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Small Business Cash Flow Forecast Template

Thirteen weeks built from the dates your customers actually paid, with a priced options list attached to the week the balance goes under your floor.

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What you get

Pack of 10 files: 5 documents, 5 spreadsheets

Small Business Cash Flow Forecast Template

The Week It BreaksDocument
Assumptions in Plain LanguageDocument
How the Days to Pay Were MeasuredDocument
Action Options if the Forecast Turns NegativeDocument
The Weekly Roll ForwardDocument
Weekly Cash ForecastSpreadsheet
Collection Timing by CustomerSpreadsheet
Receivables and Payables TimingSpreadsheet
Scenario ViewSpreadsheet
Action OptionsSpreadsheet

Small Business Cash Flow Forecast Template

Weekly Cash Forecast

[Company] — thirteen weeks from [Monday]

One column a week. Every inflow sits on the date a deposit is expected to clear, which is the invoice date plus that customer’s measured days, and never the terms written on the contract.

Line	Basis	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	…	Wk 13
Opening balance	Bank	—	—	—	…	—
Collections, measured deposit dates	Measured	—	—	—	…	—
Payroll	Every other Friday	—		—	…
Supplies and consumables	Weekly	—	—	—	…	—
Rent, finance, subcontract, draw	Monthly, by day	—	—		…	—
Insurance, tax filings, licences	Quarterly		—		…
Committed and ordered, not yet paid	By date			—	…
Closing balance, measured	—	—	—	—	…	—
Closing balance, on the written terms	Control	—	—	—	…	—
Cash floor	You set it	—	—	—	…	—
Headroom over the floor	—	—	—	—	…	—

Line

Basis

Wk 1

Wk 2

Wk 3

…

Wk 13

Opening balance

Bank

—

…

—

Collections, measured deposit dates

Measured

—

…

—

Payroll

Every other Friday

—

…

Supplies and consumables

Weekly

—

…

—

Rent, finance, subcontract, draw

Monthly, by day

—

…

—

Insurance, tax filings, licences

Quarterly

—

…

Committed and ordered, not yet paid

By date

—

…

Closing balance, measured

—

…

—

Closing balance, on the written terms

Control

—

…

—

Cash floor

You set it

—

…

—

Headroom over the floor

—

…

—

Two rows here do not appear on any cash forecast you can download. The terms row is the control, so the difference between the two readings is visible rather than argued about. And every week that closes under the floor points at the Action Options sheet, where each response carries the lead time it needs and the date after which it is no longer available.

Every free cash flow forecast template for a small business is the same artifact: a grid with a collections row you fill in yourself. Twelve monthly columns or thirteen weekly ones, twenty-two pre-built outflow categories on the better ones, an auto-calculated lowest ending balance. All of them take the arrival dates from whoever is typing, and a person typing a collections row reads the terms off the contract, because that is the only date written down anywhere. The grid is then only as good as that guess.

Fenmark Commercial Cleaning is an invented forty-one contract janitorial business: $163,000 invoiced a month, thirty day terms on every contract. Eighteen months of bank credits matched to the invoices they settled say the book pays in 46.9 days. Four contracts run at 57 to 71 days and they are 41.5 percent of the invoicing, so they set the weighted figure almost on their own. At $5,359 of invoicing a day, that 16.9 day slip is $90,506 of cash a terms-based forecast books before it exists.

So the same thirteen weeks, same costs and same invoices, bottom out at $79,230 on the terms and $11,530 on the deposits, against a $40,000 floor. Half of employer firms report uneven cash flow as a financial challenge in the Fed's 2025 credit survey, and the grid most of them download cannot see it. This one ships with the responses attached, priced, and dated by the lead time each one needs.

One company, four sheets, and the week it breaks

The measured payment behaviour, the grid read two ways, the composition of the breaching week, and the priced options against it.

Small Business Cash Flow Forecast Template

When they payThirteen weeksThe week it breaksThe options

When they pay

Thirty day terms, and what the bank actually says

Fenmark Commercial Cleaning, invented. Forty-one janitorial contracts across offices, medical suites and business parks. $163,000 invoiced a month, $1,956,000 a year, thirty day terms on every single contract. Eighteen months of bank credits matched to the invoices they settled.

Customer	Invoiced a month	Invoices matched	Mean days to pay	p90	Slip vs terms
Ambervale Corporate Centre	$12,800	17	71	89	+41
Halstead Business Park	$18,900	18	65	81	+35
Corlett Medical Group	$21,400	18	60	74	+30
Ridgeway Dental Partners	$14,600	18	57	68	+27
Smaller contracts, band E	$10,000	84	46	57	+16
Ferncastle Offices	$7,900	16	41	52	+11
Thackston Legal	$9,700	18	33	39	+3
Wrenbury Physiotherapy	$4,800	14	27	31	−3
Seven more rows, same shape	$63,000	—	29 to 37	—	—
Book, weighted by invoicing	$163,000	795	46.9	57.0	+16.9

Thirty-seven of the forty-one contracts pay inside 46 days, so an average across contracts lands close to the terms and is useless. The four slowest are $67,700 a month, 41.5 percent of everything invoiced, and they set the weighted figure almost on their own. At $5,359 of invoicing a day, that 16.9 day slip is $90,506 of cash a terms-based forecast books before it exists.

Brackenhill Retail Park, the new $34,000 a month site, has no payment history at all. The three comparable multi-tenant properties already on the book pay at 41, 65 and 71 days, so its row reads 65 and is flagged as an assumption rather than a measurement. That flag is carrying $34,000.

Thirteen weeks

The same thirteen weeks, read two ways

Forecast run on Monday 6 April. Opening balance $61,200 across the operating accounts. Cash floor $40,000, set by the owner at just under one payroll run. Identical costs and identical invoices in both columns. The only thing that differs is when the money is expected to arrive.

Week	Week of	Collections in	Out	Closing, measured	Closing, on the terms
1	06 Apr	$40,400	$19,600	$82,000	$104,650
2	13 Apr	$58,600	$52,200	$88,400	$174,000
3	20 Apr	$17,900	$39,050	$67,250	$134,950
4	27 Apr	$46,100	$60,740	$52,610	$178,710
5	04 May	$35,600	$17,600	$70,610	$161,110
6	11 May	$42,200	$62,600	$50,210	$157,010
7	18 May	$21,200	$5,650	$65,760	$151,360
8	25 May	$59,700	$65,440	$60,020	$190,420
9	01 Jun	$39,900	$10,050	$89,870	$180,370
10	08 Jun	$32,200	$72,900	$49,170	$165,970
11	15 Jun	$31,200	$21,300	$59,070	$144,670
12	22 Jun	$17,900	$65,440	$11,530	$79,230
13	29 Jun	$65,000	$10,050	$66,480	$207,680
Low point	—	—	—	$11,530	$79,230
First week under the $40,000 floor	—	—	—	week 12, 22 Jun	never

Two more numbers make the third column arguable rather than obvious. Collections over the thirteen weeks are $507,900 on the deposit dates and $649,100 on the terms, and $126,100 of the ledger was already past its terms date on 6 April, which a grid filled in off the terms has nowhere to put but the first fortnight.

Run the same grid at every customer’s p90 instead and the first breach moves to week 4, the week of 27 April, with a low point of $14,430. Same costs again. The base case gives 77 days of warning; the downside gives 21.

The week it breaks

Week 12, and why a business making $2,791 a week runs out in June

The twelve months before the forecast invoiced $1,956,000 and produced $145,120 of surplus after the owner’s $8,000 monthly draw, which is 7.4 percent of revenue. Payroll was $1,196,000 of it, 61.1 percent, which is ordinary for the trade. This is a healthy business with a timing problem.

What lands in the week of 22 June	Amount	On the options list?
Payroll run	$52,400	Never. Not a lever
Owner draw	$8,000	Yes, deferrable
Supplies, chemicals and fuel	$4,450	Partly
Line of credit interest	$590	No
Total out	$65,440	—
Collections expected in	$17,900	—
Net for the week	−$47,540	—

Brackenhill Retail Park, the new site	Inside the thirteen weeks
Three cleaners, raising the biweekly run from $46,000 to $52,400 from 1 May	$32,000
Supplies up $900 a week from 4 May	$8,100
Scrubbers and a van fit-out, paid 24 April	$18,600
Replacement van for the Ambervale route, 15 June	$14,200
Cash the contract consumes	$72,900
First invoice raised, billed in arrears	1 June
First deposit expected, at 65 days	5 August
Cash the contract returns, measured	$0
Cash it appears to return, read off the terms	$34,000

Brackenhill Retail Park, the new site

Inside the thirteen weeks

Three cleaners, raising the biweekly run from $46,000 to $52,400 from 1 May

$32,000

Supplies up $900 a week from 4 May

$8,100

Scrubbers and a van fit-out, paid 24 April

$18,600

Replacement van for the Ambervale route, 15 June

$14,200

Cash the contract consumes

$72,900

First invoice raised, billed in arrears

1 June

First deposit expected, at 65 days

5 August

Cash the contract returns, measured

Cash it appears to return, read off the terms

$34,000

Read off the terms, 1 June plus thirty days is 1 July, and 1 July sits inside week 13. That single row is the difference between a contract that looks half funded and one that funds none of itself for four months.

May also carried three payroll runs, because twenty-six runs a year does not divide by twelve. At the new headcount that is $157,200 against the $99,667 one twelfth of the payroll books, and the year nets to zero, which is exactly why a monthly forecast cannot see it.

The options

Eight responses, priced, with the date each one expires

The shortfall is $28,470 in the week of 22 June. Sorted by what the money costs per year on the amount it releases, because $410 of interest on $75,000 for three weeks and $1,086 of discount given up on $54,300 are not comparable as dollars.

Option	Releases	Lead	Cash cost	Cost a year	Decide by	Still open at p90
Defer the owner draw one cycle	$8,000	0 days	$0	0.0%	22 Jun	Yes
Hold the ordered van one quarter	$14,200	2 days	$0	0.0%	20 Jun	Yes
Chase the past-60 tranche on the slow four	$31,700	5 days	$0	0.0%	17 Jun	Yes
Hold trade payables to 45 days	$22,600	7 days	$0	0.0%	15 Jun	Yes
Draw the line of credit already in place	$75,000	3 days	$410	9.5%	19 Jun	Yes
Offer 2 percent for payment inside 10 days	$54,300	16 days	$1,086	19.7%	06 Jun	Five days to decide
Apply for a new line of credit	$75,000	38 days	$1,225	28.4%	15 May	Already gone
Factor the receivables ledger	$231,300	24 days	$5,782	30.4%	29 May	Already gone
The four that cost nothing	$76,500	7 days	$0	0.0%	15 Jun	Yes

Four free options release $76,500 against a $28,470 shortfall, and the slowest of the four needs seven days, so the decision is due 15 June. That is seventy days after the forecast was run, and no financing is required at all.

Now the last column. At every customer’s p90 the breach moves to 27 April, twenty-one days out, and factoring needs twenty-four days of diligence while a new facility needs thirty-eight. Both had already expired on the morning the forecast was run. Every free option survived. The expensive options are the ones that expire first, which is the opposite of what an owner in a hurry assumes.

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What's in the pack

Weekly Cash Forecast sheet

Thirteen weekly columns, fourteen cost lines on their real dates, and two closing balance rows: one on measured deposit dates and one on the written terms as the control. The cash floor sits under both.

Collection Timing by Customer sheet

Per customer: invoices matched, median, mean, p90, the written terms and the slip between them. The invoice count is a column, so a mean off three observations is visible as the guess it is.

Action Options sheet

Eight responses with what each releases, its lead time, its cash cost, that cost annualised, and two decide-by dates: one for the base case and one for the downside. Payroll is on it as a row that says never.

Scenario View sheet

Three readings of the same weeks. The terms as the control, the measured mean as the base case, and every account at its own p90. One variable moves, and the deadline goes from 77 days to 21.

Receivables and Payables Timing sheet

Every open invoice with its age, its bucket, and the week its deposit is expected, including the ones that land after week thirteen. Then every committed outflow with the weeks it lands in.

Action Options if the Forecast Turns Negative

The reasoning behind each row and the trap in it. Restocking fees, late fee clauses, and why a draw funding a mortgage payment is not free. Whether a line of work earns the money is a separate question.

How the Days to Pay Were Measured

Matching credits to invoices, allocating a payment that covers several, dating a part payment, and what to do with a customer whose behaviour changed halfway through the history.

Assumptions in Plain Language

Which figures are measurements and which are genuinely assumptions, each in a sentence you can argue with. What a deposit is not yours to spend is excluded here too.

The Weekly Roll Forward and eight prompts

Fifteen minutes on Monday, thirty on the first Monday of the month, four written thresholds, and a prompt per step. Where the rest of an owner's week goes is its own audit.

How it works

1
Take the files or install the pack
Five blank sheets and five documents as CSV and Word files with no account, or install the whole thing into a private Space with the agent already primed on the measurement.
2
Send the transaction history
Eighteen months of bank rows if they exist, twelve if not, plus the open invoices. The collection dates are in the deposits and they are in nothing else you have.
3
Get the timing, then the grid
Days to pay per customer against what each contract says, then the thirteen weeks on those dates with the payroll calendar laid on it rather than a monthly average.
4
Set your floor and read the options
The week it breaks, the shortfall, what landed in it, and eight priced responses with the date each one stops being available. Free ones first, financing last.

Frequently asked questions

Is this template free?

Yes. Five sheets, five documents and eight prompts with no signup and no card, and they are the same files the agent works in. Editing with AI is the optional path, where your own bank history becomes the collection timing and the grid gets built on it.

What format are the downloaded files?

CSV for the Weekly Cash Forecast, Collection Timing, Action Options, the Scenario View and the timing sheet, and Word for the five documents, zipped together. Excel, Numbers, Sheets, Word and Pages open them directly with nothing to install.

Why not just use the payment terms?

Because the terms are what somebody agreed to once and the deposits are what happened. On the worked example the terms say thirty days and the book pays in 46.9, and that gap is the difference between a forecast showing a $79,230 low point and one showing $11,530.

What if I have no payment history for a customer?

Use the median of the closest comparable accounts already on your book, name which accounts those were, and flag the row as an assumption. Fenmark's new site is forecast at 65 days off three comparable properties paying at 41, 65 and 71, and that flag carries $34,000.

Why thirteen weeks rather than twelve months?

Because payroll is biweekly on most small businesses, and California's labour commissioner requires a biweekly period to be paid within seven days of it ending. A monthly column cannot represent a month with three runs, and two months a year have one.

Can I defer payroll or a tax deposit if a week looks short?

No, and neither appears on the options list for that reason. Wages are due on a fixed statutory interval, and withheld employment taxes are deposited on a monthly or semiweekly schedule you are told before the calendar year begins. Which deadline carries which amount is a separate space, and nothing here is tax advice.

Does this replace my bookkeeper or my accountant?

No. It reads what the bookkeeping already produced and adds the one thing no ledger carries, which is when each customer's money has historically landed. It assumes the bank accounts feeding it are already separated, which the banking setup pack covers if not. What the terms and the late fee say in the first place belongs in the agreement.

Sources

Written by

Chandler Supple

Co-founder & CEO, River

Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.

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Reviewed by

Brian Joseff, Co-founder, River

LinkedIn X

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Find out which week breaks, while you still have free options

Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open it in River, send your bank history, and get days to pay per customer back first.

Edit with AI

Small Business Cash Flow Forecast Template

[Company] — thirteen weeks from [Monday]

One company, four sheets, and the week it breaks

Thirty day terms, and what the bank actually says

The same thirteen weeks, read two ways

Week 12, and why a business making $2,791 a week runs out in June

Eight responses, priced, with the date each one expires

What's in the pack

Weekly Cash Forecast sheet

Collection Timing by Customer sheet

Action Options sheet

Scenario View sheet

Receivables and Payables Timing sheet

Action Options if the Forecast Turns Negative

How the Days to Pay Were Measured

Assumptions in Plain Language

The Weekly Roll Forward and eight prompts

How it works

Take the files or install the pack

Send the transaction history

Get the timing, then the grid

Set your floor and read the options

Frequently asked questions

Is this template free?

What format are the downloaded files?

Why not just use the payment terms?

What if I have no payment history for a customer?

Why thirteen weeks rather than twelve months?

Can I defer payroll or a tax deposit if a week looks short?

Does this replace my bookkeeper or my accountant?

Sources

Chandler Supple

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More free templates

Find out which week breaks, while you still have free options