomes and more consistent revenue opportunities.
- Cash flow pressure is intensifying due to higher rates, compliance changes and global uncertainty
- Brokers are becoming critical advisers as SMEs navigate a more complex lending landscape
- Payday Super will structurally change cash flow timing for many businesses
- Working capital finance is essential to unlock liquidity and manage timing gaps
- Partnering with specialists like Octet enables faster funding, stronger client outcomes and new revenue streams
Australian businesses have entered 2026 under sustained pressure. The RBA cash rate remains elevated at 4.10% (as at May 2026), while the ATO has increased its focus on tax debt, payment discipline and super compliance.
At the same time, global uncertainty, cost inflation and uneven demand continue to squeeze margins.
Layered on top of this is increased scrutiny across the lending sector. Following ASIC’s record $240 million penalty against ANZ, enforcement activity has accelerated, prompting many businesses to reassess where and how they access funding.
The result is a more complex lending environment — and a greater reliance on brokers to help navigate it.
“Working capital finance is often the last conversation brokers have with a client, when it really should be one of the first. By the time a business is struggling with cash flow, the options narrow and urgency can lead to poor decisions. It’s far more effective to have that conversation early.”
Sonja PfitzDirector, Pfitz Financial & Business Solutions
A higher-for-longer rate environment is continuing to impact business profitability. Even small timing gaps in receivables and payables are now more acute.
Broker focus: Structure funding around cash flow, not just price. Flexibility and alignment to the client’s operating cycle are critical.
ATO enforcement and regulatory changes are accelerating cash outflows and reducing flexibility. The most significant shift is Payday Super, which comes into effect from 1 July 2026.
“Currently, quarterly super payments give businesses a natural float. From 1 July 2026, that buffer disappears,” explains Sonja Pfitz of Pfitz Financial. “Super moves with payroll, and for a business running tight working capital, that's not a minor adjustment; it's a structural shift in how cash moves through the business every single fortnight.”
Broker focus: Ensure clients have sufficient liquidity and planning in place to meet tax and super obligations without disruption.
Rising businesses tax debt is now a material issue, with flow-on impacts for credit profiles and funding options.
Broker focus: Bring tax obligations into cash flow discussions early and position funding as a way to stay ahead of liabilities, not react to them.
Many businesses remain asset-rich but cash-poor, with capital locked in receivables, inventory and extended supplier cycles.
Broker focus: Identify where cash is trapped and introduce solutions that unlock liquidity without increasing long-term debt.
Importers and exporters are facing ongoing FX volatility, shifting tariffs and longer lead times.
Broker focus: Help clients manage the timing mismatch between paying suppliers and receiving revenue, particularly across borders.
With banks constrained by capital requirements and risk settings, non-bank lenders are gaining share. Businesses are increasingly open to alternative funding sources that better reflect how they operate.
Broker focus: Introduce clients to non-bank solutions that offer speed, flexibility and fit-for-purpose structures.
Payday Super represents one of the most significant changes to business cash flow in recent years.
“I've seen how fast a business's cash flow can deteriorate when employment costs surge, and Payday Super is essentially locking in a new baseline with no room to defer,” says Sonja.
For many SMEs, the loss of the quarterly super “float” will require a fundamental rethink of liquidity and funding structures.
“That might be a receivables finance facility to accelerate cash flow, a trade finance line to ease inventory costs, or simply restructuring existing facilities so repayments align with the new payroll cycle,” points out Sonja. “There's no one-size-fits-all answer – it depends on the business and its trading position.”
In this environment, transactional deal placement is no longer enough.
Clients need help understanding how cash flows through their business — and how to structure funding around it.
“My role is not just placing finance but helping clients understand the financial architecture of their business well enough to anticipate these shifts,” says Sonja. “Working capital solutions are a tool, but the real value is in building the plan around them.”
This means helping clients to:
- align funding to their cash conversion cycle
- unlock working capital tied up in operations
- build buffers for tax, payroll and compliance
- act quickly on growth opportunities
- diversify funding beyond traditional bank lending
Working capital finance is no longer a niche product - it is becoming central to how businesses manage liquidity.
It enables clients to:
- bridge the gap between paying suppliers and receiving customer payments
- fund inventory and trade cycles without draining cash reserves
- meet tax and compliance obligations on time
- manage volatility in costs, currency and supply chains
- act quickly when growth opportunities arise
For brokers, this creates an opportunity to deliver more strategic advice and deepen client relationships.
Cash flow is now the central issue for Australian businesses.
Brokers who combine commercial insight, flexible funding solutions and speed to execution will be best positioned to win and retain clients.
With the right partner, you can go beyond sourcing finance to delivering meaningful outcomes — while being rewarded for the role you play.
Octet works alongside brokers to structure tailored working capital solutions across trade, debtor and supply chain finance. With a streamlined application and approval process, brokers can access funds faster for their clients when it matters most. Octet’s proprietary platform also helps businesses unlock working capital across their cash flow cycle, enabling them to buy, sell and get paid more efficiently.
Through the Octet Referral Partner Program, brokers can:
- expand their offering with specialist working capital solutions
- earn competitive upfront and ongoing commissions
- access airline rewards points on eligible settled deals
- leverage dedicated support to identify and structure the right solutions
Register for the Octet Referral Partner Program and help your clients move forward with confidence.
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Disclaimer: The above article content and comments are our views and should not be construed as advice. You should act using your own information and judgment. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions and estimates constitute the author’s own judgment as at the date of publication and are subject to change without notice.