01 /
Start from cash you can reconcile
Choose a start date and reconcile the opening balance with the accounts you are forecasting. List receipts by expected payment date, not simply by the date work is invoiced. Separate committed customer payments from sales that have not yet been secured.
Our forecasting preparation guide explains the underlying process. This template gives you the monthly working structure.
02 /
Put every cash movement in the right month
Include supplier payments, wages, rent, tax, finance payments, investment and owner drawings where relevant. Decide whether the forecast uses GST-inclusive figures and keep the treatment consistent with the tax payments entered.
For each month, add receipts to opening cash, subtract payments and carry the closing balance into the next month. Keep the source or assumption for material lines beside the forecast.
03 /
Use New Zealand summer as a stress test
A summer closure may reduce invoicing or delay customer approvals while wages, rent and other obligations continue. Map the business's actual closure dates, expected collections and staffing arrangements. Check when each major customer expects to resume work and settle invoices.
Test a later-receipts case and a lower-sales case separately. If either creates a shortfall, the cash deficit diagnostic helps you investigate the response.
04 /
Replace estimates with actuals
At each review, enter actual cash movements and explain material differences. A forecast becomes more useful when the payment assumptions improve over time. Use cash statement analysis to understand the wider pattern of operating, investing and financing movements.
Keep decisions visible beside the figures: an invoice to follow up, a purchase to reconsider or a funding discussion to prepare.
Use this in your business
Copy these rows across months 1 to 12
| Forecast row | Entry or calculation |
|---|---|
| Opening cash | Previous month's closing balance. |
| Customer receipts | Expected cash collected in this month. |
| Other receipts | Finance or other cash inflows, shown separately. |
| Operating payments | Suppliers, staff, premises and other operating cash. |
| Tax and finance | Tax payments, interest and principal, without double counting. |
| Investment and drawings | Capital purchases and owner cash movements. |
| Closing cash | Opening cash + receipts - payments. |
| Decision / assumption | Material uncertainty, action owner and review date. |
A practical example
An illustrative summer timing gap
Suppose a customer payment moves from December to January while December payments stay unchanged. Annual receipts may be the same, but December's closing cash is lower. Review the monthly low point and the dates within that month; an annual profit forecast would not show that timing issue on its own.
Your next move
Review your forecast before the next funding or growth decision
Bring your forecast and the assumptions behind the lowest cash month. We can help test the pressure points and the decisions they create.
Review your forecast before the next funding or growth decision