Weekly Cash Position Worksheet for Small Business Owners

Build the forecast around one question: after the receipts and payments expected in each period, how much money remains available? This worksheet is the short-range, week-by-week view; use it alongside your wider cash planning. Use weekly columns for the next few months as a starting routine. Split a week into days when a large payment falls before an expected collection.

Keep the calculation visible: opening cash plus receipts minus payments equals closing cash. The next period starts with that closing balance. Add a separate line for the minimum balance you want to protect, based on your own essential commitments.

Choose one cut-off and list the business bank accounts included. Use the monthly bank reconciliation routine to explain differences between the bank and your books. For this forecast, distinguish money available now from entries that have not yet reached or left the bank.

• ✓Record each included account balance at the same cut-off.
• ✓Keep blocked deposits and money unavailable for operations outside available cash.
• ✓Show pending debits as future payments if they have not already reduced the opening balance.
• ✓Keep an unused borrowing limit separate from cash already held.
• ✓Exclude personal accounts unless an actual contribution to the business is planned and shown separately.

If you include counter cash, count it and keep a separate row. A deposit from the till into an included bank account is a transfer within the forecast, not another customer receipt. Apply the same rule to transfers between included bank accounts.

List outstanding customer invoices and expected receipts separately. For each material amount, record the party, invoice reference, unpaid balance, expected bank receipt period and reason for that timing. An invoice due date is a starting point; adjust the forecast for what you know about the collection.

Use the receivables collection routine to check promises, disputes and part-payments. If a customer promises only part of an invoice, schedule that part and assess the remainder separately. Do not keep moving an overdue amount forward without recording why you still expect payment.

• For confirmed receipts, record the customer's commitment and any remaining condition.
• For uncertain receipts, document the assumption and test a later collection period.
• Keep disputed invoices and unconfirmed orders outside the working case unless there is a clear basis for including them.
• For unsettled payment collections, use the expected net bank credit and settlement period. Do not also count the original sale as a separate bank receipt.

Start with commitments already made: supplier bills, payroll, rent, instalments, subscriptions and approved purchases. Include planned owner drawings and other withdrawals. Use the supplier payment run routine to confirm amounts, approvals and intended payment dates.

Add necessary spending that has not yet become a bill, such as stock replenishment or delivery costs. Label these estimates separately from committed payments. Include statutory payments using your confirmed compliance schedule; ask your CA to confirm current amounts and timing where needed.

Enter the amount expected to leave the bank. Do not subtract depreciation or another accounting entry that involves no payment. Where a purchase is paid in stages, place each instalment in its expected period. Keep proposed spending separate so you can see what postponing it would change.

The following figures are illustrative. Assume receipts arrive before payments within each week solely to demonstrate the rolling calculation. In a working forecast, check the actual order of large movements.

Week 2 leaves only Rs 5,000 above the chosen minimum. If its Rs 40,000 receipt moves to Week 3 while payments stay unchanged, Week 2 closes at minus Rs 5,000. That identifies both a funding gap and the period in which action is needed.

Keep one working forecast and make separate copies for alternative assumptions. Change specific receipts or payments, rather than applying an unexplained reduction to every number. Record the assumption beside each change so the owner can judge it.

• Working case: use collection dates and payments supported by current information.
• Delayed-collection case: move uncertain receipts later while keeping committed payments in place.
• Additional-pressure case: combine a collection delay with a specific plausible cost, such as an essential repair.

For each case, note the lowest balance, when it occurs and the action required. Chase a specific receipt, postpone an optional purchase or discuss revised terms with a supplier. Show a rescheduled payment only after agreement. Show proposed borrowing or owner funding separately until availability and timing are confirmed.

Set a weekly review and update sooner when a major assumption changes. Keep the previous forecast before replacing it, so you can compare what you expected with what happened.

1. Match actual receipts and payments to bank movements and any included cash records.
2. Compare actual movements with the saved forecast and explain material differences.
3. Separate timing differences from changed amounts, missing items and cancelled transactions.
4. Reassess unpaid receipts and unmade payments before carrying them forward.
5. Reset opening cash to the verified actual balance, add another forecast period and assign each follow-up to one person.

At the monthly finance review, look for recurring errors: customers consistently paying later than assumed, omitted spending or owner withdrawals outside the plan. Update the assumptions behind those rows. The finance operations guides can help connect this review with reconciliation, collections and supplier payments.

• Treating invoiced sales as money already available.
• Counting both a customer receipt and its later transfer between business accounts.
• Showing hoped-for funding as confirmed cash.
• Moving supplier payments without an agreed change in terms.
• Using a positive month-end balance to overlook a shortage earlier in the month.
• Replacing estimates without saving the earlier forecast or explaining differences.

This routine needs more detail when several locations share funds, borrowing conditions restrict cash use or receipts depend on major project milestones. Keep separate schedules where needed and combine only money that can actually be used together. If the forecast shows commitments you cannot meet, take it to your accountant and funding provider promptly.