13-Week Cash Flow Forecast

Profit does not pay salaries and rent: cash does. This workbook gives you a rolling 13-week view of the cash you expect to collect and pay, so you can see a shortfall weeks before it arrives. You enter expected cash in and cash out by week. The workbook calculates the opening and closing balance for each week, compares it with the minimum buffer you choose, flags any week that falls short and draws a chart. A row for actual closing cash lets you compare forecast with reality and learn where your estimates are weak.

What is inside:

• A Forecast sheet with cash-in rows (collections, cash sales, deposits, loans and capital, other) and cash-out rows (suppliers, salaries, rent, utilities, VAT payment, loan repayments, insurance and licences, marketing, owner drawings, other)
• A minimum cash buffer setting and a summary: lowest closing cash, the week it happens, first week below the buffer, and closing cash at week 13
• A chart of closing cash against the buffer
• An Assumptions Log sheet to write down how each figure was estimated
• A Worked Example in which cash goes below the buffer in week 12 and is overdrawn in week 13
• Instructions sheet and README

Who it is for: owner-managed businesses, contractors, shops and service firms that want a simple weekly cash view without accounting software.

What it is not: it is a cash forecast, not a profit forecast, and it does not connect to your bank. Use payment dates, not invoice dates, and enter VAT and tax in the week you expect to pay. It cannot make your estimates accurate: be honest about how fast customers really pay. Check with your accountant for tax payment timing.

Requirements: Microsoft Excel 2016 or later, Google Sheets or LibreOffice Calc.