Flow of cash within my business

It is something of a blessing and a curse that all my alts are in the same corp (Ironforge Commerce Guild) - which only consists of my alts.

(the Corp name is a nod to the last game i played, World of Warcraft).

The blessing is that a corp is a great place to centralise my ISK and contracts - any of my alts can access that ISK and any of my alts can issue Courier Contracts to Push Industries.  It saves me forever transferring ISK from one alt to another to cover costs of buying and hauling contracts.

The curse is that my alts can not be a member of any other Corp.

Anyway, the point of this post is just to detail how the ISK flows within my business (in other words, how i have organised myself).

Very broadly, i divide my alts between those that Sell (gather ISK) and those that spend via Buying in Jita, Manufacturing or Planetary Interaction (spend ISK).

In the diagram below shows the flows of ISK and Items in by business - the ISK gathers are at the bottom, the ISK spenders are at the top.

My business starts and ends at the Corporation.  All ISK flows into it, and all ISK flows out of it.  Bought Items, Manufactured Items and Planetary Interaction Finished Goods end up in its hanger waiting to be couriered by Push Industries to my alt sellers in the Trade Hubs.  ISK made by the seller alts in the Trade Hubs flows to the Corporation.  Anything that can be done in the name of the Corporation, other than placing Sell orders, is done so.  No ISK flows from one alt to another.  The Corporation is the middle man in all flows of items and ISK.

To follow the flow of ISK in my business it is best to start with the Corporation and then work down first, and then up.

The items flow to the sellers in the Trade Hubs:

My Corporation Buys all the items in Jita / or receives all manufactured items from my Lonetrek manufacturing efforts / or receives all the Planetary Interaction finished goods.  The Corporation then contracts with Push Industries to haul those items to my Trade Hub sellers in Dodixie / Amarr / Hek / Rens (i also sell items in Jita).

The Trade Hub Sellers post the items for sale:

And hence the only ISK the alts in the Trade Hubs pay are the broker fees and the sales tax.  Otherwise, they are item sellers and ISK gatherers.

The Trade Hub Sellers then transfer the ISK back to the Corporation:

As the Trade Hub sellers in Dodixie / Amarr / Hek / Rens sell the items and gather the ISK, it is then transferred to the Corporation.  The beauty of this is that transferred ISK is available to all Alts no matter their location (in distinct contrast to physical items).  That is what makes this all work.  If i had to physically transfer the ISK (or pay a fee) then that would be a game changer.

. . . . . and then moving to the upper half of the diagram:

The Corporation then Spends the ISK to run the business:

The Corporation buys all the items in Jita that are to be sold in the Trade Hubs, buys all the raw materials in Jita that are used in the manufacturing in Lonetrek and buys all the Planetary Interaction raw materials that are used on my factory planets.  These items are bought via alts in Jita - but they use the Corporation ISK directly.

Raw Materials are hauled by me to Lonetrek to be manufactured:

I haul the raw materials to Lonetrek to be manufactured and then i haul the Finished Goods back to Jita.  They are then contracted to the Corporation and so end up in its Hanger to be contracted to Push Industries to haul onwards.

PI raw materials are hauled by me to the Factory Planets to be processed:

I haul the raw materials to my Factory Planets to be processed and then i haul the Finished Goods back to Jita.  They are then contracted to the Corporation and so end up in its Hanger to be contracted to Push Industries to haul onwards.

The Corporation then Contracts to Push Industries to ship all items to the Trade Hub Sellers:

All items bought in Jita and manufactured Items and Planetary Interaction Finished Goods are hauled to the Trade Hub sellers in Dodixie / Amarr / Hek / Rens by Push Industries.  Using Rush Jobs.

. . . . . and so the cycle of ISK gathering starts and goes on.

Effectively, my Corporation acts like a Bank and Distribution Warehouse, and the glue that keeps the flow going is Push Industries.