13-Week Cash Flow Forecast Template for a Small Business

Put one column for each week and one row for each type of cash movement. Keep the layout the same every week so you can compare versions without hunting for rows. Record cash only, not sales booked or bills received. A sale counts in the week the money actually reaches the bank.

The tax outflow row is deliberately one line. Fill in the amounts and weeks yourself from the official portals or your chartered accountant's working. This guide gives no tax amounts or due dates, because they depend on your registrations and change over time.

The extract below shows the first four weeks of an imaginary trading business. Every amount is illustrative and is there only to show how the rows link together.

Suppose the owner's minimum cash line is Rs 2,50,000. Week 3 closes at Rs 2,15,000 because salaries, a tax outflow and a slow collection week all land together. Since the forecast flags this two weeks ahead, there is time to chase a large receivable earlier or move a non-urgent supplier payment into Week 4.

• ✓Opening cash: the confirmed bank and cash balance on the first day, ideally taken from your weekly cash position worksheet.
• ✓Customer collections: the receivables ageing, adjusted for how each party actually pays rather than the invoice due date.
• ✓Other receipts: only advances, refunds or drawdowns that are agreed, not hoped for.
• ✓Suppliers: planned weekly payment runs from the payables ageing and agreed terms.
• ✓Salaries, rent, subscriptions and loan instalments: fixed schedules and agreements.
• ✓Tax outflows: amounts and weeks you fill in from official sources or your chartered accountant.

The receivables collection routine guide and the supplier payment run weekly routine guide feed the two largest rows. If those routines are running, the forecast mostly assembles figures you already have.

1. Pick a fixed day and time, for example after the weekly cash position is confirmed.
2. Replace the week that has just closed with actual receipts and payments from the bank.
3. Check that actual closing cash agrees with the bank balance; investigate any gap before moving on.
4. Note the main differences between forecast and actual for that week, row by row.
5. Update the remaining twelve weeks for new invoices, collection promises, supplier changes and tax outflows.
6. Add a new Week 13 at the end so the forecast always looks a full quarter ahead.
7. Mark any week below the minimum cash line and record the action, owner and date agreed.
8. Save the version with its date so you can compare how forecasts have shifted.

Over a few weeks the variance notes show which rows you tend to get wrong. Collections forecast too optimistically is a common pattern, and correcting it makes later weeks more reliable.

• Forecasting from sales or invoices raised instead of when cash will actually arrive.
• Leaving out lumpy payments such as quarterly rent, annual renewals or tax outflows.
• Typing opening cash by hand each week instead of linking it to the previous week's closing cash.
• Never replacing forecast figures with actuals, so errors carry forward without anyone noticing.
• Counting a disputed or unconfirmed receipt as certain.
• Mixing the owner's personal transactions into the business forecast.

This template suits a business with one main bank account and fairly regular weekly flows. Businesses with several entities, foreign-currency receipts, heavy seasonality or project milestone billing need extra rows or separate forecasts. The forecast is a planning tool and does not replace financing or tax advice from a qualified professional.