Working Capital Calculator
Free working capital calculator. Compute working capital and the current ratio from current assets and liabilities. Review short-term business liquidity.
Cash Flow Forecast Calculator
Free cash flow forecast calculator. Project monthly inflows, outflows, and balances for 12 months. Identify negative cash months before they happen.
$
Revenue collections
$
All expenses
$
%
%
0=Jan, 1=Feb, ... 11=Dec
Ending Balance (Month 12)โง
$106,967.00
Positive
Total Net Cash Flowโง
$56,967.00
12-month total
Lowest Balanceโง
$50,000.00
In
Negative Monthsโง
0.00
None โ healthy
Monthly Ending Balance
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
12-Month Cash Flow Projection
| Month | Opening | Inflows | Outflows | Net | Ending |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | $50,000.00 | $30,000.00 | $28,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $52,000.00 |
| Feb | $52,000.00 | $30,600.00 | $28,140.00 | $2,460.00 | $54,460.00 |
| Mar | $54,460.00 | $31,212.00 | $28,281.00 | $2,931.00 | $57,391.00 |
| Apr | $57,391.00 | $31,836.00 | $28,422.00 | $3,414.00 | $60,805.00 |
| May | $60,805.00 | $32,473.00 | $28,564.00 | $3,909.00 | $64,714.00 |
| Jun | $64,714.00 | $33,122.00 | $28,707.00 | $4,415.00 | $69,129.00 |
| Jul | $69,129.00 | $33,785.00 | $28,851.00 | $4,934.00 | $74,063.00 |
| Aug | $74,063.00 | $34,461.00 | $28,995.00 | $5,466.00 | $79,529.00 |
| Sep | $79,529.00 | $35,150.00 | $29,140.00 | $6,010.00 | $85,539.00 |
| Oct | $85,539.00 | $35,853.00 | $29,285.00 | $6,568.00 | $92,107.00 |
| Nov | $92,107.00 | $36,570.00 | $29,432.00 | $7,138.00 | $99,245.00 |
| Dec | $99,245.00 | $37,301.00 | $29,579.00 | $7,722.00 | $106,967.00 |
| Total | โ | $402,363.00 | $345,396.00 | $56,967.00 | $106,967.00 |
Simplified projection using constant growth rates. Actual cash flows vary with seasonality, payment timing, and one-time events.
Planning notes, formulas, and examples
About the Cash Flow Forecast Calculator
The Cash Flow Forecast Calculator projects your business cash position month by month for up to 12 months. Enter your opening balance, expected monthly inflows, and monthly outflows to see when cash gets tight โ or when you'll have surplus to invest.
Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. Profitable companies go bankrupt due to cash flow problems, and this calculator helps you see potential crunches months in advance. Negative balance months are flagged immediately so you can arrange financing or adjust spending.
The forecast supports growth and seasonality adjustments, letting you model realistic scenarios with increasing revenue or varying expense patterns. By modeling multiple scenarios, you can see how changes in payment timing, seasonal revenue dips, or unexpected expenses affect your cash position weeks or months into the future. This proactive approach replaces last-minute scrambling with deliberate planning, giving you time to arrange credit lines or adjust spending before shortfalls materialize.
When This Page Helps
This calculator gives you forward visibility into your cash position so you can pressure-test hiring, purchasing, and borrowing decisions before a shortfall appears. It is most useful when you update it regularly with actual inflows, outflows, and one-time payments instead of treating one forecast as fixed truth.
How to Use the Inputs
- Enter your current cash opening balance.
- Enter your expected monthly cash inflows (revenue collections).
- Enter your expected monthly cash outflows (all expenses).
- Set a monthly growth rate for inflows if applicable.
- Review the 12-month projection table.
- Note months with negative ending balances โ these need attention.
Formula used
Ending Balance[n] = Opening Balance[n] + Inflows[n] โ Outflows[n]
Opening Balance[n+1] = Ending Balance[n]
Net Cash Flow = Inflows โ Outflows
Cumulative Net = ฮฃ Net Cash FlowExample Calculation
Result: Month 12 ending balance: $81,319
Starting with $50,000, receiving $30,000/month (growing 2%/month) and spending $28,000/month, cash grows steadily. No negative months occur. The 2% growth compounds inflows from $30,000 to $33,471 by month 12.
Tips & Best Practices
- Include a cash reserve buffer that fits the seasonality and payment timing of your business.
- Account for seasonal revenue dips โ many businesses see Q1 slowdowns.
- Include quarterly payments like taxes, insurance, and annual subscriptions.
- If any month shows a negative balance, explore a credit line or invoice factoring.
- Update your forecast monthly with actual numbers for better accuracy.
- Separate fixed outflows (rent, salaries) from variable ones for better modeling.
The Cash Flow Cycle
Cash enters through customer payments, loans, and investments. It exits through payroll, rent, suppliers, taxes, and debt service. The timing mismatch between inflows and outflows creates the cash flow cycle. Managing that timing is often more important than looking at profit alone.
Best Practices for Forecasting
Start with a conservative base case, then model optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. Update monthly with actual figures. Separate recurring from one-time items. Track forecast accuracy over time to improve your assumptions.
When to Seek Financing
If the forecast shows a negative cash period, compare the timing of receipts, payables, and discretionary spending before assuming debt is the only answer. A line of credit, slower hiring, supplier negotiation, or staged purchases can all change the outcome depending on the business.
Sources & Methodology
Last updated:
Methodology
This page projects the ending cash balance for each month by starting with the opening cash balance, adding expected inflows, subtracting expected outflows, and then carrying the ending balance forward as the next month's starting point. When a monthly inflow growth rate is entered, the forecast applies that growth assumption to future inflows while leaving the outflow assumptions unchanged unless the user edits them directly.
The forecast is a planning worksheet, not an accounting statement. It does not automatically model receivables timing, inventory swings, financing draws, taxes, or accrual accounting adjustments unless the user builds those items into the monthly cash assumptions.
Sources
- Manage your finances (U.S. Small Business Administration) โ SBA guidance emphasizing the importance of cash-flow projections and separating cash from accrual-based accounting views.
- Beginners' Guide to Financial Statements (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) โ SEC guide describing cash-flow statements and the distinction between profitability and actual cash movement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cash flow forecasting projects future cash inflows and outflows to estimate your cash balance over time. It helps businesses anticipate cash shortages, plan investments, and make informed operational decisions weeks or months in advance.
Profit is an accounting concept (revenue minus expenses). Cash flow is actual money moving in and out. You can be profitable on paper but cash-poor if customers pay slowly, or cash-rich but unprofitable due to depreciation. Cash flow forecasting tracks real money movement.
Most businesses benefit from a rolling 12-month forecast, updated monthly. Short-term (1-3 months) forecasts are most accurate. Longer forecasts are useful for strategic planning but should be revisited frequently as conditions change.
Common causes include: seasonal revenue dips, large quarterly payments (taxes, insurance), customer payment delays, inventory buildup, equipment purchases, and payroll for new hires before revenue catches up. Identifying these in advance is the whole point of forecasting.
Yes. Large one-time expenses (equipment, deposits, annual payments) should be included in the specific month they occur. This is where many forecasts fail โ they model only steady-state flows and miss lumpy payments.
Use your own recent collections trend as the starting point, then test a base case and a weaker case. Early-stage businesses should be careful with aggressive growth assumptions unless the expense side and collection timing are modeled just as explicitly.
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