Know where your cash will be thirteen weeks from now.
Profit is an opinion. Cash is a fact. A rolling forecast built on your actual receivables, payables, payroll and debt service, updated weekly, with a person on the other end of it.
When you need this
Cash surprises are a symptom of no forward visibility, not of insufficient revenue. Growing companies run out of cash while showing a profit: receivables stretch, inventory or work in progress builds, the tax bill lands, a truck needs replacing the same month a big customer pays late.
What we look at
— Receivables by customer and how each one actually pays.
— Payables by due date and which can move.
— Payroll by cycle.
— Debt service, taxes, distributions and capex on a calendar.
— Seasonality and the sales pipeline.
— Contract and payment terms.
— The line of credit and how it's used.
What we build or change
— A 13-week cash forecast: beginning cash, collections by customer or aging bucket, payroll, vendors, debt service, taxes and distributions, capital purchases, ending cash and line availability, with assumptions written in the margin and weeks highlighted when cash drops below your comfort level. Updated every week from the books.
— A short weekly note: what changed, what's coming, what needs a decision.
— A 20-minute weekly call to make the decisions: payment timing, line draws, collections to chase.
— Beyond thirteen weeks: an annual budget and forecast, scenarios (a hire, a location, a price change, losing your biggest customer), debt and refinancing analysis, capex planning, and decision thresholds you set in advance.
What changes for you
What you get
The forecast and the weekly note.
What improves
Weeks of warning instead of days and a collections process someone runs.
What you can now decide
When to draw the line, when to buy, how much to distribute, and whether you can afford the hire, before the month it matters.
For the person checking our work
The forecast reconciles to actual cash every week, and the variance by line tells us which assumption to fix. A forecast is useful because management knows what would make it wrong.
What it looks like
Sample 13-week cash forecast
Transportation company · $ thousands · weeks start Monday
| Wk | Begins | Beginning cash | Collections | Payroll | Vendors | Debt service | Taxes and distributions | Equipment | Ending cash | Line available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 14 | 260 | 266 | 98 | 121 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 307 | 450 |
| 2 | Sep 21 | 307 | 251 | 98 | 128 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 288 | 450 |
| 3 | Sep 28 | 288 | 272 | 98 | 119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 343 | 450 |
| 4 | Oct 5 | 343 | 247 | 98 | 124 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 338 | 450 |
| 5 | Oct 12 | 338 | 259 | 98 | 117 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 382 | 450 |
| 6 | Oct 19 | 382 | 188 | 98 | 131 | 44 | 0 | 190 | 107 | 450 |
| 7 | Oct 26 | 107 | 171 | 98 | 126 | 0 | 120 | 0 | (66) | 450 |
| 8 | Nov 2 | (66) | 289 | 98 | 122 | 0 | 30 | 0 | (27) | 450 |
| 9 | Nov 9 | (27) | 296 | 98 | 119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 450 |
| 10 | Nov 16 | 52 | 258 | 98 | 120 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 450 |
| 11 | Nov 23 | 48 | 263 | 98 | 118 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 95 | 450 |
| 12 | Nov 30 | 95 | 249 | 98 | 123 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 93 | 450 |
| 13 | Dec 7 | 93 | 270 | 98 | 119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 146 | 450 |
Week 7: $100k line draw. Repay week 12. Flagged five weeks early.
Week 6: two trucks delivered ($190k).
Week 7: quarterly distributions and estimated taxes.
Weeks 6 to 8: largest customer paying at 52 days instead of 45.
Sample. Ending cash goes negative in weeks 7 and 8 and recovers in week 9; the line draw is flagged five weeks early. A real client forecast replaces this once redacted.
Questions we get about this
How accurate is it?
Within a few percent by week four. The point is the direction and the timing, and the variance teaches us your business.
Do you need our bank access?
Read-only feeds. We never move money without your approval.
What if we don't have a line of credit?
Then the forecast tells you whether you need one, and how much, before you ask.
Related
Tell us what's going on. We'll tell you what we see
One conversation with Chris, no deck. He'll tell you what he sees and what it would take to fix it, including if the answer is that you don't need a CFO yet.
Chris Greco, Founder and President.
Your first call is with him, not a sales team.