How to Build a 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast (Template Inside)

Profit and cash are not the same thing. Plenty of profitable businesses go bust because they ran out of cash. A 13-week rolling forecast prevents that.

Why 13 weeks?

One quarter ahead is far enough to plan, close enough to be accurate. Anything longer is mostly fiction.

What goes in

• Opening cash position
• Expected receipts (by customer, by week, with collection probability)
• Fixed outflows (payroll, rent, software, loan repayments)
• Variable outflows (suppliers, COGS, ad spend)
• Tax payments (VAT, PAYE, corporation tax, sales tax)
• Closing cash position

How to use it

Update every Monday. Compare actual vs forecast for the past week. Re-roll the next 13 weeks. The discipline is the value.

The danger zones to look for

• Any week with closing cash < one week of payroll.
• A spike from a one-off (like a quarterly VAT payment) you forgot.
• A receipt assumed to land but flagged as “probably late”.

We build and maintain 13-week forecasts for clients on our advisory plan. Get in touch.