Cash Flow Forecast Planner
Plan 13 weeks or 12 months of cash in and out and see where the balance goes thin.
Cash in and out, with the running balance
- Cash in
- Cash out
- Closing cash
- Minimum
Positive bars are receipts for the period, negative bars are payments; the line is the closing balance that period. Hover or tap a period for the full figures.
Period by period
| Period | Opening | In | Out | Net | Closing | Status |
|---|
How this was calculated
Classification follows the direct method of IAS 7 Statement of Cash Flows.
Results are estimates for general information and planning, not financial advice. Banks and institutions may calculate differently (rounding, fees, rate changes). Confirm figures with your lender or a qualified adviser before deciding.
About the Cash Flow Forecast Planner
A direct-method cash-flow forecast: list the money that comes in and the money that goes out — recurring or one-off — on the day each movement actually happens, and read the opening and closing balance of every week or month, with alerts when the balance falls below your minimum or below zero. Receipts, payments and the net cash flow are grouped by activity (operating, investing, financing), as IAS 7 asks.
Two horizons: 13 weeks, the short-run look treasurers keep for operational cash, and 12 months, for a one-year plan. Everything is worked out in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Download the plan as a CSV any time and re-import it to continue.
How to use it
- Choose the horizon (13 weeks or 12 months) and the start day (weeks) or start month (months), and type the opening bank balance.
- For each item, enter the amount, choose Cash in or Cash out, the activity, how it repeats (once, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, yearly), the first date and, if it repeats, an optional end date.
- Set days until the cash moves to the collection lag (customers) or the supplier’s terms (suppliers): a sale invoiced today and collected 30 days later falls in the week its cash arrives.
- Optional: set a minimum balance; weeks or months that close below it are highlighted and the first one is called out at the top.
- Paste or import a CSV under Paste or import a plan, read the chart and the table, then Copy summary or Download CSV.
Examples
Opening 25,000 · minimum 15,000 · credit sales 18,000 a month on 30 days, card sales 2,500 a week on 2 days, debtors 16,000, supplier purchases 6,000 a month on 30 days, salaries 14,000, rent 3,500, tax 4,000 a quarter, new equipment 12,000, loan 1,200 a month
Weekly closing: 24,000 · 42,500 · 38,300 · 26,800 · 37,800 · 36,300 · 25,600 · 14,100 · 31,100 · 27,600 · 28,900 · … Lowest 14,100 in week 8 — below the 15,000 minimum Investing −12,000 (the equipment) · financing −3,600 (three loan repayments)
The example is dated from the day you open it, so the last weeks and the operating total depend on the lengths of the months after the start date: the third monthly collection lands in week 13 after two short months and just outside the window after two long ones. That is the point of a 13-week forecast — one day of slippage moves a receipt into another week.
A rent payment on 31 January, monthly, 12 months
31 Jan, 28 (or 29) Feb, 31 Mar, 30 Apr, 31 May, 30 Jun, 31 Jul, 31 Aug, 30 Sep, 31 Oct, 30 Nov, 31 Dec
The day of the month is clamped to the length of each month, as a bank mandate would do.
Credit sales 18,000 invoiced on 5 Oct, 5 Nov and 5 Dec; collected 30 days later
Cash on 4 Nov (week 5) and 5 Dec (week 9). The 5 Jan collection falls after the 13-week window and is listed as “later”.
Common uses
- Spot the week your payroll runs ahead of your receipts and plan a drawdown or an invoice push.
- Share a 13-week forecast with a lender or an investor as a CSV, with every row visible.
- Compare two scenarios: load the same plan twice and change the collection lag or a tax payment.
- Keep a rolling plan: at the end of each week export the CSV, remove the last week and add a new one next time.
How the planner reads your rows
Each row has a first date and, when it repeats, a last date. The planner then lists every date between them (keeping the day of the month, clamped to short months, so a rent payment on the 31st still falls on 30 April), adds the collection lag or supplier terms, and lands the cash in the week or month whose window it falls in. Days before the forecast and after the forecast’s last day are ignored, but the planner tells you how many fell on either side so you can check your dates. Rows typed in the past are useful: they are read as receipts you have already invoiced and payments you have already received a bill for, so they land on the day their cash really moves — the week the customer actually pays.
By activity, as IAS 7 asks
The direct method lists cash receipts from customers and cash payments to suppliers and employees without a reconciliation to profit. IAS 7 classifies cash flows as operating (the main revenue-producing activities), investing (capital expenditure, buying and selling long-term assets) and financing (debt and equity, repayments and dividends). The planner shows the net cash from each activity for the whole period, so you can read the forecast the way a lender or an auditor does.
The minimum balance and overdrafts
Set a minimum you want the balance to stay above (a covenant with the bank, an insurance deposit, a buffer for payroll) and the planner marks every week or month that closes below it, plus the first one. It also flags any week that closes negative — the bank would already have called. The chart draws a dashed line at the minimum so the dip is easy to see.
Import and export
Paste from a spreadsheet or import a CSV with these columns: Description, Cash in or out, Activity, Amount, Repeats, Date, Until, Days until cash moves. The planner reads common wording (Receipt / Payment, Monthly / Weekly / Quarterly / Yearly / Once, operating / investing / financing).
There are two downloads. Download the plan writes your rows back with their dates and terms, and re-imports here to continue. Download CSV writes the forecast: first a row per week or month (opening, cash in, cash out, net, closing, status) and then the direct-method grid — one row per item, receipts and payments grouped by activity, with the net cash from each activity, the net change in cash and the opening and closing balance. The figures are plain numbers, so a spreadsheet can total them or chart them.
Limitations
- It is a cash-flow forecast, not an accrual profit forecast or a working-capital model: receivables, payables and stock are not tracked, only the dates the cash moves.
- Discounts, early-payment incentives and part-collections are not modelled: enter them as separate rows if they matter.
- The planner does not pull data from a bank or an accounting system — paste or import it instead.
- A plan is not a prediction: enter your best estimate and keep rolling the forecast as actuals come in.
Privacy
Everything is worked out in your browser. Plan rows, opening balances and dates are never uploaded; the plan stays in this browser only (local storage) so it is still there when you come back, until you clear the site data or press Reset, which puts the example back.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a 13-week cash flow?
Yes, that is one of the two horizons. The weekly view shows 13 weeks from the start date, each week beginning on your chosen day. The monthly view shows 12 calendar months from the month of the start date.
What does the “days until the cash moves” column do?
It is the lag between the date on the row and the day the cash actually hits or leaves the bank: a 30-day collection lag for a sale, a 45-day term for a supplier. The cash falls in the week or month its shifted date is in.
How does a monthly item handle 31-day months?
It keeps the day of the month, clamped to the length of each month. 31 January is followed by 28 or 29 February, 31 March, 30 April and so on, which is how most bank mandates and standing orders work.
Can I share the forecast?
Yes: Download the plan and send that file. It keeps every row with its dates and terms and re-imports back into the planner, so a colleague can continue from where you left off. Download CSV is the forecast itself, for a spreadsheet or a lender.
Does the planner remember my plan?
Yes, in this browser only: the rows, the opening balance, the minimum and the horizon are kept in local storage, so the plan is still there on your next visit. Nothing is uploaded. Reset puts the example back, and clearing your browser’s site data removes it.
Is this the same as a cash flow statement?
It has the same shape: the Download CSV file lays the forecast out as the direct method of IAS 7 does — receipts and payments grouped by activity, with the net cash from each. It is a forecast, not a reported statement, and it uses the dates the cash moves rather than accrual accounting.