Economic volatility, sector disruption, or internal business challenges can force a finance team from 'normal operations' to 'crisis mode' in days. Fathom's guide on reporting under pressure covers the financial planning and communication frameworks that help organisations navigate leaner months, protect cash, and make rational decisions when the pressure is highest.
Fathom's guide on business-unusual reporting is one of the rare finance resources that addresses the emotional and communication dimensions of financial stress alongside the technical ones. The observation that finance teams under pressure either over-communicate (overwhelming stakeholders with data) or under-communicate (hoping the situation resolves itself) rings true for anyone who has managed through a business downturn — and the structured communication cadence the guide prescribes addresses both failure modes.
The Three Scenarios Every Team Should Have Ready
The guide's core recommendation: don't build downside scenarios when the downturn arrives. Build them in advance, during good times, so the analytical work is done before the emotional pressure of a crisis distorts judgment. Fathom recommends three ready-to-deploy scenarios: a moderate stress scenario (revenue -15%), a severe stress scenario (revenue -30%), and a recovery scenario (mapping the path back to normalised operations).
- Moderate stress: -15% revenue, standard cost response — the most common planning scenario
- Severe stress: -30% revenue, aggressive cost response, potential covenant risk
- Recovery: assumptions about timing and trajectory of return to normalised operations
- Each scenario should be pre-modelled through to P&L, cash flow, and balance sheet
Cash: The Only Metric That Matters in a Crisis
When business is unusual, cash management becomes the central financial discipline. The guide walks through building a 13-week rolling cash forecast under stress conditions — identifying which cash inflows are secure (contracted recurring revenue), which are at risk (new sales, one-off projects), and which cash outflows are truly fixed vs. discretionary. The goal: maximum visibility on the minimum cash balance and when it will be hit.
Cost Response: Fixed vs. Variable vs. Discretionary
The guide provides a cost classification framework specifically designed for stress scenarios. Every cost line is classified as: truly fixed (legal obligations — lease, debt service), operationally fixed (difficult but possible to adjust — headcount), variable (moves with revenue — COGS, commissions), or discretionary (no obligation and immediate control — travel, marketing, software). The discretionary costs can be cut in days; the fixed costs in months or not at all.
Communicating Under Pressure
Finance teams under stress often communicate either too much (overwhelming stakeholders with data) or too little (hoping the situation resolves before they need to explain it). The guide advocates a structured weekly communication cadence during stress periods: a one-page financial dashboard updated weekly, a narrative that explains what changed vs. last week, and a clear statement of the key decisions the business needs to make to preserve financial health.
Build your downside scenarios in good times — because in bad times, your judgment will be impaired by anxiety, your data will be noisier, and you'll have far less time to build models thoughtfully.— Fathom HQ (Reporting When It's Not Business as Usual, 2025)
Practical Implementation Checklist
- Build your three stress scenarios now, during normal operations — document the moderate stress (-15% revenue), severe stress (-30%), and recovery scenarios through to P&L, cash flow, and balance sheet before you need them
- Conduct a cost classification exercise this quarter: categorise every cost line as fixed (legal obligation), operationally fixed (adjustable in 3–6 months), variable (moves with revenue), or discretionary (immediate control) — this is the playbook for stress cost responses
- Establish your minimum cash threshold now: define the minimum cash balance below which you would accelerate cost actions or pursue financing — having this pre-defined prevents panic decision-making when the threshold is approached
- Set up the 13-week cash forecast as a standing process now — the worst time to build a new forecasting process is when you urgently need the insights it provides
- Draft a crisis communication template for your one-page weekly dashboard: what metrics does it show, what narrative structure does it follow, who receives it? Having this ready reduces the communication overhead during a period when every hour matters
- Identify your 'decision triggers' for each stress scenario: at what cash balance do you pause hiring? At what revenue level do you renegotiate supplier terms? Pre-agreed triggers prevent leadership paralysis when conditions deteriorate
Fathom's business-unusual reporting guide is most valuable when read before a crisis — because the scenarios, cash forecasts, and communication protocols it prescribes are only effective when built in calm conditions and deployed in stressed ones. The finance teams that survive business disruptions best are those who built their crisis management infrastructure before they needed it.
Key Takeaways
Build downside scenarios before the crisis — not during it, when judgment is impaired
In stress, the 13-week cash forecast becomes the primary financial management tool
Classify every cost as fixed, operationally fixed, variable, or discretionary — cut in that order
Weekly communication cadence: one-page dashboard, what-changed narrative, key decisions required
Three pre-built scenarios: moderate stress (-15%), severe stress (-30%), recovery path
Pre-define decision triggers for each stress scenario — leadership paralysis is prevented by pre-agreed protocols
Finance teams under stress fail by either over-communicating (data overwhelm) or under-communicating (hoping for self-resolution) — a structured weekly cadence prevents both
