Cash-flow forecasting

A week-by-week projection of cash in and cash out for the next quarter, built from your debtor book and payment patterns, your creditors and their terms, payroll, rent, loan repayments and every tax date, giving the forecast bank balance at the end of each week. It is the standard tool for managing short-term cash and is refreshed as actuals arrive.

From your bookkeeping and bank data, your aged debtors and creditors, your payroll, your known commitments and the tax calendar. We analyse how quickly your customers actually pay rather than when they are due, which is where most forecasts go wrong, and we document every assumption so you can change it. You receive the model and a short briefing.

The £349 forecast extends the horizon to a year, monthly, with three scenarios: base case, a downside with slower sales or payment, and an upside, so you can see the cash effect of the things that might happen. It includes a profit and loss and balance sheet forecast alongside the cash, and is the basis for the funding pack.

For £99 a month we replace each month's forecast with the actual figures, roll the horizon forward, update the assumptions for what has changed and send you the refreshed forecast with a short note on the movements. A forecast that is not refreshed is out of date within weeks; the retainer keeps it live.

For £299: a 12-month forecast with monthly cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet, an assumptions schedule, sensitivity analysis showing what happens if sales fall or costs rise by set percentages, and a narrative explaining the business and the use of funds in the terms lenders and grant bodies use. We brief you on the questions they will ask.

Yes. Lenders see forecasts constantly and recognise one built from real data with documented assumptions. Grant bodies and investors likewise. We produce covenant calculations and any specific format a lender requires, and we are happy to speak to the lender with you about the assumptions.

Three reasons: they assume customers pay on the due date, they forget tax dates, and they are never updated. We model actual payment behaviour from your history, place VAT, PAYE, Corporation Tax and Self Assessment payments on their real dates, and offer the refresh retainer so the forecast stays current.

No, but the data must exist. We build forecasts from any reasonably kept accounting file plus bank data. If the bookkeeping is behind, we say so first, because a forecast built on stale records is worthless. Clients in our bookkeeping service have the data ready by default.

Yes, that is one of its main uses. We add the hire or purchase as a scenario and show the cash effect month by month, including the point at which it pays for itself if it does. Decisions that look fine on a profit basis often fail on cash timing, and the forecast shows where.

To see the trough. Seasonal businesses typically make their profit in a few months and spend the rest of the year surviving on it, with VAT and tax payments falling in the quiet period. The 12-month forecast shows how deep the trough goes and whether a facility is needed to bridge it, well before the bank does.

A 13-week forecast within five working days of receiving your data; a 12-month forecast with scenarios within ten. Funding packs depend on the lender's format but typically two weeks. If you have a deadline for an application, tell us when you book and we plan backwards from it.

You receive the model, a briefing call to walk through it, and a written note of the assumptions and the pinch points we see. You can run it yourself from there, or take the £99 monthly refresh so we keep it live. Many clients start with a one-off forecast and move to the retainer once they see its value.