cashflow
13-Week Cash Flow Forecast
Rolling 13-week schedule of cash in and cash out. The single most important operating spreadsheet.
Definition
A 13-week cash flow forecast lists, week by week, every expected cash inflow and outflow, plus the running balance. 13 weeks (~one quarter) is long enough to see seasonality and short enough to remain accurate. The format used by every disciplined operator: two columns per week (cash in / cash out), running balance row, updated every Monday before email. Inflows should be conservative (assume late payers); outflows should be comprehensive (every recurring subscription, payroll run, sales tax remittance).
In your business
- →Update Monday morning before doing anything else
- →Be conservative on cash IN, comprehensive on cash OUT
- →Use it to make hiring, pricing, and marketing-spend decisions - not just to track