A business can generate impressive revenue, report healthy margins and still struggle to pay its bills. For financial and tax advisor Madhav Pangarkar, the problem often lies in what business owners overlook: the money they fail to retain, the payments they collect too late and the tax obligations they leave until the last minute.
A founder celebrates a profitable quarter, reviews the accounts and prepares to expand. Yet, when salaries, supplier invoices or tax payments fall due, the business finds itself short of cash. The apparent contradiction reveals a fundamental problem with how many companies measure success: they focus on what they earn without paying enough attention to what they keep.
Madhav advises micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and CEOs on financial planning, accounting and taxation. His approach centres on helping business owners understand their financial position, identify overlooked costs and make decisions that support sustainable growth.
When Healthy Margins Hide Financial Trouble
Madhav frequently encounters a familiar pattern: a founder is proud of a 25% margin, yet cash remains persistently tight. The accounts may appear perfectly fine, but the business continues to struggle with its immediate financial obligations.
The missing answers often lie in three connected areas: how long customers take to pay, when tax payments leave the business relative to incoming cash, and which clients remain genuinely profitable after discounts and unbilled work are considered.
A sale can generate a healthy margin on paper without putting money into the bank immediately. Meanwhile, a client who contributes substantial revenue may consume more time and resources than the business has accounted for. Tax obligations can create additional pressure when companies fail to plan for payments in advance.
These details can transform how a founder understands business performance. Looking at revenue and margins alone provides an incomplete picture; understanding when money arrives, where it goes and what remains available offers a more practical view of financial health.
Small financial leaks also accumulate. Unnecessary expenses, delayed collections, missed tax-planning opportunities and underpriced services can gradually weaken a company’s finances. Individually, each issue may seem manageable. Together, they can restrict investment, delay expansion and leave a business vulnerable to unexpected costs.
For Madhav, identifying these gaps is central to helping companies make better use of the money they already generate.
Revenue Is Not the Scoreboard
One belief Madhav says he has had to unlearn is the tendency to treat revenue as the ultimate measure of business success. Revenue is visible, easy to track and straightforward to celebrate. It does not, however, reveal how much a company retains, how quickly it collects payments or what it spends to generate those earnings.
The distinction matters when founders evaluate growth opportunities. A business may increase sales while accepting weaker margins, unfavourable payment terms or work that demands more resources than it justifies. The resulting revenue growth can disguise a deterioration in financial performance.
Financial discipline requires business owners to understand their numbers without having to be prompted. It also means separating personal finances from company funds, protecting cash reserves before pursuing expansion and maintaining a buffer for unexpected expenses.
Sometimes, the most financially sound decision is to decline new business. An opportunity that looks attractive in terms of revenue may not justify the resources, risks or delayed payments involved.
This approach challenges the assumption that every opportunity to grow should be pursued. Expansion matters, but its value depends on whether the business can support it without compromising its financial stability.
From Auditing to Advising
Madhav’s perspective has developed through a career spanning auditing, accounting, taxation and financial advisory. He began as an articled assistant at Jodh Joshi in 2010, followed by roles at JNSB & Associates and Gupta Sarda Bagadia & Co. He subsequently worked as an audit manager at A.S. Kulkarni & Associates before becoming a partner at Rahangdale & Associates in June 2022.
His responsibilities at Rahangdale & Associates include overseeing tax return preparation and filing, liaising with tax authorities, identifying tax-planning opportunities and representing the organisation during tax audits and negotiations.
The transition from auditing to advisory work changed the questions he asks about financial information.
As Madhav puts it, the focus has shifted from “is it accurate?” to “is it useful?”
Accurate accounts establish what has happened. Advisory work uses that information to help determine what should happen next. Whether a company should hire, expand, invest or conserve cash rarely comes with complete certainty. Business owners must often make decisions with limited information and within tight timeframes.
Madhav believes that “a good enough answer delivered timely beats a perfect one delivered after time.” His approach recognises that effective advice requires both analytical rigour and an understanding of when a decision must be made.
It also requires looking beyond the business’s financial statements. An owner’s appetite for risk, family responsibilities, succession plans and growth ambitions can influence financial decisions. Advice that ignores these considerations may be technically sound yet poorly suited to the person making the decision.
Moving into advisory work therefore brings a different level of accountability. The objective is no longer simply to report financial outcomes, but to help owners evaluate their options and understand the consequences of their choices.
Making Financial Clarity Part of Growth
For many MSMEs, financial planning competes with the immediate demands of serving customers, managing employees and winning new business. Accounting and tax compliance can become tasks to complete rather than tools for making strategic decisions.
Madhav’s work brings these responsibilities into a broader financial framework. His services cover financial planning, accounting and tax compliance, with an emphasis on identifying opportunities, addressing avoidable financial pressure and helping business owners make informed decisions.
Regular cash-flow reviews, reliable accounting records and advance tax planning can help founders identify potential problems before they become urgent. Understanding client profitability can also reveal whether a business is directing its resources towards the relationships and activities that deliver genuine value.
These practices do not eliminate uncertainty. They give business owners a clearer view of the risks they face and the resources available to manage them.
Ultimately, Madhav’s philosophy returns to a simple question: how much of what a business earns does it actually keep, and how reliably can it put that money to work?
For founders planning their next stage of growth, the answer may be more revealing than their latest revenue figures. Growth creates opportunities, but financial discipline determines how well a business can sustain them.
Follow Madhav Pangarkar