Free template · Excel
13-week cash flow forecast template
A free spreadsheet that shows, week by week, whether there'll be enough money in the bank for the next three months. Made for South African businesses, with SARS payments in their own rows. No sign-up.
What's in it
A 13-week forecast.
Money in and out, week by week, with the bank balance carried forward and totals for the quarter.
A warning line.
Set the lowest balance you're comfortable with. Weeks below it turn red, and the sheet shows your lowest week.
A worked example.
A made-up joinery business heading into the December shutdown, so you can see a tight week coming.
South African rows.
PAYE, UIF and SDL, VAT, and provisional tax each have a row, with their due dates in the notes.
Why 13 weeks?
A budget tells you whether the year will make a profit. A 13-week forecast tells you whether you can pay everyone on the 25th.
Thirteen weeks is a quarter. That's long enough to see the big payments coming, like VAT, a bonus month or an annual insurance premium, and short enough to forecast honestly, from invoices you've sent and bills you know about.
And weeks matter. A monthly forecast can look fine while the week after salaries, before clients pay, runs dry.
A squeeze you can see coming
The template's Example tab follows a made-up joinery business from 2 November into January. It starts with R120,000 in the bank and wants never to drop below R100,000, about a month's salaries.
Mid-December: R99,800.
Salaries, R30,000 of bonuses and the timber account all go out before the shutdown.
Early January: R53,300.
Little comes in over the break, and the deposit on a new saw goes out. The lowest week.
End of January: R67,000.
January's salaries, the VAT payment and the timber account land in the same week.
Seen in November, it's easy to fix.
Move the saw to February, ask the supplier to split December's account, and chase the biggest invoices before the break. Seen in January, it's a scramble.
How to use the template
Set the start.
On the Forecast tab, type the Monday your forecast starts, the money in the bank that morning (all the business's accounts together) and the lowest balance you'd be comfortable with. Often that's a month's salaries.
Fill in money in.
Start with invoices you've already sent, in the week you expect to be paid, not the week they're due. Then add cash and card sales, based on recent weeks. Be honest about slow payers.
Fill in money out.
Salaries, rent, debit orders, supplier accounts, loan repayments, SARS and what you take out yourself. Your last three months' bank statements are the best checklist.
Keep the VAT in.
Use amounts as they go through the bank, VAT included, and put what you pay SARS in its own rows. That's the opposite of working out your profit margin, where VAT comes out.
Read the bottom line.
Any week below your comfortable balance turns red, and the top of the sheet shows your lowest week and when it comes.
Roll it every week.
On the same day each week, save a copy, then copy the yellow cells from weeks 2 to 13 and paste them one column to the left. Clear week 13 and fill it in, and update the first Monday and the bank balance. Compare last week's copy with what happened: that's how the forecast gets good.
SARS dates to put in
- PAYE, UIF and SDL (EMP201): by the 7th of the month after the salaries are paid.
- VAT: every two months for most small businesses, by the 25th of the month after the period ends, or the last business day of that month on eFiling.
- Provisional tax: six months into your financial year, and at its end.
Check your exact dates with your accountant or on SARS eFiling.
Rather not keep it yourself?
Konzult Live keeps a cash forecast for you, beside a live dashboard of your numbers, with time with us before big decisions.
From R7,500 a month, after a First Look at your books.
Where a forecast fits in management accountsWhat a fractional CFO addsFree profit margin calculatorBreak-even calculator
Questions about cash flow forecasts
- What is a 13-week cash flow forecast?
- A week-by-week view of the money you expect in and out of the bank over the next quarter, and what the balance will be at the end of each week. It answers one question: will there be enough money to pay everyone on time?
- Is a cash flow forecast the same as a cash flow projection?
- Mostly, yes: people use both words for the same thing. Some keep projection for a longer, rougher view, like a year by month for a bank, and forecast for a short, detailed one like this.
- How is cash flow different from profit?
- Profit counts a sale when you invoice it and a cost when you're billed. Cash flow counts them when the money moves. A profitable business can still run short while it waits for clients to pay, buys stock or repays a loan.
- Should I include VAT?
- Yes. A cash flow forecast follows the bank, so use amounts with VAT, as clients pay you and as you pay suppliers. Then put your VAT payments to SARS, or refunds from SARS, in their own rows.
- How often should I update it?
- Every week, on the same day. Put in what actually happened, see where the forecast was wrong, and add a new week at the end. A few weeks of that and the forecast gets good.
- What should I do if a week turns red?
- Act while it's still weeks away: chase the slowest payers, ask a supplier for longer terms, move a purchase that can wait, or talk to the bank before you need the money, not after.
- Can I use it in Google Sheets?
- Yes. Upload it to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets. It uses only everyday formulas.
- Is it really free?
- Yes. There's no sign-up and no email address to give. Use it, change it and share it.
Want a second pair of eyes on your cash?
R3,500 once-off, about two weeks, on the reports you already have. Nothing new for your team to capture.