When a business is comfortable, an annual budget is enough. When money is tight, you need to see the next quarter week by week. A thirteen-week cashflow forecast shows exactly when cash comes in, when it goes out, and which weeks will be tight enough to need a plan.
How to set it up
- List thirteen columns, one per week, starting from your current bank balance.
- Enter expected receipts by the week you genuinely expect the money to clear, not the invoice date.
- Enter every outgoing: payroll, rent, suppliers, VAT, PAYE, loan repayments and direct debits.
- Carry the closing balance of each week into the opening balance of the next.
Using it well
The value is in the discipline of updating it every week with what actually happened, then rolling a new week onto the end. Over a month you learn how reliable your own estimates are, which makes the forecast more trustworthy precisely when you need to lean on it.
Where you can see a Credicorp Flex or Credicorp Slice repayment landing in a low-balance week, you have time to act. You might bring forward a customer payment, agree a short supplier extension, or contact us about your options before the date arrives. A forecast turns a future shock into a decision you make calmly today.
Keep it simple. A spreadsheet you actually maintain beats sophisticated software you abandon after a fortnight.
See also: How do I spot the early warning signs of cashflow trouble?, Cashflow forecasting basics for limited companies, How do we avoid making difficulty worse with quick-fix borrowing?.